Faith & St. John/St. Paul Combining Committee Minutes of May 13, 2015 Meeting Attendees: Pr. Jean Hansen, Pr. Rick Gordon, Mark Watkins, John Reyes, Dave Six, Bill Robinson, Carol Whidden, Geoff Whidden. Meeting opened at 6:35 pm with prayer by Mark. Minutes of May 6, 2015 meeting were reviewed and accepted with minor corrections. Meeting minutes will be emailed to all committee members. St. John/St. Paul will post them on their website, and will have hard copies available at the brunch between the 9:30 service and the 11:00 GPS service. Pr. Jean will take care of distributing them to the Faith congregation. The committee reviewed the primary issues which were discussed at last week’s meeting.
The method of combining will involve a wind-down of St. John/St. Paul. The name of the combined church is still to be discussed. The number of staff coming from St. John/St. Paul has been resolved. Pr. Rick will be called by the combined congregation to serve for a defined period of time. Julie Lehman will be hired as Assistant Choir Director.
The committee discussed the subcommittees that would be formed from the main committee. At last week’s meeting, three subcommittees were created. Geoff Whidden suggested forming a fourth to address the mission of the combined church. Bill Robinson stated that he also felt this was an important task. Geoff also mentioned that he feels having the mission well-defined will be important to the SJSP people and will help influence their decision about joining the combined church. The committee agreed with these thoughts, and the fourth committee was formed. Subcommittee members were assigned.
John Reyes, Bill Robinson, Carol Whidden and Mark Watkins were assigned to the Financial/Legal/Staffing subcommittee. Pr. Rick, Pr. Jean, Chris Allen, Rich Yori and Dave Six were assigned to the Lay Leadership/Membership/Fellowship/Worship subcommittee. Judy Vernon and Sue Harman were assigned to the Property subcommittee. Bill Robinson, Geoff Whidden, Pr. Rick and Pr. Carolyn Wagar Hier were assigned to the Mission subcommittee.
Subcommittee tasks were determined.
Financial/Legal/Staffing o Determine amount of money required for the wind-down of SJSP. o Determine amount of money required for adding the SJSP staff members. Pr. Jean mentioned it should be from August 2015 through December, 2016. o Determine amount of money required for property disposition. This will involve input from the Property subcommittee.
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Determine how to handle any special funds that SJSP has. Will these be continued at the combined church? Determine amount of money required for storage of SJSP records. Determine how to handle the St. John/St. Paul endowment fund, which is an IRSrecognized fund, 503C status. The fund needs a new mission. The current mission of the fund is to support SJSP outreach activities. St. John/St. Paul is the member of the fund. This will all have to be changed, and the endowment board that oversees the fund is investigating what they can do and still keep the 503C status.
Lay Leadership/Membership/Fellowship/Worship o Planning for the July 12 worship service at SJSP. If both congregations vote “yes” to agreement on June 28, Faith will join with SJSP at the July 12 decommissioning service. o Determine how the memberships of SJSP will transfer to Faith, and on what date. o Determine the makeup of the combined church council.
Property o Determine where to keep the SJSP records. o Determine costs for setting up office for Pr. Rick. o Determine the costs for moving the items that Faith would like to have. o Determine the space at Faith for installing these items.
Mission o Establish a methodology for how we’ll focus on mission in the future.
It was determined that this committee must have its work completed, and the document drafted, by June 10. Bill Robinson presented several possible symbols that could be used on signs to illustrate our combining. After discussion, the committee selected the one with the color circles blending together. Next week’s meeting will be on Thursday, May 21, at Faith Lutheran Church, at 6:30 pm. The meeting concluded at 8:00 pm with a prayer by Pr. Jean Hanson. Respectfully submitted, David Six Recording Secretary