St Andrew Congregational Meeting 1/24/10 Minutes Draft

*President Bernie Orris welcomed all for coming at 12:20pm, after which Pastor Rust offered a blessing for the food. Bernie recognized and thanked the Kitchen Crew, the Fellowship Committee and its new Liaison, Lauren Hudgins for organizing the cover dish luncheon.

*Bernie asked the Secretary (Karen Ellenberger) if a quorum was present. Yes, 111 voting members out of 336 were present. Bernie called the meeting to order at 1:12pm.

*Pastor led off with the Devotion for the Congregational Annual Meeting, listed on the 1^st page of the St Andrew Annual Report of the Congregation.

*Motion to accept the minutes from the January, 2009 meeting made by Laurna Badendieck, with a 2^nd by Linda Bloomfield. Motion was approved to accept the minutes as presented.

*Bernie recognized the outgoing Council Members, Peg Brown (Fellowship), Lorrie Hagy (Youth), Don Michaels (Evangelism), and Chuck Carpenter (Stewardship) who had moved.

Bernie introduced the 2010 Council Members: Pastor Ted Rust, Bernie Orris (President), Egon Lippert (V.Pres), Karen Ellenberger (Secretary), Chaplain Bob Weeks (Memorial Committee) Lauren Hudgins (Fellowship), Paul Miottke (Property), Bob Morrissey (Stewardship), Sarah Hall (Christian Education), Gail Pethia (Worship & Music), Craig Schadewald (Youth), Ollie Beall (Finance), Barbara Riegel (Social Ministry), Jeff French (Evangelism), Ed Blakelock ( Treasurer), Joe Childers (Financial Secretary).

*Bernie recognized Egon Lippert as outgoing President, Terry Lindquist- Administrative Asst, Martha Nordstrom-Office Volunteer, SOD cooks, Grounds Keepers, Alter Guild, Children’s Church Leaders, and Sanitation Engineers. She also recognized Beverly Rust, Pastor’s wife, who is also very involved with the youth programs and bells. Bernie reminded everyone that Pastor’s day off is Tuesday.

*Linda Bloomfield requested that all the Sunday School Teachers also be recognized.

*Pete Schulz reported on the Church Financial Status: he is looking forward, unfortunately, to a debit for 2010, due to economic times and giving. He thanked the members giving to Debt Reduction, but stated the church is not getting the operating funds needed. The church is looking at a $6,000 shortfall for 2010, and he hopes we will do better than that. He asks that we all participate in the financial running of our church. After the 1^st quarter, we will look at revising the budget, including some salary increases. Pete thanked all members of the finance committee. Question by Vi King: How many people are on salary? Answer: 5.

*Bernie called upon Pastor Rust to give the 2009 message and report from the Pastor:

*Pastor- Thanked all for coming. He is starting his 5^th year of being pastor of this congregation. The overall theme for the next years- Spreading God’s Word- thru FAITH- he would like to see more of us having a “non-anxious presence”; thru HOPE- look at the positive things that will be remembered in the long scope of things.

St Andrew tends to be a “pastor driven” church. As we grow, we need to be more of a “program driven” church- through our volunteers. Our strength is our members. We grew in 2009 in members. God has given us growth at a time when many churches are declining or in an uproar over recent events. Pastor praised the council stating the council’s ratings have increased. We are greatly blessed, which we should not take for granted. We have the spirit of helpfulness here. So much of the good ministry is done quietly behind the scenes. Pastor is hopeful about 2010. We will share God’s Word thru LOVE. Pastor feels God’s calling to serve this church. He feels after 4 years, we need to improve the relationship between our members and our pastor. Some of us don’t trust each other. We need to trust our pastor after 4 years. It’s about loving people in the name of Christ. Pastor will go sometimes to places FOR us (i.e. funerals); sometimes we need to go for the Pastor as a caring visitor. Our job is to work together and show God’s Love. Pastor would like a few of us to have his back when he is gone (to visit his parents, to be with his family on vacation or his day off). We are not going to waste time; we are going to do the work of the Lord. We need to support and love each other as pastor and parish.

*Bernie reviewed the 2009 Council Goals: 1) Playground is now completed 2) Hire a janitor- we currently have an interim janitor in place 3) Debt Reduction Program- 1^st Sunday of each month 4) The Vision Process and Constitutional Update.

*Egon Lippert- Our Constitution is an excellent document. Some items marked with “*” are from the NC Synod and cannot be updated. The last revision of our constitution was in 2005. We need to add a description of the Memorial & Mutual Ministry committees. Currently at St Andrew a member can remain on the rolls for 2 years as inactive (neither taken communion nor contributed in any way). Council would like to change this to 1 year. Please take the constitution change packet home to review. Please provide Egon with any questions, feedback, comments by 2/28/10. At the 3/10/10 council meeting, this process will be wrapped up and sent to NC Synod. Synod has 90 days to review, and then we can call for formal ratification.

Bob Buszka- question- Are we addressing the ELCA vote in our constitution? Egon- Not in this review. There is nothing in the constitution’s Calling of a Pastor that forces us about what we can or cannot do.

Bob Buszka- What this church does should be reflected in our constitution. How we should serve God in the biblical sense... Egon- if you see anything in the 25 page document, please give us your feedback.

*Bernie- Pastor and council are currently reviewing candidates to represent St Andrew at the NC Synod convention.

*Bernie- St Andrew’s Mission- is to Spread God’s Word thru faith development. We have a tradition of service to our church members, thru our Social Ministry/Care Givers, our Stephan Ministers, our Sunday School programs, our Music Ministry. We also reach out to our community through our Evangelism team, our support of RCS & EPIC, the Crop walk, and Salvation Army. We provide meals for the hungry through our Saturday Outreach Development volunteers. We also sponsor Boy Scouts, Youth Sports Teams, and other groups that meet at our church. She spoke of the many things we have reached out and done. We hired Kairos to help us formulate a Vision. Council wants to find a volunteer Vision Coordinator. This person would spearhead and coordinate the group efforts to develop and implement the steps necessary to reach our Vision Goals, as well as manage, evaluate and monitor each step. The coordinator would be responsible to report to the council on the efforts of all the vision teams. Bernie would like us all to consider whether God is calling us or someone we know to be this individual (and let Bernie, Egon, or Bob Morrissey know).

+ This individual needs to be a person with strong organizational and planning skills, one who can work well with groups and motivate volunteers. They will need to have a great deal of time to be able to give to the job, especially for the 1^st year. It also will be helpful to have been with the church awhile and have many contacts. The council plans to use the vision teams to do three things: Define where our strengths and weaknesses are in our overall mission to serve the kingdom of God, to focus our growth efforts in directions that will help us pursue our ongoing mission of spreading God’s Word, to give us a planning strategy for future growth and use of resources.

*Council Goals for 2010: 1) Take steps to finish the Constitution update. 2) Appoint a Vision Coordinator. 3) to have a fully functional Mutual Ministry committee.

Questions/Comments- Bonnie Roach stated that in the Highlights for 2009 in the annual report, there is no mention of Chaplain Bob Weeks becoming a Pastor Emeritus.

A motion to close the meeting was made by Bob Buszka with a 2^nd by Johnnie Orris.

Several announcements of upcoming Valentine’s Events were made.

Don Michaels stood to make 2 comments: He will cover “Pastor’s back”, & Let’s give this community Heaven.

President Orris closed the meeting at 2:20 with The Lord’s Prayer.

Respectfully submitted,

Karen Ellenberger, Secretary