ELDER MEETING Minutes
Elim EV Free Church
Thursday, February 12, 2009
7:00 p.m. - Kearns’ home
Open in Prayer -
Larry
Time of prayer for upcoming year. Pray for:
·
God’s protection & presence in the midst of economic
pressure, and wisdom in creation of benevolence policy
·
Saturday evening worship service - vision and strategy
·
Those we shepherd
·
Various ministries: children, youth, Young Adults,
adult ed, men, women, seniors, missions, outreach
·
Various congretational and family needs.
Adoption of January Minutes - Larry:
Larry moved that January minutes be accepted, Martin 2nded, all vote
aye.
Selection of Vice Chair – Larry;
Discusssion on Duties of vice chair. Gordy moved to nominate Steve,
Bill 2nd, no discussion, all vote aye. Steve is the new
Vice Chair.
Liability Insurance & Background Checks for
Elders – Larry: Discussion on the need for insurance, Background
checks will be done, form needs to be filled out and given to Steve K.
by Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009.
Congo Banquet / Missions Update - Cal: Cal not
present; pray for him in his role as team leader. Elder discussion on
Cal’s focus on Congo. Bill as Elder liaison to Missions assigned to
help recruit Missions team members. Invite Cal to next elder meeting
to help in discussion on his needs and recruiting new people. Cal
would like to focus on how to reach unreached people groups thru
indigenous efforts as opposed to sending more U.S. missionaries to
currently operating mission fields. We need to evaluate current
Missions policy and evaluate our current Missions support in that
light.
Wrap-Up From Annual Meeting – Larry; Two
elders’ terms were renewed, the new budget was accepted, the new
statement faith was accepted with only one nay vote.
Feedback from table discussions: Look to help
military wives when husbands are in the field. Cheryl to see what a
military wives’ group would look like. It would be good to do the
Stewardship class again before our treasurer departs. Several people
were discussing the need for a new kitchen. Some feel like it is now
easy to connect with others at Elim.
Steve expressed concern that some people who
voted absentee for the Elders did so with the wrong names on the
ballot. However, this wouldn’t have changed the vote, which had enough
people present at the meeting.
Larry indicated that we should have also read the
minutes from the previous annual meeting. Note for the future.
Elder Job Description brainstorming – Larry
& Martin. Discussion on elder qualifications (ref. “proposed elder
qualifications” document). How could/should elders be held
accountable? Suggestion by Steve to have weekly accountability meeting
with another elder. Picked elder accountability partners
Martin, Gordy, and Bill -- one group
Larry, Ralph, Steve and Brian – second group,
to meet once or twice then possibly split into two groups.
Should Elders periodically write a short column
to be posted to the website? Opportunity to be a public voice. Larry
will do the first one, Steve will do the next one. Other elders to
consider this and schedule at next meeting.
New Elder Liaison Assignments? - Larry:
Ralph to take role as liaison to Worship ministry from Larry. Martin
to cover Adult Ministries.
Wrap up from The January Saturday night
Gathering - Larry & Martin:
Positive feedback was received. Over 100 attended.
It might help infrequent attenders to become more consistent. What
will characterize future Gathering services? Not targeting any
particular age group, just setting out goals for service (such as
enhanced interactivity). Leadership team still brainstorming for new
ideas. Next Gathering is Feb. 28, then Mar. 24, then the Saturday
before Easter.
Benevolence Policy - Martin (read
Martin’s e-mail first)
Proposal to have any non-attendees or neighbors
who walk in (non-members) looking for help to be first referred to
Love INC for screening.
Benevolence fund is currently $800
overcommitted and needs to be refunded by the body.
Any feedback on this policy should be given
back to Martin.
Staff Reviews – Larry
Elders went over Martin’s review, collated by
Dan. Some clarification to a few of Martin’s questions needed, to be
returned to Dan Amos for clarification.
Question presented as to whether Martin should be handling other staff
reviews versus having the Elders doing the staff reviews. However,
Steve pointed out that the Constitution requires the latter.
Shepherding Lists - Larry & Martin (read Larry’s e-mail first)
Elders encouraged to start communication by sending an e-mail to all
on the list. Call or make appointments monthly.
Due to retiring elders, names on the list were redistributed.
Discussion on whether to change how shepherding names are assigned;
possibility raised of using community group leaders to help maintain
communication.
Be sure to share urgent prayer requests with all elders and the prayer
chain (Mary Price, Karen Thomas).
What would process be for adding new people
which come to the church to the shepherding lists? Martin will talk
with Becky about this.
Membership issues:
Have [names excised] as well as [names excised]
been contacted regarding membership? No need for [names excised],
previously approved. Gordy to contact [names excised] to see if they
have received their membership materials and if there are any
questions.
Constitutionally Required Biannual Financial
Audit - Larry
We are a bit late with the audit, will try to
get this taken care of in early 2009. Treasurer has suggested that
Brian Pederson be at point for handling the audit. Gordy as elder
liaison will report back to elders.
Parking Lot Security - Larry & Steve
Have a sign up sheet for security, need to try
to recruit a couple guys to fill holes which are currently on the sign
up sheet.
Meeting closed in prayer.
Minutes
from Feb 12, 2009 elder meeting respectfully submitted by Ralph.
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