September 13, 2022
First Lutheran Church Council Minutes – September 13, 2022
Council Members present: Debbie Butler, Jan McElroy, Rod Johnson, Joslyn LaVera, Pete Petersen, Kara Danna
Council members absent: Ida Malde, Eric Merten, Sheila Johnson
Non-council members present: Pastor Dennis Hickman
Devotions were given by Jan McElroy.
The October devotions will be given by Kara Danna.
It was moved by Pete Petersen, seconded by Joslyn LaVera, and passed to approve the July 2022 council minutes.
Old Business:
The boilers are in good shape but the rooms need to be cleared of ladders and things.
New Business:
Rod made a motion to inform the ELCA and District that we no longer participate in the God’s work our hands project due to lack of participation this year. There was discussion on finding projects more suited to the age of our congregation and the motion was tabled.
Reports:
Pastor’s Report: - See attached for the full report
The pastor’s written report was given to council. Items and council discussion included:
Discussion on FLC hosting a night a week for the Cold Weather Shelter and that there may be a permanent shelter in 2023.
Should we increase our giving to the Ministerial Association to $75 or $100 monthly?
Outreach:
God’s work our hands project had 5 show up to clean the cemetery and the Latter Day Saints church helped as well.
Worship and Music:
Choir to begin in October and we are looking to hire a choir director. Betty will fill in for now and it was discussed that she needs to be paid for this and the choir director salary needs to be added back into the budget
Stewardship:
Pete is still looking for counters, 3 are needed each week. The emails asking for counters works well.
Youth and Education:
Vacation Bible School was well attended and fun.
The Youth are still helping with Sunday School and the committee is looking for more ways for them to be involved in Sunday teaching.
Congregational Life:
The church potluck/picnic is Sept 18 at the church.
Property Management:
The front railing was cleaned and painted. More work needs to be done.
Light fixtures and bulbs are being ordered to replace the ones in the counting room and bulbs for the sanctuary.
See JulieAnna’s report for more information
South Property: See JulieAnna’s attached report
IT: No report
Financial Report: See attached for a full report.
· Contributions to FISH for August totaled $44.
· Contributions to ELCA World Hunger for August totaled $100.
Adjournment:
· The next council meeting will be held on Tuesday October 11 at 6:30pm.
· The meeting was adjourned with prayer.
Respectfully submitted by Jan McElroy.
Pastor’s report to church council July 12, 2022
1. Welcome aboard to our newest council member Kara Danna!
2. Potluck after worship this Sunday Sept 18. Congregational Life (& helpers) are serving. Please sign up on the board to bring food.
3. Confirmation & youth pizza feed and info night on Wed Sept. 21 at 6:30pm. First confirmation class is Sept 28.
4. Ordination of our own Ethan Bergman will happen here Sun Oct 9 at 3 pm. Ethan will be serving Grace Episcopal part time while still being on faculty part time at CWU. Bishop Kristen Kuempel will be here. Reception after I’m sure. P.s. Bishop Kristen discerned during her sabbatical this summer that she does feel called to serve another term as bishop of our synod (If elected to do so this Spring.)
5. I attended the monthly Kittitas Valley Ministerial meeting on 9-8. Is First Lutheran willing to host one night a week of winter shelter this winter? (The burden is not all on the host church)
Suggest we consider increasing our giving in 2023 to Ministerial Association, line 48. This money goes for bus tickets, tanks of gas, motel rooms… Perhaps $75 or $100?
6. I will be attending the Bishop’s Convocation Mon Oct 24-26 in Coeur d’Alene. Required to spend one more night for a Dean’s meeting. Cost $350. ($25 of that is for a required boundary training workshop).
7. Red Cross blood drive here Mon 9-26 1-6pm.
8. Thanks to Glen Madsen for mowing the lawn and Bea and Ida for garden work.
9. I will officiate at the wedding of Elizabeth Meseck and Tim Bundy on 9-29. Rehearsal the day before.
10. “God’s Work/Our Hands” 2nd annual High Valley Cemetery clean up on Sat. Sept 10. I was out of town on 9-10, but put in some hours at the cemetery on Fri 9-9. Thanks to Debbie Butler for organizing it and to all who participated.
Next meeting Tues Oct 11. Devotions?
Peace in Christ, Pastor Dennis
Field Trips and Events
Youth Games Party
June 3 - 10 people
Art Therapy
June 14 - 20 people
June 16 - 16 people
August 2 - 11 people
Umptanum Falls Hike
June 20 - 10 people
Kittitas History Museum
June 30 - 12 people
Wind Farm Tour
July 11 - 6 people
Woodland Park Zoo
July 21 - 22 people
Clymer Museum Tour
August 3 - 9 people
CWU Planetarium
August 24 - 20 people
Get Air Yakima
August 27 - 11 people
Franklin Falls Hike
August 29 - 9 people
Lutherhaven
August 7-12 8 youth attended
Vacation Bible School
August 14-18
22 kids and 11 youth total
+ an average of 12 adult helpers per day
44 average meal attendance
All of the summer events were a great success! There were always people of different age groups represented. However the youth group participated more than any other age group. It was a great time to get to know each other better. I sure hope we can find some event or time that will encourage more of the seniors of the church to participate.
Property
Most of the carpets were cleaned on August 24.
We are having trouble with the garbage dumpster being filled by other people again. We may have to go back to locking it. We will try the use of a sign first.
We must have had someone come into our fellowship hall after VBS one night. They damaged the office door knob. However we can not find anything else damaged or missing.
One of the south property tenants had an outside planter stolen.
Bible Studies
Both the women and youth just finished a study on Psalms. They will be starting a study on Genesis next week.
Kids Sunday School tried out a different curriculum over the summer. We have decided to go back to following the lectionary with the Wirl Series in November.
The traditional Sunday school teachers took a break over the summer. This gave the youth an opportunity to step up and teach the kids. However they will not be able to help during the school year. We could really use a few more volunteers to teach our kids. Right now we have a few mothers in the teaching rotation. Mothers need to have a break from their kids on Sunday. Plus kids need to have more people influencing their lives than just their parents. Please let me know if you are interested in teaching once a month or even once every other month to allow the mothers to listen to the sermon.
One last thing
We really need to decide what kind of book shelves we want to buy to replace the shelves that were damaged by water and mold. The rolling carts are great but expensive. Should we go with a more traditional shelving system? Could this be purchased in memory of loved ones? Or what fund should it come from?
Thanks everyone.
JulieAnna Boss