Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
Governing Board Minutes

January 13, 2004

President Dave Sengpiel called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Those in attendance were Shawn Woolman, Dan Snyder, Ken Wunsch, Norm Rinderknecht, Deb Kesse, Pastor Burcham, Lou Grotheer, Faith Spark and Dave Sengpiel. Charlotte Nutter and Heather Schmitz were present to give their reports. There were no visitors.

Pastor Burcham opened with prayer and then gave the members of the board information on "The Five Hidden Costs of Leadership". We found them very enlightening and informative. It will give the board a lot of food for thought.

The minutes from the last meeting were read. A motion was made by Deb Kesse and seconded by Shawn Woolman to approve the minutes as read. Motion carried.

Director of ChristCare Group Ministry, Heather Schmitz, focused her report on the highlights of last month efforts on behalf of the ChristCare Equippers concerning ways the Leaders can undertake building community and care outside of their regular meetings. They attended Advent by Candlelight, caroling, enjoyed Family Movie Night, hosting holiday parties, and baked Christmas treats for others. The group has plans to recruit more leaders and increase the size of the existing ChristCare groups.

The treasurer's report for November-December 2003 reported giving in November was $92,560 and December was $131,641. The staff continues to keep their expenses under control. Norm Rinderknecht made a motion to accept the financial statements with a seconded by Shawn Woolman. Motion carried.

Business Manager, Charlotte Nutter, reported that to date over $840,648 has been pledged. In addition, the Organ fund has reached the amount that the congregation approved to go ahead with the purchase. As a result, the organ will be ordered this month with a third of the balance being paid now, another third due after the organ arrives and the final third upon completion of the installation. Charlotte has reviewed staff budgets to make sure that every one is on track. Facilities Manager, Larry Rix, purchased a snow blower to use in helping to keep the sidewalks clean.

Pastor Burcham stated that the stewardship response has been awesome and believes that we truly have been blessed. The Synod has introduced a national LCMS program entitled "Igniting Congregations". The first of a number of meetings took place in Omaha with the second one to be taking place on February 13 and 14th in San Antonio, Texas. Gloria Dei has been recognized as a church with one of the highest adult confirmations in the synod and Pastor and one key church leader has been asked to participate in a two-day conference focused on brining new members into LCMS churches. Follow up to the conference will then be a commitment on behalf of Gloria Dei to mentor other LCMS churches in the area to help them increase their adult confirmations as well. This is an honor for our congregation and it will be a wonderful learning experience. The call committee is still waiting for a call list from President Sieveking so they can move forward.

The governing board approved Gary Wasko and Randy Wolford to serve as new elders to replace Jeff Lang and Shawn Woolman.

Human Resource Chairman, Deb Kesse presented the staff with their bonuses at Christmas.

The Finance Committee informed the board that Gloria Dei needs to create a bonafide "Benevolence Fund" to be a part of its by-laws in order to comply with both IRS and LCMS policies. Funds provided to congregation members who are in need of crisis assistance will then be distributed through the Benevolence fund which is currently a budgeted item. The board will address this at the annual Voters meeting in June at the same time that the revised constitution is presented for congregation approval.

Facilities subcommittee Dan Snyder presented a rough draft of "The Role of The Governing Board" as part of a review of the church's policies and procedures. Board members are asked to review and discuss at the upcoming Governing Board retreat to be held at the end of February

Old Business: The governing board is still waiting for approval of the changes to the constitution from Pastor Sieveking.

New Business: A Nominating Committee for recruiting congregation members to fill the three Governing Board positions that open up at the end of this fiscal year needs to be formed in the upcoming months, for the purpose of identifying members of the congregation who would like to serve.

The Board discussed the problems that need to be addressed relating to the fixing of the parking problems that currently are effecting the traffic flow between services.

Pastor Burcham discussed the opportunity for Gloria Dei to participate (and host) an LCMS authored lay leadership program called DELTO. DELTO is a two-year training program for church lay members, where members would receive synodical training and become certified to lead various ministry programs. Gloria Dei would sponsor the participants with an expectation of a commitment back to Gloria Dei after the training was completed. DELTO offers LCMS congregations an opportunity to expand their volunteer staff with people who have received professional level training.

With no further items to discuss the Lord's Prayer was recited and the meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m. with a motion from Deb Kesse and a second by Norm Rinderknecht.

Respectfully submitted by Faith Spark, recording secretary.