Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
Governing Board Minutes

Minutes of Gloria Dei Governing Board Meeting

February 7, 2006

President Deb Kesse called the meeting to order at 6:30pm . Members attending; Deb Kesse , Lorrie Graaf , Laurie Peterson , Scott Snyder , Ken Wunsch , Doug Pals and Charles Jackson .

Pastor Burcham presented the Pastor Report for January. Attendance since the NorthWind Saturday Service began has been over 1000 per weekend. The NorthWind service has been a good community outreach but we cannot quantify the # of new worshipers. Three Hundred chairs are being set up each service and continued growth could mean a second Saturday service may be necessary. A fourth Sunday worship service has been discussed in Staff meetings and in Elder meetings. Next year a second Sunday School is planned. The Sunday schedule may look like this:

•  8:00 Worship Service – remains the same in the Sanctuary

•  9:00 NorthWind style service in the Family Life Center

•  9:30 Grace Place – combination Sunday School and Adult Bible Study

•  10:00 Blended Worship Service in the Sanctuary

•  10:30 Grace Place – combination Sunday School and Adult Bible Study

•  10:30 Contemporary Worship Service in the Family Life Center

A separate Youth Worship Service is a possibility.

Ablaze – 31 small groups are meeting with an average of 10 members per group

Phase 2 is being developed for those groups wanting to continue

Town Hall Meetings – there has been low attendance to these meetings discussing the future direction of the church

Stewardship – to date there are 35 fewer pledges (295 pledges for $907,000) but some are continuing to give without pledging.

Midweek Services throughout Advent with additional services during Holy Week. One on Wednesday, one on Maundy Thursday, two services are planned for Good Friday and there will be a total of 5 Services on Easter Sunday. We had an attendance of 1563 on Easter last year. Next year we will have to look “offsite” for services to accommodate everyone who wishes to worship.

There are additional unexpected expenses to set up the Family Life center for NorthWind Services. Steve Kohtz has requested $9000 for safety equipment for the “light tree” to raise it to the ceiling during the week. Where it is now is interfering with Basketball and Volleyball practice each week and could result in damaged equipment and lighting. Ken Wunsch made a motion that an amount not to exceed $10,000 be set aside in the “capital improvement” section of the budget for routing the wiring off the floor during the NorthWind worship service and for the safety equipment to raise the lighting bar to the ceiling. Laurie Peterson seconded the motion and the board passed the motion.

A motion was made by Charles Jackson to accept the minutes for the January meeting with some noted corrections. Scott Snyder seconded the motion and the board approved the motion.

Lead Gloria Dei report was given by Laurie Peterson – Binders are complete for the first meeting on 2/8 and letters were mailed to everyone who was nominated for Governing Board elections. There will continue to be articles in the Weekly Word.

The Nominating Committee report was given by Deb Kesse . There are 15 names on the list. A call has been made to all those on the list who qualify for election. Discussion was engaged regarding whether the Governing Board gives the nominating committee the power to cull the list based upon the skill sets needed for the board, the demographics of the congregation, and attendance to Lead Gloria Dei training.

Action Items:

The District Convention of the Missouri Synod will be held June 18 – 21. Deb Kesse has volunteered as a Lay Delegate. Shawn Woolman will be the alternate Lay Delegate. Laurie Peterson motioned that the board appoint Deb as the primary delegate and Shawn as the alternate delegate. Charles Jackson seconded the motion and the board approved it.

Doug Pals presented the Financials report. The balance sheet shows good operating cash on hand for this time of year. Our current liabilities (including the projected startup cost for the NorthWind worship service) are not larger than our cash on hand. Pledge income is above budget amount year to date. Expenses continue to come in for NorthWind and are being covered as they occur.

Lorrie Graaf asked how the Tool Shoppe is coming along financially. Doug explained that Tool Shoppe was started with a $5000 initial investment from the church, and while there has not been enough income to repay the $ 5000, there has been sufficient income to cover the cost of the inventory to stock the Tool Shoppe.

Scott Snyder motioned to approve the Financials as presented, Lorrie Graaf seconded. The board passed the motion to approve the financial report.

Discover 201 is scheduled for March 5 th between 3:00 and 7:00 . Board members scheduled to attend are Lou Grotheer, Laurie Peterson and Scott Snyder .

Building Funds – Doug Pals will work with Bill Wishman to come up with a separate fund for gifts to go toward exploration of building projects.

At 8:30 Scott Snyder brought a motion to adjourn the meeting to the board, Lorrie Graaf seconded the motion and the board approved the motion.