Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
Governing Board Minutes

Minutes of Gloria Dei Governing Board

January 10, 2006

•  Attending: Lou Grotheer, Lorrie Graaf , Doug Pals , Deb Kesse , Shawn Woolman , Laurie Peterson , Ken Wunsch , Charles Jackson

•  6:30 p.m. Pres. Deb Kesse called meeting to order

•  Pastor Burcham presented Pastor's Report

•  Attendance – see attached report – December attendance was up for the month over previous month; midweek attendance was about the same as previous month. Christmas Eve services evened out from last year, with room to grow at every service. Annual average attendance for the year is up slightly

•  Ablaze Campaign kicks off on January 15 with announcements and small groups begin meeting on January 22. Lorrie G. spoke of concern members expressed about the short period of program notification prior to the beginning of Ablaze. Pastor spoke of notification in the Weekly Word in mid December. The Ablaze marketing team decided not to further emphasize the program due to the Christmas programs of that time.

•  Women's Connection program was attended by over 50 women from the community

•  Saturday's “NorthWind service begins on January 15 with a “dry run”. There are 38 missionaries signed up for this service. One visitor to the church has signed up as a missionary. Mailers will go out to the community this week, another next week, one during the Easter season and one more later in the year. Elders will decide what benchmarks will determine if the service will continue and to continue to allocate resources to the service. The goal is to have 300 worship each Saturday. If fewer than 60 consistently worship, the service will not continue. Retrofitting the family life center continues with the acoustic tiles almost all in place, the stage will arrive tomorrow and the lighting center later in the week. The sound and video control “cart” is ready to go. The name NorthWind was chosen to give it identity. The “North” is our compass for “True North” or “truth” and “Wind” was chosen for the “Holy Spirit” which blows within us.

•  Stewardship – we are close “in commitments” to where we were this time last year but still have several existing members who haven't completed their pledge yet (more than last year). The church is sending a letter thanking the members for their pledge and displaying the pledge on the back for checking of accuracy of the church's books.

•  Uganda Mission Trip – A mission trip including Pastor Burcham, Chris James and Steve Kohtz is scheduled for March. This came about from a conversation with a Ugandan couple who Steve sang for their wedding in their native language and through his research got in touch with a Lutheran church in Uganda . The church leaders asked for a direct link between Lutherans in Uganda and a church in the US . The Synod has provided funding to Gloria Dei to help offset the cost of this trip and scheduling will begin in the next couple of weeks.

•  Pastor Burcham also presented a report of the various Ministry Action Teams (see attached) with the names of “ministry partners” of each team shown.

•  Staff Report – The office is searching for a part time person in the office. This person will report to Penny.

•  Membership Report – (see attached) Motion was made by Shawn Woolman for approval of the membership report, seconded by Laurie Peterson . The motion was approved by the board

  •  President Deb Kesse asked for corrections and changes to the minutes of the November Governing Board report. There were none noted. Doug Pals moved that the minutes be approved, Shawn Woolman seconded the motion and the board approved the minutes.

  •  Doug Pals presented the Financial Report to the board. Notable was the increase of giving of stock at the end of the year. Ken Wunsch motioned that the Financial Report be approved, Shawn Woolman seconded the motion and the board approved the Financial Report.

  •  Doug Pals and Laurie Peterson presented the “Lead Gloria Dei” report. This program provides classes for members who wish to serve in a position of leadership either now or in the near future. There will be 6 classes offered beginning on February 8 th between 6:00pm and 8:00pm . Presenters will include Ken Wunsch , Pastor Burcham and Deb Kesse . Members who are recommended for election to the Governing Board will be contacted and asked to RSVP by the first Wednesday in February. An announcement for others who wish to attend will be in a letter to be mailed (the draft of the letter was submitted for review) and a weekly word article will be forthcoming. Topics included: Servant Leadership, the Life Cycle of a Church, Congregational Size Theory, Mission and Vision of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Policy based governance, and Demographics.

  •  Nominating Committee for new Governing Board members was formed to contact those members whose names are submitted to ask if they would consider serving and provide expectations and time commitments to those who agree to have their names on the ballot later in the year. Laurie Peterson and Lorrie Graaf will create a Weekly Word article asking for nominations and will contact the nominees.

  •  The Foundation report was given by Shawn Woolman . Small group meetings were the focus of last year's efforts to spread the word about the foundation. This year the foundation will host 2 – 3 “get together” including a Dinner providing a venue to “learn about the goals of the foundation. The foundation dinner is supported by a grant by Thrivent.

  •  Members of the Strategic Planning Ministry Action Team presented plans to hold four town hall meetings on January 29, February 4, February 9 and February 12 to present to the congregation different directions that the church might take in the future and obtain feedback from the members attending. Letters providing information about these meetings will be mailed on Monday January 16 th and articles will be forthcoming in the Weekly Word.

  •  Deb Kesse reported on a meeting between her, Shawn Woolman and Pastor Burcham and Scott Hatfield and three other staff members of the SVPA Architect firm to review the 1999 expansion and consider future options available for expansion of the current Gloria Dei campus. Scott Hatfield provided a fee schedule for services and discussed a time frame in which a report could be prepared to give us a professional opinion of expansion possibilities and costs associated with them. The board discussed using the $3000 currently in the building fund to help provide payment for this report with the understanding that the only pre-determined thought is that we are looking for a direction to follow. Charles Jackson made a motion that the board instead take the funds for the cost of preparing this report from the facilities account rather than from the building fund. Lorrie Graaf seconded the motion and the board approved the motion. Lorrie Graaf recommended that the contract language for the proposal holds them to a period of 5 weeks to prepare the proposal.

  •  At 8:30pm Kevin Wunsch made a motion for adjournment. The motion was seconded by Shawn Woolman . Motion approved. Next meeting on February 7 th rather than February 14 th .