Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
Governing Board Minutes

 October 17, 2006 Meeting Minutes

Pastor Burcham opened the meeting with prayer.

President Kesse called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. Those in attendance were Shawn Woolman, Ken Wunsch, Scott Snyder, Doug Pals, Kevin Kelley, Lorrie Graaf, Deb Kesse, Laurie Petersen, and Marvin Rohn.

Board Relations - A discussion was held related to maintaining and sustaining Governing Board relationships. To help strengthen and enhance the Board's functioning as a team, members will use a tool based on the book, Now, Discover Your Strengths .

Policy Governance – Gloria Dei operates under policy governance system. As part of this system, the Governing Board is beginning to rework the “ends” statements. (Note: Ends are used to identify needs and target recipients; and determine the cost for meeting the needs.) A majority of the November 2006 Board meeting will be spent drafting ends statements.

Executive Director - The Board discussed the creation of an Executive Director position that would, in general, be responsible for staff and church budget oversight. The current policies related to personnel and finances will be reviewed during the November 2006 Board meeting.

Policy Manual – The Board agreed that all policies need to be reviewed on an annual basis. This procedure will begin after the ends are identified; in the event new needs, thus requiring new policies, are identified.

Strategic Planning – Having achieved the charge it was given approximately one year ago, the Strategic Ministry Action Team has been disbanded. The Board discussed the need to now make a decision regarding the next phase of the strategic planning process. By consensus, the members agreed to identify strategic planning ends before determining next steps.

As part of its work, the Strategic Ministry Action Team had started a communication plan for the next phase. Pastor Burcham will establish a Communication Ministry Action Team for the purpose of developing Phase II of the plan.

Meeting Agenda – The Board agreed to pilot a new agenda format that will include monitoring affirmation, consent agenda items, and self-evaluation.

Senior Pastor's Report - The Board reviewed and approved by consensus the report dated October 17, 2006. Following is a brief summary of the report:

•  Worship Attendance:

•  There has been somewhat of a decrease in attendance at the 10:00 a.m. service. Staff has identified and implemented strategies to help address the issue.

•  The Saturday evening service continues to draw in visitors.

•  Staffing:

•  Marlys Adrian has been employed as the office Administrative Assistant.

•  Plans are to hire a part time (15 hours/week) support person for the Director of Youth Ministry.

•  Conferences:

As part of the Pastoral Leadership Institute, Pastor Burcham attended the first session of a two-year program called “Governance and Executive Training.”.

Secretary's Minutes - The minutes of the September 12, 2006 meeting were reviewed and approved by consensus.

Treasurer' Report - The financial report was presented, and, following a short discussion, was accepted by consensus .

Following the recitation of the Lord's Prayer, the meeting was adjourned at 10:15 p.m.