CHURCH COUNCIL MINUTES -- February 8, 2007

Present: Pastor Joan, Pastor Chris, Mary Backlund, Dave Brabec (President), Sharon
        Ingvoldstad, Dean Maier, Denny Holmen, Donna Trapp, Colleen Both and Darrell
        Paske.
Absent: John Wallin and Tami Lueck.
Visitors: Tom Larson, John and Aimee Jambor.

Call to Order: 7:10 p.m.

• Lighting of the Christ Candle.
• Secretary's report
  • Approved minutes of 01-11-06 meeting. M,S,P (Backlund/Both).
  • Approved special meeting minutes (family emergency - reduced work time - Pastor Joan). M,S,P (Paske/Maier).
• Financial report
  • Receipt of additional Holden Trust funds and insurance claim $ (break-in).
• Council participated in Confession and Forgiveness, Devotions and Affirmation of Faith.

Attending: Sandy Simonson and Jim Kraft

Presentation by Jim Kraft explaining the establishment of a "Lutheran Church of the Cross Education Fund." The fund is in memory of Walt Simonson and seeded with $4,000 to initiate a perpetual scholarship fund. Recipients must be church members pursuing post-secondary education. The council was asked to consider adoption of the agreement and acceptance of the proposed fund. M,S,P (Ingvoldstad/Trapp). Thank you to Sandy Simonson for this wonderful gift to Lutheran Church of the Cross.

Reports:

• Pastor Joan
  • Staff retreat will be held in March.
  • Thank you to staff and council for your support during stressful times following Adam's accident.  
  • Pastors and council reviewed/discussed our "Vision of Faith-Centered Council."
  • "Evangelical Lutheran Worship." On Feb. 11th Pastor Joan will conduct a walk-through of our new hymnal. Hymnals can still be purchased. Thank you to volunteers who placed bookplates in ELWs and replaced LBWs with ELWs in the sanctuary.  
  • New Members Sunday is Feb. 18th with a welcome dinner on Feb. 15th at 6:00 p.m.
  • Rev. Bockelman, assistant to the bishop, NE MN Synod, will be with us Sunday March 11th to present "Church size as it relates to congregational life and leadership needs/styles" to the congregation.
  • Joint ELCA Brainerd Lakes worship service - Sunday 4/15 at 11 a.m. at Forestview school in Baxter.
  • M,S,P (Backlund/Holmen) to allocate $42,000/year salary to housing allowance per request from Pastor Joan.
  • Pastor Joan had to cancel Continuing Education participation at a "Head of Staff" seminar in January due to her son's accident and recovery. Also missed attending a seminar last October due to self illness. Scheduled for vacation March 16-25.

• Pastor Chris
  • Lenten devotionals will be mailed shortly.
  • Confirmation small groups will help with Lenten suppers.
  • Luther Crest - 9th grade retreat (2/24-25). Focus: proper relationships/boundaries for friendship, dating and marriage.
  • Infant CPR - A big thank you to Becky Melby and Sheila Avenson for conducting this training.
  • Installation of Children's Ministry co-directors, Sunday 2/25 - both services.
  • First communion instruction for 5th graders (3/4-4/1). A parent is required to attend with each child.
  • Bible postcards began on 2/6/07. Third-to-sixth graders will receive weekly postcards with a suggested bible reading.
  • Thank you to Peggy Carlson and Denae Anderson for continuing work and implementation of "The First Third of Life Emphasis."
  • The Sr. High summer mission trip is proceeding. Fund raising efforts are going well.
  • M,S,P (Backlund/Paske) to allocate $24,000 of annual salary to housing allowance per request from Pastor Chris.

• Outreach
  • "Interfaith Hospitality Network" - great organizational progress. Volunteer meeting on 2 /26/07. Must have host church coordinator and five volunteers attending. So far, 52 people are interested in volunteering. Watch for sign-up sheet. Information meeting on 2/12/07 for LCC volunteers. Would like to give fleece blankets to families who come to IHN. A big thank you to Jane Nemitz for all of her help.
  • "Prayer Shawl and More Ministry" - averaging 12 attendees on Mondays (members and non-members). Would like to expand ministry to members in senior housing, assisted living, etc., who can't get to church for meetings. Need women willing to make blankets for IHN or knit winter scarves or mittens.
  • Feed My Starving Children - a Twin Cities organization - pack nutritious meals to feed starving children. Getting more information.

• Worship and Music
  • First service will begin at 8:15 starting March 4th.
  • Hymnals are available for purchase ($20). See Laurie in the office.
  • Ash Wednesday is Feb. 21st. The ELCA Global Mission Lenten Worship Series will be used as part of this service. Lenten services will include a short monologue by a member followed by discussion, then the Holden Prayer Service. One of the Wednesday services will be a healing service.
  • Easter Vigil will be held the Saturday evening before Easter. Lenten paraments are soon ready.
  • We need someone to be in charge of banners.
  • Sarah Aamot-Lundin would like to order "The Augsburg Choir Book" (67 anthems). Will need funds from the Dedicated Account (Good News Gospel Concert). Cost for 40 copies would be $1,091.88.

• Youth
  • Luther Crest retreat (Feb. 23-24) for 9th grade.
  • Youth Worship and Camp Sunday will be March 4th.
  • "Youth Ministry 101 Retreat" offered by our Synod available for our youth. Stacy is a member of the training team.
  • Starting a Sr. High bible study on Feb. 18th.
  • Justin Ohotto has expressed interest in helping with the youth area of our website.
  • Sr. High is serving at the soup kitchen in March.
  • Ash Wednesday Potato and Salad Bar fundraiser - Feb. 21st.
  • Ice fishing parking - FANTASTIC ! We made $2,485. We tithe our fund raisers, so $250 will be used for a mission decided upon by the youth.

• Congregational Life
  • AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) training - scheduled for Feb. 13 at 3:00 PM and Feb. 20 at 7:00 PM. Staff will attend and anyone interested is encouraged to attend.
  • WELCA has established board members. We have a treasurer and have set a budget for 2007.
  • Jane Nemitz has been meeting with funeral committees and they have compiled a guide book for committee leaders, pastors and the Office Manager. We are heartened by the number of willing workers and their level of participation. We are considering producing a booklet for all members to let them know of opportunities to serve and who to contact. Carolyn Blanck and Sharon Ingvoldstad will be looking into this.
  • Lenten Supper chair people are in place. The Youth are serving on Ash Wednesday and Confirmation groups will assist on subsequent Wednesdays.

• Education
  • Janet and Tammy working hard on the Children's Ministry Program. They will attend a conference in Oakdale on March 24th.
  • Team meetings will be held on Feb. 11th, March 11th and April 15th at 8:30 AM. We are looking for ways to get new, young families involved in planning and developing our children's programs.
  • We will host an Easter Path on Feb. 18th from 9:30 - 10:30 AM - an experimental walk through Easter. All are welcome to participate.   
  • We extend a thank you to the council for their support for adding 15 minutes to the transition time for Sunday School and to the congregation for their vote to move the service time to 8:15 AM.

Old Business:

• Strategic Planning - targeting dates for visits by facilitator Roy Oswald.
• Discussions - Pastor Bockelman visit, Constitution and Bylaws.

New Business:

• Letter of Resignation - Volunteer Coordinator, Marlene Larson, effective March 13, 2007. M,S,P (Ingvoldstad/Maier) to accept the resignation. The council extends a thank you to Marlene for her years of service as Volunteer Coordinator.
• M,S,P (Backlund/Both) to adopt the "Covenant of Conduct" as received from the Synod.
• Reviewed/discussed a list of questions received by President Dave from congregational members.
• M,S,P (Maier/Backlund) to stop mailing the Annual Report at this time. Copies are available at the church office.

We go out in God's name:

• Closing prayer.
• M,S,P (Maier/Ingvoldstad) to adjourn.    

Respectfully submitted,
Denny Holmen, secretary