CHURH COUNCIL MINUTES
January 13, 2011

• Devotions, Pastor Glenn
  

• Call to order, Carol Smith
  
• Secretary's Report, Rick Jensen --  Approval of December Council minutes with
  minor changes (M/S/P – Thorson/Larson).
  
• Treasurer's Report, Colleen Both -- Approval of December Treasurer’s report (M/S/P – Thorson/Larson).
  

Old Business

• No old business was presented.
  

• Council Housekeeping matters.
• Defibrillator Update - Received information on Lifepak AED (defibrillator).
• Wedding Reception - Discussion of renting out Celebration Center for weddings not held at LCC, referred to executive committee (M/S/P –Both/Thorson).
• Pastor Glenn updated council on progress of transition team.
  

• Goals for Second Quarter: January 1, 2011 – March 31, 2011
• Word and Sacrament Ministry which includes: focus on preparation for Lenten season and first plans toward Easter; intentional planning for resumption of Saturday worship beginning May 7 - through Worship and Music Committee.
  
• Pastoral presence and leadership with Stewardship Committee with focus work on design of 2011 Stewardship Emphasis; Creation of a culture of generosity at LCC.
• Continued work on Vision | Mission | Commitment with emphasis on Time and Talent and incorporation of the Six Marks of Discipleship.
  
• Fifteen One-on-One home visits.
• Transition Team: Pastoral Leadership in Transition Process with special attention to creation of Mission/Vision/Core Values statements. A major focus on planning for a congregation-wide event in early April with MRH consulting services to move this process into a final stage of completion.
• Continue to work with Council in Governance Structure Constitutional by-laws with completion of design by June 30, 2011.
• Reconstitution of the Life-Long Learning Team with focus on growing our adult membership into mature faith.
• Review and update of LCC membership rolls - work with Pr. Bruce and Council over a three-month period in this process.
• General Pastoral Care: Completed or in process.
  
• Advent/Christmas worship opportunities including a new format for 4:00 pm and 5:30 pm.
  
• Christmas Eve services to be more inclusive for families and the first try at a service for the Blessing of households.
  
• Worship Planning completed through March 27 as we continue to work three months ahead with more intentional conversation between all people involved in the weekly worship process.
  
• Annual Reviews of all staff completed in cooperation with Personnel Committee and reviews placed on file.
  
• Budget process completed.
  
• Transition Team with average of four meetings a month for this purpose. Making progress on all fronts with more clarity for how we will create an updated Mission Vision statement in a way that involves the congregation in the process.
  
• Six in-home visits with many "drop-in" visits in the course of a month.
  
• General Pastoral Care of home communion, hospital, pastoral counseling and ministry of presence.
  

• We may have as many as six or seven families joining as new members, with a tentative new member Sunday set for February 20.
  
• Visitation continues and our shut-ins are getting visited. Seven visits to shut-ins, four hospital visits, one new member visit. Our Eucharistic ministry team completed four visits during December. A second Eucharistic minister started visits in December. At this point we have three Eucharistic "teams" doing visits, although not all of them go out on a regular basis.
• As part of their curriculum this year, our ninth grade confirmation students each received $5 during November. The idea, as in years past, is to give our students an idea as to what they can do as individuals, and even more, what they can do when they combine their resources. Ninth grade confirmation students raised $618 as their project during November/December which was donated to Amanda LaMere.
• Pastor Glenn and I will be working on our membership rolls, along with the Council, anticipating a three-month process.
  
• As I noted last month, I attended a training program led by Peter Steinke at Luther Seminary on December 1-2. Along with discussions relating to "family systems" this was aimed at raising "consciousness and action regarding mission by establishing a "mission school" inside congregations. Following up and possibly implementing parts of this program will be a long-term process, which actually is designed to continue for the life of our congregation.
  
• Advent services were well received by those who attended, but overall, attendance was disappointing. Our Wednesday night family nights continue, however, with a change of direction. They have included a brief family/children-oriented worship service with a short children-directed homily each night, along with a family mealtime. Due to poor attendance, sometimes no attendance, we have discontinued the worship portion of the evening, extended the time for the meal and moved the "What's in the Bible" class back to 6:30 pm. We are continuing to review this program with the idea that we will make changes and work with other committees to fill needs in our worship community.
• The new "family-friendly/kid-friendly" services on Christmas Eve were a resounding success.
  
• Attendance was 449 at the 4:00 pm service, 232 at the 5:30, 207 at 7:00 and 66 at 10:30. The two late services were traditional with Holy Communion.
  

• We have reached our first goal of $100,000 from our Vision/Mission/Commitment program.
  
• Discussion about church council hosting Lenten supper.
  

• Discussion about Saturday services.
  

• We wil host the Interfaith Hospitality Network the week of February 6th.
  
• Dresses for Africa, accepting fabrics of 1 yard or more to make dresses to donate, collection box at church, also there is a need for assistance making the dresses.

• Christmas program was a hit at the new time of 4:00 with the Living Nativity afterwards. We went over the final for the 2010 Final Budget which was $7,874.90. This means that Children's Ministry did exceed their budget by $674.90. This overage can be reflected in the additional purchases of Bibles, Sunday school curriculum costs, VBS Supplies, and minor overages in Advent Fair and Rally Day costs.
  
• We are looking at VBS themes for this summer; our choices right now are "Pandamania” and "Hometown Nazareth." We are also looking at using one from last year at a reduced cost with the theme "The High Seas." Once the starter kits get here we will have a better idea which one is going to work the best.
• Family Night on Wednesdays is changing a little. Dinner will be served from 5:30-6:30 and then "What's in the Bible?" class will be from 6:30-7:00. There will no longer be a short church service after the class.
  
• New pager system in the nursery thanks to Women of the ELCA.
  
• The Sunday School kids are singing in church on January 23.
  

  Contact us:
Lutheran Church of the Cross
On Hiway 13 just east of Hiway 371 at Sportland Corner
P.O. Box 29
Nisswa, MN 56468
Phone: 218/963-2564   Fax: 218/963-0294
Email: lcc@lccnisswa.org