FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

ADMINISTRATION MINISTRY TEAM

13 May 2008

 Present:  Dina Schroeder (Moderator), Mary Kammann, Carl Connor, Winnie Quinzi,

                Darla Topley

 

Absent:  Mike Bartholomew (Excused)

 

Mary opened the meeting with prayer.

 The Minutes of the April meeting were reviewed and approved as written and submitted.

 OLD BUSINESS:  1)  Matt Holt has performed his initial review of the First Presbyterian Church New Mexico Incorporation documents and the 9-88 Church By-Laws and has found several errors and inconsistencies.  These include a state requirement to renew our incorporation documents and a need to change our legal name from the “First United Presbyterian Church of Las Cruces” to the “First Presbyterian Church of Las Cruces”.  Matt expects to complete his review and recommendations within the next 2 weeks.  We will review his recommendations at our June meeting and bring our findings and recommendations to the Session at the June 17 meeting.

 2)  The selection process for a new Stewardship Campaign Chairman continues after several individuals declined due to other commitments.  Dina plans to meet with our latest candidate before the Session meeting on 20 May.  If we are unable to finalize and announce a new Chairman at the May Session meeting, we will solicit recommendations from the Session and attempt to have a new Chairman in place before the June meeting.

 3)  The absence of simple timesheets in local business products stores and on the world wide web has slowed our plans to develop a formal employee timekeeping system.  We expect to have some preliminary information about what we are planning prior to the Session meeting on May 20.

 4)  We updated our plans to inform the members of our congregation about several topics that affect all members of our congregation and that would also help new members understand some of the processes and procedures that are in place to protect church property.  Having discussed the new Building Use Request Form in the May issue of the Lantern, we plan to address the status of our Phase I Renovation Debt in June; the procedures followed in handling and tracking monies received from pledges, donations, and other sources in July; and the use of church tables, chairs, and other church property by members in August.

 NEW BUSINESS:  1)  In keeping with our Personnel Evaluation and Review Policy, the mid-year employee and Pastor reviews will be distributed to all Elders and Ministry Team Moderators.  The recipients of these evaluation forms should make every effort to complete their evaluations and return them to the Administration Ministry Team Moderator as soon as possible.  Since the feedback requested on these evaluation forms is a critical part of monitoring and improving the operation of our church, it is very important for each evaluator to complete their form(s) and return them on time.

 2)  We received an email last week advising us about maintenance and operational problems with our 2 church vans.  The first problem was that the automatic steps in the “new” (2001) van did not work.  The repair of this van is being handled by the Deacons.  The problem with the older (1994) van was that it was left parked outside by the basketball courts over Saturday night, May 10, instead of being parked in the garage.  This was very troubling because we could not find a completed Van Use Form that would identify who used it and failed to park it in the garage.  The Administration Ministry Team plans to review our Van Use Procedures and practices to determine what can be done to prevent recurrence of this problem.

 3)  The discussion about van usage along with the current high cost of gasoline triggered a discussion about the feasibility of replacing the old 1994 van with a newer and more fuel efficient van.  We intend to pursue this matter to determine the cost of a newer, low mileage 15 passenger van.

 4)  We approved the use of our church van and trailer by Matt Holt and a group of church members from May 25, 2008 through June 1, 2008.  They will be traveling to Juarez in support of the Casas Por Cristo ministry.

 5)  Winnie Quinzi volunteered for training on the May 27 offering collection count so that she can be a trained counting team substitute when needed during June.

 Darla adjourned the meeting with prayer.

 Next meeting: 10 June at 7:00 PM

 Session Meeting:  20 May at 7:00 PM

 Respectfully submitted by Carl Connor

 Phase I Debt:  Congregational Members:  $110,000.00

 Session Action Items:  NONE