Congregational Life and Outreach Support (CLOS) Ministry Team

September 8, 2015

In attendance: Stephen, Judith, Josie, Bea, Kathy, Lon, and Dutch

CLOS goals:

1.      Continue to enhance and improve communication

2.      Foster small groups

3.      Encourage other ministry teams to embrace “outreach” as a core mission

The current calendar of upcoming 2015 events follows: 

Date	Event	Time	Place	Description/notes
Sept 26	Family hike	8 – 12 am	Meet at church parking lot	Hiking trip to Dripping Springs.  Ad-hoc car pools to get there.
Oct 31	Trunk or Treat	6 – 8 pm; setup starting 4:30 or earlier	Front and parking lot	Saturday so time for big event; alternative to Halloween
Oct 24, Nov 21, and Dec 12	Sell cookbooks at Farmer’s Market	8:30 am – 1 pm	Downtown mall	Like it says right there in the event title

 

1.      Retrospective review on combo potluck/movie with in-betweeners and CLOS team:  on the plus side, the food was great as usual.  On the negative side, we had just a few kids attend, and it was felt that it took too long to combine both a movie and dinner.  Overall, the team felt that the event was not something we would try again next year. 

2.      The team approved going forward with the metro map advertising. Lon volunteered to work with the metro map designer. Estimated cost for the 2.25 x 3 inch ad is $650.

3.      The team discussed other ways to better advertise and we agreed that the most useful advertising would be to concentrate on improving signage in front of the church, as well as improving signage to guide new visitors through the church campus.  Stephen agreed to check out sign ordinances with the city.  Upon inquiry with Vanessa, no designated funding specifically for signs was known to exist.  However, we do have approximately $4500 in designated funding for outreach that can be used for this purpose (in addition to other outreach activities).

4.      Lon reported on plans for the hiking trip on Sept 26.  He will take a group up to Dripping Springs on the morning of Saturday, Sept 26, and advertise within church publications.

5.        Pastor Norm informed the team on feedback from visitors, who said that they felt welcomed prior to the church service but a bit isolated during the after-worship fellowship time.  The team discussed ways to improve in this area and decided to write a couple of articles for the “Good News” and the “Lantern” on the importance of being welcoming to visitors during the after-worship fellowship time.  Judith and Stephen agreed to write articles for the “Good News” and the “Lantern” respectively.

6.      Lon volunteered to make a map of the church grounds for Kathy to put into the visitor bags.

7.      Trunk or Treat planning:  a. Food menu similar to last year’s menu is acceptable, with the addition that we will try to get a Kettle Corn vendor to come out and participate. It was suggested that Gene Christensen may know someone who does this. b. Lon agreed to reserve a jumper c. We agreed to put in a sign-up sheet in a couple of church bulletins to try to recruit volunteers (including costume judging).  The team will also recruit volunteers directly.  d. Bea reported that her friend Greg wants to do the photography again (in conjunction with her husband Carl and perhaps a youth volunteer). e. Judith felt that more booth-like activities would be good.  To encourage this, the team agreed to supply Stephen with a list of potential ideas to make it easier for other session teams to participate.  Also, the CLOS team would buy prizes for the booths. f. We felt that the cars that hand out candy could be parked closer together (less spread out) – this could be taken care of by the parking volunteer. g. We need to ask for cookies starting 3-4 weeks prior to the event.  h. The crafts table would likely consist of picture frame making (to go with the photo booth) and cookie decorating.

8.      The team discussed a possible movie night on October 9^th, but decided against it because we did not feel it would be well attended at this time of the year (summer probably being a better time period).