FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.), LAS CRUCES, NM

STATED SESSION MEETING

TUESDAY, March 17, 2015

 

Moderator Reverend Dr. Norm Story convened the meeting at 7:00 PM and Elder Lyn Ames of the Administration Ministry Team opened it with a prayer.

 

Elders Present:  Lyn Ames, Susan Carlson, Brad Class, Larry Felhauer, Blaine Goss,

Susan Grandle, Danielle Gurnea, Nancy Johnson, Bill Kuyper, Kathleen Marlowe,

Winnie Quinzi, Stephen Taylor, and Dennis Thomas.

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Guest:  Deacon Moderator Bill Marlowe

 

Establish Quorum: The Clerk of Session established that a quorum was present. 

 

Approval of Agenda: The agenda was approved as published.

 

Pastor’s Report:  Pastor Dr. Story told the Session that the basic problem in the congregation is that no one notices when someone is struggling or disappears.  A single pastor can’t track everything or everyone.  He proposes to restructure our Shepherds program around the following basics:  1) It is expected that church officers would worship regularly 2) The new list of members in the Shepherd program consists of local church members.  (shut-ins and homebound are covered by the visitation program, and out-of-town members will be on a separate list.) 3) Each Officer & Shepherd will select who they will shepherd and the number of sheep they can realistically shepherd; 4) The new Shepherd program IS NOT a visitation or phone call program.  It is simply a program for the Shepherd to greet their sheep in church; 5) If your sheep is missing for several weeks, let Pastor Dr. Story know.  The Shepherd may send the missing sheep a short note or call then to ask them a simple “are you OK, I missed you in church” don’t ask them “where were you”; 6) Shepherd are expected to provide accountability of their efforts by sending a brief quarterly report of their shepherd contacts to Pastor Dr. Story.  This report is a critical part of keeping him informed of any problems or issues that the sheep may be experiencing; 7) one helpful way to contact your sheep is to wish them a Happy Birthday, or send them a simple birthday note or card if you see their birthday listed in their church bulletin; 8) as you become more comfortable meeting and talking with your sheep, keep building that personal relationship.

 

Pastor Dr. Story indicated that the shepherds list will be a much smaller list.  As a church officer, each elder and deacon is expected to serve at least one member.  He planned to present our restructured Shepherds program to the Deacons at their meeting on March 19^th.   

 

Pastor Dr. Story reminded the Session that he would be out of the office from April 6^th through April 21^st and asked if there was any interest in moving the April Session meeting to April 28^th.  After a brief discussion a motion was made and seconded to move the regular April Session meeting to April 28, 2015.  The motion was approved by Acclamation.

 

Clerk’s Report:  The Clerk’s Report was as written in the meeting agenda and was on the CONSENT DOCKET.

a. At the February 17, 2015 Session meeting the Clerk was directed to send a letter to the First Presbyterian Church Foundation requesting the FPC Foundation to send the Church $6,000.00 to pay for the drilling and installation of a new irrigation well to replace the existing inoperable well & pump.  The letter was emailed to the FPC Foundation Board of Directors on February 25, 2015.

b. Rev. Dr. Norm Story baptized Nickoulas Ezekiel Pando during church services on Sunday, March 15, 2015.

 

Approval of Minutes:  The Clerk’s Report and the approval of the Minutes of the STATED SESSION MEETING, February 17, 2015, the ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING, February 22, 2015, and the ANNUAL FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH CORPORATE MEETING, February 22, 2015 were on the Agenda Consent Docket and were APPROVED BY CONSENT.

 

Deacon’s Report:  Deacon Moderator Bill Marlowe reported that Rusty Smith would be acting Moderator in his absence.  Moderator Marlowe reported that they have been experiencing some problems getting members to handle requests for emergency funding, and have resolved that issue by breaking the Deacons into teams of 4, with each team serving for 3 months.  They have revised their Deacon’s Handbook to reflect how they are currently addressing the programs they handle, and the problems they find.  The Roadrunner Food Bank distributed 6,700 lbs of food on Monday, March 16^th, but 2,600 lbs of that food were beautiful strawberries.

 

Committee Reports:

 

Administration:  Written with 1 Action Item.  The Team discussed a request from the Music & Worship Decorations Committee for the addition of $800.00 to the M&W 2015 budget to cover the costs of church decorations for the remainder of the year.  This will be tracked as a new budget line item, and will not exceed $500.00 in the 2016 M&W budget.  After a brief discussion a motion was made to approve the $800.00 addition to the M&W 2015 Budget recommended by the committee.   The motion was approved by acclamation.

 

Buildings and Grounds:  The Moderator advised the Session that the $6,000.00 requested from the First Presbyterian Church Foundation to pay for drilling the new irrigation well was received and the new well was drilled and placed in service.

 

Christian Education:  Written with 1 action item.  The Team recommended approval of a Youth lock-in on Saturday night, April 11^th to allow them to finalize their planning & preparation for presenting the Sunrise Service on Easter morning.  Their recommendation was approved by Acclamation.

 

Congregational Life and Outreach Support:  Written with no action items.

 

Missions: Written with no action items.

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Music and Worship: Written with no action items.

 

Foundation:  No meeting, therefore no report.

 

Financial Report for Feb 1 - Feb 28, 2015

 

                   Feb (Actual)    Feb (Budgeted)      YTD (Actual)      YTD (Budgeted)

Income       $27,789.52                                        $59,495.17

Expense     $28,949.03                                        $60,229.14

 

The Consent Motion to receive all Committee Reports and accept the Financial Report was approved.

 

Old Business:  Elder Susan Grandle reported that she was advised that the State approval process necessary to open the Day Care is complete, and they should be able to open shortly.  The Bldg. & Grounds and Christian Education Moderators will meet with the Day Care owner prior to her opening to go over and finalize any changes that may need to be addressed.

 

New Business:  The Session discussed several items that were brought up during the Elder’s Retreat on Saturday, March 7^th.  They are:

a)   The modernizing and updating the church web site.  The Elders attending the Retreat recommended that the Congregational Life & Outreach Support Ministry Team be directed to develop and implement a new website with a target completion date of September 2015.  The Session was advised that Brent Brewer & Jonathan West had volunteered to work on revising and updating the web site in their spare time; and that as volunteers they cannot be held to any specific completion date.  The assignment of this task to CLOS by the Session was intended to formalize the web upgrade project and to ensure that all church officers and church committees support their efforts by promptly providing any information that Brent & Jonathan need to accomplish the upgrade.   A motion was made and seconded for a target completion date of September 2015 for the church web site updating and revision.  The motion was approved by acclamation. 

b)  The Session also discussed another issue brought up during the Elders Retreat; how to improve our outreach to both our community and our church members.  In addition to our Good News and The Lantern publications that are sent to our members, the idea of using short “Minute for Missions” type presentations at the start of regular church services was discussed.  These presentations would be limited to upcoming church-wide events; but one problem with that idea is that unscripted presentations tend to go longer than anticipated.  In order to ensure that special pre-worship presentations are short and concise it was suggested that this could be addressed by developing the written script and submitting it to Pastor Dr. Story at least a week in advance.  It was pointed out that we have historically used a “Minute for Missions” type presentation to announce special church events such as the 1 Great Hour of Sharing, the Deacon’s Hamburger Fry, and our Halloween Trunk or Treat event.  There was also a brief discussion about considering the use of special “Noisy Bucket” Loose Change offerings to fund special events.  Although no decisions were made on any of these suggestions, they will be revisited in the near future.

 

The next Stated Session Meeting will be Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at 7:00 PM. The Buildings & Grounds Ministry Team will be responsible for opening prayer and meditation.

 

Adjournment: Reverend Story adjourned the meeting with prayer at 8:05 PM.

 

 

 

______________________                ______________________                   _____________      

          Carlton Connor                             Rev. Dr. Norm Story                         Date Approved

          Clerk of Session                                   Moderator