GCC Annual Budget Mtg Minutes (Dec. 19, 2010)

Grace Community Church

Congregational Meeting

Dec. 19, 2010

Facilitator: Pastor Guy Basso

Pastor Guy opened in prayer.

Ministry reports were distributed for individual review.

Confidential ballots were distributed for the membership to elect new Council members. The ballots included the following nominations:

Moderator: Tim Howard

Secretary: Annette Anderson

At large member: Blain Harris

At large member: Daniel Porter

All nominated individuals were confirmed by the membership vote.

Jim Cross provided copies of financial statements for the year ended August 31, 2010; Year to date November 30, 2010 and an updated budget for the church’s capital improvement activities.

The capital improvement budget has been updated after receiving more accurate numbers for foyer and fellowship hall improvements. Estimates for master planning and general contracting were eliminated because they are no longer needed. The estimated cost has decreased overall.

Questions were raised regarding the terms of our outstanding Citizen’s Bank loan and plans to incur further debt. So far, the Church has not incurred any additional debt for the repair and updating that has been completed. In the previous congregational meeting in January 2010, the initial budget for capital improvements had been approved with the understanding that it would likely mean incurring some debt.

Motion: a motion was made to hold another membership meeting in the near future to determine if debt should indeed be incurred for the facility updates. The motion did not pass.

Pastor Guy closed in prayer.

GCC Council Mtg for Dec. 2010

Grace Community Church Council Meeting

12/14/2010

Attending: Chuck Baker, Guy Basso, Dave Bertolini, Jim Cross, Susie Futrell, Bob Herndon, Kristie Taylor, Angela Stockdall

Guests: Brian Richards, Scott Chapman, Tim Howard

Chuck opened with prayer.

November minutes were approved.

Presentation

Scott Chapman and Brian Richards presented the services of ServPro and requested that the church make an investment in response tools such as wet floor signs, etc. A request was also made for the church to give a deeper consideration for emergency preparedness and consider developing an emergency plan and possibly even running some mock emergency drills. ServPro offers emergency preparedness classes, and they provide cleanup and restoration services after damage does happen (water, fire, smoke, violent crime). They are on-call to respond 24/7. They can also provide general cleaning such as carpet cleaning and post-construction cleaning.

Agreed: It would be good to put a general emergency plan in place and involve our insurance agent for input. The Council decided that a small workgroup would convene to draft a plan, but it will be tabled until after the first of the New Year when the new Council members are on board.

Safety note

There is a divot in the east sidewalk which is a tripping hazard and needs to be filled.

Insurance

Church Mutual Insurance is up for renewal in Oct. 2011. An appraiser has visited the property to do a valuation, and we have been told that taxes may increase next year.

Pastors’ Guy’s Updates

§ Pastor Guy wrote to Diego twice.

§ The congregational meeting is this Sunday. Ministry reports. Blain Harris and Daniel Porter will be nominated as members. Tim Howard will be nominated as Moderator. Annette Anderson will be nominated as Secretary.

§ Jan. 2 will be a communion service.

§ Matthew and Theresa Hicks joined the church membership.

§ A 90-day Bible reading campaign will begin in February. A Sunday school class and sermon series will run concurrently to support the campaign.

§ Pastor Guy will be finishing his sabbatical time during the full month of January and the first week of February.

Pastor Dave’s Updates

The church has begun a new outreach effort with Outreach.com. A welcome postcard is automatically sent to anyone moving to homes within a 5-mile perimeter of the church. Dutch Bros. is partnering with us to put a $3 coupon on the postcard. Outreach sends the church a list of the names on a monthly basis. Cost is $.70 per card, and the cards will outline general church information.

Vehicle Policy

A draft safety checklist was reviewed. The list is likely something we would use for a quarterly maintenance check.

Church Mutual insurance has provided Jodie with a form to complete for each potential driver of the church van. Jodie will submit these forms to the insurance company which will conduct background checks and decide who is valid to drive church vehicles based on insurance requirements.

ACTION: Dave will identify someone to put together a short driver requirement list such as watch video, review safety inspection checklist, complete the driver request form for Jodie to submit to insurance, familiarize themselves with the vehicle function (lights, emergency brakes, etc).

Equipment Check-Out Sheet

A draft check out sheet was reviewed and approved for use whenever items or equipment are borrowed from the church for personal use. It was suggested that “checked out by” be added. Once added, the sheet is approved. They will be kept in the office for use.

Tara is the main point of contact in the office for all check out requests.

Anyone on staff could potentially check-in the items if they are willing to assess the condition and sign it in on the original check-out roster.

Capital Projects Updates

Budget – Jim provided an updated budget for review.

Denise, the interior designer, will help coordinate the bid collection from contractors and will soon provide the church a recommendation and bid for re-design of the interior.

The budget needs have changed for the overall project, and the approval for the amended budget will be put up for membership vote during this week’s congregational meeting.

Interior update activities – We will likely need 4-6 weeks to complete the updates. We will move forward with starting the update activities as soon as possible.

ACTION: The hot water heater downstairs is leaking and needs to be replaced. Council approved the replacement, and Bob will proceed with it.

ACTION: The drinking fountain also needs to be replaced. Chuck is looking into price options.

Congregational Meeting December 19

The meeting will be in Room 2 of Bldg A.

Pastor Guy will facilitate.

The meeting will be limited to one hour, 11:00 – 12:00.

Agenda will include ministry leaders’ reports, ballot votes for Council nominees, and a vote for an updated facility refreshening budget.

Budget Review

The budget activity was reviewed. We are currently running behind budget and will continue to closely monitor activity.

Escrip

All Escrip donation designations through Safeway ended as of November 1. Anyone wishing to designate a portion of their Safeway purchases to be given back to Grace Community Church and/or Grace Christian Preschool needs to go online and set up their accounts at www.escrip.com. Tara has been finalizing bulletin inserts to notify the congregation.

Council Membership

Council wishes to extend a huge thanks to Bob Herndon for his faithful service on Council for the past 2 years! This was his last meeting.

The next council meeting was set for Jan. 11 at 6:30 in the Conference Room.

Kristie closed in prayer.

All Church Business Meeting Dec. 19, 2010

There is one of our two all church business meeting on Sunday during the SS hour (11am-12pm) in room 2 of building A. All are invited to receive reports of each of the ministry leaders, hear the latest on our Fellowship Hall remodel project and vote on the new council members (voting is members only).

Come support our church by being informed and involved in what is happening at Grace CC.

Annual Church Business Meeting Dec. 19

We are having our annual church business meeting on December 19th at 5:00pm. This is a time to receive reports from our ministry leaders, vote in new council members, ask questions and hear what is coming next for Grace Community Church. This meeting is open for all attendees and members. Only member have the opportunity to vote.

A New Holiday Tradition

We all do Christmas Trees, listen to Christmas music eat the cookies, drink the cider and give gifts right? Ever wanted to do something more spiritual around the holidays? Check out this article on The Jesse Tree Tradition!http://www.crosswalk.com/11641703/

November 2010 Council Mtg Minutes

Grace Community Church Council Meeting

11/9/2010

Attending: Mike Moore, Chuck Baker, Guy Basso, Dave Bertolini, Jim Cross, Susie Futrell, Bob Herndon, Kristie Taylor.

Dave opened with prayer.

Council meeting was called to order by Mike Moore.

October minutes were approved.

Facilities Projects Status

Council reviewed the current budget status of facility updates.

* We have sold the old metal folding chairs.

* Our costs for master site planning will likely be significantly less than originally budgeted.

* We have obtained a bid for $1000 to replace 3 ovens in the kitchen which includes free labor. A motion was made to include 3 new stoves in the “freshening” budget as previously discussed in March and April 2010. Motion was approved.

· The exterior cross replacement will total about $1000 more than originally anticipated. Council approved the increase and will move forward to install a metal lighted cross.

· Chuck and Bob met with an interior designer for input about how to best address the fellowship hall updates. She will be getting back to them with more concrete recommendations.

Action: Chuck and Bob will bring the recommendations to the next meeting for discussion.

Action: Bob will complete bid activities and get them to Jim to plug into the capital improvement budget.

Action: Jim will bring the updated capital improvements budget to the next meeting for review.

Action: Dave will check with Tara about establishing a check-out process for church property and will send it to Kristie to distribute to Council for review.

Budget Review

The budget activity was reviewed. We are on budget for September and October.

Jim will prepare a budget planning session for next year’s planning cycle. Council will attempt to budget the cash amounts in the months the expenses are expected to be incurred to assist in careful monitoring throughout the year.

The Church Mutual insurance policy is being updated. We are required to address a few issues including the installation of a barrier at the top of the basement stairs, establishing a vehicle and driver policy, and updating and storing the asset inventory list and video record.

Action: Tara will email the vehicle policy out to Council for review. It needs to address the required age of drivers and insurance requirements per driver and vehicle.

Pastors Update:

Dave has begun his new role and is working on enhancing communication between Council, Elders, and the congregation. He is using Facebook and Twitter in addition to the use of our website for electronic communications. Additionally, his role is to communicate direction, requests, and information to the ministry leaders via bi-monthly meetings.

Pastor Guy enjoyed his sabbatical time.

He will lead a December sermon series called “Advent Conspiracy” – Worship Fully, Give More, Spend Less, Love All.

The Door Hanger outreach will occur in March leading up to Easter.

Jews for Jesus will be performing at our church on Palm Sunday.

Tim Howard is now leading a prayer ministry for GCC. The prayer team will stay after the close of Sunday services to meet with those wanting prayer. Training for the team will be Nov. 21, and the prayer activity will begin in December.

Teacher standards and training is being discussed. Charisa is hosting a teacher training in the coming months.

Library update – There are some improvement ideas that are being considered.

Pastor Guy will continue to preach from Ephesians this month.

Connections 101 will be held over the next 3 weeks.

Council member recruitment is going well.

Council Membership and Documentation

Chris Flaming has stepped down as Secretary. Kristie is filling in until a new Secretary is appointed. Angela is still on the financial paperwork and will remain as an authorized signer until the Secretary position is filled as well. This was Mike’s last meeting as moderator. His service and leadership have been greatly appreciated!

There will be a tentative church membership meeting Dec. 19 to vote in new Council members.

Food For the Hungry in Peru

While there are no additional planned trips to Peru, our church would still have the opportunity to lead groups there. Anyone interested in leading a group in the future will need to be qualified by the Elders to do so.

Food For the Hungry is no longer supporting the community of Acho Mego effective December 2010. We are hopeful that Food For the Hungry will communicate the termination of support to existing child sponsorships in that community, and we anticipate they will ask those families to assume sponsorship of another child in a different community.

The next council meeting was set for Dec. 14 at 6:30 in the Conference Room.

Chuck closed in prayer.

This is a day that many Christians today face with fear and trepidation. However, I came across a passage today that puts the election into perspective. It is Psalm 2.

1Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
²The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
³"Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us."

⁴He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
⁵Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
⁶"As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill."

⁷I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
⁸Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
⁹You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel."

¹⁰Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
¹² Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.