St. Barnabas
Episcopal Church
Vestry Meeting
Minutes
December 10, 2006
Present: Fr. Hubbard, Jeff Flick,
Bill Armstrong, Joe Scaturro, Jacquie Louison, Martin Barbour, Robin Gonzales,
Debbie Epting, Barbara Moreno and Brent Bates
I. Opening prayer at 7:06.
II. Spiritual Reflection: Share one of your most personally
inspiring Christmas
experiences.
Responses included:
Participating in the Stations of the
Cross by carrying the cross.
Visiting an orphanage as a child.
Celebrating Christmas in the Marine
Corps.
Spending Christmas in the German
mountains, watching farmers come to town carrying lanterns.
Celebrating the birth of a child.
Helping to prepare the house for
visitors as a child and sharing merriment.
Spending the last Christmas with a
dying relative and treasuring every moment.
Looking out of a church window and
seeing a star directly over a tree.
Spending Christmas in China, noticing
numerous secular Christmas symbols with little or no religious understanding
among the population.
Being filled with the Christmas spirit
in a small Bronx church experiencing many congregational challenges.
Participating in a Christmas Pageant
and visiting an orphanage and a burn unit of a hospital.
Receiving phone calls from two special
people during a particularly sad and lonely Christmas time.
III. Consideration of Minutes of November meeting.
Following the
correction of a typographical error, a motion to accept the minutes was made by
Robin Gonzales and seconded by Jeff Flick.
The motion passed with no dissent.
IV. Treasurer’s Report
Highlights
of the Regular Fund:
We may be able to break even by the end
of the calendar year without using any monies from the building fund.
Highlights of
the Special Funds:
The Sanfilippo Memorial Fund has
received approximately $4,000 to date.
The expense listed under Undesignated
Memorial Fund paid for choir robes.
The Building Fund has received some
small donations.
A motion to
receive the reports to be filed for future audit was made by Jeff Flick and
seconded by Joe Scaturro. The motion
carried unanimously.
Status of
the Audits
Bill Armstrong
gave an update on the status of the audits.
The audits of the financial records for St. Barnabas for 2003-2005
should be completed within the next two weeks.
Suggestions of minor changes include:
The offering counters should not use
white out to make changes but rather cross out error and initial corrections.
The value of the building should be
included in the Annual Report.
Language of the minutes should include
“received reports to be filed”
The value of any contracts should be
included in the Vestry Minutes.
Budget should be formally accepted.
Bill will meet with the auditors on Tuesday at 7:00 to review
suggestions.
2007 Budget and Debt Repayment Plan:
Bill Armstrong presented information comparing existing debt
payments to
the plan approved by the Diocese. The new plan will stretch
payments
through 2026 but will ease debt burden to allow for better
cash flow and
increased missionary spending.
The 2007 Budget Committee will be formed soon and is open to
volunteers in
addition to the mandated members. The committee is open to ideas and
visions from parishioners.
V. Warden’s Report:
Report of the Nominating Committee: The committee met and considered
40 possible candidates for positions of Warden, Vestry, and
delegates to both
the Diocesan Convention and
the Northern Convocation. The following
partial
slate was presented: Susan LeDonne, Kevin McLeod, Harriet
Tagoe, and
Lillian Ashie for vestry.
There are three 3 year vestry positions and one 2
year vestry position open. Robin Gonzales was nominated for an
additional 2
year position. Sandy
Johnson has been nominated for one of the open
Warden positions. Elda
Hubbard and Carolyn Hales have been nominated for
the 2 Northern Convocation positions. A motion to accept the partial slate was
made by Jeff Flick, seconded by Jacquie Louison and passed
unanimously.
VI Old Business:
Follow-up on Goal #1 (servant
leadership). It was noted that the slate of candidates presented represents new
volunteers willing to step into leadership positions- a positive change.
Follow-up on Goal #2 (incorporating new
members). We received very good press recently with an article published in the
South Brunswick Sentinel. Word of mouth
publicity is important as well.
Christmas is a great time for parishioners to reach out to friends and
neighbors inviting them to attend a service.
Follow-up Goal #3 (sufficient
resources)
Stewardship for 2007: The new approach
used this year is thought to be positive.
The forms seem to have more clarity.
Twenty-nine continuing pledges have increased their pledges and there
are five new pledges. At this point,
forty-four previous pledges have not responded. Follow-up mailings will go out to them. Kitty will send thank you notes and status updates to those who
have already pledged. Bill Armstrong noted that people are often willing to
give but some have difficulty with the commitment of making a pledge.
There was some
discussion of upcoming changes in the IRS rules for donations including the
necessity of providing receipts for gifts over $250. Bill Armstrong indicated that we should not be impacted by the
changes as we already provide such documentation.
Fundraisers: Joe Scaturro was thanked
for his efforts organizing the raffle which raised approximately
$1400-1500. Women’s Link raised $200 to
provide winter clothes for an adopted shelter family. Igive.com is not yet yielding results as it is not widely used
and needs greater promotion.
VII New Business:
A motion was made by Jeff Flick to
accept the revised letter of agreement for Deacon Barbara. The motion was seconded by Jacquie Louison
and passed unanimously by the vestry.
There was discussion of whether we
should list ourselves with Princeton Theological Seminary as in need of a
seminarian for 2007-2008. Jeff Flick
suggested that we indicate interest without commitment pending adoption of a
2007 budget. The vestry agreed by
consensus.
The next vestry meeting was set for
Sunday, January 7, 2007 at 7:00 for consideration of the budget and nominations
in preparation for the Annual Meeting on January 21. Bill Armstrong suggested that information regarding the
expectations, terms and responsibilities of vestry members be included in the
annual report to acquaint parishioners with the role. He further suggested consideration of moving the meeting to the
fall to avoid winter weather which may interfere with attendance.
The Parish Leadership Conference is set for Saturday, January
27. Fr. Hubbard inquired whether we
should hire an outside facilitator to lead the meeting. He will seek additional information
regarding cost and availability.
Jeff Flick offered to act as Lay Leader
in Fr. Hubbard’s absence (Dec. 26-28). Fr. Breedlove will be on call.
Reports for the Annual Meeting need to
be submitted by the first week in January as Kitty will be on vacation during
the week prior to the meeting.
Discussion of What’s Hot and What’s Not
at St. Barnabas included the following:
What’s Hot?
Mitten
tree/Outreach in general
Publicity
Youth ministry,
including SAEGs
Youth
Confirmation class
Sunday School
attendance
Women’s Link
fund-raisers and retreats
Pageants
St. Francis Day
service
Church
attendance
8:30 service
Music
Communication
Funerals
Ministry
opportunities for kids
Nominating
committee
Vacation Bible
School
Time, Talents
and Treasures Auction
New Sunday
School space
Ministry
Training (seminarians)
What’s Not?
Time and Talent
sheets
Stewardship-mixed
signals, too early to say
When something
becomes “cold”, if it’s not essential we bury it (Mother’s and Father’s Day
breakfasts).
Martin Barbour expressed concern
regarding the behavior of some students in the Gr.4th-6th
grade class, especially when there are a large number of students in
attendance.
Fr. Hubbard reported that he met with
the directors of the NJ Cursillo to express his concerns.
The meeting closed at 9:10 with
singing of The Grace.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Moreno