Holy Spirit Vestry Minutes Monday, December 14

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Holy Spirit Vestry Minutes Monday, December 14, 2015

PRESENT: Margaret Borg, Mark Dvarishkis, Scott Jourdonnais, Carla Mettling, Paul Polzin, Karen Shelly, Ann Suter, Lance Collister, Bob Wattenberg, Rev. Terri Ann Grotzinger, Jeannie Warner, Julie Benson, Candice Lindsay Excused: Kathy Swannack 1) Terri –Spiritual Reflection and Prayer. Specifically keeping the following friends in our prayers: a) b) c) d)

Julie Benson’s father Cooper Burchenal Fouad and Fadwa Haddad Laird Robinson

2) Mark – Administration/Business Matters – Consent Agenda Motion to approve the Consent Agenda Items; Seconded; Motion Passed 3) Terri –Parishioners’ concerns & correspondence a) Newcomers: i) Clinton and Sasha Lawson ii) Tom Birch iii) Amy Houssell b) No correspondence at this time. 4) Mark – Stewardship total at the time of the vestry meeting: $346,044.40. Mark is estimating that we may see a 5% increase over last year’s pledge total. 5) Candice – The financial statements were reviewed and items of significance were highlighted. Motion to approve the Treasurer’s report for later audit; Seconded; Motion Passed 6) Candice – 2016 Budget a) Each 2016 budget line item was read along with the budgeted and actual values from 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012. b) Memorial Foundation’s Budget for 2016 is $19,569.00. This breaks out to about: i) 50% for Improvements to Physical Plant ii) 30% for Outreach iii) 10% for Continuing Education iv) 10% for Other c) Specific Points of Discussion regarding the 2016 Budget: i) Deacons ii) Advertising iii) Youth Director iv) Vestry Reserves (includes Mosier Gift) v) Confirmation Director 1

vi) Capital Improvements vii) Lawn Care viii) Compline Service d) Candice pointed out that we could reduce our internet, phone, anti-virus subscription, etc. and suggested that we allow Judy and Elizabeth to take this on. Motion to allow the Parish Administrator and Office Assistant to make decisions regarding the office’s internet, phone and anti-virus provider to potentially reduce costs; Seconded; Motion Passed. e) The discussion regarding the 2016 Budget was tabled for finalization at next meeting due to the meeting running an hour late 7) The Vestry of Holy Spirit Episcopal Church on December 14, 2015, after discussing the amount to be paid to the Rev. Terri Ann Grotzinger as a parsonage allowance, on motion duly made and seconded, adopted the following resolution: Whereas the Rev. Terri Ann Grotzinger is employed as a minister of the Gospel of Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, Missoula, Montana, Diocese of Montana, which does not provide a residence for her, the Vestry resolves that the total compensation of $81,930, to be paid to the Rev. Terri Ann Grotzinger in 2016, that $20,000 be designated as a parsonage allowance within the meaning of that term as used in Section 107 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

8) Terri –While we were having this meeting, a call came into Terri, that the new boiler is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday (12/16/15) and be installed the next day. 9) Next meeting will be held January 11, 2016 Respectfully Submitted,

Ann Suter Clerk of the Vestry

December Rector’s Report to Vestry Rev. Terri is in Colorado for her father’s heart surgery. No report was available when the packet was sent out.

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Vestry Ministry Reports A) Communications – Lance Collister/Scott Jourdonnais (Judy Parock, Chair) Much of our work in communications this past month focused on our two big events: the Holiday Market and our 100th Anniversary Celebration. Publicity for the Holiday Market included a short article on the Missoulian Religion page and a joint ad with St. Paul Lutheran Church promoting both of our holiday bazaars. We also had our own individual ad in the Missoulian promoting the Holiday Market. During Holiday Market week we updated the church Facebook page daily with photos of the workers and the items that were available for sale. We used an insert in the church bulletin and articles in the Spirited Times to also promote the event. The Holiday Market was also listed on Craig’s List, using the poster the office created. Our thanks to Rob Chaney and Tom Bauer from the Missoulian for the wonderful article and photos they put together for our 100th Anniversary Celebration on November 15. The multi-page article was featured in the Territory section of the Sunday paper on November 15. The event was also promoted with a smaller article on the Missoulian Religion page, and the small ad in the Saturday Church Directory in the Missoulian was also changed to reflect the different service time for the celebration as was our phone message concerning service times. Gretchen Strohmaier’s poster-distribution crew passed out our 100th Anniversary posters around town, and the poster was also displayed on the sandwich board sign out on the sidewalk. Some of our ads on KUFM also promoted the event during the week of our celebration. The wonderful story of the Butterfly Grant awarded to the Church School children for their Family Resource Closet project at Lowell School was sent in to the Diocesan e-newsletter and featured in their November newsletter. We also showcased the article in the Spirited Times, and photos of the children shopping and receiving thank you’s from the Resource Officer at Lowell School were featured on the church Facebook page. Lance Collister headed up a new project for our Communications Ministry, the MOO Cards. These are a business-size card with information on one side and pictures of church activities on the other. Lance spent a considerable amount of time choosing photos and creating the copy to be used on the cards. We will use these in the newcomer materials that will be handed out. He also developed a similar card to use to promote our Compline services. Great job, Lance! In anticipation of Lessons and Carols and our other Christmas events, we have freshened up the rotator on the website so that information about Lessons and Carols, the times of our Christmas services, the new “Journey to Bethlehem” activity which will happen at the 4 p.m. Christmas Eve service, the Holiday Market Bake Sale, and how to give money for Christmas flowers was all readily available. We’ve created posters for all of these events and will begin to display them shortly so that information will available to the parish. We’ve also started circulating that information in the Sunday bulletin and Spirited Times. – Judy Parock B) Finance – Bob Wattenberg (Mark Dvarishkis, Chair) C) Holiday Market – Jeannie Warner (Tracey Gage and Diane Rasmuson, Co-Chairs) The Holiday Bake Sale was the final effort in our Fall Fundraising endeavors. It was expertly lead by Laura Taylor, assisted by Bake Sale experts from previous years, as well as some new helpers. Judging by the tables filled with goodies at 9am and the empty tables at noon I think we can declare it to be a resounding success. We had a huge variety of pies, cakes, breads, shortbreads, candy, jams, soup and chez mixes, and of course a large variety of cookies. We also had a large number of shoppers from both the 8 and 10 am services.

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In conjunction with the Bake Sale we also had a Beanie Baby Fishing River which was enjoyed by the children. Some older children helped by hanging the Beanies on the “hooks” dangling in the “river” Some fished to their hearts content, throwing back the Beanies they didn’t want until they “caught” the perfect one. A lot did both; it was fun to watch the children having such fun. Final Figures Bake Holiday Grand Total $10,132.56

for

the Sale Market

Fall

Fundraising

are: $859.50 $9,273.06

D) Newcomers – Margaret Borg (Frank and Beverley Sherman, Jim and Jeanne Clark, Co-Chairs) The Newcomers group has not met but continues to contact those that are identified as guests, visitors and newcomers, provide Welcome bags, and any other help as asked. ̶ Frank Sherman, Co-Chair E)

Parish Life – Kathy Swannack/Margaret Borg (Chair is vacant)

F)

Personnel – Mark Dvarishkis (Mark Dvarishkis, Chair)

G) Properties – Karen Shelly/Grounds; Bob Wattenberg/Buildings (Chair is vacant) This month saw the completion of the parking lot paving and construction. The Properties committee met to discuss the next steps for landscaping the lot. Karen is working up an overall plan of approach. Because of weather, it was agreed that sprinkler and plant installation should wait until spring. A potential hazard is that folks may step off the parking lot curbing and fall because there is a 12 inch drop until the landscaping is installed. It was agreed that putting fill in will cause more problems because of mud issues, therefore a warning fence should be installed. This was accomplished. The chimney over the Parish office has been repaired. Also, final reinstallation of the stained glass window over the sacristy steps has been completed. A new boiler has been ordered to replace the old boiler installed in the late 1970's. Routine reinstallation of the Parish Hall storm windows was completed. A kneeler in the church was repaired. Bob Wattenberg

H) Rummage Sale – Ann Suter (Carol Wolfe, Chair) No report. I)

Social Concerns – Carla Mettling (Glenn Hladek, Chair) Giving Grants ending December 4th: 1) MLK Day sponsorship ($100) 2) Small Library from Chaney/Wattenberg ($200) 3) Request from Hembree application tabled pending more information from Dorcie 4) Rummage Sale grant proposal from Mary Tromly to transport remains from rummage sale to Aaniiah Dakoda College Service Center ($300) 5) $300 grant to 2nd and 3rd grade church school to be used as leverage to provide shoes, socks and clothing through The Family Resource Center at Lowell Elementary school Also voted to provide funding to Chuck and Maggie Teague's Mexico project, MIC, Parenting Place, Hellgate Cares. Upon return of our volunteers, the Mission in Mayanmar group will provide information at the 8 and 10:15 services on Dec. 13th and at a potluck in January. 4

Continued involvement with MIC, specifically a MIC-modeled discernment time, tied to the HSP targeted discussion on church and politics and possible to the Lenten series on environmental justice. Will provide a summary of entire year at the Annual meeting. Our next scheduled meeting is Dec 15th; Thanks for your support. – Glenn Hladek, Social Concerns Chair J)

Spiritual Formation – Julie Benson (Gretchen Strohmaier, Chair) Church School and Spiritual Formation: Compline. Compline continues on the first Sunday of the month. Attendance seems to stay between 35 and 50 with a fair number of folks from the community joining us each month. We continue to look for leadership that can help schedule the Compline volunteers and who can help do publicity for the event within the community. Warm Spirit Project. Seven children from the Church School used a butterfly grant to purchase clothing at Kohl’s for needy children at Lowell Elementary School. After a speech to the managers at Kohl’s they received shopping support from the clerks and significant discounts. In the end they purchased $900 worth of clothing for $300. This group of kids is now working on plans for another service project. Confirmation. Jody Thomasson has decided to step down from her leadership position in Confirmation due to health concerns. Bill Earhart, Linda Phipps, Lindsay Iudicello and Gretchen Strohmaier will work together to fill out the remainder of the year for the monthly Confirmation classes. Myanmar. All of the Myanmar volunteers have now returned and they will begin sharing some stories from their experiences on Sunday December 13th during worship. A Myanmar potluck, complete with pictures and more stories will happen on January 13th at 6:00 pm. Sunday Morning Adult Study. The study of Richard Rohr’s book, Things Hidden, concluded in November. It was a small group which I ncluded a couple of our newest members. Advent Scriptures and Lectio Divina. Terri and Gretchen began an Advent study during that Sunday morning time slot, focusing on the lectionary Gospel texts for Advent as well as the ancient practice of lectio divina, a format for praying the Scripture. Advent Crafts & Lunch. On the first Sunday of Advent, November 29th, we hosted our most successful Advent craft event yet. We served lunch immediately after church and invited folks to stay and do some Advent crafts as well. The event was attended by a great number of people from a large variety of age groups. We had hoped for 30 participants and ended up with more like 75. Church School. Church school children continue to focus on God’s Story, Our Story, My Story. They are exploring the ways in which they see, hear and feel God in day to day life. The attendance numbers have been low this fall (in part due to soccer). We will begin to pull together a short-term group of adults to brainstorm creative ways to boost the attendance of children, doing outreach to new families. – Gretchen Strohmaier, Director of Spiritual Formation Youth Ministry: November was a great month for youth ministry. Early in the month, we held our annual pumpkin bread sale, raising $164 for our youth ministry budget. In addition to our weekly QUEST class, we also held our regular youth group. In advance of Thanksgiving, we focused on gratitude and the way in which gathering at the table for nourishment is used throughout the Bible: as a picture of heaven, as a common metaphor in Jesus' parables and, preeminently, in the Eucharist. 5

Following up on our thoughts about food and gratitude, we had two opportunities this month to serve our larger community. Our youth group spent the Saturday before Thanksgiving volunteering at City Foods, the food pantry of Clark Fork City Church. We bagged coffee and flour, sorted eggs, stocked produce, and helped get the hundreds of pounds of food assistance out the door. This was an eye-opening experience for some of our youth and it was great to participate in helping meet a direct community need. Also, our high school students were invited to attend Faith Beyond, an evening put together by Emmaus Campus Ministry. At this event, students packed nearly 300 lunches for Poverello clients, did an item drive for toiletries for the homeless and wrote letters to homebound members of the participating churches. All in all, it has been a really meaningful month for youth ministry and one that has helped us to be grateful for the abundance in which we live. Gratefully, Lindsay Iudicello K) Stewardship – Paul Polzin/Scott Jourdonnais (Molly Bowler, Chair) The Stewardship Committee has been closely monitoring the pledge drive. There is good news and bad news. Bad news first, we are slightly behind this time last year in terms of the number of pledges. As of December 6, we have received 169. The corresponding figure for last year was 185. We have been running behind during the entire campaign. It could be due to the 100 th anniversary celebration distracting attention away from the pledge drive. The good news, and it is good news, is the average pledge received is up 10.8 percent from last year’s figure. This is primarily due to people increasing their pledge. Last year, 52 percent of the pledges were unchanged from the previous year. This year the corresponding figure is only 27 percent. In terms of total dollars we are still slightly above last year. We now stand at $331,444 as compared to $327,300 last year. – Paul Polzin PLEDGE UPDATE AS OF 12/6/2015

Total number of pledges returned Total number of dollars pledges Total number of pledges remaining the same Total number of pledges increasing Total number of pledges decreasing Total number of newcomer pledges For 2016: 46 pledges remain the same for a total of 103 pledges up for a total of 11 pledges down for a total of 5 No Pledge Lost through death or transfer out (9) 9 newcomer pledges for a total of STEWARDSHIP TOTAL, 12/6/2015

2015 185 $327,300.00 96 64 17 8

$ 61,826.00* 248,044.40 11,970.00

2016 169 $331,444.40 46 103 11 9

+37,390.40* -7,220.00 -3,640.00 -7,700.00

9,604.00 $331,444.40

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