At the November 14 semi-annual meeting, the congregation elected Perry King as a new deacon and authorized the Board of Trustees to develop a specific plan for church growth, possibly to involve funds from the endowment or the sale of the parsonage, to be in place by March 2005. The congregation also heard about the timetable for calling a new settled minister by April 2006.
Rev. Morn proposed and the congregation approved that Perry King be elected deacon. Moderator Greg Wigle also announced that Perry would be replacing Vicki Pepper on the Board, following her resignation, and presented Vicki with a planter arrangement as a token of appreciation.
Rev. Morn shared her thoughts on the three goals set at the “quick start” meeting in September – increased worship attendance, better building utilization, and a greater sense of peace and joy at church, reminding everyone that the first Friday evening of each month is set aside for healing and breaking of bread together.
Assistant Treasurer Clint McCully gave the financial report for the first half of the fiscal year, which shows income of $56,100 and expenses of $94,900, for a deficit of $38,800, well over the budgeted deficit of $21,400 for the first six months of the fiscal year. (See From the Board of Trustees on page 2 for more details on the church’s finances.) The church sold $30,000 in securities from the endowment to make up the deficit, but the endowment has appreciated, so it is actually worth more now than in April 2004 -- $475,000.
It was reported that efforts continue to try to rent the parsonage for about $2,500 per month. Jeff Jacobs said that he believes the church is grandfathered so that it would not have to pay the cooperative the usual rental penalty of a percentage of the monthly co-op fee.
In response to a question on building usage, Al Templeton said that the Eritrean congregation that meets in Perkins Hall on Sunday mornings will leave some time after the first of the year when their church building renovation is complete.
Moderator Greg Wigle reported that the pledge drive had so far pulled in six pledges for a total of $25,600, more than one-third toward the goal of $75,000.
To open a discussion of the church’s vision, Rev. Morn read the children’s book Mr. Plum’s Paradise. Greg Wigle read a summary of an assessment of the church conducted by organizational development consultant Denise Byrne (available from the church office), which asked two key questions, “What do we need to do right now to overcome our current problems and survive in the short term” and “Are we committed to do what it takes to grow the church now?” During the discussion, David Burton said the church needs a better “product,” that is, better programs, and then should go out and “sell” it, especially to local people. Jennifer Sandberg said she thinks our church needs to face its problems squarely and take risks. She disagreed with two of the “opportunities” listed in Ms. Byrne’s report, saying that she does not think we have a high-quality liturgy because it contains too much gender-specific language and that UNMC is not a draw for liberal religion because people do not know about us. Darrold Hunt, the founder and music director of the Urban Philharmonic Society, thanked UNMC for hosting UPS’ vocal competition and said his organization is looking to build a relationship with a church to reach out to the variety of the people in the community. Sue Mosher said that the Board wanted the congregation to understand that it may be necessary to dip substantially into the endowment or sell the parsonage in order to move the church forward and needed the assurance that the congregation trusted the Board to take whatever actions might be necessary. The congregation authorized the Board to develop a specific plan for program development, building renovation, and sales and marketing to be in place by March 1, 2005. Al Templeton added that the church needs a more organized way to keep the congregation informed as such plans are made.
Sue Mosher presented a timeline for calling a new settled minister by April 2006:
October 2004 – February 2005
Groundwork leading up to congregational election of search committee members in February.
March– September 2005
Search Committee does research and prepares congregational profile for submission by Oct. 1, 2005
October– December 2005
Search Committee prepares for interviews and evaluates candidates.
January – February 2006
Search Committee conducts pre-candidating visits
March 2006
Search Committee selects top candidate and issues an invitation to the candiidating week March 25-April 2, 2006.
April 2006
April 2 – Congregation votes on candidate.
Board negotiates agreement and exact salary/benefits with new minister for inclusion in 2006-7 budget to be voted on in May.
She cited two potential stumbling blocks to the process – the possible need to call a second interim minister to succeed Rev. Morn at the same time that the church is working on a settled minister search and the possibility that the Nominating Committee will not be able to find at least five people to serve on the search committee. She urged all members to study the timeline and consider making a commitment to serve on the search committee.