Notes from Consistory Meeting

Greetings,                                                                                                                                            Consistory met on Monday April 12th. The meeting opened with devotion at 7:12 p.m. A normal consistory meeting usually runs from 7:00 until about 9:30 p.m. We open with devotion which usually runs about 10 to 15 minutes. This is designed to help us focus our attention on the proper spirit of the meeting and always serves as a reminder of what we are called to do. After devotion is complete w start the meeting off with the approval of the agenda. This allows us to add anything else we would like to discuss during the meeting. This meeting was a crucial one for buildings and grounds. A lot has happened this past month due to weather. Also included in this meeting was a presentation by Christine Scarano outlining a plan for fund raising for the 2010, 2011 year.
The Normal meeting Consists of the following Agenda:
Opening Devotion, Excused Absences, Approval of Agenda, Correspondence, Pastoral Report, Treasurers Report, Committee Reports (New Business, Church Group Reports) Old Business, Buildings and Grounds Report and Closing Prayer.
While I am only committing to memory here are the highlights from tonight's meeting. The treasurers report indicated we are holding our own for now. Expenses and Income are exactly even. We discussed some of the line items. It is indicated that now that Expenses are way down from last year, it is our goal to try to get monies in reserve for the time a permanent minister is installed. A motion was made to approve the report and motion was passed. Committee and group reports were given. These reports outlined what activities were being planned in the upcoming month ahead. Worship committee is meeting soon as Pulpit supply will be discussed for the summer months. Eltje is following up on a request for August. Youth group retreat is in May and Belonging class (confirmation) class was discussed as well. Eltje was impressed with the size of the class and was appreciative of the adults attending as well. Mark brought up everything that is being done on the website. We discussed that Facebook has been received well and it seems as if more people are migrating to the Website and facebook to keep abreast of things that are going on.
Christine Scarano arrived at 9:00 to present an idea for fundraising for the upcoming 2010 and 2011 year. It is a wonderful idea that ties in a celebration of our 175th anniversary into many upgrades and repairs in the church. A December 2011 event was suggested to celebrate our works and accomplishments in this project. The consistory is taking this under advisement and will start working on this idea in the next month ahead.
One thing was clear in the meeting. We need to start acting on the things that are breaking down on the church premises. Just this past month our furnace broke, the downstairs basement flooded and the alarm in the education building kept going off due to a phone line being chewed out from a bird. There is much to do. We hope to have heat up this week downstairs so the morning service can be a little more comfortable for everyone. We also discussed the great job Eltje does with his services. The Maundy Thursday service was very moving, we thanked Bill Potter for the use of the donkey for Palm Sunday, we had the church open for prayer for a few hours on Good Friday and the Easter Service was a great celebration. Recaps of each service can be found on our website on www.mrchurch.org. Thank you and more info to follow!

Update On Furnace

Greetings, The furnace is being looked at and we hope to have it up and running by next Sunday's service. Our thanks to those that are making this happen. More information will follow as permission is received from a volunteer that is making this happen. Wish us luck and Thank You!!