The Cokesbury UMC Leadership Board held its August meeting on Tuesday, Aug 20th, at 7pm in the Fellowship Hall. Please see attached for the meeting notes.
The purpose of the Leadership Board, as chartered and approved at Called Conferences on May 19th and June 23rd, became active on July 1st is to streamline decision making and rolls into one body the duties and responsibilities of the Church Council, Finance Committee, Staff-Parish Relations Committee, and the Trustees.
Leadership Board meetings are open to the congregation and we encourage you to attend as observers on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 7pm in the Fellowship Hall. Note that only Leadership Board members are eligible to vote and any matters that arise, and confidential (personnel and certain legal items) will be held in private, executive session for Board members only.
We encourage you to join us and consider your future participation as board members. Two current members will be rotating off the board at the end of 2025 and will need to be replaced, and members will rotate off at the end of their 3 year terms.
Blessings,
Cokesbury UMC Leadership Board
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Meeting of 8/20/2024:
Names of Attendees: Pastor Gayle Porias, Walter Blair, Bob Kucharuk, Dave Woodman, Lisa Manikas, Kay Fortenberry, Mary Crist, Randy Lamptey
Guests: Cheryl Petitt (on Zoom for finance overview), Eunice Bonner
AGENDA DISCUSSION:
1. Called to order at 7:00pm
2. Devotion and Opening Prayer by Walter
3. Prayer Practice–Lectio Divina, a contemplative way of reading the Bible. It is a way of praying the scriptures that leads us deeper into God’s word. We slow down. We read a short passage more than once. We chew it over slowly and carefully. We savor it. Scripture begins to speak to us in a new way. It speaks to us personally and aids that union we have with God through Christ who is himself the Living Word.
4. Check in with one another–overview of how everyone is doing
5. Board Commentary
–Welcome to the board and guests by Walter
–Board to sign up for opening devotion and opening & closing prayers for upcoming meetings
–Walter reviewed commentary items for ongoing opportunities for service and Study. Highlights included: ESL schedule for upcoming sessions will be done by Sunday; new Bible study begins September 1 with an overview of the Bible; Summer Concert on August 25th with potluck, and Celebration of Life for Olin & Grace Bockes on August 31st
6. Pastor’s Commentary: Indicators of a church’s vitality
– Worship Attendance: Jan. avg 32; Feb. avg 33; Mar. 32; Apr. 41; May 43; June 39; Jul. 35
– Small Group participation: 8-12 Sunday study group and Wednesday prayer group
– Professions of faith: 3 new members this year
– Mission participation: 8 Weekend food bags; 10 Community garden; 6 English language class. The Leadership Board will be planning a retreat to set goals for 2025 (stewardship, property, communication, missions, spiritual formation). New District Superintendent is Rev. Kirk Nave who comes from the Winchester District most recently. Charge Conference will be scheduled in October, date to be determined.
7. Comments on the July 2024 meeting notes–no comments from board members on last month’s meeting notes – accepted as submitted
8. Work Groups
–Discussed the organization of the church groups to consider a facilitator for each of the categories or a facilitator for each individual group.
–Guiding Principles for each group should include scope of the work for each group, reporting mechanisms, progress/events of the group, budget requests, and communication with other groups.
–Suggestion from Bob to have groups report “3 Ups/3 Downs” to share things that are going well and what is challenging
–Board will discuss finalizing the guiding principles at next meeting
9. Reports
–Cheryl Petitt shared financial reports and answered questions from the board
–Streetlight partnership – issue staying current with utility payments
–Working in a deficit each month; need about $12,000 monthly to break even
10. Unfinished Business
–see notes under Work Groups
11. New Business
–Voted unanimously for “Payoff to Return” option to return copier to company and purchase a new office printer
–Apportionments for District and Conference – will discuss further at the next meeting. Apportionments are our tithes and offerings to the greater church that we have not paid 100% since 2015, but we have benefited from other churches apportionments via grants and service.
– Two items discussed but not distributed pending additional review
NEXT MEETING AGENDA
1. Meeting will be Tuesday, September 10th, 7 PM
2. Opening and Closing Prayer next meeting–Bob Kucharuk
3. Guiding Principles for ministry work groups. We will start with SPRC, Trustees, and Finance responsibilities.
4. Streetlight and Hope House Discussion
5. Apportionments
12. Closing Prayer–Walter Blair
Adjourned at 8:08 PM