Executive Committee Minutes 3-18-19
Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting FINAL
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
March 18, 2019
Attendees: Gerry Born, Wade Huseth, Sara McCormack, Tom Golden, Andrew Seaborg, Pastor Chris Enstead (PC), and Rick Blum.
Devotions – PC played new Lenten podcast available on GS website written and narrated by Carrie Enstead. Everyone was impressed by both content and production quality. PC opened the meeting with prayer.
Minutes of Annual Meeting were taken by Deanne. Sara will contact Deanne to get for submission and approval at the next congregational meeting.
Financial Update
Wade reported his first Finance Committee went well.
At Finance Committee’s request, Linda Baske is looking into why YTD actual salary numbers appear to be outpacing budget. Rick, Wade and PC suggested possible reasons for this, but all agreed to wait for Linda’s analysis. Goal is to make sure we avoid surprises later in the year.
Finance Committee reports liking new format of statements, but still has some suggestions for improvement. Wade will work with Linda Baske to improve clarity in several areas. Wade also wants to create a cashflow statement to supplement income statement.
Wade suggests we restate 2017 and 2018 financials to finally settle the disposition of $70,990 of 2018 pledges received in calendar 2017 before tax law change. This will be for our internal accounting purposes only.
Motion to accept Financial report moved by Sara, seconded by PC. Approved.
Finance Committee Charter – Wade walked EC through draft charter he provided for review prior to meeting. Several changes were discussed. EC agreed on modifications. Wade moved and Sara seconded charter be sent to board for approval.
Audit Committee – Sara moved and PC seconded nominations of Lois O’Rourke, Wendy Johnson, and Deb Simon to Audit Committee for coming year.
Jennie Nemec Gift
Rick shared the story of Jennie Nemec’s extraordinarily generous bequest. A large check was received out of the blue by Linda Baske at church. Jennie died of cancer at 63 in December. Pastor Sheryl spent lots of time with her before her death and was informed near the end that Jennie planned to leave a substantial bequest to Good Shepherd’s general fund for the ongoing work of the church. At the time, neither Sheryl nor anyone at GS had any idea how large the gift would be.
Moving on, Rick reviewed the list of motions he and PC prepared for the meeting. These were discussed in detail. The list with modifications will be sent to Finance Committee for discussion. EC will meet prior to next board meeting in April to review Finance Committee comments. EC looks forward to full board’s discussion and direction re how best to deploy this gift.
After discussion, the EC decided to act in its concurrent capacity as Personnel Committee to address an important, time-sensitive need. This is creating a new administrative support position to help professional staff who had to take over basic administrative tasks in the wake of staff cuts. Wade moved to create a new administrative support position for no more than $21,000 through the remainder of 2019. Motion seconded by Sara. Passed.
Lead Pastor’s Report
Gerry Born and Ross Larson are the only two lay members signed up to attend the synod assembly. Three more lay members are needed to participate. PC knows of members who might be willing to attend if asked. Tom suggested asking the Nominating Committee to help recruit delegates. Many excellent Lenten devotions have been submitted and have been well received by congregants. Feedback on sermons about the Psalms has been very positive. PC looks forward to getting back to big picture pastoral leadership after having spent “way too much time” stressing about budget reductions and staff cuts.
President’s Report
Gerry is getting up to speed with his new job. After nods of encouragement from the EC, he will sign the line of credit contract with Oak Bank. Gerry would appreciate receiving minutes from Shared Vision and Shared Leadership task forces so he feels more in the loop about their progress. Sara agreed that this is an important component of shared leadership and is being rolled out as we spoke. Rick will do his best to help speed up the process.
Tom gave Ex-President’s comments
Thanks to Wade and Sara for stepping up to EC in their first year on board. Excited about future depth of leadership. Encouraged EC to be mindful and supportive of Reconciling in Christ Committee. They have had thoughtful conversations, made great connections, and also encountered frustrations which led to departure of two valued GS members. Goal is congregational vote in late summer/early fall.
Rick Blum’s Report
Rick discussed the dashboard, highlighting attendance numbers. Dashboard shows big increase in per capita giving, but is reflection of MIM being combined with the operating budget. Andrew will write Finance article for next “Messenger” about church’s assets and liabilities, teeing up discussion of capital campaign.
Board Induction Ceremony
Based on spring break vacations and church holidays, PC recommends holding induction ceremony on April 7th. Decision made to hold these at same location as annual meeting so inductions alternate between campuses. This year’s will occur at 10:00 am service in Madison.
PC Review
Tom, Gerry and Andrew will meet with PC to conduct his review.
Joint Leadership Taskforce Recommendations
Tom joined the meeting and began to highlight some of the task force’s recommendations. It was decided that Sara would send out an update
Joint Vision Taskforce update
April Board Meeting
Generosity committee will not present, but capital campaign committee will recommend starting a campaign and recommend a consultant. Sara will present a brief update from Worship, Arts & Music Committee. Need to limit April board meeting agenda to provide adequate time to discuss Nemec gift and capital campaign.
Gerry moved to adjourn and meeting was closed with the Lord’s prayer.
Respectfully submitted by Andrew Seaborg, Board VP and notetaker for the meeting.
