Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church
Waconia, Minnesota
Church Council Meeting Minutes
Tuesday September 20, 2016 at 6:30 pm
Mission: To learn, serve and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Vision: To be a dynamic, energized worshipping community where all are growing in our
relationship with Jesus Christ, one another and those beyond our walls.
Council Members
Bill Goergen, President
Lisa Moe, Vice President
Craig Sinclair, Treasurer
Rachel Hjelsand, Secretary
Jack Shaw, Building & Maintenance
Kim Sop, Faith Formation
Kari Colby, Life, Growth & Mission
Marit Rinke, Social Outreach
Stan Winnie, Stewardship
Kelly Dreier, Worship & Music
Aaron Kopel – IT & Communications
Dale Peterson – Sr. Pastor
Christine Ruth – Associate Pastor
Present
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Absent
The meeting was called to order by Bill Goergen, council president, at 6:30 p.m.
Devotions: Aaron Kopel led us in devotions and then read the Mission and Vision statements.
Get to Know Our Staff: Susie Watts was our staff representative for this month. Susie shared
that her new title will be “Congregation Connector”. Connecting more people at Faith with more
things being offered at Faith. Susie said her job is to coordinate volunteers. One of the main
ways to do this is through the Gifts to Share inventory. Susie asks that council update their
ministry every year as to any additional needs to be added to the Gifts to Share inventory sheets.
If council does see anything that needs to be added then we need to let Susie know. Gifts to
Share inventories will be handed out in January to the congregation to fill out. Susie said the
Ministry fair held this past Sunday was a great success. There was a huge turn out and by far the
best one yet. We will plan on doing the Ministry Fair the week following Rally Sunday each
year. Susie keeps a data base of volunteers. Susie said the total participants are 3,959 and the
unique participants are 955 – these are people doing more than one thing. Susie said her goal is
to have more unique volunteers. The total worship assistants are 1,033 people. This is the
largest group of people Susie works with. Susie said her goal is to track participation also not
just track service. Susie also handles volunteer recognition and she works closely with Life,
Growth and Mission. Susie talked about the LGM ministry and said this is a ministry that takes
care of its members. It was asked what can council do to help Susie – Promote people to get
involved in our ministries and be part of the ministry fair each year. Susie was thanked for all
her efforts and hard work.
Get to Know Our Ministry: Marit Rinke with Social Outreach was our ministry this month.
Marit said we have updated this mission offering calendar to reflect our current partners. We are
active in planning to highlight the partners in various ways throughout the year. For example, in
August, Pastor Dale had a question answer session with Pastor Dan Carlson during worship so
we could learn more about what is going on in that ministry. During March when the proceeds
from the mission offering go to the food shelf we may try the pack the pew activity where people
can bring groceries into worship and display them in the pews. Marit said that Sunday’s ministry
fair provided opportunities for people to learn about some of our current needs within social
outreach. International Partner – Common Hope – John Bruellman is in full swing as we
prepare for our first mission trip to Guatemala over spring break. We currently have 12 people
committed to going and have room for 3 more. There is enough interest in Common Hope that
we are considering the possibility of another date for a second group to go on a mission trip in
the next year. The end of October we will have someone speaking on behalf of Common Hope
as well as have information about sponsoring a child in Guatemala. National Partner – St.
Joh’s in Texas – We are loosely connected right now but we hope to have a family mission trip
option next summer if possible. Metro Partner – Redeemer Lutheran in North Minneapolis
– We are in need of a passionate person to help this relationship grow. A school bus of about 14
people from Faith attended this year’s block party which is a gathering of about 600-800 North
Minneapolis residents. Faith continues to provide face paint and ice cream treats for this event.
Our fishing outing was cancelled due to bad weather and Pastor Kelly decided it was not possible
to reschedule. We look forward to hosting the event next year and will try to do it earlier in the
summer so rescheduling is an option. We are hoping to get a group from Faith worshipping at
Redeemer once in a while to encourage a relationship with Redeemer. County Partner –
Families Moving Forward – Hosting dates are set through 2017. Our next week is Oct 23-30
so signups are currently happening online as well as on our paper poster in the narthex. One
thing to share is that when we hosted in June we had 99 different people volunteer and 39 of
them were new volunteers. We are excited and are always looking for ways to involve our
congregation. Weekends are always a struggle for us to find volunteers. Local Partner Waconia Untied Food Shelf – The food shelf is officially a nonprofit 401C3 after much work.
We have hired Angela Rud to do some of the administrative tasks. We continue to receive great
support from the community and are able to adequately serve more than 200 households each
month.
Pastor's Reports:
Pastor Dale: Pastor Dale thanked the council members for making the commitment to serve
on council and be in attendance each month at our meetings.
Rally Day was great said Pastor Dale. The carnival was lots of fun for everyone who took part.
Worship attendance for both services was 380 with 120 attending on Wednesday night. And this
past Sunday was the first day of Sunday “Spark” and the Ministry Fair. There were 600 in the
worship services this Sunday including the children before they were dismissed to Spark.
Pastor Dale said they have been having good book studies. Pastor Dale and Pastor Christine
switch off. “Being Mortal” was a book they went through and they are just finishing the book
“Falling Upward”. These book studies are held Thursday mornings at 9:30 said Pastor Dale. He
said they will be starting “Learning to Walk in the Dark”.
This is shaping up to be a very busy and good fall with lots of wonderful things starting up said
Pastor Dale. The Fall Festival on October 1st, PBF Swedish Meatball meal on October 16th and
the Sages progressive dinner on October 2nd just to name a few.
Pastor Dale said that the staff has had so much going on and so much to prepare for this fall.
Please extend a word of thanks and encouragement to them. They really have been working very
hard.
Pastor Dale also shared that there have been 5 weddings in the last months and none have been at
Faith. But they all went well.
Pastor Christine: The Ministry Fair was great said Pastor Christine. I met so many new
young families and they signed up for things. It was wonderful.
Pastor Christine said we have the 3 big events coming. The CONNECT event is the Fall
Festival on October 1st from 5-8. Plan on a great evening of fun, music, food games and
conversation with the main event being a beef brisket meal and delicious sides. Also a bonfire
with games and s’mores. The GROW event is an all-congregational 6 week DVD series
“Soulkeeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You”. Sign up in your neighborhood or on
a night of the week that works best for you. The SERVE event was the Adult Ministry Fair held
this past Sunday and upcoming Powered by Faith, Swedish Meatballs. This is a free event on
Sunday October 16 to celebrate how far we have come. There are 2 seating’s and seating is
limited so be sure to sign up as soon as possible.
There is a dads group starting led by Scott Wambeke to be held Sunday nights at 7:00 pm. And
the Sunday morning adult forums will be at 10:00 with the pastors alternating said Pastor
Christine.
Pastor Christine said there is so much happening and many new things getting launched. She
talked about a possible Latino Mission starting up in Chaska.
I am so grateful said Pastor Christine. How do we promote all these things we have to offer? It
is a good problem to have.
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Treasurer's Report: Craig Sinclair
Motion to approve the Treasurer’s report and Meeting Minutes as submitted by Treasurer Craig
Sinclair and Secretary Rachel Hjelsand via e-mail was made by Aaron Kopel – Secretary report
& Stan Winnie – Treasurer report. The motion was seconded by Jack Shaw – Secretary report &
Kim Sop – Treasurer report. All approved. Motion carried.
Key Discussion Topics: Pastor Dale and Lisa gave a job description update. They said that
they have met with all staff and talked about the roles and responsibilities of each and that more
is being asked of every position. They said they gathered job descriptions of other churches our
size when updating our congregation’s job descriptions. September 15 the job descriptions were
in effect. Included in the 2017 budget is looking at an “office support person” doing
miscellaneous clerical. They still have work to do on this but it is coming along. Lisa also gave
us a Dept. of Labor update. One item is we need to follow time sheets for our employees.
Discussion followed and Aaron had been talked with about the time sheets. Aaron asked about
using excel spread sheet for the employees and it was determined that would work. Pastor Dale
said that the updated job descriptions for all employees has been a good process and they have
had good conversations with all staff.
Craig and Bill said that they are starting the budget process for 2017. They are trying to get a
head of it this year.
Pastor Dale and Kari Colby with Life, Growth & Mission said that the Fall Festival sign up is
very low. Pastor Dale encouraged everyone who is going to sign up to do so ASAP. They may
have to cancel because of low participation and they don’t want to do that.
There will be a council and staff pot luck at Bill’s home on September 27th @ 6:30 – 8:30.
Everyone is asked to bring deserts or salads.
We closed the meeting by saying the Lord's Prayer.
Meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted – Rachel Hjelsand, Secretary
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