STATED SESSION MEETING MINUTES SUMMARY
May 24, 2007 meeting
(The minutes summarized here have been read by the individual Session members, but have not been approved in a Session meeting)
A Stated Session meeting of the Session of Covenant Presbyterian Church was held on Thursday, May 24, 2007, beginning at 6:00 pm at Neill and Nancy Morgan’s house. A quorum was present. The meeting was begun with prayer and a scripture reading by Rev. Morgan. The following business was conducted:
1) TREASURER’S REPORT -- Howard Haun reported that pledge offering is at 105% for the month of April while Sunday offering, considered predictable but not pledged, is at 72%. Year to date pledge income is at 88%. Expenses to date are normal and the interest income from TPF as been received which helps stabilize the income picture.
2) CLERKS REPORT -- Session minutes for 4-19-07 were approved without exceptions. Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church has requested a transfer letter for Mike Taylor and Saint Phillip Presbyterian in Hurst, Texas, has requested transfer letters for Talmadge and Jaylon Buie. Membership transfers were approved. Clerk Joanne Fowler will not be able to attend the May 31 Presbytery meeting. Betty Cameron and David Gattis were elected commissioners. Discussion was held regarding the minutes and summary and it was agreed that the minutes and summary should reflect what was said in Session meetings and not what should have been said. When there are mistakes in what was said, it was agreed that any corrections to minutes and, consequently to the summary, should be made as a correction to the minutes at subsequent meetings. Cyndi Fry requested and got approval for a correction to the minutes of March 15, 2007, to read “They propose approximately $3,000 of the proceeds of Divine Dining be used to sponsor this new program in 2008 and any remaining money be used for Fellowship Hall restoration.”
3) PASTOR’S REPORT – Rev. Morgan gave an extensive report on his ongoing work and interest in natural church development and reported that he continues to attend meetings with a group of Grace Presbytery ministers of mid-sized churches. He reported a recent meeting with a church development consultant and that they continue to study the eight essential elements of a healthy church. Following a recent written survey, our church shows great strength in holistic small groups and the lowest strength in passionate spirituality. Rev. Morgan feels the key is to use our strength in small groups communication to support and leverage our lowest strengths. Rev. Morgan encouraged Session members to empower their committees, and thereby the whole church, to improve the health and vitality of the entire church. A healthy church will be more vital and create a congregation which meets the needs of one another and attracts new members. Rev. Morgan expressed his wish to see more passion toward our mission.
Rev. Morgan encouraged the Session members to attend the North Texas Cursillo, a weekend of spiritual renewal sponsored by Grace Presbytery in November. More details of this event will be available later.
4) EVANGELISM, COMMUNICATION AND MEMBERSHIP REPORT – Bert Garcia encouraged all committee chairpersons to keep him apprised of information/events which would be appropriate for the church marquee sign. The sign is maintained by the ECM committee and is used on the inner side for church member’s information and on the outside for public information. Please put any upcoming church event information in the appropriate church office mailbox. It was also reported that a source for additional money for advertisement of church events was being looked for in order to publicize more than the traditional Christmas and Easter events.
5) FINANCE REPORT – Howard Haun distributed a handout on the Planned Gifts Program of the church and asked members to be ready to discuss and vote on this program at the next meeting. The Endowment Committee’s plan was never adopted in 2005 and has never been implemented. Because of the lack of progress, the Finance Committee and the Endowment Committee (now known as the Planned Gifts Committee) have developed the entirely different plan.
6) OLD BUSINESS – Rev. Morgan reported on the efforts of forming the year round Stewardship Committee are stalled. Lyn Jostes who was asked to chair this committee was declined and Rev. Morgan wants to re-think the addition of three new members for this committee. Rev. Morgan wants to discuss this plan further at the next meeting and consider whether a member of the congregation could coordinate this work without the necessity of adding three new Session members.
Audrey Burnett, a church member, will serve as Young Adult Volunteer to Guatemala from August 2007 through August 2008 and needs to raise $10,000. Rev. Morgan requested that the Session approve Audrey to organize some fund-raising efforts. There will be a Music and Mission Program on June 13 which will give people an opportunity to donate to Aubrey’s cause. Aubrey will be given an opportunity to preach at church on June 17 when Rev. Morgan will be absent to the mission trip.
A letter from Don Clark regarding actions taken by the 217th General Assembly was distributed to Session members. Response to this letter will be discussed at the next Session meeting.
Due to improper notification, the Congregational Meeting was not held on May 20 as proposed. A Congregational Meeting will be called for July 1, 2007, for the purpose of electing a nominating committee to nominate a slate of officers for 2008.
7) The meeting was adjourned with the Lord’s Prayer.