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Meeting Minutes & Important Dates To post items or make changes please e-mail randysch@sover.net Every Wednesday morning 8-10 AM coffee and fellowship Bible Study following worship on Sunday July 10 is Deacon's meeting at 6:30 PM July 16 is Church Council at 5PM July 22 LKG Luncheon 12:30 pm. Haystack Country Club. August 22. the LKG will be hosting the Welcome Center. We will need baked goods and people to help CHURCH
COUNCIL MINUTES
May 14, 2008 Present: Chuck Gentilin (Moderator), Charlotte Bond (LKG), Nelson Bond (Treas.), Rev. Brenda Adcock, (Pastor) Jill Gentilin (Clerk), Bill Hamilton (Trustee, Leni Brown (Deacon) Opening: Rev. Adcock opened the meeting with a prayer. The minutes were approved as read Treasurer’s Report: Nelson reported that he had $7400 in the checking account. Most of this money has already been committed to pay bills The LKG paid $1200 of their yearly $2000 pledge and without this money, the checking account would be in a debit situation. Deacon’s Report: Leni reported that the wedding policy has been revised. Jill thought that we might need to raise the money guests paid for the use of the sanctuary. The Deacons had added a cleaning fee. Bill thought we should have one bundled rate that included everything. The Deacons will review these suggestions. LKG: The Annual Luncheon will be held on July 22 at 12:30 PM at Haystack. The Memorial Sale made over $10000. Trustees: Bill said they were prioritizing the list of items that were to be done. They have already completed some interior drainage work, insulation, and the floor of the basement with removal of the rug and painting the floor is being done The number one project is to install new hot water heating. Bill and Herb will travel to Montpelier to see if there are any state funds available for the energy efficiency of this project The new system should increase energy savings of 75%. Completion of this will allow them to move forward on a bathroom and shower for ski groups. Pastor: Rev Adcock reported on a positive response to the current book discussion. She would like the Church Council to review a CD called “For the Bible Tells Us So”. This presents a discussion on what scripture says about the Open and Affirming subject. The Search Committee would like some direction on this as they look for a settled pastor. We will now start Sunday service with five minutes of music before announcements to help people recognize we are preparing for worship. There was a proposal from the book discussion to do away with announcements before worship but it doesn’t seem we are ready for that. Old Business: Chuck asked members to do a six month review of the Annual Meeting Minutes to see if there are items that we had neglected to do. Replacement of cots downstairs had already been accomplished New Business: Brenda would like a phone answering system to be installed that would allow her to access confidential phone calls that might be placed to the church from home. Now that answering machine allows anyone to access these messages. Charlotte moved that Bill would contact the Fairpoint Phone Co. to check out getting voice mail system for the phone in the church whose cost would not exceed $12/mo. The motion was carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted Jill Gentilin These minutes have not been approved Help The United Church
of Christ Respond Recent flooding in the
Midwest has severely impacted the region. Flooding has reached record
levels causing damages to homes, buildings, dams, and agricultural
fields. Thousands have been impacted and volunteers have begun
response efforts, even as more storms are predicted. In addition
portions of the Midwest have not begun to recover from a series of
deadly tornadoes. VT Conference, Disaster Response Ministries Coordinators LKG
MINUTES
June3, 2008 Present:
Charlotte Bond
(President), Eleanor Havness (Treasurer), Jill Gentilin (Secretary)
Sandy Barber, and Leni Brown Opening:
Charlotte read from the
“Spring of Life”. We
did a check in with each other. The minutes were read and approved.
Eleanor reported that we have $2027.03 in the treasury after paying
$1200 of our pledge to the church.
We made over $1000 from the Memorial Day Sale. We thought the
soup sale was successful but we need to warm the soup before placing
them in the crock pots. More people are needed to help with the early
set up. July
Luncheon: This will be held on July 22. Harrietta will be asked to check out
Haystack and Charlotte will investigate the Valley Diner.
If neither of these work out, Jill will talk to Betsy about
Dot’s of Dover. Welcome
Center: Our date for this is Aug 22, a Friday. Jill will contact Grafton
Cheese for a donation and Charlotte will call Green Mountain. 150th
Events: Eleanor has been
working on a possible date for a Mystery Theatre Dinner. We discussed
possible sites since the Grand Summit is too expensive. We suggested
looking into Sitzmark or the Mountaineer. Cleaning:
A date to clean the kitchen and library will be postponed until after
the floor in the basement is redone. We
adjourned at 8:15 P.m. with a closing prayer by Charlotte Respectfully
submitted Jill
Gentilin These minutes have not been approved. Notes
from the Deacons June 5, 2008 Present:
Leni Brown (Chair), Rev.
Brenda Adcock (Interim Pastor), Jill Gentilin, Harrietta Hamilton Opening:
An opening prayer was read
together. Dates
for Deacons:
June 8
Leni with Anna Cashman doing some of the lay reading June
15
Mikie June
22
Jill June
29
Harrietta
July 7
Harrietta will prepare communion and Jill will read Bible
Study: We discussed ordering the Marcus Borg study on Paul which is a 12
session DVD study. Everyone
wanted to do this and we will order it. Mission
Offering: We missed the
date for “One Great Hour of Sharing”.
There is a pamphlet on Jill’s computer that will help to remind
us of the dates of our annual mission offerings. Sunday
Discussions: We discussed
the suggestions from the Sunday discussions and where to go from here.
Leni helped us to brainstorm different ideas about meeting one on
one or two with the congregation. We
tried to imagine what people might want.
We decided to continue this discussion but we will start with
offering the congregation a chance to talk or pray with a deacon after
Sunday service. We will
start on June 22. Wedding
Policy: The revised Wedding Policy was handed out. We will let Church Council know of the revisions. Our
next meeting will be held on Thursday, July 10 at 6:30 PM Closing:
We read a closing prayer
together Respectfully
written Jill
Gentilin CHURCH COUNCIL MINUTES
May 14, 2008 Present:
Charlotte Bond (LKG),
Nelson Bond (Treas.), Rev. Brenda Adcock, (Pastor) Jill Gentilin
(Clerk), Bill Hamilton (Trustee), Harrietta Hamilton (Deacon) and Louise
Severance (Deacon and representative from the Interim Search Committee). The
Church Council met at 10 A.M. to review the names submitted by the
congregation for the Settled Pastor Search Committee.
Several names were approved and Jill agreed to contact the people
to see if they would accept. We
agreed that we would have four people with one being an alternate. After
being contacted Andy Mclean, Laurel Cashman, and Elinor Havness accepted
places on this committee. Respectfully
submitted Jill
Gentilin Deacons’
Meeting May 1, 2008 Present:
Leni Brown (Chair), Rev. Adcock (Pastor), Isabel Childs, Jill Gentilin,
Mikie Schwarz, Louise Severance, Herb Childs (Guest) Opening:
Jill opened the meeting with a prayer at 6:30 p.m. Fund
raising: Herb Childs presented one of the ideas for funding raising
which is selling metal
plates to be affixed to the pews with name and date of contributor..
He asked that the deacons make suggestions about this idea. Luncheon:
The final plans for the luncheon on May 4 were made. Spiritual
Aspect to this meeting: Leni said that the spiritual aspect had not been
included in the last few meetings in order to be able to orient Brenda
our interim minister to the role of the deacons.
We all agreed that we missed this.
Brenda would like all the meetings in the church to include the
spiritual aspect. Several suggestions were made i.e. using the RELATE
method, having different deacons taking responsibility for planning this
part at each meeting. Leni
and Brenda will get together and try to resolve this. Order
of Worship: We discussed
the current order of worship. The prayers of the people seemed to be one important part and
we asked that this be continued with the minister repeating the name to
the person for which a prayer is requested.
Rather
than have a children’s sermon, Brenda would like them to take a more
active role in the service. She
also told us Old Testament readings are not usually used in the period
between Easter and Pentecost and the Revised Common Lectionary
doesn’t always include a psalm. The psalm is being used in the
Call To Worship rather than reading it from the hymnal because singing
the response was difficult for many and didn’t create an uplifting
spirit. By placing it in
the service as the Call To Worship we could still include a psalm. Wedding
Policy: We revised the
wedding policy. Schedule
for deacons: Isabel
6/1
Mikie 6/15 Brenda
closed the meeting with prayer. Respectfully
submitted Jill
Gentilin MINUTES LKG
May 6, 2008 Present:
Charlotte Bond
(President), Elinor Havness (Treasurer), Jill Gentilin (Secretary),
Louise Severance (Vice President) Rev. Brenda Adcock, Leni Brown, Isabel
Childs, Mindy Childs, Christen McLean, Opening:
Charlotte read from “A Little Bit of Heaven”. Reading of the minutes
was dispensed with because of time.
Elinor reported that we had $2103.48 in the treasury May
Sale: This will be held on May 24. We
will sell tickets for the afghan at Shaw’s on May 16 from 3-5 or 6.
Mindy and Andy will collect goods, advertise and run the white elephant
sale. They also plan to sell 50/50 tickets. Leni offered to help with
the sale. Chris will make a vegetarian soup and Elinor will make chili.
They brought samples of these soups for us to taste. Mindy
is getting the clam chowder donated and Jill will purchase more clams
and evaporated milk to increase the quantity. She and Isabel will
prepare this soup. Charlotte will
also sell hot dogs and baked goods. Mindy’s husband and his group will
play music blue grass, etc. from 11-2. An article will be written for
the Deerfield Valley News and signs will be placed around town. Jill
will call Lisa Place to see if we could get a sign similar to their
plant sale sign. Church
cleaning: We plan to have
a “blue Jeans Sunday “ to clean the library and kitchen sometime in
July or August. We will probably need to wait until the floor in the
basement is done. July
Luncheon: Plans for this will be made in the June meeting. Donation
for plant: Carrie Wheeler
donated $25 for a memorial plant for Gertrude Bartlett.
Charlotte will consult with Janice Boyd about the type of plant
after the garden has been cleaned up.
Herb Childs has offered to do this. Brenda
closed us in prayer. Respectfully
submitted Jill Gentilin CHURCH COUNCIL MINUTES April 16, 2008 Present:
Leni Brown (Deacon), Chuck Gentilin (Mod.), Jill Gentilin (Clerk),
Richard Severance (Trustee), Herb Childs (Representative of 150th
Fund Raising Committee) Rev. Brenda Adcock (Pastor), and Louise
Severance (Vice-President of LKG and Deacon). Opening:
Rev. Adcock opened
the meeting with prayer at 5 PM. The
minutes were read and approved with two changes: 1) a grammar correction
and 2)Leni asked to have the last names of the people attending the
meeting with Rev. Adcock be added to official minutes. Treasurer:
No report.
Nelson was absent. Deacon’s
Report: Leni
reported that the Music Committee met and decided to remove the Pilgrim
Hymnals and the Praise Notebooks from the pews because of the confusion
on Sunday mornings about which book was being used.
Herb also noted that the racks on the backs of the pews have
limited room for the various books. LKG:
Louise
reported on the Memorial Bake sale, soup and hot dog luncheon. Trustees:
Richard
asked for approval of the Church Council for several projects to be
funded from the “1858 Building Fund” in which there is now about
$50000. These included $4,810 for roof repair (already approved), $3090
for insulation between the siding on the outer walls and the inside
walls, $6,700 for removal of rug (which may contain mold) and
improvements to Activity Room in the basement, and $4,800 to connect
drains around the church. $200 was also in the request to re-grade the
ground around the church but it was noted this amount did not need
Council approval. The total was $19,600. A friendly amendment to change
the request for funds from a total of $19,600 to approve funds “not to
exceed $20,000” was approved. Another amount for $2000 for fund
raising was in the same request but it was unclear which church fund
would be used for this. Jill asked about improvements to the heating
system and was told that this would be considered at a later date
because of the cost. The requests were approved. Pastor’s
Report: Brenda asked
that we set a date for a church luncheon to discuss the things that
should be accomplished during the time that we have an Interim Minister.
She would like to use the book “Transforming Congregational
Culture” to facilitate this process.
Members will be able to purchase copies of this book.
We set a date for May 4. The deacons will get together to discuss
how to advertise this to the congregation to encourage participation. Search
Committee: The
process to form a committee to search for a settled minister was
discussed. We decided to
ask the congregation to put the names of five people they would like to
see on this committee and the Church Council will chose three names from
those listed. We will call members not in church on Sunday and ask them
to mail us names for the Search Committee during the week. 150th
Fund Raising Committee: Herb
proposed a list of projects for this committee and asked for approval
for the committee to proceed with this.
The committee was given permission to go ahead with the planning
for these projects. Other:
Herb generously said
that he would arrange for getting the garden opened for the spring.
Brenda’s contract has not yet been signed and she will meet
with Chuck and Nelson to do this. The Annual combined Pentecostal
Service will be held at our church on May 11 at 10 AM.
It was decided that Church Council minutes would be sent with the
newsletter prior to the next monthly meeting (before official approval)
to give the members a more timely update. The
meeting was adjourned at 6:45PM with a prayer by Leni. Respectfully
submitted Jill
Gentilin These minutes have not been approved. Food
Pantry: Our congregation is responsible for packing a distribution at
the food pantry on May
15
packing (2-4 PM)
and
May
17
distribution
(9:45 AM). This is a wonderful aid to our community that members can make
without having to commit to more than one or two days. Memorial
Day Sale: No white elephant sale this year but baked goods and help are
needed on this day. (5/24) Mark it on your calendar
NOTES
FROM THE DEACONS April 3, 2008 Present:
Rev.
Brenda Adcock, Leni Brown (Chair), Harriette Hamilton, Jill Gentilin,
Louise Severance, Mikie Schwarz Deacons
for the following Sundays are: 4/13
Louise
5/4 Leni 5/25
Harriette 4/20
Mikie
5/11 Jill 4/27
Jill
5/18 Mikie We
approved two gifts for graduating seniors. Leni
told Rev. Adcock that the feedback that deacons had received concerning
her was very positive. Harriette
said the 150th Celebration Events committee had met and talk
about proposing the following events: talent show, special worship
service with a retired minister, dinner open to the public.
They will meet again on April 9 at 4:30 PM. We
looked at the wedding policy and went over some of the problems that
needed to be addressed. At
the next meeting the possible revisions to the policy will be made. April
13 is pulpit exchange Sunday. Brenda is not sure who will be the
minister for our church on that Sunday.
She will be preaching at the Methodist Center in Wardsboro.
Jeremy will be speaking at Saxton’s River.
Some of our members will attend these two services. Our next meeting will be May 5 at 6:30 PM. MINUTES
LKG April 1, 2008 Present:
Louise
Severance (Vice President), Elinor Havness (Treasurer), Jill Gentilin
(Secretary), Rev. Brenda Adcock, Sandy Barber, Marge Thurber, and Leni
Brown Opening:
Louise read “I
Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” and we did a check in with each other. The
minutes were read and accepted. The treasurer reported that we have $2066.48 in the treasury. Memorial
Day Sale: A bake
sale and a luncheon of soup and hotdogs is planned for the day.
Mindy is waiting to firm up the music for the afternoon and
suggested to Brenda that we get New England Clam Chowder from Sysco.
Elinor said she would make meat chili and share her recipe so others can
make some and we would ask Christen if she would do the same with a
vegetable soup. Jill will send a notice to the Deerfield Valley News and
Reformer. We talked about an advertisement but didn’t decide to do one
Two dollars was suggested as the price for a cup of soup. The
congregation should be given a heads up about baking. Jill said she
would try to organize getting some plants from the garden if the weather
improved. Leni suggested we
get together and bake pies again. We
may have an afghan to raffle and do a 50/50 on the day of the sale. Mother’s
Day:
The Sunday school will be asked to make gifts for Mother’s Day. Closing:
Brenda
did a closing prayer and we remembered those we thought needed special
prayers. Respectfully
submitted Jill
Gentilin body
and soul THOUGHTS from Rev. Adcock Health
Note: With
osteoporosis, bones become brittle and break easily. Protection of bones
should begin at a young age with a diet rich in calcium and Vitamin D.
Drink low fat milk. Eat foods like hard cheeses, fish, and dark green
vegetables (except spinach). Don’t smoke. Strengthen bones with
walking and weight bearing exercises. A
Message from Rev. Adock: Much
has been said about the United Church of Christ in recent weeks, much of
it hurtful for many in our country, including members of Trinity UCC in
Chicago. That is why we are eager to share the broad and diverse story
of the United Church of Christ, one that we celebrate. With
all Christians, we rest in God's amazing grace and hear God's voice in
the words of Scripture. Yet, the UCC is unique to some because we do not
require uniformity of belief. We are a church of open ideas, extravagant
welcome and evangelical courage. Our passion for democracy extends to
both government and church, where decision-making rests within each
congregation. We support liberty in our pulpits, just as we affirm the
individual conscience of our 1.2-million members to agree, disagree and
wrestle with life's biggest questions in a spirit of love. Our
story is this nation's story. We are the people of the Mayflower. More
than 600 of our 5,700 congregations were formed before 1776. Eleven
signers of the Declaration of Independence were members of UCC
predecessor bodies. As
early abolitionists, we came to the aid of the Amistad captives and
founded hundreds of schools across the South after the Civil War. We
were the first mainline church to ordain an African-American (1785), a
woman (1853) and an openly gay pastor (1972). We were also the first to
form a foreign mission society (1810). Our multi-ethnic membership
includes persons from every immigrant group, as well as native peoples
and descendants of freed slaves. Our
unity is not dependent upon uniform agreement, but in our shared
allegiance to Jesus Christ. Ours is a risk-taking church, because ours
is a risk-taking God. God is still speaking, ® |