St. Andrew’s Vestry Meeting

June 17, 2008

Peabody Room

 

Present:  Dick Dabrowski, Dwight Harshbarger, Linda Kaferle, Mark Louttit, Fr. Alan MacKillop, Mary Medieros, Don Ulsch, Marianne Welton

Parishioners Present:  Nicola Barlow, Carolyn Smith  

Absent:  Jeanne Cassin, Sue Hildreth, Yvette Nasworthy

 

I.                   Opening Devotions and Prayer

II.                Priest-in-Residence Report (Fr. Alan)

A.     Per suggestion from Dick Dabrowski to give the Parish a timeline, Fr. Alan announced that he and Erica, after much thought and prayer, would be willing to stay at St. Andrew’s for a maximum of two more years as Priest-in-Residence to help St. Andrews meet the challenge of a search  

1.      Fr. Alan did not think the church is ready to go into search

a.      The church does not have the money to hire a new priest

i.                    Dwight asked for a list of criteria (e.g. financial, membership levels, managerial characteristics of other parishes) that could help us determine if or if we are not ready for search

2.      Fr. Alan has communicated this timetable to Bishop Bud and is awaiting his reply

3.      Fr. Alan recommended establishing a Vision Committee rather than a Profile Committee to work on a vision statement

a.      Proposed hiring a consultant (e.g. Alice Mann from the Alban Institute) to help us identify who we are and where we are going

i.                    He suggested that we look into getting a grant possibly from the diocese for this purpose

b.      Fr. Alan thought that the Vision Committee may possibly become the Profile Committee sometime in the future

c.       Some Vestry members were not convinced that spending time on a new vision statement at this time was the best use of our resources

i.                    Feeling that the new rector would likely want to work with the parish on that himself/herself

d.      Don felt that it was important to have a plan as a pre-requisite to the search

i.                    Linda thought that the updated Profile would give us that plan

4.      The consensus of the Vestry was to discuss this further at our next Vestry meeting since we had a big agenda still to get to

 

 

B.     Vacation Bible School

1.      August 4 – 8 (Date subsequently changed to August 11-15)

2.       Erica Scattergood and Carolyn Smith writing the curriculum dealing with environmental stewardship (“He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”)

3.      Fr. Alan to lead daily chapel 

4.      Ages 5 – 12 welcome

C.     Lambeth Conference

1.      To take place in July & August

2.      Meeting of the Anglican Bishops takes place every ten years in Canterbury, England

3.      A number of third-world Bishops have refused to come

4.      It needs our prayers

D.    Emerging Church

1.      An Adult Education program series to begin in the Fall

a.      Fr. Alan is talking with Phil Welton about helping

E.     Organist Search

1.      Michael Smith will need to relinquish his position as the Minister of Music at St. Andrew’s because of a change of the Sunday schedule at Groton School

a.      He would like to continue in some capacity (yet to be determined)

b.      He has recommended Kyle Bertulli, currently the organist at the Congregational Church in Milford and a student at UMASS Lowell to take his place

2.      Motion passed unanimously to appoint an ad-hoc committee chaired by John Ferrillo to work out the details of Kyle’s contract and report back at the July Meeting

 

III.             5/20/08 Meeting Minutes Accepted as Written

 

IV.              Wardens’ Report (Dick Dabrowski)

A.     Safe Church

1.      Linda Kaferle, Dick Dabrowski and Carolyn Smith took the course last Saturday in Sudbury

a.      There are scholarships available so tuition money is not an issue ($40 tuition fee)

b.      The next nearest course will be in November at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Acton

c.       The Safe Church DVD’s that Fr. Alan ordered are on backorder

i.                    These are not approved as certification in Safe Church Training by the diocese

d.      As a representative of the Parents’ Group, Nicola reported that parents in the parish want all adults involved with children at the church to be Safe Church trained

B.     Disposition of Old Sign

1.      Dick requested permission to dispose of the old sign taken off the front of the church

a.      Permission granted

C.     Korean Sign

1.      Pastor Kim rejected the draft sign because the colors used are the colors of North Korea (oops!)

 

V.                 No Treasurer’s Report (given a week ago at the Special Meeting)

 

VI.              Commission Reports

A.     Outreach (Nicola Barlow)

1.      Tag Sale raised $715

a.      To be applied to Young Life

2.      Gail White (SAMS) is currently taking a year off and waiting for reassignment

a.      SAMS support is on hold until we are sure of Gail’s plans

3.      Will be supporting backpack drive of Loaves and Fishes in July

4.      Have requested quarterly dispersements of funds

a.      ACTION ITEM:  Outreach Commission to meet to establish final distribution requests and will report back to Vestry at the July meeting

5.      Planning the September 21st concert with John Ferrillo and some BSO friends along with Michael Smith

a.      Will be asking anyone who’s interested to donate tickets

i.                    $45/Adult

ii.                  $35/Senior

6.      Fall Fair

a.      Well organized but needs a chairperson

B.     Christian Formation (read Nancy Barringer’s report)

1.      Sunday School ended on June 15th

2.      End of year celebration scheduled for June 29th

3.      Summer nursery care requested to continue in the Snuggery

a.      Motion (made by Dick; seconded by Maryanne) unanimously passed to authorize the expenditure of funds for payment to Sunday nursery caregiver

4.      Nancy is stepping down as co-superintendent; Yvette Nasworthy has agreed to continue in her role as co-superintendent (she would welcome another “co-superintendent to take Nancy’s place)

a.      Many thanks to Nancy for all her years of service to the Sunday School program

C.     Facilities (read Alan Rogers report)

1.      The furnace has been tested at 75% efficiency by John Proctor (Jim and Audrey Western’s son-in-law).  Some suggestions:

a.      Put inner door on the basement to reduce heat loss

b.      Patch small leaks

c.       Possibly convert to larger filter on the furnace air intake

d.      Future replacement of the low efficiency blower with a high efficiency blower when one becomes available

e.      Recommends improving the insulation of the church

2.      Rectory roof – work to start today

3.      General Clean-Up took place on April 26th

4.      We need a list of all the support people we use at St. Andrew’s

D.    Parents’ Group/Membership (Nicola Barlow/Carolyn Smith)

1.      Faith Salter (Chairperson of Parents’ Group) has requested that funds raised by raffling baskets at the Ayer 5th of July Day be earmarked for programs for the children of St. Andrew’s

2.      Membership Commission is putting together promotional materials to be given out at the booth that day to increase our visibility in the community

E.     Stewardship (Carolyn Smith)

1.      Had first meeting last night

a.      Focus is to increase parishioners’ knowledge of what stewardship is

2.      Carolyn will be coordinating several smaller fundraisers

a.      St. Andrew’s Bucket Brigade

i.                    Vestry members will be filling buckets (decorated by the Sunday School students) with spare change with the hope of asking the rest of the parish to join in

b.      Envelopes will be sent to pledgers to use to mail in their pledges if they will be unable to attend church at times during July and August due to vacations, etc.

c.       ACTION ITEM:  Carolyn to look into EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) for pledgers

d.      Don Ulsch offered to donate 4-5 copies of his new book due out July 6th that can be raffled off as well as a 2 hour seminar

 

 

 

VII.           Old Business

A.     Ramp

1.      Power door opener due any day to the vendor

i.                    Installation to be scheduled shortly thereafter

 

VIII.        New Business

A.     150th Anniversary of St. Mary’s Church in Ayer

1.      ACTION ITEM:  Fr. Alan to attend ceremony and bring a card

B.     Dick asked if Bernie Dillard would be willing and able to continue the birthday card ministry

1.      ACTION ITEM:  Fr. Alan to check with Bernie

 

IX.              Next Meeting – Tuesday, July 15th, 7:15 PM, Peabody Room

 

X.                 Closing Prayer

 

XI.              Meeting Adjourned – 9:15 PM

 

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Kaferle