Church Council

Walker Church Council

May 26, 2015

Present: Greg Garman, Mary Parker, Walter Lockhart, Nancy Larsen, Jan Werness, Deb Ramage, Bonita Blumenauer, Allyson Hayward, Al Hildenbrand, K.C. Bretzke.

The minutes were approved as read.

Al reported that there is a new issue in building use. Ace in the City and its brother organization The Story have been voted in to rent by the Trustees. More about this later. In another matter, Adel Gardner has visited Solomon’s Porch and thinks that other Walkerites should as well.

Mary stated that there have been no meetings of the Celebration Committee since Easter. Linda Berglin has completed her sanctuary hanging for the summer season. Ed Ed Mueller is making space in the basement for Celebration materials.

Walter added that there is space in the basement for outside groups to store their office files.

Al reported that there is water seeping into the basement: otherwise the building is fine. He explained that Ace in the City is an after school that will be using Walter’s former office. The Story needs space for a Sunday afternoon service. They want to get to know us over the next six months. They are looking at a year lease after that. The Story is starting weekly services December 1.

Al stated that the SPRC finalized a Safer Church document. There will be a Safer Church workshop Saturday for Walker members. Job descriptions for Jennifer Gahnstrom, Ignacio Amigon and the new bookkeeper, Carrie Feldman were completed. Carrie will do the day to day bookkeeping and the accountant Lee Silverstein will oversee the process.

K.C. reported that we are ahead of projections on fund raisers and rentals. She suggested that we pay our apportionments this year. Lulu Philips will direct our fall Silent Auction. Walter added that external fundraisers for the new sound system are ongoing. Internal asking will come later.

Greg stated that the Kitchen Cabinet will provide the Tuesday Community Meal June 16.

Walter reported that he has observed lots of creativity in Sunday School activities.

Deb reported that there is a Peace with Justice addition to the Walker Facebook page. She added that anything posted on the Walker web site should be okayed by the Church Council or posted under the name of the individual Walker member. Intentionality is an issue. We need to decide if we are merely hosting an event or if we are endorsing it. Allyson and Deb agreed we should have a standing item in the Church Council agenda about endorsing. We also need to look at the process by which we endorse. Walter mentioned two items that we need to make endorsement decisions about: Black Lives Matter and 15 Now. Walter and Deb agreed that we should have two separate potlucks after Celebration to foster informal discussions of these two issues.

Walter stated that the Finance Committee should be strategic about sponsoring dedicated offerings.

Walter gave the Pastor’s Report. This summer he will be at Star Lake Camp most Sundays. However, he will be at Walker a few Sundays. He will monitor pastoral care matters. He will begin working half time at Simpson Church Sept. 1. Most of his creative energy will go to Simpson from Sept. 1 through Christmas. Greg wondered could we run bilingual neighbors to Simpson’s monthly bilingual service?

The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy Larsen

Church Council Secretary