St. Paul Lutheran Church
Council Meeting Minutes
December 17, 2007

Present: Pr. Eastman, Pr. Williamson, Jim Baumgardner, Charlie Boone, Carlo D’Agostino, Kevin Dixon, Patty Fess, Bob Hein, Ann Holmstrom, Lisa Jackson, Gayle Meskimen, Bob Miller and Nick Poulos

Kevin Dixon called the meeting to order at 7:04 P.M.
Devotions-Bob Miller

Approve the Agenda
 Pr. Eastman added an action item to approve an alternate date for the council meeting in January. Jim Baumgardner moved to approve the amended agenda and Nick Poulos seconded. The motion passed.

Approve the Minutes
 Bob Miller moved to approve the minutes dated November 19, 2007. Bob Hein seconded and the minutes were approved.

Reports and Information

  1. Treasurer’s Report-Ann Holmstrom presented the November financials. For the month of November we took in $7,700 less than we spent. For the year we are still ahead of expenses by $12,000. The mortgage remaining in BOB is $41,485. We have drawn down the reserves by $112,000 for capital improvements. Nick Poulos moved to approve the Treasurer’s Report and Jim Baumgardner seconded. The motion passed.
  2. Sr. Pastor’s Report-Pr. Eastman distributed her report along with two articles from the Alban Institute for the council to read. She emphasized her upcoming Lutheran course with small group discussions. She asked for the council’s help in promoting the classes in the congregation and hoped council members could be included in the class and small groups.
  3. Associate Pastor’s Report-Pr. Williamson distributed his report. He highlighted the completion of the Making Disciples Mentoring Program and there are nine confirmands that will affirm their baptism in January. The Connections group has formed a covenant and they will all be a part of the Youth Board. The deadline to sign up for the Mexico trip is January 1. He feels interest in the trip is still high. In February he will begin a men’s Bible study and lead Adult Forum for four weeks.
  4. Update on the review process-Kevin Dixon announced the completion of the review process and had both of the pastors’ reviews available for the council to sign.
  5. Request agenda items for the Congregational Meeting-Patty Fess requested council to submit items for the Congregational Meeting. We will be approving the agenda for the meeting at the January council meeting.
6. Request agenda items for the council retreat-Patty Fess requested council provide items to be placed on the agenda for February’s retreat. The pastors will be leading the session on evangelism and there will be an update on the Continuing Resolutions and a possible reconfiguring of the Organizational Chart. The agenda for the retreat will be approved in January.

Action Items

  1. Gayle Meskimen moved to approve Lisa Jackson as the council representative to be recommended to the congregation for the Nominating Committee. Patty Fess seconded and the motion passed.
  2. Lisa Jackson moved to approve the ELCA Scholarship offering and Bob Hein seconded. Discussion followed and Lisa withdrew the motion. Bob Miller moved to rededicate $25,000 from monies previously set aside for an endowment fund to fund the ELCA Scholarship offering, subject to congregational approval. Lisa Jackson seconded and the motion passed with two opposed.
  3. Pr. Eastman moved to reschedule the January council meeting to Tuesday, January 22nd and Patty Fess seconded. The new date was approved.

Board Celebrations and Concerns
  1. Carlo reported from Witness board that Advent Event was very successful, 80 gifts were collected for the Christmas Store and $500 was raised for Lutherdale. On February 4th there will be a Souper Bowl luncheon. The Earth Ministry Team will soon be making a presentation to council.
  2. Gayle Meskimen encouraged St. Paul to continue to support efforts of the ESGC in order to protect our children.
  3. Pr. Eastman thanked everyone involved with the Blue Christmas Service. She felt it was worthwhile and should become an annual event.
  4. Pr. Eastman and family will preside at a Christmas Day service at the County Jail. There will be a story about this in the paper.
  5. Charlie Boone thanked the council choir members for a wonderful performance of the joint choirs of St. Paul and St. Michaels.
  6. Bob Miller reported the installation of the new door at the LSSI entrance.

Other Business
  1. Jim Baumgardner will look into obtaining defibrillators and the necessary training for their operation for the safety of our members.

Review of the 2008 Budget
Charlie Boone presented some slight changes made to the proposed budget after last month’s discussions. We have 117 pledges to date this year without sending out reminders. Last year a total of 129 pledges were received. BOB pledged money is up from last year.
Bob Miller moved to remove the dues for DuPage United from the line items. Nick Poulos seconded and the motion passed with three opposed.


Kevin Dixon gave an update on the Church Administrator position. After some discussion Carlo D’Agostino moved to table the discussion of the Church Administrator position to the January meeting. Bob miller seconded and the motion passed.
Bob Miller suggested we pay off the mortgage on January 15, 2008.
Charlie Boone moved to approve preliminarily the proposed 2008 budget to recommend to the congregation. Nick Poulos seconded and the motion was approved.

Adjournment
 As there was no further business Nick Poulos moved to adjourn. Gayle Meskimen seconded and the meeting was adjourned at 9:12 P.M.


Respectfully submitted,
Patty Fess, Congregational Secretary