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St. Martin's Episcopal Church | ![]() |
St. Martin’s Episcopal
Church
Vestry Minutes
Thursday, July 17, 2008
In attendance were vestry
members: Doug Finch, Lois Headden, Carolyn
Ito, Dani Jaworski, Sarah Noble, Gary Osborn, Dorsey Smith, and Larry
Williams. Also attending were Shirley
Smith Graham, rector; Sven vanBaars, assistant rector; and Edith Edwards,
register. Absent: Ginger Ambler, David
Feldman, Andy McNeil, Ed Pease, Michael Terrien and Lloyd Woods, treasurer.
The meeting was called to
order at 6:35 p.m. by Carolyn Ito, Senior Warden.
She welcomed our new
assistant rector, Sven vanBaars.
Opening prayer was given by Dorsey
Smith.
Rehearsal of the Norms was led by Gary Osborn.
Nurture: Shirley Smith Graham used her visit to an
exhibit of the “Quilts from Gee’s Bend.”
This exhibit seemed to be a metaphor of what we are doing at St.
Martin’s; taking the bits and pieces of different lives of the people who come
to St. Martin’s and making a beautiful experience.
The minutes for June were
approved.
Rector’s Report: Shirley and
Sven are working on a two clergy model.
She has more time to make pastoral visits. She hopes she will also have more time to
work with individuals in their spiritual journey. Lloyd Woods and the finance committee have
been looking at the restricted funds.
There will be a report on that next month. There seems to be an affirmation of having
three services during the summer. There are over 280 people attending each
Sunday.
Assistant Rector’s
Report: Sven said he is engaging in a
series of meetings with different groups.
Next week begins the “Meet and Greet” evenings where he will meet more
parishioners. He hopes to be ordained in late Fall as a Priest.
Warden’s Report: Carolyn has edited the strategic plan. She
also reported that an evaluation cycle that coincides with the gathering of
information for the annual meeting will be established. Carolyn also presented
her findings on the duties of the Senior Warden.
Duties of the Senior
Warden
The Senior Warden is the
senior lay leader, oversees vestry work, and is a consultant and
advisor to the Rector.
* Shares privately with
the Rector insights, concerns and issues which may face the Congregation.
* Interprets the
Rector's role and expectations to the people.
* Conducts Rector
evaluation in conjunction with a committee.
* Writes articles
concerning the work of the vestry and the state of the church for the Cloak.
* Attends Executive
Committee meetings.
* Presides at
Vestry Meetings.
* Arranges
for a supply priest for services when the Rector is away (unless the
Rector has made the arrangements).
* Makes certain that a
Parish register of all Baptisms, Confirmations, Marriages, and Burials, as well
as a listing of Communicants, is maintained and inspected quarterly.
* Ensures that
a record of all services held in the Parish showing the date, time,
place, and kind of service held, the number of persons present and, if the
service be that of Holy Communion, the number making their Communion is
maintained.
* Ensures that the
Parochial Report is submitted in a timely manner.
* Signs contracts.
* Performs such other duties as may be requested by the Rector.
Gary Osborn will go over the
duties of the Junior Warden later in the meeting
Treasurer’s Report: Lloyd Woods reported in writing that total
revenues to date are $334,163. Total
expenses are $272,247. June revenues
exceeded expenses by 6,885.02.
Memorial Gifts
Committee: Shirley met with Catherine
Palmer about the history of the committee.
The treasurer plans to fold this line item into Capital Expenses and
Maintenance.
New Business: The vestry discussed the duties and
obligations of a vestry person in order to come up with a description that can
be used in recruiting new vestry candidates.
Carolyn will put together a draft for the vestry to look at in
August.
Carolyn also asked us to
review the duties of the Senior Warden.
She will have a final version of that for August.
Old Business: The Strategic Plan for 2008-2013 was
reviewed. Dani Jaworski moved that the
plan be adopted. The next question was
how to share this with the parish. After
some discussion a sub-team was appointed to determine the ways to present the
plan to the congregation. Carolyn Ito,
Sarah Noble and Larry Williams will serve on that team.
The Nominating Committee
Procedures were presented by Shirley:
Nominating Committee Procedures
St. Martin’s Episcopal
Church, Williamsburg, Virginia
(Revised 7/16/08)
Although ministry has coordination and
strategic planning at the level of the rector and vestry, the power and
production of ministry happens at the ministry group level, e.g., Lay
Readers/Lay Eucharistic Ministers, Building and Grounds Committee, Finance Committee,
Stewardship Committee, Outreach Commission, Altar Guild, Flower Guild,
etc. For the ministries of St. Martin’s
to be vibrant now and in the future, each of these ministry groups must have
competent leadership and succession planning.
As a
result, a new Nominating Committee model is being developed. The Nominating Committee will be comprised of
no less than 3 and no more than 5 persons in the parish who will be charged
each year with generating names of persons for parish leadership positions (vestry,
committee leadership, commission leadership, delegates to diocesan Annual
Council), vetting those names with the pledge treasurer and the office
administrator (for membership), and reporting progress to the vestry and
rector.
Each
ministry group should have a chair, who serves a two year term and a vice-chair
who, also, serves a two year term. It is ideal if a person serves as vice-chair
the first year and then assumes the chair position the following year,
mentoring the new vice-chair.
Because of their membership on the Nominating
Committee, members of the Nominating Committee will resign from the Nominating
Committee if they are elected to the vestry.
Leadership positions to be elected by the congregation
each year are four vestry members.
Leadership positions to be elected by the vestry each
year are wardens, treasurer (3 year term), register, delegates to Annual
Council, Chair of the Stewardship Committee, Chair of the Finance Committee,
Chair of the Nominating Committee. These
elections happen at various points throughout the year.
The rector, in consultation with the wardens, ensures
that the following leadership positions are filled at all times, unless there
is an exception for appropriate reasons:
A review of
the ministry groups of St. Martin’s will be conducted annually in the first
quarter of each year to ensure each ministry group has a chair and vice-chair.
At the time of
this writing, formation ministries (adult and children) are directed by Ann
Meyer as professional staff. A future
development may be to introduce lay leadership under Ann’s guidance and with
her support.
Vestry
Possible
candidates for nomination to vestry should be considered in September so as to
leave time for vetting for canonical requirements (membership, confirmation,
stewardship) and nominating committee requirements (may not be the spouse,
adult child or parent of a sitting vestry member). Vetted candidates should be invited no later
than October to let their names be offered to the vestry. At the October vestry meeting, the Nominating
Committee presents a report of candidates to be voted on at the December Annual
Meeting. At the same time, the
Nominating Committee will deliver to the Office Administrator an article that
includes a photo and brief bio of each proposed candidate. After the October vestry vote, the Nominating
Committee is discharged of their vestry nominating responsibilities for the
rest of the year or asked to do follow-on work.
Delegates
to Annual Council
The diocese requires the vestry to submit the names of
vestry-elected delegates in June of each year.
The model is for delegates to serve 2 years. The Nominating Committee delivers to vestry
for the May vestry meeting the vetted candidates to be delegates. The vestry elects to accept the slate at the
May meeting or schedules a special vestry meeting if further work by the
Nominating Committee is needed.
Doug
Finch moved that the Nominating Committee Procedures be approved. The motion was seconded and carried.
Shirley
asked the vestry to suggest names of parishioners who would be good to be on
the committee. She and the executive
committee will appoint a committee from those names.
Lois
Headden moved that The Proposed Mission
Statement for the Stewardship Committee which was presented at the June
vestry meeting be adopted. The motion
was seconded and carried.
Gary Osborn will bring to the
next meeting a proposal for people to be on the Needs Assessment Committee. Gary
also presented his thoughts of what the Junior Warden’s duties are:
1. Responsible for the upkeep of the Church property and
growth and/or improvements to same.
2. Maintains an up -to-date inventory of the Parish
property.
3. Assists the Senior Warden
4. In the absence of the Senior Warden, is responsible
for presiding at Vestry meetings.
5. Is a member of the Executive Committee, the Bell
Tower Gardens Committee and the Building and Grounds Committee.
In
discussing the duties of the Junior Warden one item was added: Rallies the
church membership to be involved in clean-up and maintenance days.
Sven
vanBaars was asked his opinion on how the vestry meeting went. He thought we followed the norms and covered
our agenda well and did not get too side-tracked.
Closing prayer was led by Larry Williams.
The meeting adjourned at 9:05
p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Edith Edwards, Register
8/6-8/10: Vacation Bible School
9/9 Fall Schedule Begins 7:45,9 & 11am Services
Church Picnic –10 am Refreshments Avail after 7:45 & 11am9/16: Sunday School & Adult Forum Begin
9/23: Party at Chanco - Transportation Available
9/30: 5pm Celebration of New Ministry - Details soon