First Presbyterian Church of Houston Session Agenda June 19, 2012

Transcription

1 Dinner 5:30 PM - FH 154 and FH 156 Meeting 6:30 PM - Solarium First Presbyterian Church of Houston Session Agenda June 19, 2012 Devotional and Opening Prayer Jim Birchfield Omnibus Approve May Session Meeting Minutes Approve Consent Motions Approve Membership Reports Committee Reports Finance Chris Wolfe Clerk s Report Houghton Hutcheson (Includes motion to approve Committee structure and rosters) Pastor s Report Jim Birchfield Old Business New Business Prayer and Praise Communion Jon Crantz Prayer and Motion to Adjourn Important Dates: June 30 th -July 7 th July 12 th -15 th August 21 st August 20 th -21 st August 23 rd -24 th September 16 th 220 th General Assembly of PC-USA, Pittsburgh PA FPC Annual All Church Retreat at Mo Ranch Next Session Meeting Summer Gathering, Fellowship of Presbyterians (Colorado Springs) Summer Gathering, Fellowship of Presbyterians (Atlanta) Annual Congregational Meeting Note: No Session meeting in July 1

2 Session Attendance A= Absence E= Excused June August Sept Oct Nov Jan Feb March April May Arredondo, Valerie Barnes, Martha Cornelson, Tim Costello, Jane Derden, Chris Gerland, JoNell Hargrove, Bill Hutcheson, Houghton Lawler, Charles Lilly, Leslie Luther, Scot Lyra, Ophir Modesett Jr., Jack Moore, Robert Reiser, Tom Smith, Evelyn Thomas, Eric Wolfe, Chris 2

3 MINUTES OF THE SESSION THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF HOUSTON MAY 15, 2012 The May Meeting of the Session began at 6:30 p.m. in the solarium with a quorum present. Houghton Hutcheson opened the meeting with devotional and prayer. Attendance: See the attached Session Attendance Record for attendance to date for this year. Omnibus Motions: The following omnibus motions were passed without discussion. Approval of April 17, 2012 Session Meeting Minutes. Approval of the April Membership Report. A request to receive into membership of First Presbyterian Church of Houston the following youth: Gentry Barton Joe Flinn Madison Lanclos Ryan Smith Harrison Barton Emily Fraser Scott Le Vay Conner Stewart Elena Benn Rafe French Grant Lee Jack Talkington Elise Betts Cooper Gillespie Jenny Lillard Leslie Villarreal Andrew Blackwell Nick Griswold John Lilly Sam Wempe Philip Blackwell Christopher Hanna Emma MacDougal Cecile Wilde Jared Burch William Heck Erin Neville Bess Williams Emily Calkins Matthew Ho Jeffrey Paine Gage Williams Julia Casbarian Grace Homeyer Lauren Phegley Graham Williams Jackson Cook Jacob Hulten Izzy Purdie Camille Williamson Zack Cox Kaitlyn Jong Brittney Reese Jacob Wise Katie Craig Peter Kennedy Harrison Reid Tim Craig David King Turner Sassaman Zachary Currier-Martin Trey King Olivia Shanks Lane Drager Sam Kretschmar Michal Shipman The Permanent Funds Committee request $25,000 for Pfunanane Ministries to purchase property on which the school building and children s homes are located. The Permanent Funds Committee request $25,000 for Montreat Conference to go towards the renovation of The Assembly Inn. A Consent Motion from the Permanent Funds Committee to approve new members and the designation of a Chair for was pulled down by Houghton Hutcheson and later tabled due to the fact that the new Session Committee structure will be presented to Session in a single motion at the June meeting. Reports: Clerk s Report: Houghton Hutcheson reviewed the final report from the Invested and Involved Capital Campaign (IN2). The Final Report will be posted to the church web site and the successful campaign will be celebrated at the annual meeting of the congregation in September. An motion was sent to the session and approved, April 20, 2012, by the Advisory Council requesting that the Session of First Presbyterian Church approve the appointment of the following three individuals to the Board of Directors of Presbyterian School: Julie Harris, Bill Lee, and Jamey Rootes. Houghton Hutcheson requested the Session liaisons submit the rosters for their respective committees in time for review by the Advisory Council at its June meeting (June 13.) The Session Binders will be distributed at the June Session Meeting. A motion was made, seconded and approved for the following commissioners for the June 9 Presbytery Meeting at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church: Bill Hargrove, Lesley Lilly, Fred Robertson, Evelyn Smith, JoNell Gerland, Robert Moore and Ophir Lyra. Communion Sunday has been moved from Memorial Day Weekend to Sunday, June 10. 3

4 The Ordination and Installation of the Elder Class of 2015 will be during the worship services on Sunday, June 3, Names for The Officer Nominating Committee for the Elder Class of 2016 are being submitted now. Houghton Hutcheson presented a framed picture of the sanctuary as an appreciation gift to the Elder Class of 2013 followed by a prayer and laying on of hands. A motion was made and approved that the Senior Adult Leadership Team be transferred from being a Session Committee to being a Ministry of The Congregational Life Committee. Finance Committee: Sharon Henry reported that the church is operating within budget and the month will end with a surplus as spending is down. A motion was made and approved to accept The Budget Proposal for in the amount of $8,471,368. The budget represents a 5% increase over the past year. Pastor s Report: Rev. Bill Heston reported that the Town Hall Meetings were well attended and there was an overall favorable response to the presentation. Rev. Ikki Soma, newly called pastor to City of Refuge, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, will be introduced in the 8:15 worship service, May 20. The installation service for Rev. Soma will be held in the Grand Hall of First Presbyterian Church at 6:00 p.m. the evening of May 20. Rev. Tony Evans will be preaching. Executive Director s Report Jennifer Boubel reported that F.I.T. for Life will not be in the budget and many of the programs will be discontinued. The renovation of the chapel was discussed. The pews will be removed but stored off site for future use. Flexible seating is being considered. Old Business: Chris Wolfe reported on the visit of several elders with Heights Presbyterian Church about the future existence of Heights Presbyterian. They were encouraged to define what they envision as their future and future programs. There was no commitment about the future involvement of First Presbyterian Church. New Business: Elders Valerie Arredondo and Jane Costello will meet in the Chapel Sunday, May 20 to receive new member into the church. A motion was made, seconded and approved for the serving of communion on the youth mission trips by attending elders. Houghton Hutcheson expressed appreciation for the 13 years of service of Denver McCollister to the Youth Department of First Presbyterian Church. Prayer and Praise: Community prayers of concerns and praise were offered. Communion was served by intinction with Rev. Andrew Stepp officiating and Elder Robert Moore assisting. Rev. Heston adjourned the meeting with prayer at 8:20 p.m. Rev. Bill Heston, Moderator Houghton Hutcheson, Clerk of Session 4

5 Consent Motions None Reports FINANCE June 13, 2012 Members Present: Chris Champion, Sharon Henry, Edward Griffin and Chris Wolfe Staff Present: Jim Birchfield, Jennifer Boubel, and Luis Rodriguez Members Absent: Debbie Hanna, Patti Hopson, Paul Palmer, Burdette Huffman, Bret Stanley, Janet Lionberger Next Meeting: August 8, 2012 at 7 a.m. The meeting opened with prayer. The committee reviewed the financial results versus budget for the month and year ending May 31, 2012, a summary of which is presented below: May 2012 (Month) (000's) Budget Actual Var. Giving $ $ $ (219.2) Operating Expenses $ (575.3) $ (986.1) $ (410.8) Surplus/<Deficit> $ $ (519.6) $ (630.0) May 2012 YTD (000's) Budget Actual Var. Giving $ 8,068.0 $ 7,778.3 $ (289.7) Operating Expenses (8,068.0) (7,654.2) Surplus/<Deficit> $ - $ $ The committee discussed the following: Giving Year ending May 31, 2012 The Church finished the year with giving totaling approximately $7.8 million. That amount is 3% over the prior year and 4% short of the FY12 budget. However, the $7.8 million is the highest giving total since sometime prior to FY07. There was a discussion that the FY13 budget of $8.5 million represents a 9% increase over the FY12 actual giving. Jim Birchfield said he would make the staff aware the FY13 budget might be a challenge in meeting and to manage and plan their budgets accordingly. Expenses Month of May 2012 Expenses for the month of May included several items that were not contemplated in May s budget resulting in overbudget expenses of $411K, including: Facilities included $191k of expenses relating to HVAC issues, annual insurance premiums that are paid as a lump sum but are spread throughout the year for budget purposes and a timing difference resulting from the delayed receipt of a custodial service invoice which resulted in two invoices being paid in May instead of one. Administration included $42K of property taxes that were not previously included in the budget 5

6 Footstep of the Apostles is a new and one-time line item relating to costs incurred over income received of $81K relating to a Church-led trip that was not contemplated in the budget. Expenses - year ending May 31, 2012 Expenses for the year ended May 31, 2012, were $413K under budget. Some of the significant drivers of this positive variance are attributable to unfilled personnel positions and lower than expected costs in the Children and KDO programs. Mission Ministries and Youth were also under budget, but a portion of the positive variance is related to the timing of disbursements for youth trips and to Main Street Ministries, which will be made in FY13. The Committee also reviewed the Church s general fund cash position as May 31, 2012, which is presented below. 31-May-12 (in 000s) GF Cash Balance $ 1,054 Less: Payable to Museum Fund (861) Subtotal less: Bank Debt - Net Cash $ The committee commented that as of yearend there was no outstanding bank debt, but acknowledged that the intercompany payable to the Museum Fund is serving the purpose of providing working capital for the general fund. Jennifer Boubel discussed the request for the Finance Committee to review and vote on a recommendation to Session to increase to the children s ministry FY13 budget by approximately $30K for additional costs associated with the relocation of the children s Sunday school program. Jennifer will send information to the committee for a vote via . The committee had a discussion of the FY13 initiatives for the Finance Committee, which is included as an attachment to these minutes. Chris Champion presented and discussed the initiatives and stressed that the involvement and participation of all the committee members is critical in the successful execution of these initiatives. Finally, the committee recognized Sharon Henry for her outstanding leadership and service as the Church s treasurer for the last two years. The Meeting adjourned at 8:00 a.m. with prayer. Chris Champion Chair, Finance Committee 6

7 Summary of FY 13 Finance Committee Initiatives Initiative Modify/streamline monthly reporting package to condense information that is most useful for the review of financial performance, budgeting and cash forecasting. Develop a new Church Alive reporting presentation Develop a metric to measure mission investment as a percentage to the total budget. Undertake a review to ascertain a complete and accurate inventory of all Church Property and mineral interest owned Develop a finance committee member orientation package. Potential materials: Background of existing members and term on committee Listing of current Church committees and stated purpose Latest financial package with notes of generally what is include in each line item Finance committee charter Organization chart of Executive Director and Finance Director Conflict of interest questionnaire Resolve all HCAD related property tax matters and Montrose District Taxes Inventory of all current Finance Committee related policies and perform gap analysis of missing or needed policies Develop or Modify existing policies, as necessary: Potential Candidates: Disbursements delegation of authority and contract review policy Property acquisition policies and procedures Loose plate offerings dedicated to mission partners Re-review policy for budget overruns Benevolences Treasurer working through the Session to study the need for a Church Risk Assessment and Mitigation analysis (including controlled entities) Review the possibility of a more specific allocation of the annual budget to the each month for budgeted categories greater than 100K. Permanent Funds two Alford family funds need to have donor intent documentation completed Update and seek approval of an updated Finance Committee Charter Review of procurement policies for potential savings Young Adult June 7, 2012 Present were John Alford, Jeremiah Morris, Christine Nath, and Sue Baumgarten. Unable to attend : Sue Oldham, Tim Cornelson and Chris Derden (session liaison) YOUNG ADULT COMMITTEE MEMBERS Sue Baumgarten will no longer serve as Chair. John Alford will be the new chair beginning this month. Sue will stay on committee and work on adding new members. Tim Cornelson is getting off the committee. The committee will work on bringing on 4 new members for the September meeting to bring the total committee membership to 9. 7

8 TABLE AND COLLEGE MINISTRY There have been around 140 people attending the Table. New idea of sitting arrangements --- bringing in round tables and having people sit at a Table to promote community. Will set up for 150 this Sunday. Leadership team is in place and helping Jeremiah with details of the class and it s helping a lot. Teaching also has been being done by Discipleship Track men and they have done a great job. Jeremiah will teach consistently over the summer over Revelation 1-3. College Ministry is going strong --- biggest indication on growth is that around 30 college students are attending Tuesday night Bible Study. College Retreat will be the first weekend in August in Galveston and outgoing high school seniors will be included in the retreat. MISSION TRIPS - College Mission trip just returned last week. Had a group of about 33 go to Miami. The Holy Spirit s presence brought much transformative power and work to the group. Many lukewarm Christ followers were convicted and repented and those already following Christ went much deeper. Very exciting, and very hard. God is good. Still to come this summer Egypt Jenn Hall is heading this up. Romania Matt Offenbacher is lead on this. Boston trip this fall potentially led by Bill Cornelius, but not confirmed yet. Elizabeth and Brett Taaffe are still leading coordination efforts and doing a great job with this. DISCIPLESHIP HOUSE Still 4 guys in the house til August. Planning on five men for the fall and five women. Jeremiah is doing the interviewing of the 16 applicants for 10 spots. Pray for discernment to get the right mix. DISCIPLESHIP TRACK 13 fully involved participants and 2 partially involved --- totaling 15 participants. Doing three part conviction, competency, and confession sessions each week Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday and leading College Bible Study as well. Going very well. MENTORING MINISTRY TO MEN / WOMEN Jennifer Hall and Cody Nath will continue to match people up who want to be mentored. SMALL GROUPS Have left decision to leaders of small groups regarding meeting over the summer. Many Table groups have decided to still meet but have changed venue to lighter, more social times. Jeremiah is concerned about burning out leaders if they meet year round, but many Table groups due to where they are in their life, really enjoy, want and need ongoing community and really don t want to break for the summer. OTHER Clarity on how to get new people plugged in Long term what are we going to do and at what point do we create new classes (i.e. college, singles, married) How to wisely do this when the time comes. NEXT MEETING Thursday, September 6 th. Place TBD Will meet in meantime if emergency arises END 8:39 with prayer by Jeremiah. 8

9 Missions Ministry Meeting Minutes Date: May 22, 2012 Members Present Lay members: Evelyn Smith, Daniel Knight, Judy Van Wagoner, Ryan Smith, Manish and Lija Shah, Bill Marshall, Charles Lawler, Brett Taaffe, John McCreary, Amy Nelson, Fred Robertson, Linda Cooper. Members absent Assoc. Pastor of Missions and Evangelism- Andrew Stepp Staff Representatives Global Missions Director- Mary Floye Federer, Local Missions Director-Stephanie Drew, Global Missions Coordinator Stephanie Justus. Opening prayer. The minutes for April 2012 were then presented. The minutes were approved. The devotional was given by Fred Robertson. Mary Floye led the committee in a time of prayer for Egypt as the elections happen May 23 and 24. Pastoral Report Committee rotation Budget update Helping Without Hurting Global Missions Report Missionary Support Evaluation Form Linda Munoz Focus Area presentation Global Missions documents Local Missions Report CrossOver Summer of Service opportunities Open Door Missions support for 2011/2012 Lead Team Business The closing prayer. Announcements and dates to remember: Helping Without Hurting Seminar 8:00am-4pm, June 2, 2012 Next Meeting The next Missions Committee meeting will be on June 12. Handouts Included at Meeting April 2012 Minutes Budget Global Missions documents: 9

10 Missions Ministry Meeting Minutes Date: June 13, 2012 Members Present Lay members:, Ryan Smith, Manish and Lija Shah, Charles Lawler, John McCreary, Amy Nelson, Tiffany Champagne, Edet Okon, Linda Moore, Daniel Knight. Members absent Assoc. Pastor of Missions and Evangelism- Andrew Stepp, Judy Van Wagoner Staff Representatives Global Missions Director- Mary Floye Federer, Global Missions Coordinator Stephanie Justus. The opening prayer was given by Mary Floye. The minutes for May 2012 were then presented by Lija Shah. The minutes were approved. The devotional was given by Charles Lawler where he read Acts 2 and discussed doing global missions on a local level. Pastoral Report Lija asked all members to introduce themselves and share any missions experience. Mary Floye then gave a content overview of the Helping Without Hurting seminar. Indirect versus direct communication with those we are serving, being a humble learner, pre and post learning for mission teams, and the differences between relief, rehab and development were a few of the things discussed. About 175 people participated in the seminar. Lija then opened up the topic for discussion and asked those who attended the seminar to share their thoughts. Lija said this is the beginning of a discussion that will continue over the next few meetings. Global Missions Report Mary Floye then presented the Esperanza evaluation form. Esperanza is a micro-finance organization working in Dominican Republic and Haiti. With FPC already engaged in Haiti and the opportunities for family mission trips available through Esperanza, a motion was made to approve Esperanza as a Global Mission partner of FPC. The motion was passed. Mary Floye passed around a handout with an overview of June 24, the wrap up to We Are the Mission. Andrew will be ing the team with more details as they unfold. Local Missions Report Lead Team Business Lija mentioned that Phyllis Boaz will be sending out an with possible dates for a Lead Team retreat soon. The closing prayer was given by Stephanie Justus. Announcements and dates to remember: Next Meeting The next Missions Committee meeting will be in August as the team will not meet in July. Handouts Included at Meeting May 2012 Minutes Budget Global Missions documents: Esperanza evaluation form and ministry handouts, World Magazine Egypt article, June 24 handout. 10

11 Advisory Council Meeting Minutes June 13, 2012 The regularly scheduled meeting of the Advisory Council of First Presbyterian Church of Houston was held on June 13 th in the Pastor s Conference Room. The meeting opened at 8:30 A.M. with a devotional and prayer offered by Jane Costello. In attendance were Jim Birchfield, Jennifer Boubel, Jane Costello, Bill Heston, Houghton Hutcheson, Lesley Lilly, Fred Roberson and Chris Wolfe. Houghton welcomed the newest members of the Advisory Council to this first meeting of the new fiscal/program year Lesley Lilly, Clerk of the Class of 2015, Fred Robertson, At-Large Member of the Advisory Council, and Chris Wolfe, Treasurer. Chris Wolfe gave a brief financial report indicating that the church had finished the fiscal year with a modest shortfall in giving income compared to budget. Because expenses were also below budget for the full year, there was an excess of income over expense for the year. However, giving income in May was well below budget and Chris cautioned that the Session will need to monitor trends closely in the early months of the new fiscal year, due to economic storm clouds reforming and the fact that giving seems to be trending downward. Chris also reported that the church has no debt but that some funds had been borrowed from the Museum of Fine Arts real estate transaction account to fund operations. Bill Heston and Houghton led an extensive discussion of the proposed Session Committee roster and rotation schedule, as well as Chair, Vice-Chair, and Session Liaison appointments. It has been proposed that the Senior Adults Ministry be folded into the Congregational Life Ministry and that it no longer be a separate Session Committee. This results in there being 13 Session Committees for the year, although additional combinations of Committees are being considered for possible action in the coming months. All 13 existing Committees have Chairs for the coming year, and most (but not yet all) have Vice-Chairs who will serve as Chairs-Elect for the year. While a number of the Committees have complete or relatively complete rosters and rotation schedules, there are several that do not (e.g. Youth, Teaching & Discipleship) and the Chairs and newly assigned Liaisons, along with the responsible staff, will be pressed to fill out those rosters in the weeks ahead. Nonetheless, Session will be asked to approve the Committee structure and rosters as of the date of the June meeting and will vote to approve future roster additions at the August meeting. Because there are 13 Session Committees and 15 Session members available to be assigned as Session Liaisons (all but the three Clerks), the Advisory Council took advantage of this luxury to request two Session Liaisons for each of two Committees for which it was felt that this additional Session input would be helpful Teaching & Discipleship and Missions & Evangelism. Each of these two Committees will have two Liaisons and all of the others will have one Session Liaison. The Session Liaison assignments are summarized on the attached table which is made a part of these minutes. Bill and Houghton also made a brief presentation on the Session Binder which is still being finalized. It is hoped that the Binder will be ready for distribution to the Session at the June 19 th meeting, although certain sections of it may be added later. Jennifer Boubel gave a report to the Advisory Council in its capacity as the church s Personnel Committee, indicating that one of the positions in the Communications Department is being eliminated. The affected employee will be offered a separation package including severance in accordance with current church policy. There followed a discussion of the need to finalize a date for the Annual Congregational Meeting. A date of September 16 th was agreed to, with the meeting to be held in the late morning when members are already in attendance for church services. A more precise schedule as well as decisions regarding combining or shortening the later worship services will be studied and agreed to at a later date. 11

12 The Advisory Council also discussed finalizing a date for the annual Fall Session Retreat. It was agreed that this retreat would be held either October 19 th -20 th or October 26 th -27 th, depending on the availability of a venue still to be selected. (Our customary slot at Camp Allen is not available to us this year.) Jim Birchfield led a discussion of the 8:15 A.M. worship service, with particular emphasis on the need to properly determine and mesh the roles of Worship Leader Russell Thompson, the band First Praise, and the Sanctuary Singers. It was suggested that an in-home dinner be scheduled to which regular 8:15 attendees would be invited to hear a vision casting by Russell and to exchange ideas regarding the service. Fred Robertson graciously agreed to host the dinner in his and Sara s home. Jim provided the Advisory Council with an update of his annual Days Away schedule and indicated that he would present it to Session as part of his Pastor s Report at the June 19 th meeting. Jim and Jane Costello led a discussion of the request from the leadership team of the 8:15 A.M. Sunday School Class ( The Church Then and Now ) for an additional forum on denominational issues at which the Progressives in that class and in the church would be able to present their side of the issues. The Advisory Council agreed to table this request until after the General Assembly to be held in Pittsburgh at the end of June. There followed a discussion of what action, if any, the church should take at this time regarding possible membership in the Fellowship of Presbyterians and regarding denominational issues in general. It was agreed that Houghton would lead a discussion at the June 19 th Session meeting about this, but the inclination of the Advisory Council is currently to wait until the General Assembly meeting is concluded, since there may be additional actions by the Assembly that could impact FPC s response and strategy. There being no further business, following a closing prayer by Houghton Hutcheson the meeting was adjourned at 10:55 A.M. Respectfully submitted, Houghton Hutcheson Clerk of the Class of

13 13