Stewards Present: Peter Bankson, Marjory Bankson, Ken Burton (notes), Pat Conover, Dave Lloyd (moderator), Sandra Miller, Trish Nemore, Brenda Seat, Keith Seat, Margreta Silverstone, Deborah Sokolove (worship)
Stewards Absent:Cynthia Dahlin, Jacqie Wallen
Guests: John Morris, Katie Fisher, Glen Yakushiji, Linda Nunes-Shrag, Vince Shepherd
Worship and Housekeeping: Deborah led us in a brief period of worship. The December meeting will be on 12/01/13. Roles for that meeting are as follows: Moderator – Deborah; Recorder – Marjory; Worship Leader – Sandra; Dinner Angels – Brenda and Keith. Cynthia is willing to design our Christmas celebration but she does not get home until Thanksgiving, which is only three days before our meeting. We therefore need to be prepared to respond quickly to whatever she asks of us.
Time and Space Mission Group
T&S reported on building users, needed maintenance and the mission group’s life together.
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Building Users: Katie reported that about half of the users pay “full price.” Peter noted that income from building users almost pays for our daily building operations, including Seekers’ uses. The mission group noted particular people/groups that help them in their job of maintaining the building: Vince, Kenny, Dave Lloyd, Kevin, Jesse, Keith, Sharon, Brenda, Sunday School team, as well as those who participate in Martha’s Mob periodically.
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Upcoming repairs: corner ceiling in Sanctuary, fence out back, front door opening system, new security company.
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Growing edges/roles/practices of the mission group: The mission group shared a document listing its growing edges, most of which have to do with challenges arising from our success with having many building users. T&S named their roles and practices, including a practice of each week sharing individual reflections on a writing selected by a member of group. They meet for two hours and are very efficient in conducting business, worship and two kinds of sharing.
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Action items from T&S report/discussion:
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Remind the wider community of the white board on which to note building repairs needed.
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Consider how to get more folks involved in Martha’s Mob.
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Remind wider Seekers community of currently available parking options (including many spaces on Maple Avenue next to CVS).
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Consider more parking strategies in the future, when building across the street is up and metro area starts being developed.
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Remind building users not to let into the building people they do not know. (They have been told this, but at least one user has done so.)
Linda reported that the estimate of Othandweni’s financial needs for 2013 was low: they will need about $5,000 more than expected. Friends of Othandweni (FOO) now meets once a year. Linda wants them to meet at least three times a year and is working on that. Sandra suggested a core group of folks more involved than just financially to meet monthly, based on the model of former Washington Area Tumalong Team. She called attention to the difficulty of providing support from such a great distance. Linda thinks it would be helpful if Seekers and/or other support people traveled there regularly and, preferably, in pairs. Kathy Tobias and/or Bill Drehmann are possible travel partners. Othandweni’s vision is to create a space for children to grow in loving community. No decisions were made based on Linda’s report, although she did ask that Seekers consider whether we could provide all or part of the budget shortfall of $5,000.
Stewards Meetings in 2014
The February Stewards meeting will be on 2/9/14. The June Stewards meeting will be on the second Sunday in that month. Brenda distributed a draft calendar for the 2014 meetings. She noted that we will return to the practice of having regular reports from mission groups. Mission Support Group will report at the January meeting on 1/5/14. Time and Space will report in February.
2014 Seekers Budget
Marjory distributed a draft of the 2014 budget for discussion. She noted that it included a $10,000 increase in giving. $35,000 was budgeted for the Holy Spirit Fund with the caveat that this amount is at best a guess and that we are prepared to increase that amount during the course of the year should that action be necessary. The projected net of income over expense for 2014 is $13,650. The only change recommended by Stewards was to increase the budgeted amount for the Covenant Thanksgiving basket project to $5,000
There were three action items arising from the budget discussion.
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Giving final approval to the 2014 budget, which we anticipate doing at the December meeting.
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Discouraging the solicitation of funds during circle or during the announcement period for any purpose for which Seekers makes a corporate contribution.
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Exploring further the meaning of the partnership relationship as it appears in the budget. We need to examine the implications of investing heavily in projects which we do not “own”.
Marjory and Sandra shared their journeys with us.
The meeting concluded with soul talk and prayer.
(Recorder’s Note: My appreciation goes to Trish, who shared with me her notes from the beginning of the meeting, before my late arrival. kb)
