2024 May Stewards Minutes
SEEKERS CHURCH
Final Stewards Minutes
May 12, 2024
Stewards attending:
Ken Burton, Deborah Sokolove, John Morris, Jacqie Wallen, Marjory Bankson, Margreta
Silverstone, Sandra Miller, Judy Lantz, Joan Dodge, Glen Yakushiji, Peter Bankson,
Brenda Seat, Keith Seat, Cynthia Dahlin, Elizabeth Gelfeld
Others Attending: Liz Gould-Leger, Kolya Braun-Greiner
Stewards Absent: Trish Nemore, Dave Lloyd
LEADERSHIP:
Moderator – Ken Burton
Meditation Leader – Sandra Miller
Recorder – Margreta Silverstone
Meditation – Sandra
Housekeeping – Ken (June meeting is June 9 at 4 pm in person at Seekers)
Moderator – Peter
Meditation Leader – Joan
Recorder – Judy
Report from Children’s Team – Judy Lantz and Dave Lloyd
See the included Appendix for the full report.
Ken thanked them for their effort. Different than the past. Diminishment has its
challenges.
Marjory – hates to see the end of the Children’s Word. Grateful to David for
holding that.
Report from CreatureKind Ministry team – John Morris
Team has not done much since 2023. Had a blog going but lost its energy.
Noticed things to be grateful for – awareness within Seekers that the treatment of
animals is important to our life of faith. Had intended to work with children’s
curriculum, but that won’t happen now but maybe in the future. Intend to put out a new call. Current membership is: John, Peter, Dave and Anita. Look for preaching opportunities. Looking for ways that the lectionary can challenge us.
Projects – idea of having an event at Seekers, hosted by Seekers for the wider
community, a vegan chef event, in the fall, to offer top class cook to prepare a
tasting menu. Speaking for the team, offer the community a chance to meet
Seekers. OMG happy to support.
Kolya – interested and believe the event would be popular. Asked if information
about the CreatureKind network would be available at the event. John named
they planned to share about Seekers’ support with the team of people and not
clear about the how much to publish the CreatureKind network.
Request for approval to hire a graphic designer – Joan Dodge
Not necessarily a request for approval, but a conversation. Aware of a lot of
things that Seekers does or might want to do. Award graphics important for
outreach – need to consider best ways to publicize. Examples where graphics
could be useful – Christmas eve service, Easter Service, hikes, the CreatureKind
event, other events that could be open to a wider community. Been aware to do
that outreach need skills with graphic design – Katie has done it and Julie has
done it. Not clear how to get it done in the future – whether to hire or find a
volunteer or student. Curious to hear from others. Do you think there is enough
interest?
Deborah – Julie’s sister helped her – can she be hired? Keith said that is being
checked on. Agree hiring on an ad hoc is a good idea, someone sympathetic to
us and our needs, Do not recommend hiring a student – exams, timing available
is an issue. Students not mature enough.
Kolya – great idea, agree with others, social media included? Outreach –
sympathetic facebook pages, publicity format that could be part of the job
description, in addition to design
Marjory – publicity and social media important
John – social media, see Vita Poetica – Julie and her sister
Liz – follow up for Kolya – several people who saw the flyer at businesses around
town. Ripple effect of posting.
Keith – did put up posters – Oswaldo posted it, getting up the learning curve,
Julie has done Instagram posts
Brenda – posters around town, qr code – to spread it across
Margreta – the QR code needs to be supported with website/social media
location/etc. Also that the graphics for the front window is important and people
do stop and look (Keith agreed) Keith – the front window is important
Report from website team – Margreta
The website team has been working on making updates to the website. Thanks
to the mission groups and others who have reviewed the current content and
provided input.
The team will be proposing an alternative to the current “Members Only” area,
but not prepared to do that this evening.
There are 2 additional needs:
- The photos on the website need to be updated. If people can send photos to
Deborah, she can start to assemble a collection for use. If someone is willing
to take photos, please let Margreta know. - The “Meet a Seeker” area is out of date. Either new information needs to be
provided or the area needs to be removed. It would be useful if there was
someone willing to interview various Seekers and create a short write up and
a portrait photo.
Report from Ecumenical Council – Keith Seat
Meeting just ended. Council functioning well. Focus today was on the Dayspring
report. A number of the people were there to discuss Dayspring, Wellspring and
Retreat Center. Encouraged by having only a 5K loss on budget of 270K. Retreat
had a bigger loss, but a lot of one time expenses. Wellspring also viewed their
losses as one time. The Retreat Center is encouraged by new people coming
and returning. Lots of younger people and people with diverse backgrounds are
showing up for retreats. They are wanting to hold more retreats.
Adam talked about the Native American Truth and Reconciliation project and
invited others to join him.
Calendar related – Celebration of Church of the Saviour – TBD. Sept. 14 for
Festival Center event.
Formal report for the meeting to come out later.
Marjory noted it is hard to have the Stewards and council on the same day.
Marjory also shared there was also discussion regarding M83 as an active concern.
Margaret Shelf noted now is the time for changes to the Master Plan to be submitted
and would be getting a letter out to encourage comments to be submitted.
Liz Gould-Leger shared the Sierra Club also had concerns regarding the plan and was
holding a hike to raise awareness. She would forward the email to the community.
Two Stewards shared: Deborah Sokolove and Judy Lantz
Soul Talk
Tentative business agenda and Stewards sharing for the in person meeting on June 9th
at 4pm:
Discussion about being a hybrid church
Steward sharing: John Morris