Seekers Church
November 2, 2014 Stewards Meeting
Present: Kevin Barwick [angel], Ken Burton [recorder], Pat Conover, Dave Lloyd [angel], Sandra Miller,Trish Nemore [worship], Brenda Seat, Keith Seat, Vincent Shepherd, Margreta Silverstone, Deborah Sokolove [moderator], Jacqie Wallen
Absent: Cynthia Dahlin, Peter Bankson, Marjory Bankson
Visitors: Jean Adams, Debbie Barwick, Michele Frome,Liz Gould-Leger, Judy Lantz, Jesse Palidofsky, Will Ramsey, Teresa Ramsey, Glen Yakushiji
Worship: Trish led worship which concluded with reading together the Call of Seekers Church.
Housekeeping: The next meeting will be December 7 at 5:00 pm at Seekers Church.
Moderator: Keith Worship: Kevin
Recorder: Sandra Angels: Vince and Liz
A major part of the December meeting will be devoted to the annual Stewards Hilarity (aka, Christmas party). Cynthia will again provide leadership for the event. Stewards are reminded to review the preparatory material circulated by Trish.
Stewards approved by consensus a proposal from the SLT to not receive regular full reports from mission groups during 2015. How these reports will be handled in 2016 will be determined by Stewards late in 2015. Mission groups continue to be encouraged to bring to Stewards any matter of particular concern to them.
Vincent Shepherd: Vince read his spiritual autobiography and was received and blessed as a Steward of Seekers Church.
Time and Space Mission Group: The mission group, represented by Deborah and Glen, made its regular report. The call document for the group had been previously circulated to Stewards.
Among the growing edges of the group are the following: recovering from the problems associated the departure of a disruptive member of the group; needing to again do the gifts and roles exercise; regularizing procedures for dealing with contractors and inspectors; achieving a better balance among the various aspects of the life and responsibilities of the mission group; the possibility of reviving some of the group’s prior spiritual practices which have since been abandoned.
With regard to accountability, some mission group members write regular spiritual reports while others do so only occasionally. Mission group sharing provides an accountability mechanism for all.
There are numerous Seekers who are not members of the group but who support its work in a variety of ways. These include the members of the Koinonia Mission Group, Vince Shepherd, Kenny Shaw, and Larry Rawlings. Kevin Barwick also supports the mission group by coordinating regular building maintenance days by “Martha’s Mob.”
Building Use: Katie Fisher continues her extraordinary work as building manager. During this year, Katie will have coordinated over 600 events that have taken place in our building. These included the various gatherings of the eight different spiritual communities that use the building.
In response to question, we determined that there is currently no formal policy about sleeping on the back porch of the building. This will be an agenda item at a future Stewards meeting
Also noted was that we don’t pretend that our building is a shrine to big donors but rather encourage its full use, with all the wear and tear that entails.
Building Assessment: An important aspect of the work of Time and Space is the ongoing assessment and repair of a wide variety of resources that we use in our building. This includes, but is not limited to, the following: the elevator, numerous motors, a variety of electronics, the wifi, the roof, and the carpet. A major part of this work is done under contracts which are subject to review by the mission group.
.FOG Report: Keith presented the Financial Oversight Group (FOG) report.
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A draft of the 2015 budget was reviewed. It will be presented for formal approval at the December meeting. Learners and Teachers is planning to hold a discussion of the budget for the wider community on the last Tuesday in January.
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2014 financial results through September were presented. It appears that by year-end, income and expenses will both be under budget. If this is the case, FOG was asked to present an analysis of why income failed to meet budget.
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Debbie presented an overview of Seekers investments. They are in Manna, Inc., City First Bank of D.C., N.A., and Oikocredit International.
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FOG recommended that Seekers open a brokerage account so that Seekers can accept donations of stocks and bonds, without the donor having to first sell them and pay taxes or go through another complex process. There is no cost for opening and maintaining the brokerage account and a very modest charge for selling any assets donated. FOG also recommended a standing policy of immediately selling any donation so there is no issue of managing the account and trying to figure out optimal timing. Keith introduced these recommendations and sought a formal resolution (attached), which was agreed to by Stewards by consensus.
C of S Council Meeting: The next meeting of the C of S Council will be at the Wellspring Center on Sunday, November 16, 2014. A major agenda item will be a financial plan for Dayspring presented by the Dayspring Church. Interested Stewards are invited to attend, but participation in the meeting’s business is limited to the designated representatives of the member churches. Keith represents Seekers.
Conclusion: The meeting concluded with soul talk and prayer.
