HOPE LUTHERAN CHURCH
Council Meeting Minutes of April 18, 2022

Present: Gary Gausmann, Matt Kuehl, Donna Niesen-Campbell, Pastor Beth, Gregg Burmeister, Troy Freemyer, Linda Marks, Dan Harvey, Sonja Jensen, Carol Duffy.

Meeting called to order at 6:35 pm.
Pastor Beth shared an Easter devotion about Mary finding the tomb empty, and Jesus rising from the tomb.

-- VP Report: Marcie will be off May 10-15. The new cleaning staff were working tonight.
-- President's Report: attendance increased greatly during Lent and Easter. Gary was very pleased with the efforts by everyone to promote Lent and welcome many people back to church.
-- Treasurer's Report: Jane will be stepping down as treasurer due to medical concerns. Matt reported that we are $10,000 over budget in our giving and we are $5,000 under budget in spending and we are doing well. Our financial status is $25,450 in the checking account. We received $5300 during Holy Week and $6700 from the landfill's yearly payment. January was a great month financially, and February and March were good as well.

CALENDAR CLEARANCES:
-- May 1 at 10:30 will be a soup and sandwich fundraiser for Ukraine put on by the Adult Ministry.
-- May 8 at the 9:30 service will be a children's musical.
-- May 15 is the Fireside trip.
-- May 22 is Music Appreciation at both worship services.
Consensus was that we will just take a short break during the meeting and just keep the meeting moving along.

MINISTRY AND COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Gary would like all committees to schedule meetings so meeting reports can be turned in. It was suggested that we have 1 night per month as a Committee Meeting night. There was discussion about some committee members preferring daytime meetings. We'll discuss more at the May meeting.

Youth Ministry: Dan reported that a youth retreat is in the planning stages.

Stewardship Committee: Carol submitted names for the committee: Shannon Reich, Linda Marks, Jeff Lauer, Rita Sawatzky, Matt Kuehl, and Jane Rudie. Matt made a motion to approve, Sonja seconded, motion passed.

Worship Committee: Sonja submitted names for the committee: Pastor Beth, Margie Moore, Judith Mueller, Karen Poley, Shane Reich, Mary Ackerman, and Nelson Wendricks. Matt made a motion to approve, Carol seconded, motion passed.

Faith in Action: Linda submitted names for the committee: Diana Tonn, Carol Wendricks, Denise Snorek, Elaine Haefer, Holli Viken, and Donna Niesen-Campbell. Motion was made to approve, seconded, motion passed.
Property Committee: Greg submitted names for the committee: Mary Ackerman, Matt Duffy, Dan Harvey, Matt Kuehl, Margie Moore, Joe Nemec, and Rita Sawatzky all as returning members

Adult Ministry: Troy reported that there will be a soup and sandwich dinner following church on May 1 and there will also be bracelets for sale, either for a donation or included with dinner. Carol said that the money raised at the Lenten noon meals this year is normally given to Lutheran World Relief, but could donate it to the Ukraine fundraiser instead.

OLD BUSINESS:

-- We will continue watching the Covid statistics and adjust our mask policy as needed.
-- Pastor Beth said that no new initiatives came from the Post-It survey at this time.
-- Lenten service attendance was way up and very successful. Easter service online views were also higher than normal, and attendance was 66 at the early service and 72 at the late service. Everyone agreed that the Easter service music was exceptional!
-- Gary asked that we all go through the Policy and Procedures Manual for questions and comments before the next meeting.
-- The church campout only had 2 families sign up.
-- Gary updated on the solar farm that no dates were given for start and finish. But they are also moving 50' farther away from the church lot line.

NEW BUSINESS:

-- Is it possible to have both a visual and audio person in the tech booth? We agreed it was a good idea, but very difficult to schedule 2 people. It also might be time to update the equipment. We will work on staffing first, then look into new equipment.
-- Madison Police will be using the church parking lot in July for training.
-- We will further discuss at the May meeting events that our church can participate in. Gary suggested antique fire truck rides, by a friend of his who volunteered.
-- Carol reported for the Historical Preservation Committee. They had suggestions for possibilities for displaying all the relics from their explorations:
     a) possible renovation of the garage, including heat, lighting, etc. which would be costly.
     b) using the library shelves, covered with Plexiglas.
     c) shelves outside Marcie's office covered with Plexiglas.
There are many, many papers which could be laminated. The historical items would be great to use for a scavenger hunt on Rally Sunday. It was discussed on how to reinvent dead spaces as possibilities for displays.

-- We discussed the summer format for Church Council meetings. Troy made a motion that we do not meet in July, as was customary in the past, Pastor Beth seconded, motion carried. June and August will meet as scheduled.
-- We will schedule a Church Council Retreat in September, centered on our mission statement, and meet for a half day on a Saturday at a different church.

Dan made a motion to adjourn, Carol seconded, motion passed.
Meeting adjourned with the Lord's Prayer at 8:15 pm.

Minutes recorded and submitted by Donna Niesen-Campbell