Board Meeting Minutes: January 15, 2023

Attendees: Korderro Brown (joined at the end of the first agenda item: Covenant discussion), Tenia Dewolf, Greg Fisher, Adam Goforth, Raphael Guillen, Melanie Odom-Groh, Anna Wysocki

Start time: 12:38pm

Covenant with Rev. Korderro Brown: Melanie Odom-Groh

  • The board discussed the proposed pastoral covenant and made some minor clarifying updates to the wording.

  • Adam moved to have the board to approve the updated covenant and offer it to Rev. Brown to sign. The board approved the motion unanimously with no opposition voiced.

  • Rev. Korderro Brown joined the board meeting at this point. Adam Goforth went over the wording changes with him, then both he and Melanie signed the covenant.

Worship: Raphael Guillen

  • Raphael asked for feedback on the worship services from November through January.

  • Anna said she especially liked when there was a specific activity during the quiet meditation time, especially a hands-on physical activity.

  • Anna and Tenia both suggested we make sure we have many different people leading communion.

  • Melanie said the church had purchased a sermon series program that the worship team used to create the services during Advent, and they're considering doing the same for Lent. Korderro said that he'd like to take a look at the program and would be open to using it if he liked it. Melanie said she would share it with him.

  • Adam expressed appreciation for the daily Facebook posts tied into Advent and the sermon series.

  • Anna suggested we could consider adding more diversity to the musicians leading the music in the service, having more people participate, instead of having the same group of three each week.

Ministry and Missions: Anna Wysocki

  • Anna talked about how she's currently figuring out the details and parameters of her current role. Korderro suggested that Anna and he meet before the next board meeting to talk through those details and bring some findings and suggestions back to the board.

  • Anna could not meet with Sheri in the last month because Sheri was sick.

  • There was some discussion of the current status of Peace House's outstanding property taxes. The board believes that the county will not backdate the parsonage exemption, so the outstanding taxes will have to be paid, though Matt was not available to confirm that definitively. Korderro, Anna, and Matt will discuss the current status, and then Korderro and Anna will meet with Sheri.

  • The board's DEI activities were discussed. Adam gave an overview of last year's efforts. Korderro suggested that to move forward we could start with a listening session as a whole church, something he has experience organizing, and that he has some other ideas for how to move forward.

  • Anna suggested that we commit to seeking pastors with diverse identities when we need a substitute preacher.

  • The board discussed creating a DEI roadmap. The board committed to creating a roadmap in the next two weeks, at the latest by the time Jo Ella needs to report to United Way. Tenia will talk to Jo Ella about getting the details of the United Way grant proposal that had a DEI roadmap as a component, and Korderro will help the board draft the roadmap in that timeframe. Anna agreed to meet with him before the end of the month to put something together.

  • Kord raised the topic of church membership. The board reported that we haven't had a formal church membership process in several years. Kord suggested that formalizing church membership could be more important moving forward, especially as the church continues to grow.

  • Anna suggested that the church might want to create some additional committees. Examples: DEI committee, a "cafe" committee to commit to opening the building more, children's ministry committee, a "master plan" committee to define the church's vision and future plans.

  • Anna reported that she launched the 21 Day Equity Challenge discussion group.

  • Anna reported that she went to meetings of the Grassroots Homelessness Grant Coalition, a group concerned with raising grant money for homelessness work in the county. This group is sponsored by A Servant's Heart and composed of different organizations in the area working on homelessness.

  • Anna called out that we should do a better job of keeping a record of Rose's monthly reports. She spent time searching for the reports made in the last two years and was only able to find a few of them.

  • Anna reported that James and Dewey, who were long-time car campers in the church's parking lot, have gotten housing, so they're not staying at the church anymore.

  • The daytime warming center will be back at Journey of Faith the first two weeks of March.

  • Anna will meet with Korderro in the next couple of weeks. She will also request quotes for public performance licenses for showing racial DEI films at the church this year.

 Building and Operations: Greg Fisher

  • Greg has started work on a multi-way contract for A Servant's Heart's intergenerational initiatives, to regulate its distribution of grant funds to the involved West Willow organizations. Greg will talk to Jo Ella about moving forward with finishing the contract and getting it signed.

  • There is still one car camper in the parking lot, but the board doesn't currently have clarity on his plans for leaving.

  • Greg and Tenia will handle a verification of an employment letter request for Timothy, the office administrator.

  • Timothy has asked for church letterhead for sending out communication. Raphael will email Timothy with a link to the template in Google Drive.

  • Melanie and Matt are working on sending donation documentation to donors for the 2022 tax year.

Communications: Adam Goforth

  • Larry Odom-Groh ran an advent season Facebook campaign, which increased our Facebook engagement. He plans to continue to post to Facebook on a regular basis moving forward.

  • Adam intends to update the website with information about Korderro.

  • Nextdoor - Anna proposed that the communication team could create and run a business page. The board approved doing this and Adam will create the page.

Congregational meeting for budget approval

  • The church will hold a congregational meeting on February 12th directly after the Sunday service.

  • Agenda items:

    • Approve the 2023 budget.

    • If we're ready, we'll announce our DEI roadmap for the year.

    • Anna will have a chance to report out about mission and ministry activity of the church.

  • Melanie will ask Timothy to send an announcement out to the church.

February meeting date

  • Next meeting is February 5th at 12:30pm in person at the church

2023 Capital Campaign

  • The board will discuss the capital campaign at the next meeting, when both Korderro and Matt will be present.

Debriefing: Melanie Odom-Groh

  • Melanie asked the attendees to share where they felt tension and where they saw God show up during today's board meeting.

End time: 3:24pm