Our Activities
Listed below are the news articles for the month of October.
October 03, 2006
"FOOTE-PRINTS" from Beth Foote, Family Ministries Director
My first two weeks at Trinity Parish have been eventful and full of learning. I would have been happy to pass on the fender bender I had on 880 on the way to my first staff meeting. At the other end of the spectrum, narrating “Jesus’ Day Off” at the JoyFest Service was a real source of joy for me.
There are so many names and faces to put together when joining a new faith community. And much institutional culture and history to absorb. In addition, I’m learning Godly Play from the ground up as we put together the program for the 2006-2007 Sunday School year. I’m looking forward to being conversant in this very rich curriculum that values the spirituality of children.
I will also be storytelling at the 9:10 service, and will preach at the 8:00 and 10:00 services on October 8th. I’m planning to be on campus for most of the day on Tuesdays, Sundays, and may cross the Bay on other days as needed. Please contact me anytime by e-mail or through the church office.
Sunday School has started at Trinity! Registration is ongoing on the Trinity website, and forms are always available in Trinity Hall. If you would like to become more involved with Sunday School, please contact me. There are always opportunities for parents to help with supporting roles as well as training to be Godly Play storytellers and doorkeepers.
Last month I mentioned three themes for Family Ministries: STORY, CHRISTIAN PRACTICES, and COMMUNITY. How can we integrate these themes in our daily lives?
In terms of STORY and CHRISTIAN PRACTICES, I’d like to share something simple that has been very helpful in my spiritual growth: the “Day by Day” devotional booklet published by the Episcopal Church. For each day there’s a short one-page meditation based on one of the readings of the day, which are also listed so you can go to your Bible, and read and reflect on them yourself. Copies of “Day by Day” are available in the church office. You can also subscribe to it on line so that the daily meditation magically appears in your email inbox everyday. Taking a little time each day to read a passage of scripture and using that occasion to pray, helps us remember God’s role in our daily lives. I invite you to give it a try, and share your impressions of this simple Christian practice with me.
In terms of COMMUNITY, our Family Ministries Commission has met several times now in preparation for the fall, and we have a number of events planned:
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1ST, BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS AT 11:30 AM IN THE COURTYARD
In the tradition of St. Francis, pets and stuffed animals will be blessed. Bring a picnic lunch and stay awhile for social time. We’ll provide drinks, dog and cat treats.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, FAMILY MINISTRIES FALL POTLUCK AT 6 P.M.
We will gather in Trinity Hall for family social time and a potluck dinner. Wear a costume and bring pumpkins to paint! We will have more details forthcoming soon.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, ALL SAINTS DAY FESTIVAL AT 10:45 in Trinity Hall (after Godly Play Sunday School). There will be food and multiple activities for all ages in Trinity Hall to celebrate All Saints.
“PASSING ON THE FAITH” CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 17 AND 18TH
Our Parish is honored to be the host for “Passing On the Faith”, Friday November 17 and Saturday, November 18. Internationally renowned Christian educators will help us explore how we can “pass on the faith” to the next generation, primarily through faith practices in the home. We expect over a hundred participants.
For information on the Conference online, paste the following link into your browser: http://episcopalbayarea.org/joomla/content/view/339/237/ . We will be assembling a congregational team to attend and will also be requesting help with hospitality.
Blessings to you all as we walk together in faith into fall,
Beth Foote
October 18, 2006
Vestry Minutes - August
Trinity Parish Vestry Meeting
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 – 7:00 pm
Present from the Vestry: David Arscott, Peter Bostock, John Crevelt, Jay Dean, Carl Ditmore, Nancy Grove, Harry Hagey, Howard Smith, Jeannie Thomas
Vestry members absent: Jeff Cunningham, Frances Nuelle
Clergy: The Rev. Anne Jensen, the Rev. Fred Heard
Officers: Jennifer Fitzmorris, Treasurer; Margie Stehle, Clerk
The meeting opened with prayer
Book Discussion – The Practicing Congregation by Diana Butler Bass
Minutes: It was moved and seconded that the minutes of the July meeting be approved as mailed. Motion approved.
Report from Benchmarking Group: Jeannie Thomas
The benchmarking group, consisting of Carl Ditmore, Peter Bostock, Jeff Cunningham, and Jeannie Thomas, presented interesting information obtained by contacting rectors and treasurers of ten of the eleven largest parishes in our diocese (including Trinity).
The roadmap for this comparison study started with questions. Do we agree that we need to adopt a balanced budget without including the endowment draw? Is this a practice that we should adopt, or return to? If we agree about this, then we can start figuring out how to get there. If we don’t, then the discussion will be different. Using endowment draw for operating expenses has been the practice for the past 5 years.
Do we want to have a goal to balance the budget? When? We could decrease the endowment draw slowly. $84,000 (yearly endowment draw) is a lot of money. We have been using it to run the church, while it should be used only for special programs, capital improvements, etc.
First cut is to realize that we’re actually facing a deficit budget of $100,000 ($20,000 deficit + the $84,000 endowment draw). Originally the endowment was split 1/3 operating expenses – 2/3 capital fund, then went to 2/3 – 1/3, then to 100% operating expenses.
All agree that we should have a balanced budget. Expenses should equal income. This is a different matter from Vestry voting that we WILL have a balanced budget.
For next year, Vestry could make the pledge that there would be no planned deficit. We need to make some kind of plan before we have a new rector.
Interesting information was gleaned from other churches, although summer was not the ideal time to do this. Rectors and treasurers were on vacation. Committee members were on vacation.
Trinity has the largest endowment of parishes that were investigated. All are Episcopal churches in our diocese. Lots of information is confidential, so the parishes are identified by number, not by name, for this purpose. Many have deficits. Some have other income which is not endowment. Many are living beyond their means, in the view of their treasurers. Assessment is about 20%, fixed costs 20%, compensation is 60%. No answer was found in terms of a best practice, no other church provides a model that we can follow. Out of this survey, it is possible that a Treasurers’ group, with members from the various churches, will be established.
There were some ideas, different ways of doing things, which we can consider. One model says to hire full-time clergy and give them responsibility for programs. If there’s not enough money, a program doesn’t happen unless parishioners step up to help. A number of churches have non-stipendiary clergy, priests or deacons, which creates more work for rector. Non-stipes may do hospital visits, daily morning prayer. One church has a pledge-match program for all new pledgers. Another has a salary reserve fund, in case the largest pledgers depart. Most churches don’t have a fund for capital expenditures. If something breaks, they raise the money to fix it. People like to give to concrete things, as demonstrated by R4J – want to see their money at work.
It was useful to be able to see extremes of practices, and determine where we would like to be sitting in that spectrum. The analysis isn’t complete; more information will come in. Every church is having problems, no one has found the magic bullet.
These are ten of the eleven largest churches in the diocese. Some also have four Sunday services. The committee didn’t ask about attendance at the various services. They didn’t ask every church about how outreach is funded. They did ask rectors about programmatic emphasis for this year or next year.
Anne thanked the committee for the huge amount of work they have accomplished!
To be discussed in September: at this point it looks like next year’s budget would have a $50K deficit, predicated on having the new rector live in the rectory. This includes maintenance of existing programs and increase in rector’s salary (because of change from interim to permanent rector). This also assumes 8% increase in pledging. Endowment draw is $84K/year. The best the vestry could decide is a 3-year plan to balance the budget. Homework for Sept. is to try to figure out how to balance the budget, including still using the endowment draw (for now).
Jeannie suggested that a subgroup could come up with several scenarios to present to the vestry in September. The following people volunteered for this budget sub-committee: Jennifer Fitzmorris, Anne Jensen, Jay Dean, Jeannie Thomas, and Peter Bostock. David will check with Jeff Cunningham, to see if he’s able to join the group. Anne would like to keep Jennifer’s title “Planning for Ministry” at the top of the page. If we can accomplish this (balancing the budget), it will pay dividends in every subsequent year. We would like to have decisions made, and not leave it for new rector to “fix.” Also, how do we communicate with the parish?
How is the “planning for ministry” work tying back into any of this? Jennifer is hoping to get info from Family Ministries to complete the work. Most likely next year’s budgeting process will hold the program money flat – it’s really a small amount. Vestry has a role to play in year-round stewardship effort. Vestry members need to share as much of this information as we can after each service, probably in early October, before pledge Sunday.
We need to tell the Stewardship Commission that we’re working towards a balanced budget. The vestry is committed to the concept; vestry has goal of balancing the budget in 2007.
Jeannie commented that it is wonderful to have a finance commission and endowment commission that really care about what the financials mean to the parish, and regularly do more than their assigned tasks.
Financials – Jennifer Fitzmorris
Following the in-depth discussion above, it was decided not to have any further discussion of last month’s financials, which have already been e-mailed to Vestry members.
New Rector Search Committee – Howard Smith
Two weeks remain until the deadline for applications. Committee members are satisfied with the number received so far, and have high hopes that many applications will come in as the deadline approaches. The next step for the committee will be to go through all the applications, and determine with which individuals they want to have phone interviews. Ideally there will be 20-30 applications. The goal would be to interview 10-12 by phone. The committee will be divided into four groups, with each group to interview 3 candidates. Phone interviews should be done by the end of September.
After that, the NRSC will get together as a group and decide who to visit. October is hoped to be the month of visitations. The goal is to have candidates come to Menlo Park on the first 3 weekends of November. Vestry interviews the candidates at this time, so Vestry members should plan to be in town. We could call our new rector in December. The committee is working hard to make that happen.
The search committee will only put forward people that they would be happy to have as rector. There’s a possibility that they might only have one name to present. The question was asked whether the search committee as a whole would meet all the candidates? Or do they rely on the 3-4 who travel to meet each person? There may be some way to get everyone together. This is what they did in the past The NRSC is seeking to de-emphasize the search committee and to emphasize vestry’s role. But vestry members feel that the committee has spent much more time with the candidates, and vestry would welcome any input.
The NRSC will use the Parish Profile as their guide. When the vestry is voting, they need to remember the profile, and that they are voting for the parish, not their personal preference. The NRSC will present candidates who meet these guidelines. They will be looking at what the candidates’ abilities are, not their physical attributes. We are looking for the person who can do the best job, who is most qualified. Awareness of many issues is necessary, including religious background, divorce, sexual orientation, marriage history, gender, age, spiritual orientation, spouse (is it important to congregation that spouse be of the same faith?), smoker. What’s going to work for this congregation?
Discussion: beginning with prayer, each vestry member was asked to answer the question, “what guidance would you like to give to the search committee?” (No minutes were taken during this discussion.)
Questions about process: what vote is required to call a new rector? Two-thirds is common. We are now a vestry of 11, because Anne Murguia has resigned. Would we still need 8 positive votes? What if people are absent? Should we call someone to fill this short period of time, for Anne’s unfinished term? Do we invite one of the four newly-elected vestry members to start immediately in October? They will not have been through the whole process. If Vestry members are not available to interview with candidates, are they eligible to vote? Jeannie would like to have 12 people, asking someone who has served on vestry, maybe been a warden, fairly recently, to come in. This decision can be made in September, so Vestry members should think about it before then.
Adult Education – Jay Dean & Carl Ditmore
There is a new group of pages on our website, lots of good stuff. Bible study. Trying to draw people from outside the parish. (The Diocese is advertising events in SF in the SJ Mercury.)
Anne expressed thanks to Carl and Jay for all their work.
Bylaws comparison – Nancy Grove
The final report, listing texts side-by-side and stating our conformity to church canons has been sent to Vestry members. The comparisons showed that our by-laws were conforming. Anne thanked Nancy & Elaine Hammond, who did a fabulous job of summarizing this. It was a huge amount of work. Future vestries should somehow be informed that this work has been done.
Montgomery House and Rectory expenses – David Arscott
Roof of the MH porch and the railings need to be repaired. There’s dry rot and water damage. Costs will be approximately $4800 for woodworking, $6000-7000 for coatings, painting, for a total of $12000. This work needs to be done – the question is where to find the money. Jennifer said that this should be submitted to the finance committee, and they will decide how it will be paid.
The windows in the Rectory master bedroom need to be replaced, which will cost about $2000.
A resolution was requested to spend up to $12000 for repairs for MH and $2500 for rectory.
Discussion: this is not a new problem. Ten years ago, the MH railings were not up to code, and people were told not to use the deck. That was at a time when we had much more money for repairs.
It was decided to vote separately on the rectory expenses. It was moved to spend up to $2500 on replacing the rectory windows, with the money to come from the rent that is being collected. Seconded and approved.
Railing repairs of $5000 were already approved in last year’s budget. Finance needs to see the bigger number and make suggestions. In order to do the roof sealing properly, the railing has to come off, so there was economy in doing it all at once. Jennifer will ask Finance and B&G to look at this over the next month, and come up with plans, recommendations. Time will run out – rains may come in October. The Finance Committee has a meeting on September 15th.
Nominating Committee – David Arscott
The Vestry Nominating Committee has had 3 meetings. They want to start calling people in the next week or so, and hope to have 6 to 8 candidates by mid-September. There seems to be a strong bias within the parish to have a contested election, so they will do their best to have at least 5 candidates.
Anne led us in a closing prayer.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:37 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Margie Stehle, Clerk