Congregation Council

•Due to Vacation Bible School held the previous week, the Council meeting was rescheduled for Monday, June 21.  (A terrible storm outside came about while we were meeting!)

•We had the extraordinary situation of nine of our council members unable to attend (for last minute, various reasons), so the meeting held could not transact any formal business.

•We did take time to discuss the financial situation at OSLC.  Worse case scenario is that unless the trends change, we have until the end of the year when our savings will be used up.  In June, giving has improved some;  still, a letter describing our situation will be prepared soon to be mailed out to all members.  Discussion was shared with other options that we will consider:  cutting back immediately on our expenses, offering ways to communicate with the congregation (Temple talks, etc.) and, in the plan for the upcoming year, figure a bare-bones budget with many potential cuts to the existing budget.  It was brought to our attention that a number of people who have made pledges (29) have yet to make a financial gift to OSLC;  however, it was promising that pledges were up in 2010 over the pledges that were made in 2009.    Other options for our financial situation were discussed which will be discussed in detail at later meetings.

•It was mentioned that July 3 and July 4 there are special gatherings for OSLC:  (1) View from the church, the Pepsi-sponsored annual fireworks at Freedom Hall (July 3), and (2) the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans-sponsored “Lutherans Night at the Ball Park” with the Johnson City Cardinals on July 4.  (Details elsewhere in the newsletter)

•We closed our informal meeting with the Lord’s Prayer (7:35 p.m.) 

-- Pastor Joseph opened the meeting with devotions. This was followed by the council reading the Purpose Statement together.

-- Approval was given for all previous meeting minutes was given.
Compliments & Questions:  Thanksgiving offered to Kay Scheurer for her work with the children of Sunday School; thanksgivings were offered for the group that went to Jonesboro, VA and worked with Appalachian Service Project; compliments were shared with Jacob Ottinger for his hard work on the Lock-In and the Temple Talk on February 2. Great job!

-- Retreat was rescheduled for Saturday, February 20 at the farmhouse of Patty and John Paul Neas.  9 a.m. to 4 p.m. is the scheduled time.  Items to be discussed: Fellowship  Ministry organization; Wonderful Wednesday ideas; New directions/possibilities for Sunday School; timeline for facilities update, goal setting for 2010.

-- Council approved the 2010 ELCA Covenant Amount to be $50,000.  

-- Synod Assembly will be in Chattanooga on June 4-6, 2010.  OSLC can send three delegates and we are diligently searching for those people.

-- Discussion was shared about needing better signage for people to know that there is more parking in the back of the church.  It was discussed again the need to consider in the future of making some changes to the back entrance to the church, since 2/3rds of our parking is in the back of the church.  There is a need to make it more conducive and welcoming to those worshiping with us.

-- Adjourned with the reading of the Mission Statement and the praying of our Lord's Prayer.

Where there is no vision, the people perish. - Proverbs 29:18a (KJV)

Because we want to GROW in CHRIST, we are challenged to:

1. Support new initiatives to reach the un-churched or de-churched with a goal of increasing our worship attendance by 21 people (10%) by the end of 2009.

2. Improve communications

3. Develop a two year Strategic Plan

4. Upgrade facilities for handicap accessibility, safety and friendliness

5. Improve visibility of the church building to reach passersby

6. Begin an intentional small group ministry program to build deeper faith and connections

7. Actively seek outside groups to use the building to bring more people into our Christian environment

8. Strengthen our ministry to children, teens and young adults

9. Improve record keeping on members

10. Create a plan for having a multi-event evening on a weekly basis that has at least some events designed to reach out to the community

11. Actively reach out to members who are uninvolved to make connections

12. Foster spiritual gifts recognition and facilitate better use of our members' gifts.    

This Vision 2009 Statement was prayerfully designed by the Congregation Council at their retreat and following meeting in February. Some items will be multi-year initiatives, some will always be part of a vision, and others will be completed this year. We invite all to participate in achieving these goals. Please offer your feedback and suggestions to any member of the Congregation Council.