ministry teams meetings minutes

1. Ministry Teams Meeting Minutes: 13 August 2014
Ministry Team: Communications
Members Present: Ben Huckaby, Gail Christensen, Sarah Bernart, Jason Pace, David Cariss
Agenda Items Discussed:
I. Adult Education communications discussion
A. Requested an insert for Glad Tidings, banners for the church homepage, posters, and a tabletop
1. For the website the idea is to do homepage banners for each of the events/topics and have them
link to the document that has the full fall formation schedule and details.
2. Also add these to the church Google calendar (they are already there, may need details copied
over)
3. Some corrections and additional information will need to be made to the document before posting
it to the website
II. Graphic Assignments for Adult Formation. Each one needs a poster and a banner for the website homepage):
A. A Journey Toward God: assigned to: Diane (would you be willing)
B. What Does God Want from Me?: assigned to David
C. Being Episcopalian: assigned to Ben
D. Where is God Going?: assigned to Jason
E. Why Go To Church?: assigned to David
F. It’s a Wonderful Life: assigned to Diane (would you be willing)
III. Upcoming roadside banners -- they look great! :)
IV. Present results of website usability study
A. Explore options for making the Constant Contact sign up on the homepage and/or more visible
B. Figure out how to organize the Media Gallery by descending date order (including adding dates)
1. Also see if there is an easier way to upload photos en mass
2. Maybe use Picasa? We can embed albums, slideshows, etc. on our pages and get rid of the
built-in gallery altogether
C. Reviewed navigation changes as a group - will need to complete the analysis at the September meeting,
since we ran out of time.
Action Items Discussed/Tracked:
Action Item Assigned To Due Date
Adult Formation Graphics Diane, David, Ben, Jason (various, see notes above)
Adult Formation Glad Tidings Article Gail 8/20/14
Research Picasa feasibility Jason tbd (discussion ongoing)
Figure out options for homepage email sign up, other call outs Ben tbd (discussion ongoing)
Create & populate new website pages Ben & Gail tbd (discussion ongoing)

2. Ministry Team: Buildings and Grounds
Members Present: Riley, Chris, Ken T. and Alfred
Agenda Items Discussed:
• Follow-up on last meeting’s action list.
Action Item Assigned To Due Date Comment
New rolling cart for fellowship Alfred One has been purchased
and installed. The
fellowship team has asked
for one more of the same
type and it has been
ordered.
Fix leaking toilets Alfred Fixed toilets in women’s
restrooms in both Estill
House and Church
building.
Swap workspace configuration in
staff office
Alfred Done.
• Trailer removal status
o Judson Witham (Isaac) is working on removing the trailer. The first section is ready to be pulled out.
o Isaac still believes he can get it out without major disruption, but he may have to take the corner of the
playground fence down temporarily.
o Post-meeting news: Isaac has strained an ankle and he thinks it will take another two weeks before he
can get the second half of the trailer out from its current position.
• Parking lot project
o The project is ongoing with a tentative finish date before end of August.
o The area just outside the backdoor to the church building was not originally graded so that it could be
used for a parking lot. The dirt is topsoil and soft. To deal with that, the contractor will put concrete over
that area to make it possible to carry parked cars. This will cost us an extra $5,000 to $6,000.
• Dead oak tree close to the entrance
o An old oak tree close to the entrance need to come down. Its branches are entangled with the power
lines, so it will be a little tricky to take it down. This does not impact the big oak tree in the circle.
o First offer from our arborist came in at $3,200.00 – we will ask two other tree removal companies for
offers before making a decision.
o All contractors have come in with similar prices, so we’re right now trying to get Duke/Progress energy out
to look at it. They may decide to prune it to protect the overhanging power lines.
o Sue Young is setting up an appointment with Duke/Progress Energy to come out and look at the tree.
• Memorial garden walkway
o A parishioner has kindly offered to cover the cost of having a walkway installed to the Memorial Garden.
o Current idea is to use red brick pavers laid down in compacted gravel and sand.
o The B&G team needs to look at the placement of the walkway. The best solution will be a walkway from
the parking lot, to the Memorial Garden and on to the concrete walkway behind Estill House – enabling
access from both the parking lot and the concrete walkways behind Estill House.
o An access ramp with a railing must be included so the Memorial Garden becomes wheelchair accessible.
o To keep costs under control, my suggestion is that we do the construction ourselves. We need some
volunteers for the detailed planning and the actual work.
o Materials would be gravel, sand, pavers, yard fabric and lining.
o We may need to rent a small front loader to help us with the tough dirt work (excavation, fill in gravel and
sand).
o As soon as the trailer is gone and the area where the trailer was has been cleaned up, we will start the
work.

3. • Planning for the fall B&G workday
o The next workday is coming up. How can we make this workday to be even more of a church community
day? Are there other activities we can combine a workday with?
o A date must be decided – sometime in late October or early November.
o An activity plan must be defined, including a list of materials to be purchased before the workday.
Pruning
Mulching?
Remove dead plants (junipers) and shrubs
Extend air handlers drains at least a foot away from the buildings
??
o We need a planning volunteer for this activity. Chris Christiansen and Sue Young will head up this
planning activity.
• Create schedule for blowing leaves off the grounds during the fall
o Set up a schedule of volunteers with blowers to keep the parking lots and walkways free of leaves during
the fall months.
o Schedule to start mid-October and continue into late December.
o How often? – Once a week (Saturday)
o Volunteers? – Note will go out to all BG members to solicit volunteers. Initial volunteers are:
Chris
Riley
Ken T.
Alfred
o It was suggested we establish teams of two blowers – the area to blow is rather large.
• Install rubber pads under church building air handlers
o I have purchased rubber pads to be installed under the air handlers in the church building to reduce the
noise in the Nave when the A/C systems kick in.
o They need to be installed and that will require some muscle work to lift the air handler legs enough to pull
out the current support and push in the rubber pads.
o Volunteers and time to be decided. Monday August 18 at 10:00 am – Chris, Alfred and Ken T will meet to
install the pads.
• Anything else we need to discuss in today’s meeting?
Action Items Assigned/Tracked:
Action Item Assigned To Due Date Comment
Install rubber pads under air handlers in church
Chris, Alfred and
8/18/2014
building
Ken T
Solicit volunteers for fall leaf blowing teams and
organize a schedule
Alfred 9/10/2014
Hang white board in staff office for Youth Minister to
use
Alfred 8/20/2014
Set up appointment with Duke/Progress Sue 9/10/2014

4. Ministry Team: Youth
Members Present: Paul Grass, Interim Youth Minister, Jon Showalter, Sally Bloom, Fran Kenney, Lori Special, Beth
Crow, and Dave McKinnon
Agenda Items Discussed:
1) Volunteer Update:
a) The Rite 13, J2A, and YAC class teams have been recruited.
b) Youth Group leaders need to be confirmed by Paul. There are several people who have been identified as being
interested in helping with this activity. Paul will move to formalize the volunteer staff next week.
c) A volunteer is still needed to organize the food for the Youth Group meetings.
d) All other volunteers for the youth program are in place.
2) YMT Class Schedules
a) J2A Schedule is posted on the church calendar.
b) Sally and Paul will work on getting Rite 13 and YAC schedules posted prior to August 24th.
c) Youth Group will meet on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of every month.
3) Upcoming Events:
a) August 24th - Youth Leader training 12:00noon - 3pm
b) August 24th - Youth Social 6:30pm - 8:30pm
c) NEW DATE: Rite 13 Rehearsal/Dinner--Oct. 18
d) NEW DATE: Rite 13 Ceremony--Oct. 19.
e) Rite 13 Rehearsal/Dinner--Mar 14, 2015
f) Rite 13 Ceremony--Mar 15, 2015
4) Upcoming Diocesan Events:
a) Avodah-- Oct 25-26 in Rocky Mount (grades 6-12)
b) Bishops’ Ball-- Dec. 12-14 (grades 6-12)
c) Happening / Genesis-- April 17-19
d) Beth Crow will assist other YMT members and youth leaders so that CotN youth can register as a group for these
events. Chaperones and drivers will need to be organized based on the number of interested youth.
5) Review of Three Year Goals, and 1-year steps.
a) Sally and Fran reviewed the calendar of events they had prepared that outlines the regularly scheduled events
that will need to be accomplished in order to keep YMT on track towards meeting our 3 year goals.
b) Many of the YMT members had trouble previewing the document, so an official vote of accepting the plan was
tabled until the next meeting. YMT members are requested to review the document prior to the next meeting in
preparation for voting on accepting the plan.
6) No new business was brought before the group.

5. Ministry Team: Outreach
Members Present: Pete Crow, Carl Sigel, Pat Watson, Maxine Highsmith, Annette Hughes, Cheryl Waechter, René
Garcés; regrettably I don’t know the name of the intern whom attended, so either Caleb Tabor or Fred Brown was also
present.
Agenda Items Discussed: (regrettably I arrived 20 minutes late, so the following minutes are as of 7:20PM)
1. Stop Hunger Now (SHN): Usual Sunday drinks and munchies to be supplied by Fellowship ministry, however, will
need more of everything to augment folks’ bag lunch. Annette will contact Carolyn to ask for more of the sweet
tea and of the unsweetened tea. May need to make more cookies than usual for SHN; some cookies have been
made and are frozen ready to reheat on Sunday; Rene asking Judy to work with Sandy on Fellowship logistics for
SHN. May need to make more lemonade than usual for SHN. UPDATE courtesy of Carl on 8/14: Sandy
suggested that fellowship be set up in the Chapel room on Sunday. There will be extra cookies. Annette has
confirmed drinks from Charly.
2. Sierra Club group is looking for space to have a “Clean Energy Raleigh” meeting where they’ll discuss bringing
solar power to private residences, as a means of helping our environment; meeting dates were proposed in
September or October/2014. Carl will send an e-mail with details as more information available.
3. BUDGET: Discussed amounts budgeted for different projects, for example, Interfaith food shuttle, Honduras
Medical Mission, Interfaith Power and Light, CODEP, Episcopal Housing at Christmas, and what other projects
Outreach may wish to help. Also noted, parking lot project recently estimated to require additional funds (~ $5K),
and each ministry may be approached to share from their budget(s).
4. DIABETES PROJECT: Maxine Highsmith presented information about a diabetes walk being held 11/8 as a fund-raiser
for Diabetes; the walk is 3 mile long; Maxine is part of a team (team Red), and she supplied information
about the project to Outreach; Maxine asked to submit notice in Glad Tidings (GT) this month (due Wednesday
8/20) or next month. Discussed various ways Nativity could participate (ie. Have its own team, parishioners send
in checks, parishioners sponsor Maxine and her team, etc.); Maxine asked if she may post flyer(s) around Nativity
to advertise walk.
5. Cheryl presented info she found at North Raleigh Ministries (NRM), and discussed how Nativity could participate,
perhaps starting with an article in Glad Tidings explaining what they do, how they are helping the local
community. Outreach members asked to check out web-page, and think about article for GT either this month or
next month. Briefly discussed if Nativity should explore providing similar help west of either Creedmoor Road or
Ray Road, since NRM appeared to be addressing community’s needs east of Creedmoor Road and out towards
Capital Road.