Do You Think it is a Small Matter- David’s Men.pptx
March Ministry Teams minutes
1. Ministry Teams Meeting Minutes: 12 March 2014
Ministry Team: Children’s Formation
Members Present: Becky Showalter, Megan Douglas, Bobbie Feraco, Sue Young, Kellam Gaddy
Agenda Items Discussed:
1. New Service Schedule – childcare
9am – very few older kids, Nina has 2 or 3 young ones
10am – Kristen helps in the preschool class (that is working fine). Nina often has no young ones at 10,
sometimes one.
11am – the more well attended service. Kristen has 4-8 older kids. Nina has 3 or 4 young ones.
During the meeting we discussed switching Kristen’s hours to 10am-12pm, but several days after the meeting she
asked if it was possible for her to be removed from the schedule as her children’s schedules had become
overwhelming. Nina will now be the only childcare person on Sunday mornings. At the 9am service, she will be
in the infant nursery and at the 11am service she will be in the Education Building. Youth helpers have been
assigned at each time period.
Action Item: Place signs on both doors and change bulletin announcement of where childcare is offered.
2. New Service Schedule – Sunday School
10 am – all classes meet. Classes seem well attended.
Input from one of the teachers 2
nd
-4
th
grade classroom is getting pretty small for them (not enough seats).
Worksheets are too difficult for the 2
nd
graders.
Next year, we need to align the classes with the grades that the curriculum is designed for. Also, may need to
split the older class. That may require one more classroom. Need to discuss with youth program as well as look
at our own student numbers. Could the YACs meet in the parlor next year? Would they need to?
3. Teachers Meeting – February 9 after Church
A good turnout – groups broke up into teaching teams to discuss their classes and then met back together.
- General consensus is that things are going well.
- Only concern was that the services and Sunday School time seem to overlap. Decision was made to try and
make a hard stop time of 10:50 so families can make it into Sunday School on time.
4. Community Service Project
- Food Shuttle Volunteer Trip scheduled for this Saturday, March 15.
About 20 kids attended including 5 or 6 2
nd
-4
th
graders. Nice turnout, nice day. It was good that they had a
chance to get out in the community.
5. Children’s Communion Classes
- Stephanie has scheduled three more children’s communion classes – March 16, June 1, September 21. All
at 4:30 on Sunday afternoons.
Stephanie is handling these classes. We will try and send out an email to the parents the week before the class
as a reminder.
6. Easter Egg Hunt
- Need someone to spearhead. Last year it was Sarah Gordon. A parent?
Sarah Gordon is unable to help this year, but Jane Oldham is willing to spearhead the effort (and find some help
possibly). Becky will put a reminder in the Glad Tidings and the bulletin.
7. Vacation Bible School
- Who can we get to organize for this year? Bobbie Feraco has volunteered. Kellam and Becky can help but
would like to not lead this year. Any older youth? It would be great to have 1-2 more team members.
2. Sarah O’Connor has offered to help coordinate as well. Kellam has bowed out. Becky is willing to handle the
decorations. Tentatively scheduled for Aug 1-3.
- We need to purchase another curriculum this year. We have had really good results with GospelLight brand -
will look there again.
Have purchased Gospel Light’s SonTreasure Weekend VBS package with Music and Assembly DVD.
8. Holy Week
- Childcare? When?
Kristen will be there for Maundy Thursday and Nina will be there for Good Friday services (both at 7pm).
Nina will be there for both services on Easter. Nina needs youth or adult helpers on Easter – typically a busy
time in the Nursery.
9. Youth Sunday
- May 18. Are our older Sunday Schoolers going to participate?
Ask the 4
th
graders if they would like to lead the prayers of the people. Check with the youth team to see what is
already planned.
10. Miscellaneous
- A request has been made for some non-cloth high chairs for dinners, etc in Corlett Hall. Send out a request.
- Garden Preschool needs to bolt to the wall the bookcases. Have determined best spot for them with Mary.
3. Ministry Team: Ministry Team: Buildings and Grounds
Members Present: Kenneth, David, Randy, Riley and Alfred
Agenda Items:
Follow-up on last meeting’s action list.
Action Item Assigned To Due Date Comment
Put mobile class room on Craig’s
list
Alfred 2/12/2014 Done
Put up Episcopal sign along
driveway
Alfred 2/12/2014 Done
Contact a squirrel proofing
company
Alfred 2/12/2014 Done
Clarify requirement for dedicated
phone lines in the church and
education building
Marc 2/12/2014
Contact Fetsko for 2014 estimate Alfred 2/12/2014 Done
Requested assistance for the Nursery from Becky Showalter:
o Attach baby latches to the four cabinet doors below the sink and inside the changing table/bureau
drawers.
o Attach wall hooks inside the closet so that we may hang the infant bouncy seats overhead and conserve
space better.
o Install some weather stripping around the access door in the ceiling to avoid dust from coming into the
closet.
o Remove the stereo and old wires from previous sound system equipment to open up that one shelf above
the counter top.
o If anyone has an upper cabinet unit available, the Nursery could really use that over the kitchen sink and
counter tops for additional storage.
o All these activities have been assigned to the B&G spring workday March 22.
Landscaping budget for 2014
o We have requested an estimate from Fetsko for the following activities during 2014:
Mow and edge all lawn areas during growing season
5 lawn care applications per year.
o Fetsko estimates $2,861.00 for these activities in 2014.
o We will perform the remaining activities ourselves on our two B&G work days in 2014
Prune all shrubs and trees in beds 2x yearly
Take clippings and branches to landfill
Provide and spread 37 yards of triple shredded hardwood mulch
Winter cleanup - February– Prune, pick up branches, leaf blowing 1x
Pull/Spray weeds in all beds and natural areas
o The above activities have been assigned to our spring workday March 22.
Start planning for a spring grounds cleanup day
o Palm Sunday is April 13 this year. Cleanup should be done before that date.
o Saturday March 22 has been chosen as the spring cleanup work day. Daniel Knapp’s Scout/Ministry
project to build a deer fence around the Nativity Garden is scheduled for this day also, so there will be
multiple opportunities for activities that day.
o An announcement will go into the weekly email newsletter and Sunday Tidings this coming Sunday.
o Alfred will do the detailed planning of the day and get the word out.
Our furry friends (squirrels) are back in the attic of Estill House.
o We had a meeting with “Critter Control” to help us squirrel proof the attic in Estill House. The price for
having them do anything was outrageous, so we will have to continue what we are doing.
o There is an opening underneath the flashing on the east side of Estill House. We need to get up there
with a very tall ladder and close that opening up with chicken wiring, which is what we used for other
openings we could reach.
4. o We will try and get hold of a tall ladder for March 22 workday to close up this entrance.
Memorial Garden landscaping
o We met with the landscaping architect in February. They will work on a conceptual plan for how the
Memorial Garden can evolve in phases through the next few years.
o The architects were very interested in the removal of the trailer, since that would open up the area and
give them more opportunities for designing the Memorial Garden.
The insurance company for the Pre-K school (Mary Kingsley) demanded a fence around the children
playground.
o A fence has been installed as per the requirements from the insurance company.
The mobile class room (the trailer) has been put onto Craigslist.
o The price requested is that the buyer pays all costs associated with removing it and cleaning up after it.
o So far, we have had two contacts who are interested in the trailer. The problem seems to be how to get
the trailer out of its current location.
o Update per March 12: We now have settled with Isacc Judson Witham to take the trailer. He believes
they can get it out without major disruption to the surrounding areas. We do not yet have a date for the
removal.
o We have scheduled activities for March 22 to take items out of the trailer, we want to keep. Everything
that comes out of the trailer must be cleaned in Clorox to remove any mold residue.
Whiteboard in the conference room
o Stephanie has asked if we could put up a whiteboard in the conference room – on the wall between the
conference room and the printer room.
o What does such a board cost?
Metal frame:
4x3 $52.99
6x4 $164.99
8x4 $209.99
Wood frame:
4x3 $74.99
6x4 $219.99
8x4 $279.99
o What do we do with the picture that currently hangs on that wall? It will be moved to a free wall in the
Parlor.
o The white board will be installed March 22.
Parking lot update
o Work on the parking lot expansion will start sometime in March. The exact date depends on how other
dependent projects progress and also the condition of the soil in the woods, where heavy machinery will
work (it is right now too muddy).
o The project will unfortunately take out a considerable amount of trees. The city requires the contractor to
build a sediment basin for run-off sediments during the construction phase to settle before the run off
continues into the creek and ultimately runs into Falls Lake. The sediment basin is quite large and located
below the new parking lot. We have asked if some of the trees on the edges of the basin couldn’t stay,
but with heavy machinery working around them, the roots will be impacted and the trees will most likely
die if they were left in place.
o When the parking lot project is finished, we need to figure out how to turn that part of the woods into an
attractive area again – currently we’re thinking of looking at it as a possible location for a rain garden,
where we plant various trees and shrubs that like having their “feet wet”. More about that later in the
year.
Anything else we need to discuss in today’s meeting?
Action Items Assigned/Tracked:
Action Item Assigned To Due Date Comment
Create spring cleanup workday plans Alfred March 22
5. Ministry Team: Communications
Members present: Ben Huckaby, Gail Christensen, Sarah Bernart, Jason Pace, Nancy Reed, Jennie Herrick, Diane
Reitman, David Cariss, May Anderson, Kamila Anderson
Agenda/Items Discussed:
1. Now that the Nativity website has been live for a year, Jason Pace led several "exercises" on the actual usability of the
website by members and non-members.
The first task was to organize the existing headings and tabs into groups, which may or may not differ from the existing
order.
The second task was about web "traffic" - who is using the website. The consensus was that it was used mostly by
members, prospective members (church shoppers), and those new to the area. Other ideas were people attending other
churches, retired rectors, diocesan staff, visitors from out of town, neighbors, brides, wedding planners, and even hotels.
The third task was semantic interpretation: how confident are we that the headings and tabs will result in what you
expected.
The fourth task was to brainstorm about what you would like to see on the website - improvements, additions, deletions,
etc.
Jason will analyze all this input and produce a report.
2. Several parishioners answered the call for volunteers to do graphics design. Jason has been designing most of the
roadside signs, posters, "tents", etc. Three of those who volunteered attended the meeting, and Jason assigned them 8
different graphics to design for the website (called Home Sliders), posters, and roadside banners. He provided a list of
graphics and textual standards, and will evaluate their output and help them along the way.
3. The members discussed the presentation that Becky Christian will give to the Vestry on March 18. She will present the
style guidelines the Team would like followed when official materials are produced (advertising, PowerPoint presentations,
stewardship brochures, website, roadside banners, pew cards, etc.), not including materials produced by the youth or
other Teams that would not be considered "official".
Action Items Discussed/Tracked:
Action Item Assigned To Due Date
Design new web banners (Home Sliders) for website Jason, Diane, David, Kamilla, Ben Various
Analyze input from exercises Jason Pace 4/9/2014
Give Comms Team presentation to Vestry Becky Christian 3/18/2014
6. Ministry Team: Outreach
Members Present: Carl Sigel, Annette Hughes, Pat Watson, René Garcés
Agenda Items Discussed:
1. March 22 is the date scheduled to install a deer fence around the expanded garden area located on the south
side of the education building; additionally, some garden beds may also get built, with an eventual plan to build a
total of 10 garden beds. Carl mentioned possibility of advertising garden work-day in Glad Tidings.
2. Stop Hunger Now (SHN) needs to be scheduled and organized; estimated 6 weeks between time of contacting
SHN and actual event. Vestry approved $8000 budget on $11500 requested; $2800 of requested budget was
allocated to SHN. May inquire if any grant money may be available. Discussed soliciting other area churches’
Outreach ministry, to join forces with Nativity and possibly expand the number of meals to be packaged. Perhaps
a first step may be to contact SHN to find out what dates they have available. Ask Pete if he has contact at SHN
to begin process. Pat may contact Windborne United Methodist Church.
3. Discussed CODEP’s mission, whereby they supply trees to be planted in Haiti to help communities to be self-
reliant, and we discussed whether Nativity should get involved; may need to get an update from Becky Christian
on the CODEP program.
4. Pat is involved one Monday per month with WIHN, and will continue communicating with Youth ministry to see if
some teenage youth might be interested in cooking a dinner for 20 people to be served at WIHN’s facility at 903
Method Road in Raleigh. May pursue proposal for grant money to enhance involvement with WIHN, in order to
help more than once per month and help more families.
5. Discussed how we need to get an update from Patti Trainor on what is being done with EFwM, and how Nativity
may engage youth to address projects in NC serving EFwM as an alternative to sending youth on faraway
missions.
6. Need to explore possibility of getting youth involvement with Outreach ministry.