The Leadership Team at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church met for the initial meeting of 2024 on Tuesday 1/16/24 at 7:00pm in the Sunday Morning Forum Room in the Education Building with a Zoom option.
Member present in person were Matt Seaton, Pastor; Andrea Zimmerman, chair; David Sandridge, Treasurer; Sherry Lambert, Lay Leader; Sue Lewis, Finance Chair; Victoria Hamilton, Trustees representative; Chris Reffett, and Mandy Wilson. Elizabeth Hrncir was on Zoom, and Willow Drinkwater was excused due to illness.
Introductions of all were made for the benefit of the members of the class of 2026 (Reffett, Wilson and Hrncir) and Andrea opened the meeting with prayer. The duties of the secretary were discussed, and it was decided to rotate this task among the members each month. Sue Lewis volunteered to be the secretary for this meeting.
Each member spoke about their highlights from the previous year, which included children’s ministries, Minister’s Discretionary Fund, Sunday Morning Forum, Baptism at the river, Christmas Ever services.
Instructions were given for using Google Drive and Google Docs as the primary
resource for materials for subsequent meetings. The Simplified Accounting System (SAS) was explained since this is the organizational model that we are using. The 2024 Goals which were adopted at the 2023 Cluster Charge Conference were discussed, as were ways to involve more church members in the Building Ministry teams. One such Team is the Green Team, which will
be recruiting members for yard work, spring and fall cleaning, and other building maintenance tasks.
A Task Force was discussed to work on a job description for the Christian Education Director, which is different from the Christian Discipleship position which became vacant last summer.. Mandy and Chris volunteered to be on this, with others recruited from the congregation.
The year-end financials were reported, with an emphasis on the fact that our
Conference and District Apportionments were paid in full for 2023. Apportionments for 2024 (Conference increased, District decreased; overall decreased) were discussed and it was decided that both apportionment will be paid on a quarterly basis so that we’re not scrambling to pay at the end of the year, since we used emergency funds to finish 2023.
It was disclosed that our insurer, Church Mutual, is dropping our coverage as of 3/31/24. Victoria will be researching new coverage. Matt updated the group on the Parsonage, its repairs, updates, and issues. Aidan Workman from the Trustees is the contact person for Parsonage issues. Sherry brought up the fact that 2024 is the 70th Anniversary of Wesley Memorial’s founding, and she will be convening a committee to work on ways to celebrate this milestone.
Matt shared the 2024 Calendar of Ministry Activities, with special activities and dates noted. He will be getting a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from Duke this year, He reminded the Team of its functions (Ambassador, Advisor, and Acquiror) and its obligations (give, get, and get off).
The Report Packet and Consent Calendar items (found in the Google Docs) were
approved. Thoughts were brought forth about planning for a fall re treat to plan for the upcoming year (2025).
The next meeting was set for Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 7:00 pm, with some
discussion of starting earlier with a meal.
Respectfully submitted: Sue Lewis, Acting Secretary.