The regular monthly meeting of the Vestry of St. John’s Church, Elizabeth City Parish was held November 14, 2006. The Very Reverend Donna-Mae Siderius presided. Vestry members present were Bob Harper, Senior Warden, Bettyrene Pope, Junior Warden, Connie Heath, treasurer, Kay Olson, Registrar, Charlie Edmonson, Whit McKinney, Bill Forinash, Nelson Durden, Greg Brauer, Sanford Pankin, John Chiasson. Members absent were Charles Zimmerman, Bob Wind and Scott Curtis. Visitors present were Les Ferguson, and Vestal Lewis. Clergy present was The Very Reverend Donna-Mae Siderius and The Reverend James “Skip” Hutton.
The Very Reverend Donna-Mae Siderius opened the meeting at 7 o’clock PM with prayer and introduced our guest Vestal Lewis.
Whit McKinney gave the devotions and provided refreshments.
The Very Reverend Donna-Mae Siderius asked Vestal Lewis from the Nickerson Trust to give the Vestry his report. Vestal Lewis reported that the Youth Challenge building is in need of repairs. He reminded us that when Youth Challenge relocated to the vacant Peninsula Catholic High School building St, John’s was instrumental in helping with renovations and a wing of the building is named the St. John’s Wing. Youth Challenge is again in need of upgrades, such as replacing carpet, painting and carpentry work. The residents of Youth Challenge will do the repairs, but money is needed. Vestal Lewis asked for $3,000.00 to be allocated from the Nickerson Trust for repairs to the St. John’s wing at Youth Challenge. Bettyrene Pope moved to accept Vestal Lewis’ recommendation to allocate $3,000.00 from the Nickerson Trust for repairs to the St. John’s wing of Youth Challenge. The Motion was seconded by Nelson Durden. The motion carried. Action Taken: The motion made by Bettyrene Pope and Seconded by Nelson Durden to allocate $3,000.00 from the Nickerson Trust to make repairs to the St. John’s Wing of Youth Challenge was passed by the Vestry.
The minutes of the October meeting were approved as corrected.
Committee Reports
Treasurers Report: Connie Heath, Treasurer reported a Balance of $7, 399.13 balance as of November, 14, 2006 in the General Fund Account. The Pledge figures are 68% and should be at 83% for this time of the year.
Stewardship Report: As of November 14, 2006 ninety-five pledges have been received by parishioners.
Senior Warden’s Report: Bob Harper reported Vestry Pledges for 2007 have come in at 98% of vestry members pledging. The Stewardship Breakfast was a success; the speakers did a fantastic job of reporting and speaking from a personal viewpoint. Most of the feedback from participants was positive.
Bob also spoke of his experiences while on the Mission Trip to Mississippi.
St. John’s will be hosting an Anti Race Commission seminar, “Seeing The Face of God in Each Other” the week-end before Easter. More information will be forthcoming.
Junior Wardens Report: Bettyrene Pope reported light bulbs have been replaced in the Church building.
Night’s welcome Report: Charles Zimmerman is chairperson of the Night’s Welcome program for 2006. A chart was sent around the table for vestry members to sign up for a night to help with Night’s Welcome.
Rector’s Report: The Very Reverend Donna-Mae Siderius reported on her trip to the Gulf Coast where the team worked on two houses. Among their rebuilding efforts they wrapped a house, did dry wall and spackled. She spoke of how the church groups who volunteer are doing the “lions share” of the renovations. It is not known how things would be getting done without the help of church involved.
St. Johns has welcomed nine newcomers and visitors in the past month. We sincerely hope each family has found a home here at St. John’s.
Donna-Mae encouraged the vestry to call and remind their “Care Groups” of the Annual Thanksgiving Dinner to be held Saturday November 18, and of the Thanksgiving Service to be held at St. Mark’s on November 22.
We will be holding another Leadership Event on February 6 at 7pm. More information will be forthcoming.
Donna-Mae reminded the vestry members to read the letter concerning Canonical Change and “Vestry Papers”; copies are in each member’s mail box.
Donna-Mae also gave each vestry member a copy of the Special Council pamphlet “How We Live and Work Together in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia” based on our baptismal promises. Donna Mae hopes to incorporate these Norms into the vestry meetings. More work will be done to incorporate the Norms found in the pamphlet into the vestry meetings. Each member is encouraged to read the pamphlet.
Associate Rector’s Report: The Reverend James “Skip” Hutton reported he is enjoying teaching the Adult Forum. He also will be holding doing a monthly lecture series beginning in January, 2007 and ending in May, 2007, tracing the church’s history, its culture and its corporate life in the context of our own nation emerging over time. The first lecture will be January 23, 2007.
Kudos: Many thanks to Kate Terrill for all of her years of service to the Altar Guild ministry. Also, thanks to the Mission Team; Kay Olson and Joann Mahony for all their work in entering the “Personal Stewardship” information into the database, to Dan Clark and the J2A leaders for a fantastic dinner and auction.
No Tacky Lights given at this meeting.
Kay Olson, registrar