The Vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Elizabeth City Parish, Hampton, Virginia met on February 9, 2010. The meeting was called to order by Reverend Donna-Mae Siderius at 6:40 pm. Vestry members present were Bob Harper, Senior Warden, Bettyrene Pope, Junior Warden, Bill Rhode, Ruth Simmons, John Chiasson, Parkie Rice, Dave Foster, Kay Olson, registrar, Jay Hogg, Peggy Hayes, and Sukey Stephens. Connie Heath, Treasurer, was also present.
Donna-Mae welcomed the new vestry members to their first “official” vestry meeting.
Reverend Siderius suggested the vestry members doing the reflection use the Gospel reading from the Sunday previous to the scheduled Vestry meeting during the new year.
Reverend Siderius presented the reflection tonight from the Episcopal Church Identity Project, a video entitled “Who Are We.” As members of the Episcopal Church, we are a very diverse group of people, from countries who are very poor to those who have much more. “WE ARE HOPE, WE ARE THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH”.
Election of officers: Bob Harper was nominated for Senior Warden by Ruth Simmons, seconded by Peggy Hayes. There being no more nominations, Bob Harper was elected Senior Warden by acclamation. Bettyrene Pope was Nominated for Junior Warden by Bob Harper and seconded by Jay Hogg. There being no more nominations Bettyrene Pope was elected by acclamation. Kay Olson was nominated for Registrar by Jay Hogg and seconded by Bettyrene Pope. There being no more nominations Kay Olson was elected by acclamation. Connie Heath was nominated for Treasurer by Peggy Hayes and seconded by Parkie Rice. There being no more nominations Connie Heath was elected by acclamation.
Action Taken: Bob Harper was acclaimed Senior Warden, Bettyrene Pope was acclaimed Junior Warden, Kay Olson was acclaimed Registrar, and Connie Heath was acclaimedTreasurer.
The sign-up sheet for the monthly devotion and refreshment was signed by vestry members.
Minutes of the January meeting were passed as corrected to include Nick McMahon as the retiring vestry Youth Representative.
The Treasurers report was received as printed.
Jay Hogg presented the report on possibly renting a Trolley from Hampton Roads Transportation for use during the Signature Week-end festivities. HRT has reported that, since they are given Federal Monies to help with operations, they are not allowed to do rental of vehicles. Jay has been in touch with Venture Tours and the church would be able to rent a 47 passenger bus for the weekend. The bus would be able to pick up at the church and deliver passengers to the Crowne Point Hotel on Saturday evening and to the Air and Space Museum after church services on Sunday. Jay also checked on renting a 15 passenger van. Jay will have more to report at the March vestry meeting.
Bishop’s Day with Vestries will be held on March 13 at Emmanuel in Virginia Beach. Work shops will be offered and the vestry was asked to choose the work shops each would like to attend.
2010 Reports: Sukey Stephens gave a report on the Sole to Soul Walk. Teams are still forming and rosters may be picked up in the church office.
Junior Warden’s Report: Bettyrene Pope reported that the Nursery has been repainted and new carpet installed and that light bulb changing is as an on-going process.
Senior Warden’s Report: Bob Harper displayed an original rendering of the Church painted by a local artist, Bob said the artist would like to sell the painting to the church and if the vestry would be interested in purchasing it. Discussion was held and a straw vote taken. The majority of vestry chose not to pursue purchasing the painting.
Rector’s Report: Reverend Siderius reported she, Harper and Bill Rhode had recently been to a CREDO conference training on Clergy Wellness.
Donna-Mae Siderius met with a team from WVEC-TV for a Round Table discussion concerning the 2010 Celebration of the church.
Donna-Mae Siderius and Linda McMahon will be taping a segment for the show “Dialogue’ that will be aired on WVEC 2/28/10, 4/4/10 and possibly 5/30/10.
The Vision Committee will meet on March 2, 2010, at 6:30 pm. Rick Bagley will be a speaker at the meeting.
The Adult Forum will be doing a book study “Rediscovering Values” each Sunday during the Lenten season which will be co-facilitated by the Rector and Bill Rhode.
Donna-Mae also talked to the Vestry about the possibility of St. John’s being assigned a Vocational Deacon and talked about the differences between the ministry of the Deacon and a Priest. The Archdeacon of Deacons will be invited to speak to the vestry at their next meeting.
Tacky Lights: Bill Rhode gave the Dr. Chuck light to new member Dave Foster. Bettyrene Pope kept the Mission light for another month.
Submitted by Kay Olson