The February meeting of the Vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Elizabeth City Parish, was called to order by the Reverend Donna-Mae Siderius at 6:35 pm. Present were Bettyrene Pope, Junior Warden, Bob Harper, Senior Warden, Jay Hogg, Dave Foster, Bill Rhode, Sukey Stephens, Mark Stephens, Erin Pfeil, Bill Brown, Brian McMahon, Rachel Pankin, The Reverend Anna Noon and The Reverend Bob Gay. Peggy Hayes and John Chiasson were absent.
Refreshments were provided by Bettyrene Pope.
Donna-Mae opened the meeting by welcoming the new vestry members and discussing the concept of vestry service as a servant ministry, emphasizing the sense of call to service and the idea of servant leadership.
Vestry officers were elected:
- Donna-Mae asked for nominations for Senior Warden. Jay Hogg made a motion, seconded by Bill Rhode, to elect Bob Harper as Senior Warden. The motion carried. Bob Harper was named Senior Warden by acclamation.
- Donna-Mae asked for nominations for Junior Warden. Jay Hogg made a motion, seconded by Bill Rhode, to elect Bettyrene Pope as Junior Warden. The motion carried. Bettyrene Pope was named Junior Warden by acclamation.
- Donna-Mae asked for nominations for Registrar. Bob Harper made a motion, seconded by Jay Hogg, to elect Sukey Stephens as Registrar. The motion carried. Sukey Stephens was named Registrar by acclamation.
- Donna-Mae asked for nominations for Treasurer. Bob Harper made a motion, seconded by Mark Stephens, to elect Connie Heath as Treasurer. The motion carried. Connie Heath was named Treasurer by acclamation.
Donna-Mae introduced the book Leading Change in the Congregation to new members of the vestry. The vestry has been studying the book and will resume book discussions at the next meeting.
Donna-Mae passed around the sign-up sheet for vestry snacks for the next year.
Donna-Mae passed around the vestry contact sheet, asking for any corrections.
The vestry approved the January minutes as corrected.
Donna-Mae presented the financial report. The vestry approved accepting the financial report as submitted.
Senior Warden’s Report: Bob Harper
- Bob welcomed the new vestry members and said 2011 would be an exciting time for St. John’s work continues in visioning and renovation planning.
- He thanked the new members for standing for election.
Junior Warden’s Report: Bettyrene Pope
- Outside lighting on the Sunday School wing was repaired and new light bulbs were installed by Advanced Electrical Company.
- Fifty-two new padded chairs arrived and were ready for the Oyster Roast event. An inventory was done and old useable chairs were taken to Good Will. Thirty-seven of the old chairs are being donated to St. Paul’s Church in Newport News.
- Normal maintenance items were attended to including changing a few light bulbs.
- The city grant check was received in the amount of $2,518.00 for the Hoffman House renovations.
- About $5,000.00 is expected from the Downtown Hampton Development Partnership for the Hoffman House renovations.
Renovation Committee Report: Bettyrene Pope
- The Renovation Committee met on January 13, 2011 with nine members present. The roof repair and warranty work has been completed. The handicapped ramp has been completed and looks great. Additional work has been approved to do brick re-pointing on the outside wall of the handicapped bathroom and to open up an access to the crawl space. There will be an attractive vent placed to cover the access opening. The steps leading to the Sunday School wing are also having mortar replaced.
- Q Design is busy working on As Built drawings and Codes, and incorporating the reports received from the MEP and Structural services contractors. These reports all help the Quinns prepare their Demolition Work notes in designing the renovation plans.
- The next Renovation Committee will be on February 17, 2011, at 5 p.m.
Deacon’s Report: The Reverend Bob Gay
- Ideas about who might be good candidates for the acolyte program would be welcomed.
- Bob Harper added that the vestry wished to express appreciation for the good work that Connie and Lloyd do with the acolyte program.
- A community outreach center in Williamsburg opened February 1, 2011, with 40 volunteers.
Assistant Rector’s Report: The Reverend Anna Noon
- There has been great energy and momentum around the Public Theology program, which continues this Friday, February 11, 2011, at the Tap House. It is scheduled for every other Friday, and is an intergenerational, community-building event.
- J2A parents met last weekend, and two events are on the J2A calendar:
- An urban adventure trip to New York City in June 2011
- A pilgrimage to Washington state in June 2012
- There is an audit in progress to determine who is certified with Safe Church training. The goal is to have certifications complete by the end of February. Donna-Mae suggested vestry members take the training, and Anna said she would obtain passwords for vestry members to take the training online. Bob Gay recommended the training as being valuable.
Rector’s Report: The Reverend Donna-Mae Siderius
- Donna-Mae thanked the vestry for its role in the Annual Meeting and asked for feedback, which included:
- Involving the parish members in reading the visioning goals was a good idea, and the vestry wished to express appreciation to Laura Stephens and Betsy Clark for making that happen
- Ways to engage the youth need to be identified
- The message seemed to get across, but it was unknown whether those not previously involved in the visioning process got it
- PowerPoint/visuals helped the presentation, but including notes pages with the handouts would have helped add context for those who didn’t hear the presentation.
- The Endowment Board met last week, and with Nelson Durden’s term expiring, Dan Clark has agreed to serve on the board. Bob Harper made a motion, seconded by Dave Foster, to appoint Dan Clark to the Endowment Board. The motion carried.
- New vestry care groups were assigned. Donna-Mae asked the vestry to make contact with their new care groups in the next weeks.
- The pictorial directory was stalled during 2010 but is now back on track for production in 2011. A draft is expected for review by the end of February with copies expected to go out by Easter.
- Donna-Mae received a letter of request from a group of parishioners who had served on the Heritage Working Group asking to take a badly deteriorating sampler from the museum to a conservator for evaluation and to get a proposal for restoration. Dave Foster made a motion, seconded by Mark Stephens, to allow the group to take the sampler for evaluation and to get a proposal for restoration. The motion carried.
- A Lenten program including the five Episcopal churches who participated in the program in 2010 is planned for Lent 2011. The program is entitled “The Church that Lives the Gospel in a Complex World” and is a response to violence. A program for kids on “Tolerance” will be offered. The program will be held on Wednesday evenings from 6 PM to 8 PM in a different church each week and will begin with a supper of soup, salad and bread. St. John’s will host the program on April 13, 2011, and the speaker will be Doug Smith from the Virginia Center for Public Policy
- Donna-Mae had spoken with Hampton historian John Quarstein and St. John’s historian Jim Tormey about a program they were planning for August 7, 2011, on the Burning of Hampton, a story of redemption focusing on what happened following the burning when groups came together to rebuild.
- A special evensong service is planned for February 27, 2011, at 5 p.m. The church will be lit with candles and meditative Taize music will be featured with piano, harp, flute and the St. John’s choir.
- The next Lunch and Learn program is February 23, 2011, at noon. A pharmacist will speak on “You and Your Pills.”
Donna-Mae outlined the next steps for the vestry on implementing the Long-Range Ministry Plan:
- Donna-Mae proposed that future vestry meetings operate using a consent agenda with decision items distributed and read before meetings so more time could be dedicated to discussing visioning work during vestry meetings. The vestry agreed to adopt the consent agenda format.
- Next steps for the vestry will include prioritizing goals, developing a strategic plan identifying goals to be implemented in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, and developing a process for implementing those goals.
- The next vestry meeting in March will focus on prioritizing the goals.
- A Saturday retreat to work on visioning will be planned at the March vestry meeting.
Tacky Lights
Bob Gay has the Dr. Chuck light for another month, and Sukey has the Mission light for another month.
The meeting was closed with a service of Compline led by The Reverend Bob Gay.
Submitted by Sukey Stephens, Registrar