Southern Mission District Meeting

May 10, 2008 � St. Christopher�s Church

30 leaders, Including Bishop Dan, of 9 of the congregations of the Southern Mission District met at St. Christopher�s Church to discuss some common ministry concerns and ideas.

 An opening prayer was offered and attendees introduced themselves.

 Bishop Dan made some opening comments, talking about Youth ministry and an offer from Karen Johanns, Youth Missioner in Reno, to meet with us to discuss youth ministry and the approach they are using in the Reno areas.

 1.  Youth Ministry:

            a.  Following Bishop Dan�s remarks, the group agreed for Ed Lovelady to contact Karen to see when she is available later in the summer and to schedule a special meeting for everyone in our mission district who is involved in or interested in Youth ministry.

NOTE:  This special meeting is scheduled for September 13th at 10:00 am at All Saints' 

b.  Six youth and one adult from our mission district will be part of the Diocesan delegation to attend The Episcopal Youth Event in San Antonio, TX in July. 

2.  United Thank Offering:

            We discussed the UTO and the semi-annual ingathering and encouraged all congregations to participate.

 3.  Easter Advertising:

Five congregations shared a joint ad for Holy Week and Easter services at a cost of $151 per congregation for a � page ad that ran twice.  We will continue to work on this kind of advertising.

 3.  Fair Share (Asking) Committee:

Ed Lovelady reminded the group of the 2006 resolution that established a committee to review the diocesan asking methods.  That committee is about ready to release information on their proposal to be presented to diocesan convention.  The next step is for the committee to present their proposal to Bishop Dan and then to make the information available at all Mission District Meetings before convention.

A �talking paper� is attached.

 4.  Chartered Bus to Diocesan Convention in Elko:

Thelma Northrup has arranged for a charter bus for transportation to diocesan convention.  The cost is $100 per person for round-trip transportation.  The pick-up point is Arizona Charlie�s Casino on Decatur.  The bus will depart Arizona Charlie�s parking lot at 6:45 am on Thursday, Oct 23.  Parking is a secure lot is available at the lot on Evergreen Street.

Contact Thelma, 889-3929 or [email protected] for more information or to �book� your seats on the bus.  Make checks out to St. Matthew�s church and mark for �Convention Bus� and mail to Thelma at St. Matthew�s, 4709 South Nellis Blvd, Las Vegas, 89121

 5.  Karl Gustafson made a short report on the work of Diocesan Council and the Communications Commission. 

He reminded the attendees that at diocesan convention this year, there will be two positions for clergy and two for lay to serve on diocesan council.  It is important to have candidates from our mission district in order to have appropriate representation on council.

Meeting minutes for the Diocesan Council are posted to the diocesan web site when they are approved.

The communications commission is working on video conferencing and encouraging congregation to purchase a �web cam� for use to video conference as a way to have �face to face� meetings without the travel expense.  See �skype.com� for more information.  If you want to check out video conferencing � go to www.skype.com and enter �lvmachead� as the username for Karl Gustafson.

Also, there is a new format for diocesan news that is distributed.  If you receive a �news� note, there is a subscription link at the bottom to subscribe to get these each time they are sent out.

 6.  Bill Leonard gave a short report on the work of the Standing Committee.

Responding to a question about the �mood� of the committee, he said that the committee is working well together without any serious issue among the members.

He also talked about the efforts of Epiphany parish to expand their worship space and the committee�s work to support that growth.

Meeting minutes for the Standing Committee are posted to the diocesan web site when they are approved.

 7.  Announcements from Congregations:

A reminder about the joint outreach through the food pantry at Christ church and the need for personal-size toiletries, toilet paper, tampons, and other personal hygiene items.

Helen McPeak talked about the growth of Epiphany parish and their plans to obtain a larger worship space.  They are working with the Standing Committee to secure funding and support for their growth.  We rejoice with Epiphany with having the problem of running out of space for worship.

Ed Lovelady gave a short report on Iglesia de Todos los Santos, the new Hispanic ministry at All Saints�.  It is going well with an average Sunday attendance of 85 last month.  There were 21 candidates for confirmation at the Regional confirmation service in April and a new First Communion class of about 40.

Grace in the Desert is sponsoring a Senior Information Day on September 20^th, contact them for more information.

Ed Lovelady thanked those who participated in the fundraiser for All Saints� School sponsored by BJ�s restaurant.  The proceeds from the evening was $303.  All Saints� School is thankful for all the prayers and support from everyone during the financial crisis last year that almost led to the school closing.  FYI, All Saints� School is the only Episcopal School in Nevada.

The next meeting of the Southern Mission District is August 9^th at 10 am at St. Matthew�s

Faithfully Submitted,

The Rev. Ed Lovelady, Convener of the Southern Mission District.

----------------------------------------------

Work of the Asking Committee

 

At the 2005 Diocesan convention a resolution was passed to establish a committee to evaluate the current �asking� criteria and calculations.  The committee began its work and delayed a report to convention because of the bishop election process.  This year the committee was re-established and is preparing a resolution for convention proposing a change in the �Fair Share� method for supporting the mission of our diocese.

The proposal is to use the average NOI for the most recent three-year Parochial Reports, each congregation�s percentage of the total NOI of all congregations would be calculated.  That percentage would determine the congregation�s fair share of the diocesan budget for income from congregations.

Since parochial reports are prepared in January of each year and our budget is approved by convention in October, previous years NOI would be used.  (i.e. for 2008 the average of 2006, 2005, 2004 NOI)  

For example:  If the NOI of all diocesan congregations for the previous three years was $3,034,625

A parish with an NOI of $99,203 �fair share� would represent 3.3% of that total

A diocesan budget of $606,500 would mean that congregation�s �fair share� of the diocesan budget would be $19,841. 

Why should we change?

1)      The new method ties each congregation�s financial support of the diocese directly to the diocesan budget approved by diocesan convention.  This means that when delegates approve the diocesan budget they are �signing on� to their congregation�s �fair share� of that budget. 

2)      The new method gives each congregation a real figure they can take home from convention on which to calculate their own budget, eliminating the �up�s and down�s� of different months in the life of the parish in which the monthly asking amount can change by thousands of dollars.

3)      The three-year rolling average also levels the calculation and provides for a buffer for growing congregations to use funds for support developing ministries and programs.  The current method takes �new money� out of the congregation finances immediately.

4)      The new policy eliminates the monthly financial calculations and report from the congregation treasurer and the need for a diocesan staff person to compile and track the monthly reports.

5)      Our theology of stewardship is based on percentage giving (the Tithe as the standard for individual stewardship) and connecting congregation contributions for financial support of our bishop and diocese to a percentage of the diocesan budget strengthens our participation in the work and ministry of the diocese and makes us better partners in this collective work.

The primary concern the asking committee has encountered is the policies around exceptions to the asking policy and the ability of congregations to negotiate reductions to the asking amount for specific circumstances that impact parish finances.  Some of the special circumstances are due to a serious decline in parish income or resources to develop new ministries or support facility maintenance or construction.  The proposed change would not eliminate the prerogative of the Diocesan Council and Standing Committee to change the asking for a particular congregation.  The new policy would also allow for and encourage congregations to increase their stewardship beyond their fair share, nor would it preclude special project funding by a congregation or congregations to support new ministry development.

Ed Lovelady � May 10, 2008

Members of the �Fair Share� committee are:

The Rev Ed Lovelady

Ms Patricia Seay,

Mr. Dick Stufflebeam,

Mr. Mack Wieland

Mr. Robert Pepin

Ms Sylvia Speed

---