Zion United Church of Christ – Minutes of the Consistory Meeting
The November 11, 2024 Consistory Meeting of Zion UCC was called to order at 7:04 PM with a prayer by Wally Smith.
Present: Wally Smith, Howard Kamm, Rod Randall, Phyllis Romine, Bruce Romine, Ramona Carlyle and Rev. Dr. Jennifer Little.
Minutes of the September 9, 2024 Consistory Meeting were approved as presented.
The Treasurer’s Report waspresented showing a balance of $147,475.51 in the General Operating Fund, $805.00 in the Anniversary Fund, $425.00 in the Fellowship Fund, and $8,845.00 in memorials as of October 31, 2024. Rod Randall made a motion to accept the report. Bruce Romine seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Pastor’s Report: Rev. Little asked how the Board felt Sunday worship services were going and the response was positive. Up until now, pastoral care has been mostly through phone calls and email, but she is willing to do home and hospital visits as well. She is also ready to renew after-worship Christian education programs whenever the congregation wants. She also noted that $46.00 in donations has been received from her string bag project. She enjoyed the church wiener roast and hayride.
Old Business: Items discussed included: Rod will contact Burgener Plastering, Inc. again about sanctuary repairs; Wally will continue checking on intermittent unusual water usage at the church; Greg White has finished repainting around the front entrance of the church; the church’s telephone/internet billing has been set up for online payment; and Rod will try to find a different company to repair a broken storm window of the church.
New Business: Several upcoming events were announced: There will be a lift inspection on November 12 at 9:30AM; Terry Smith’s ordination and installation service will be on November 23 at 11:00AM at Lake Fork UCC; Arthur will host a community worship service on November 24 at Penn Station; Zion will do Hanging of the Greens after the worship service on December 1; and Zion’s Christmas Eve Candlelighting Service will be at 7:00 PM. There will be no Christmas Day service, but there will be our regular service on December 29.
It was decided to order poinsettias again this year. Wally will check to see if anyone wants to prepare goodie bags for the Christmas Eve Service, but it was also suggested the church could look into purchasing small pre-packaged boxes of candy instead. Either way was OK with the Board.
There was discussion about the church’s Pastoral Services Agreement with Rev. Little. She indicated she would like to spend more time on church activities on a regular basis. Some of her ideas included office hours, home visiting, newsletters, reenergizing Zion’s social media, doing “radio theatre” podcasts, etc. She suggested a time commitment and compensation for these increased activities. The Board will present these ideas and budget considerations to the congregation at the January 2025 Congregational Meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM with a prayer by Rev. Little.
Zion United Church of Christ – Minutes of Quarterly Congregational Meeting
The October 6, 2024 Quarterly Congregational Meeting was called to order at 10:31 AM in the church sanctuary with a prayer by Wally Smith.
Present: Wally Smith, Barb Smith, Rod Randall, Carol Randall, Ron Korte, Ruth Korte, Ramona Carlyle, Bruce Romine, Phyllis Romine, Brian Dukeman, Katherine Drake, Howard Kamm, and Deanna McDonald.
Minutes of the July 14, 2024 Quarterly Congregational Meeting were approved as presented.
The Treasurer’s Report was presented showing a balance of $148,083.49 in the General Operating Fund, $805.00 in the Anniversary Fund, and $425.00 in the Fellowship Fund, and $8,845.00 in the Memorial Fund as of September 30, 2024. Barb Smith made a motion to accept the financial report. Bruce Romine seconded the motion. Motion carried.
The Endowment Fund Report was presented showing a market value of $211,004.22 and disbursable interest of $17,863.12 as of September 30, 2024. Rod Randall made a motion to accept the report. Ron Korte seconded the motion which carried.
Old Business: It was reported that the Church Board determined it would not be cost effective to convert the church and parsonage to natural gas instead of LP at this time.
New Business: Zion will hold a wiener roast and hay ride at Brad-O-Clen on Sunday, October 20 at 5:00 PM.
Action: Howard Kamm made a motion to send $1000.00 to the UCC for the Hurricane Helene relief fund. Ramona Carlyle seconded the motion which carried.
Other items discussed include: Lift repairs have been completed including replacing its original batteries. There will be a benefit fundraiser for Bourbon Baptist Church’s pastor, David Babbs, on November 1. The congregation approved archiving the church minutes on Zion’s website. Katherine has some interesting pictures of the church that she will bring and show to everyone.
Bruce Romine mentioned the upcoming 155th Anniversary of Zion in 2025.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:57 AM on a motion by Barb Smith and a second by Howard Kamm.