Minutes of Governing Board Meeting

MINUTES OF GOVERNING BOARD MEETING

November 16th, 2010

(Conference call)

Present: Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson (Moderator), Raquel Benitez-Rojas, Liz Bisordi (Treasurer), Rev. Onetta Brooks,Rev. Tony Freeman (Vice Chair), Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin, John Hassell, Bryan Parker, Connie Meadows (staff), Barbara Crabtree (staff), Irma Bauer-Levesque (staff)

Absent due to illness: Rev. Dr. Candace Shultis (Clerk),

Rev. Tony Freeman opened the meeting with prayer.

European Update on Communications:

Tony and Raquel reported on their trip to attend the European Conference Friday, November 5th – Sunday, November 7th.

• There was a service on Friday. Our group was acknowledged by Andy Braunston who led the service.
• On Saturday there was an event where we were invited to participate at the last minute involving three members from Europe led by Sharon Ferguson. At that time Tony brought greetings, Raquel then introduced the ITF (International Task Force). We made a presentation for them stressing the need for their involvement in the ITF. After the presentation there was a time for questions. They raised their concerns and there were some very strong questions.
• After the presentation about the ITF we had a chance to speak to them more on a one on one basis. There was a change in attitude in many of them when they realized we were there to listen and not to make an agreement of any sort.
• During the service on Saturday night we received the news of the death of Rev. Elder Jean White. Darlene spoke with many people from South London and they were happy that Darlene was able to have pastoral moments with them.
• Overall the feeling was that there was a changed perspective due to our presence. Some people with strong feelings and attitudes changed their attitude. We need to understand that in some form MCC Europe is going to happen and we have to see how this can happen within the Bylaws of MCC. They just want to be more autonomous. Depending on how they structure themselves, they will be able to get some funds from the European Union and their own governments. After we left Manchester, I got emails from people who were interested in the ITF.
• We will be researching in more detail the regulations of the Charity Commission because there is a big difference between what we understand and what they are saying. We are going to check all of the information. A piece of the puzzle is that the law has changed in Europe in the last year.

Nancy commented that we need to review and refresh our presence internationally overall. This team is recommending work to be done by the Governing Board or staff and a separate report will go to the SLT (Senior Leadership team) regarding findings and how the Elders should follow up. I will be writing a letter to everyone telling them how we will be moving forward and making a commitment for communication. We want to restore the relationship and next year they would like another meeting of this kind. We are trying to identify leadership in this part of the world. The delegation opened up a dialogue for the ITF and got us past where we have been.

MOTION 11.16.01 Motion by John Hassell, Seconded by Robert Griffin to accept the verbal report of Rev. Tony Freeman and Raquel Benitez of the meeting with the European Churches representatives in Manchester on November 5-7, 2010

M/S APPROVED

CONSENT AGENDA:

MOTION 11.16.02 Motion by John Hassell, Seconded by Robert Griffin to accept the items in the Consent Agenda (reports from the Moderator, the Director of Operations, the Director of Fund Development, Update of the Interim Investment Committee, Minutes of the October Governing Board Meeting)

M/S APPROVED

FINANCIAL UPDATE (Barbara Crabtree):

The situation has shifted dramatically post conference. Tithe income has sharply declined post conference. We were $130,000’s in monthly tithe receipts pre-conference and since then it been $119,000 on average. In these four months, that is $100,000 of tithe cash that has not been received and has had a huge impact on us. We have implemented the staff reductions which we are now seeing the impact on in the November payroll numbers. We will see a$75,000 savings on an annual basis. We have instituted a spending freeze and no new trips have been booked. We are looking for ways to squeeze expenses. Cash is extremely tight. Payables are increasing dramatically. The real cause is the decline in tithe income.

Nancy indicated that for several years our problem was on the expense side with a steady income. We have taken that in hand in the last year and a half in reducing our expenses. But now, the income is very soft.

Everyone present agreed to an additional meeting on Tuesday night, November 23rd, 2010 at 5:00 pm EDT to focus on a detailed Finance and Budget discussion?

Bryan asked if we know why there has been a sharp decline. Was there a lead up to paying tithes before conference?

Nancy said that every time after General Conference we experience some drop off because churches make a big effort and then forget about it for a few months. But in addition, there are churches that are in trouble, with lower income, or just late in their tithes. We are well organized in getting churches on a plan. It is a pattern but it is worse than usual because of the economy.

Bryan asked whether we need to look at some other means that is not a three year span as an incentive to get churches to pay on time.

Barbara and Liz have been talking about it. One of the things the Finance Committee talked about is finding a way to show churches the value the denomination brings to them.

Nancy indicated that the Senior Leadership Team is talking about Stewardship as a focus for next year. We see that when our churches focus on Stewardship, it makes a huge difference.

Onetta said that when she attended the Church Size Summit in Las Vegas the emphasis on Stewardship was a very positive experience.

THE CHICAGO PROPERTY:

Bryan has been following up with the Chicago property. We are just waiting for the appraisal and it is moving along.

GRANTS AND DEVELOPMENT (Irma Bauer-Levesque):

We will be doing is program summits on stewardship in 2011. I wonder if it is time to work with a consultant to actually help us in our effectiveness in getting track. I don’t have time in my role to help churches and it is not my strongest area. I have met with a number of church consultants – mostly because I am looking for resources. I met with someone last week who I think is probably one of the best persons who might be able to help us as a denomination to ramp up to a $5 M budget over the next few years who could make himself available to our churches.

I would build this into our Lilly budget since they love for churches to be financially healthy and they have a record of awarding funds to have people be better stewards of their funds. I wonder if he should come for one day at our next face to face when we meet in Florida. He would do this for expenses only. He focuses on faith-based organizations. Do we have a day, and do you think it might be useful? He lives in Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Tony said that it sounds like you have talked to several people and this particular individual and his company would be the best one to bring in. The big question is do we have the money to hire them and do the work. It is hard to determine what will be on our agenda in March. The flip side is that we have set this goal of $5 M and started a conversation about it and we need the resources and assistance we can get to reach the goal.

Irma said that obviously we can’t do this work unless it gets funded. You are a new Governing Board and you have great ideas, thinking of the case for our $5 M goal. It is an optimum time to work with a consultant if we can manage it.

John indicated that he thinks we should move ahead with it. We made a decision about the goal and I appreciate that we are taking it seriously. We cannot accomplish this goal by going about business as usual. I trust that Irma and Nancy have thought through various ways we can achieve this.

BOARD OF PENSIONS:

Nancy is thrilled that we have new leadership on the Board of Pensions and that they have done due diligence in recruiting new members and done the back ground checks. Devon Avery will meet with us in March – maybe for a day. Their enthusiasm and getting members to do all of this is an extraordinary shift. You have the resumes of Jeremiah Nelson and Rev Tom Emmitt.

MOTION 11.16.03 Motion by Onetta Brooks, Seconded by Liz Bisordi to appoint Jeremiah Nelson and Rev. Tom Emmitt to the Board of Pensions.

M/S APPROVED

POLICY MANUAL:

Onetta indicated that we are stuck on finishing a couple of sections and she will be contacting a few Governing Board members for some help. We still have the goal to have this complete as of the end of November.

Nancy said that if we get some things done by the end of the year, we will be fine. If you need anything from us or staff support, don’t hesitate to ask.

BYLAWS:

Onetta is having conversations on Bylaws with Rev. Darlene Garner. She had a brief conversation on what the expectations are now that the Governing Boardhas the responsibility for the Bylaws amendment policy. Onetta will brief the Governing Board on the outcome at our December meeting. As we move forward at some point wewill need to have a conversation about staffing for editing,if we have staff that could do a professional job of that, as well as translation into our official languages. That conversation has started and we will be appointing a Bylaw team by the end of the year.

INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCE

Raquel: Tomorrow is the day all the documents go live: the video, the text of the proposal and the application forms. We need people to volunteer to be on interview teams and Connie will be setting up the dates once we decide who we would like to interview.

Successful applicants will be announced in February.

Note: Raquel, Bryan and Onetta have offered to participate in interviews.

VISIONARY GOALS:

Nancy noted that the Senior Leadership Team is spending time to make the case for a $5 budget. I have every confidence that we will be able to bring that back to you for your feedback. That is one of our goals for our December meeting. All of us have responsibilities for calling people on the phone to ask for end of year donations. We will try to match you up as best you can. I thank you for your calls to churches. We are laying our hands on all of the grant applications and we all want especially to pray for the Lilly application.

Regarding the goal around youth, we had a Public Policy Team meeting and we talked about holding a Congregational Briefing on Teen Suicide and taking advantage of the time of the People of African Descent (PAD) conference. Maybe sometime in the next year we could think of having youth and young adult voices impacting our meetings within the next triennium.

POSTING OF INFORMATION ON THE WEBSITE:

Bryan thought we were having the minutes posted. He sent out a document that was a part of the packet and is asking for some of help. If someone can provide Bryan with some of the information to give Melanie what she needs. That will make things go a lot quicker. He also asked each member about your bios. We will get this up and running by the end of the month. We are also going to do a ‘talk to us’ section, a FAQ section, and an‘ask a question’ open forum.

We are trying to decide if we are going to use google.docs or some other platform and a process about owning and editing documents.

Nancy stated that some of our people are more or less comfortable using google.docs. Sometimes we are emailing a lot of things. What she would hope is that couple of people would make a proposal and then train us to use it.

Barbara asked whether this was something Carlos was working with Bryan on.

Bryan indicated that they had not done so recently. If people did want to use google.docs, then he would reach out and have Carlos do some training for us.

Tony said that he Foundation uses it extensively and didn’t have any issues. We had one point person who worked out access issues with everyone. For more long term storage we used box.net. We could have uploaded all of the meeting documents and people were notified they had access.

Nancy indicated that we could really use help in getting us trained so we are using it and maximize it.

Tony has a Board member who really knows this and has a lot of time. He might volunteer to help us.

Nancy said that would be great. Bryan, we put that in your hands.

EVALUATING OUR MEETING:

Liz: We need to think about the budget discussion, we need a separate time for it.

Bryan: I agree with Liz on that. 5 pm is getting tight for me.

John: I thought the meeting went well – better than the previous two. I can be flexible

on the time if that becomes an issue and I think it is essential Nancy is on the call.

Onetta: Overall I thought the meeting went well.

Raquel: I thought it went very well.

Tony: I think it has been a good meeting. We are making progress in gathering all the

documents, but we are still a little fuzzy about the action items. It would be helpful to have an agenda for the finance meeting.

Nancy asked Barb and Liz to suggest an agenda.

Irma: I think it was a good meeting. We keep thinking about the vision. Some people

will give because you need the money, but most people need to respond to the vision: The missional priorities.

Barb: I think it went very well. I am happy to work with Liz about the agenda. If there are specific questions, please send them to us by Friday.

Nancy: I appreciate everyone making the effort to provide what is needed. Tony and I

talked to Dan Hotchkiss today and he encouraged us to stay in the bigger picture and to have patience and to do only six or seven things and not 20 things.

Liz closed the meeting with prayer.

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