2015 Annual Meeting Recap

On Sunday, June 7, 2015, the congregation gathered together with enthusiasm to learn about the current state of the church and its continued success in the future. Approximately 180 people packed rooms 20-22 following a lunch in the Great Hall. Thank you to everyone who attended!

Leaders presented updates on our vision, mission, and initiatives, three new council members were unanimously elected, and motions were passed on our 2015-16 budget, expenditure limit, and endowment charter.

A summary of the meeting in detail is below. Official minutes will be made available on our website, following the June Council meeting. Please direct any questions to Council@sotv.org.

Opening Prayer - Pastor Duane Paetznick 

 

Welcome - President Jenny Buckley 

• A word of gratitude to everyone in attendance for valuing this church and its governance 
• Thank you to our leaders on Council, Leadership Teams, and Staff for another year of service 
• Approval of minutes from 2014 meeting

 

Brief Summary of Our Vision - Pastor Chris Smith 

 

Introducing Our Mission and Initiatives - President Jenny Buckley 

• Presented to the congregation in early March 2015
• Approved by Council at its March 19, 2015 meeting

 

How We Live Out Our Vision 

 

Our Volunteers 

Volunteers make our ministry happen. Our staff structure must support their work.

Our Staff 

• Our eventual goal is to have five pastors on staff: Senior Pastor, and pastors in Worship, Learn, Connect, and Care.
• Update on Pastoral Call Process - Presentation by Chair Ellen De Vries
• We are in the process of aligning program staff with Worship, Learn, Connect, and Care initiatives. 
• All staff are being encouraged to focus their time and energy on programming that helps us live out Vision, Mission, and Initiatives 

Our Lay Leaders

• Leadership Teams 
• Highlights from first year
• Emphasis on Welcome Team, and Year of Welcome (2015-16) 

• Council 
• Steve Mueller, Angie Zielinski, and Ann Boekhoff have concluded their time on council, and were thanked for their years of service. 
• William (Bill) Bosch, Chad Dahlke, and Michael Kelly were presented as new candidates for council and were unanimously elected. 

Our Finances 

• Capital Campaign Update and strategy moving forward - Presentation by Scott Erickson, Campaign co-chair
• General and Building/Capital Budget - Presentation by Treasurer Troy Nelson
• Delegation of Expenditure Authority to Properties Team - Presentation by Ken Syverson
• Endowment Charter - Presentation by Chair David Kuhnau

Congregation votes on the budget, expenditure limit, and Endowment Charter all passed.

Treasurer Troy Nelson noted that although the 2015-16 budget is a deficit budget, the resolve of the Finance Committee is that next year’s budget (2016-17) will be balanced.


A motion was made to adjourn, and was seconded. 

How the Mission Reshapes Our Pastoral Staff

Jenny Buckley
Council President

Getting Ready for the Annual Meeting: Part 2 of 5

Structure and Pastoral Staffing 

With the departures of Pastors Diane and Mary, many people have been asking, when are we calling a new pastor and who that will be? First, let me remind you that a Pastoral Call Committee is in place and working hard as it goes about the task of calling a new pastor. As the committee does its work, the question that the council, leadership teams, and staff have been discussing is, “How can we support the vision and mission with our pastors, staff, and programs?”

As explained last week, the mission of Shepherd of the Valley (SOTV) is, “we exist as a community to discover, grow, and live into our individual relationships with Jesus Christ.” The four core ministries of worship, learn, connect, and care have been identified to support this mission.

Council and staff are beginning the process of evaluating everything we do as a church to determine where we are aligned with our mission and where there are currently gaps. Our resources, whether they be time, manpower, or money, will be best spent when they are invested in the priorities identified by our church.

Another area of discussion has been the pastoral staff model that our mission suggests. Council and staff agree that in order to implement our mission with fidelity, we need five full-time pastors at SOTV. In this structure, there would be a senior pastor that carries the vision and mission forward and then there would be one pastor assigned to each of the four core ministries of our mission.

This means that in addition to the senior pastor, we would have a pastor of worship, a pastor of learning, a pastor of connect (fellowship and service), and a pastor of care. Of course, all SOTV pastors would continue to collaborate in all areas of our mission. However, by aligning one pastor with each of the four core pillars of our mission, we will ensure that our resources are being used in the best ways and we are living our vision and mission with integrity.

Currently, we have three full-time pastors and a part-time interim pastor. Our priority is to call the Pastor of Connect first while also investigating the process for calling a Pastor of Worship.

Next week, I’ll explain the call process and update you on the work of the call committee. As always, please feel free to leave a comment below or contact me via the council e-mail: council@sotv.org. 

Blessings,
Jenny Buckley-Church Council President

Choosing Initiatives for Our Vision

By Kari Slotten
Project Manager: Vision Implementation

For the last several months, members of staff, council, and leadership teams have been expanding upon our vision of "Welcome, Transform, Send" by developing a revised mission statement with corresponding initiatives. Below is an update on this progress. You will have an opportunity to give your feedback at one of three upcoming Congregation Dialogues: Saturday, March 7 at 5:00 pm in the Atrium and
Sunday, March 8 at 11:00 am or 12:00 pm in the Chapel.

I’d especially like to hear your feedback on proposed initiatives by March 15, 2015. Council will vote on these at its March 19 meeting. You can contact me at (952) 985-7356 or kari.slotten@sotv.org. 

In February, Council approved our updated Vision and Mission. The Vision is aspirational, and reads as follows:

VISION:  We invite all people to experience the Welcome, Transformation, and Sending of Jesus Christ.

Welcome: We invite people in all stages of their faith journey to experience Jesus through our ministries in Christian community.
Transform: We are changed as we experience Jesus through our relationships and ministries.
Send: We are inspired to apply our faith daily by loving others and sharing the Good News of Jesus.

We will also have revolving focus years of “welcome, transform, and send,” when each component in turn receives special emphasis and targeted initiatives.

The Mission highlights why we exist, and will help us choose initiatives as we live into our Vision.  Our Mission reads as follows:

MISSION:  In community, we discover, grow, and live into our individual relationships with Jesus Christ.  Four core ministries support faith formation:

Worship: We praise God, and are spiritually fed, through God’s Word, music, prayer, and sacraments.   
Learn: We grow our Biblical knowledge, enrich our understanding, and apply our faith to daily life.
Connect: We develop and strengthen relationships in our congregation, local community, and global community through invitation and service.
Care: We offer compassion, companionship, and faith affirmation throughout life’s journey.

These statements come through congregational surveys and discussions, and many discussions with Council, Staff, and Leadership Teams.

Now, the goal is to choose initiatives.  

These are ways to focus our efforts within each area of our Mission, so that we’re working toward common goals.  After discussion with Staff, Council, and Leadership Teams, we’ve drafted some initiatives to share with you.

Recommended WORSHIP initiatives focus on growing worship:

• Explore new ways to promote worship and SOTV, especially Saturday
• Explore new ways to make worship more engaging to all ages

Recommended LEARN initiatives focus on creating goals and identifying gaps:

• Develop goals and strategies for cradle to grave learning
• Offer a variety of experiences to learn in different ways
• Examine Children, Youth, and Family programs and structure
• Identify and address perceived gaps
• Offer progressive courses

Recommended CONNECT initiatives focus on relationships: note this is a new pastoral role, and is under development.

• Within the congregation:
  • Evaluate current fellowship offerings, and explore opportunities to use them for reaching out to the community too
  • Explore ways to foster connections and relationships around SOTV, centering on “invitation” and “service”

• Within our community:
  • Work with civic, non-profit, and business leaders to better understand unmet needs in our surrounding area
  • Identify and strengthen partnership opportunities

Recommended CARE initiatives focus on promoting our offerings:

• Increase awareness and utilization (as needed) of care and support offerings
• Prayer chain
• Care available from lay leaders, parish nurses, and pastors
• Support groups
• Develop intentional connection to Worship, Learn, and Connect

Several initiatives that impact all areas are already in some form of development:

• Website – Especially important in connecting with visitors, and regulars wanting to register for events and classes. Website, database, and social media initiatives fall under the Engagement Team.
• Database – Consistent information that can be accessed by all staff as appropriate is important. Seeking improvement in maintaining current information and interests, promoting events in relevant ways, fostering connection and caring, facilitate volunteer registrations, among other things. The Engagement Team has recently begun work on assessing our database needs.
• Membership – Would like to explore rationale for membership, and promote ways that commitment (through membership or otherwise) can deepen faith and foster connection. Focus on responsibilities (like partners) vs. expectations (like membership). Consider task force, sermon series, etc.
• Simplifying communications and processes – Emphasize visitor-friendly resources, simpler bulletin/newsletter handout, common information for staff and volunteers to guide others, opportunities for cross-promoting worship and programs

What do you think about these initiatives?  Would you like more information?  Does something sound exciting and you’d like to get involved?  You can contact me at (952) 985-7356 or kari.slotten@sotv.org.