Present: Anne Scott, Stella Rous, Shirley Ahart, Sherry Setser, Lissy Hallum, Nick Strobel, Jean Ann Lansche, Pastor Pam Fine
Absent: Barbara Dethlefson, Sarah Balzar
Sherry Setser presented the idea of having a 'movie night' at church for the children of the neighborhood and perhaps showing "Veggie Tales" and serving popcorn and juice. The committee really liked the idea as a way to reach out to the neighborhood and to our own members. It was thought that we should perhaps try it as a last Friday of the month event for the church and neighborhood and try it for four months to see if it would work. It was thought that it might help families with tight budgets as something to do at the end of the month. It was also decided that instead of people just dropping their kids off that they should stay and be responsible for them and that we could show 'G' rated movies and use the "Veggie Tales" or other Christian short films as fillers or pre-show movies. It was decided that we would bring this before the Administrative Council.
(Nick later sent an e-mail with the question of showing movies to large gatherings and what permission would be needed from the film industry. Pastor Pam said she would have Terry call and check into it for us.)
The Summer Program of Tuesday Mornings for Children had 0 children show up for the first week and 1 child show up for the second week. We thanked Anne for all of her preparation for this class. It was thought that perhaps if 'movie night' worked it could help be a lead in for us to try this again next summer. Other suggestions were to do it for a one week session instead of 5 consecutive Tuesdays. Also, perhaps after summer school is over with and perhaps in the afternoons. We could also try giving it another name along the idea of a 'Mother's Day Out' and even running it as a co-op or to charge a fee.
Anne Scott had a story in the newspaper about the upcoming Vacation Church School. Trinity Church is planning to bring about 15 students. Pastor Gaby will help teach the jr. high with David Scott. Phil Maxwell is finding someone to donate the fruit. Barbara Knowlton and her crew will be serving lemonade, fruit and cookies to the children daily. Charlotte Harmeany will bring 2 rabbits, a chicken, and a duck for the younger children who will not be going on the field trip to the farm on Thursday. Salvation Army will send a representative on Monday and he will bring the kettle and a booklet for each of the children. Drivers are still needed for the field trip. Phil is in charge of setting up the field trips. On Wednesday the jr. high will go to the water treatment plant.
At this time the Open House in September has been cancelled. It will be rearranged for when Laura Daliik will be in town since she was the center point for the Health Care Info portion.
The Reading Project "Vital Signs" that the conference wants all congregations to read and use to examine what our church is was discussed. After we have reassessed our church using this tool and if we use the 'movie night' as an indicator we might decide that we might not want to do an Open House.
It was thought that the Wednesday Night group might be a good group to lead other groups in the reading of "Vital Signs". Pastor Pam would like groups to meet in homes and geographically located. On November 16th the bishop will talk about it at our meeting as we will have read it by then. Pastor Pam is checking with the bishop about this. There will be an all church lunch on September 7th to lead into this project. There are 1-2 churches closing in each conference each year. This book will be challenging for some members. Nick will lead the "Vital Signs" readings for Sunday School. This will be the only class at this time.
"Living the Question" on Wednesday nights at Pastor Pam's home has been going quite well. It might continue after the summer. It might also make for a good adult Sunday School class. When Nick had hosted a gathering for parents with kids it was felt that parents might want to gather for coffee and have a discussion on a subject without going too in depth after dropping their children off at their Sunday School classes. Rob Bell presents a Christian topic such as why has God healed someone with cancer but not another person. Pastor Pam had showed some of "NOOMA" in confirmation class -some of the students liked them and some did not.
"Godly Play" is off of the table for right now.
Pastor Pam had asked David Hanley if he would be willing to be the Youth Director. He does not have the time but would be willing to serve on a Youth Committee or once a month lead. Phil helps a lot with this group.
There will be an all church Swim Party hosted by Jerry Ludeke and sponsored by Membership/Evangelism committee on August 17th following church services. The Youth Group is of course invited.
Sunday School will start back up on September 7th.
Marion Henderson/ Shirley Ahart will teach 4 years to 1st grade.
Sherry Setser/ Jean Ann Lansche will teach grades 2-5.
Anne Scott will start grades 6 and up and Stella Rous will take over 2nd quarter.
Sherry Atkins might put together a Christmas Play.
It was brought up that when the Children's Choir sings that "Jesus Loves Me" should be played first as then children that do not know the songs join the choir. We do wish that we could get all of the children that just show up for the Narthex Children's time would come for Sunday School so they too could be a part of the Children's Choir