Present: Stella Rous, Anne Scott, Sherry Setser, Shirley Ahart, Nick Strobel, Jean Ann Lansche, Pastor Pam Fine
Absent: Barbara Dethlefson, Sarah Balzar, Lizbeth Hallum
Anne stated that she needs more volunteers for the Narthex Program. Please help get the word out to those that might be able to take a turn with the group.
Vacation Church School's theme for 2009 will be "God's Care of All Creatures". This was a popular theme that was used four years ago and includes the Blessing of the Animals, field trip to CALM, Heifer Project, David Hanley and his creatures, and a field trip for the jr. high class to the SPCA. It will be held the first week of August. Trinity Church and Margaret Grant are on board to assist at this time.
Movie Night was a success and everyone is looking forward to the next event. It will be October 24th at 6 pm. We had 3 neighborhood families as well as our own members attend. We may offer music or a short "Veggie Tales" film before starting the movie, "Escape to Witch Mountain". Sherry will check into a popular Christian youth singer who has c.d.'s out that could be played and Jean Ann will preview a Veggie Tale movie. Sherry will look into the purchase of a popcorn machine to be donated to the church for this purpose and all will keep an eye out for the big bags of pre-popped popcorn. Sherry will be gone so Jean Ann and Stella will be in charge. Nick will not be able to be there but will set up for us again and Pastor Pam will know how to operate the equipment. Other Movie Night dates will be November 21st and December 19th.
Adult Studies are all continuing with the reading of "Vital Signs". All classes are going well and our committee thinks that an evaluation at the end of the readings will help direct us with the direction of overall church planning. Pastor Pam suggested that after Tex Sample speaks January (10th and 11th) that we may want to have a retreat to decide if there are some things in Wesley Church that we may want to "re-do."
The Adult Sunday School Group will end their "Vital Signs" sessions on October 19th. They will study the ballot propositions on October 26th. Pastor Pam has agreed to lead this session. We will also ask Pauline Larwood to be involved with leading since this is her area of expertise and could possibly lead the Nov. 2nd class.
Pastor Pam is interested in continuing the "Living the Questions" group. The right to use this series will expire next summer and could be used as a Sunday School class or as an evening class. No decision was made.
The Adult Wednesday Evening Group plans to start a class on "Psalms" led by David Scott, once they finish the Vital Signs.
The Thursday Morning Class may become a Wednesday Morning Class if the group doing the Vital Signs is interested. Anne will discuss this with the group and with Barbara Dethlefson who is the Thursday Morning leader. It was also discussed that the study on Psalms might be a good study for this group and also for an Adult Sunday School class.
Following this thought it was decided that Pastor Pam will teach an Adult Sunday School class on Psalms. David Scott can fill in for Pastor Pam when necessary. This class would start November 2nd or 9th depending on the ballot class.
Nick has volunteered to teach a 24 week Sunday School Class based on the video series called, "Early Christianity: The Experience of the Divine" by Luke Timothy Johnson. It would need to start in November or Dec. in order to finish by the end of the school year.
Pat Carter is also interested in starting a "Church and Society" class to educate people about the UMC Social Principles. Again, Pastor Pam would be good in helping to lead this class.
Pastor Pam will order Advent Booklets for families to use. The Greening of the Church will take place on November 30th and perhaps the first lesson could be used at that and the rest the families would do at home.
Pastor Pam will be gone from October 27th to November 10th.
Pastor Pam had agreed to teach the jr./sr. high Sunday School class. So far it has only been the Hanel family and they are not always there so it was decided that Pastor Pam's time would be better spent with the Adult Sunday School. She does need to leave by 10 in order to be there for pre-sermon needs. Last Sunday Anne met with the Hanel's and started them with a drama script in connection with adoption of apportionments. Following this they will start working on a Christmas play. Stella and Pastor Pam will also help with this when needed. Drama is what the Hanel's like doing so this seems to be the best solution at this time.
The Youth Group is currently a loose structure under the direction of David Hanley, Jill and Pastor Pam and meeting about every two weeks. They do want to do service projects and also have fun where they can be good kids. The Youth Group will be busy until Christmas. There is a Youth Conference December 5-7 in the Fresno Conference that they might attend. They may also have a Lock-In on the October Movie Night with David and Jill acting as their chaperones.