Building Relationships with People in Christ

September 14, 2020- Finance Committee Meeting     (H)

 

Items to be included in Session's consent agenda – none

Items to be voted upon or needing discussion by Session – sale of BRPC shirts (see 7 below)

Items for information only – see below –

 Members present - Bill Melewski, Sandy Moore, Linda Schumacher, and Don Young.  Pastor Elizabeth and Paul Luce were also present.

 Members absent – Barry Holmes, Ed Ingram, and Don Pine

 This meeting was held via Zoom.  We missed those who couldn’t be with us.

 1.  Financial Secretary Report

·         Boxes of offering envelopes to be used in 2021 have been ordered and received.  The cost is $87.50 + shipping and handling – final bill has not been received.

 2.August Minutes were approved

 

3.  Treasurer's Report (see August 2020 reports in Drop Box) –

·         Paul reviewed the August reports with the committee.  We are still in OK shape

·         Bank balance dipped below $10,000 last week but with contributions received 9/13, the ACH that will be deposited 9/28 and two more Sundays in September, it was the consensus of the committee we will not transfer any funds from savings at this time.

 

4.  Per Capita

·         $500 payment made in September

·         Current balance is $2,788 due by end of year.

 

5.  2021 Stewardship Campaign

·         Pastor Elizabeth created 2 logos and gave the committee several ideas for bible verses and hymns to be used along with our 2021 Stewardship Theme of “Socially Distanced/Spiritually Connected”

·         Linda made a motion that we use the logo with growing plants and intertwined roots, Scripture - Colossians 2:5; and hymn “We Are One in the Spirit”.

·         Sandy has talked to Barry and he is working on this year’s stewardship letter.  When his draft is complete, he will email it to the Finance Committee for their input.

 

6.   Paul Vance’s BRPC credit card

·          A new Visa credit card came in the mail with Paul's name on it.  Karen made up a letter to Visa canceling that card & Sandy signed the letter.  Card will be returned without being activated.

7.  BRPC T-Shirt and Sweatshirt Sales

·         It has been expressed at various Zoom fellowships and traveling fellowship that some people would like to get a generic BRPC shirt to wear

·         Carol Schumacher has gotten a quote from Classic Awards in Overland Park KS which is owned and operated by a friend of hers and a barbershop acquaintance to several BRPC members.  He is offering us a discount and is not charging any set up costs.

·         Pricing is shown on the attached information sheet and was figured on a minimum of 50 shirts (any combination of those shown).

·         It was the consensus of those at the meeting to recommend that Carol be allowed to pursue getting orders for shirts and to order them with the following stipulations:

o   50 orders are received

o   Payment for shirts is received before placing the order to avoid any funds coming out of the church’s funds

             

             

 

8. Request from Grace Cox Johnson e

·         Grace has asked for a separate $300.00 account to be set up from which she can purchase music

·         It was the consensus of the committee that no additional account is needed since there are several Worship accounts from which music could be purchased as well as two large memorial funds that are designated for music

 

9.  Insurance Renewal

·         The cost for our insurance which includes Property, Liability, Umbrella, and Worker’s Compensation is increasing $733.00 for the year to a total of $12,261.00.

10.  REAP

·         Missions and Outreach Committee has requested that any checks that are sent to the church for REAP be given to their moderator, Marsha Elbasani, before being deposited.

·         From now on, Linda Schumacher will give any checks received for REAP to Marsha so she can fill out an income voucher to accompany any donations received by BRPC for REAP.

·         Linda also informed the committee that a couple of checks had been received in the past 5 months that were made out to “REAP”.  Since the bank does not allow us to “sign over” a check to someone else, Linda mailed those checks directly to REAP.

11.  Online Giving

·         Bill Melewski did extensive research and provided the Finance Committee a cost comparison of twelve Online Giving Programs.  They all average 2.5-3% in transaction fees

·         Bill’s recommendation was that we do not pursue this at this time since depending on how many people might use online banking, the cost/loss of income to the church could be significant

·         No final decision was made.  We will put this on next month’s agenda to discuss again when, hopefully, all of our committee members as well as Pastor Elizabeth (who had to leave our meeting before we were finished) can be present

 

Next meeting will be 1:00 PM on October 12, 2020.  via ZOOM

 

Opening devotional/prayer will be given by Linda Schumacher

 

Respectfully Submitted,     Linda Schumacher

Sandy ended our meeting with a prayer.

 

Building Relationships with People in Christ

August 10, 2020- Finance Committee Meeting     (H)

 

Items to be included in Session's consent agenda – none

 

Items to be voted upon or needing discussion by Session – none

 

Items for information only – see below – NOTE #3  – 2021 budget requests are needed BEFORE 9/24/20

 

Members present -  Barry Holmes, Ed Ingram, Paul Luce, Bill Melewski, Sandy Moore, Don Pine, Linda Schumacher, and Don Young.  Pastor Elizabeth was also present.

 

This meeting was held via Zoom.  As always, we appreciate Paul joining us no matter the circumstances (this time from his car at the side of the road on their way home from visiting family).   AND, it was great to have Barry with us!

 

Bill Melewski opened our meeting with a devotional about “being grateful” and a prayer

 

1.  Financial Secretary Report

·         Linda will be figuring out how many and what type of offering envelopes we need to order for 2021

·         Edgar Urriola memorial funds:  we have received one donation that is designated for camps.  Linda asked for confirmation/clarification of whether all of Edgar’s memorial funds are to be designated for camp.  Pastor Elizabeth will contact Misty to find out.

·          Linda will send Pastor Elizabeth a list of other memorial funds for which the designation is unknown.  As her time allows, Pastor will contact families to find out if these funds are to be non-designated or designated.

·           

2. June Minutes were approved (no meeting in July)

 

3.  Treasurer's Report (see July 2020 reports in Drop Box) –

·         Paul reviewed the July reports with the committee.  Contributions continue to be lower than anticipated but so are our expenses.

·         Since we are currently maintaining a checking account balance of at least $10,000.00, It was the consensus of the committee that we do not need to transfer anything from savings at this time.  Paul noted that the bank is charging us a $9-10 fee each month we do not maintain a balance of $20,000.00

·         Paul also reminded us that committee chairs should be asked in August to provide their preliminary budget requests BEFORE the September session meeting, September 24th

 

4.  Per Capita

·         It was the consensus of the committee that we continue to make monthly payments to ensure that we are caught up with this by the end of the year. 

·         Sandy will handle having a check issued to Heartland Presbytery.

 

5.  2021 Stewardship Campaign

·         After some discussion, it was agreed that Paul Luce’s church’s upcoming theme of Re-access, Re-calculate, Re-build doesn’t fit BRPC’s current circumstances but might very well be great for 2022 so we will welcome what Paul has to share with us as possible fodder for next year.

·         With Pastor Elizabeth’s guidance in thinking about where we are now and how to highlight what is going right, the theme that was decided on is “Socially Distanced/Spiritually Connected”

·         Pledge Sunday will be November 8, 2020

·         Pastor Elizabeth’s sermon series will focus on stewardship for the 4 weeks before that

·         This means stewardship letters with pledge form enclosed should be mailed about October 26^th

·         Barry Holmes volunteered to write this year’s letter

 

6.  BRPC Sam’s Club Card  

·         Don Pine made a motion to cancel Paul Vance’s card and not request a replacement.  Motion carried.

 

 

 

7.  Newsletter Article

·         We are grateful for those who have kept up their contributions to BRPC

·         Pastor Elizabeth suggested including a list of a few of the things that everyone’s contributions are allowing us to continue to pay – e.g. salaries, building maintenance, stamps

 

 

8. Website

·         At least half of the current services we are paying for in connection with our current web site will become part of the fee we already pay for Shelby Systems once the website is converted to that.

·         It was the consensus that in the future all the costs of maintaining the web site will be paid using the BRPC credit card and we thank Bill M for previously paying these expenses. 

·         Bill will coordinate with Karen Argo about this transition.

 

9.  Security of Karen Argo’s office

·         Karen is concerned that more than once items in her desk have been disturbed when she wasn’t present

·         The committee agreed that especially during this time of Covid 19, it is important that Karen have control of who enters her office

·         Linda Schumacher stated that as far as Finance is concerned, she does not need to have access to Karen’s office when Karen is not there.

 

Next meeting will be 1:00 PM on September 14, 2020.  Location TBD.   (probably via ZOOM)

 

Opening devotional/prayer will be given by Don Young.

 

Respectfully Submitted,     Linda Schumacher

Pastor Elizabeth ended our meeting with some kind words of praise and encouragement and a prayer.

Building Relationships with People in Christ

June 8, 2020- Finance Committee Meeting     (H)

Items to be included in Session's consent agenda – none

Items to be voted upon or needing discussion by Session – none

Items for information only – see below

Members present:  Ed Ingram, Paul Luce, Bill Melewski, Sandy Moore, Don Pine, Linda Schumacher, and Don Young. Pastor Elizabeth was also present.

Members absent:  Barry Holmes

This meeting was held via Zoom.

Sandy Moore opened our meeting with scripture and prayer

1.  Financial Secretary Report - Nothing to report

2. May Minutes were approved

3.  Treasurer's Report (see May 2020 reports in Drop Box) - Paul reviewed the May reports with the committee.  Contributions continue to be lower than anticipated but the overall financial picture is still all right.  Outgoing payments included $500 to Presbytery toward what we owe for per capita.

4.  Status of Pledges, Per Capita, and Endowment contributions following articles in May Newsletter – Through May, we have received 32% of anticipated Pledge amounts.  Ideally, we would have received 45% of our anticipated pledges by now.  We have received Per Capita for 33 folks (math doesn’t come out exactly right because several rounded the amount up).  No contributions have been received for the Endowment Fund this year.

5.  Joy Scholarship – Applications have been received from Owen Lockwood, Celeste Cummins, and Brennan Lee.   Don Pine moved that each applicant be awarded $500.00.  Motion carried.

6.  Cement repair to steps to Grace’s office and Pastor Elizabeth’s stoop – the final cost is not known, yet, but it appears it will be less than originally thought thanks to Gary Oberlander’s efforts.

7.  Website expenses – Many, if not all, of the current services we are paying for in order to have our current web site are part of our current Shelby Next package.  Bill Melewski states that he will be investigating which services are duplicated in Shelby and since there is no reason to be paying for two services and our current web site is outdated, the current web site service  will at some point be discontinued and a new web site built via Shelby Next.  Once he knows which services we will still need in addition to Shelby, he will let the Finance Committee know and we will authorize that those expenses be paid via the BRPC credit card. (rather than Bill paying for them which we are grateful to him for doing in the past).  Bill will be coordinating with Pastor Elizabeth on what content will be on the new web site and will be asking for help from others in this daunting task.

8. 2021 Stewardship Campaign –Paul Luce’s church has given him permission to share their ideas for implementing the theme they are going to use of “Reassess, Recalculate, and Rebuild”.  He will share those ideas with us when he is in Raytown for our August meeting.  We will then be free to assess and decide whether we want to use their ideas.  It was the consensus of those present that in the meantime, we will get Pastor Elizabeth’s thoughts on our stewardship campaign plan to see if she has specific ideas/desires as to how that is done.  And, Linda S. has a file that she wanted to look at to see if there are any viable ideas in it.  So, this will be a main topic at our August meeting.

9.  ZOOM expense – Pastor Elizabeth has been charging her personal credit card for the cost for this service we are using for online Coffee Fellowship, Session, and other Committee Meetings   Don Young moved that we reimburse Pastor Elizabeth for the amount Pastor Elizabeth has already spent for this and that future cost of $15.99 a month be charged to the BRPC VISA card.  Motion carried.  Paul instructed that this expense be paid from Account #54013.

10.  Sam’s credit card – Paul Vance is no longer physically able to purchase supplies for BRPC at Sam’s so his card needs to be cancelled.  When he is feeling up to it, Gary will take Paul to Sam’s to cancel his card.  No action will be taken at this time to issue a Sam’s card to another BRPC member.

Next meeting will be 1:00 PM on August 10, 2020.  Location TBD.   (No meeting in July)

Opening devotional/prayer will be given by Bill Melewski.

Respectfully Submitted,     Linda Schumacher

Don Pine ended our meeting with a prayer.

Building Relationships with People in Christ

May 11, 2020- Finance Committee Meeting     (H)

Items to be included in Session's consent agenda – none

Items to be voted upon or needing discussion by Session – Fund raising request from Shelley Melewski ( see 6 below)

Items for information only – see below

Members present:  Ed Ingram, Paul Luce, Bill Melewski, Sandy Moore, Don Pine, Linda Schumacher, and Don Young. Pastor Elizabeth was also present.

Members absent:  Barry Holmes

This meeting was held via Zoom.

Ed Ingram opened our meeting with scripture, devotional and prayer

1.  Financial Secretary Report

o     Nothing to report

2.  April Minutes were approved

3.  Treasurer's Report (see April 2020 reports in Drop Box)

o    Paul reviewed the April reports with the committee.  Contributions are down but so are expenses.  Considering that we are currently not physically together for worship and that we haven’t taken anything from savings, we feel our financial picture is still ok.

4.  Per Capita – $500 will be sent this month to keep our plan for paying BRPC per capita.

5.  Joy Scholarship – The deadline for fall semester scholarships is June 1^st.  Sandy will continue to put out reminders of the availability of these funds.

6.  Fund raising request – Shelley Melewski has requested permission to sell greeting cards to benefit the Raytown Summer Lunch Program.  Don Pine made a motion to recommend approval of this request to the Session.  Motion carried.

7.  Cement repair needed on to steps to Grace’s office - Per the Property Committee, this will cost approximately $2,500.00.  Our recommendation is that this expense be taken from Account #28612 (new roof fund).

8.  Endowment Fund – This has not been publicized in quite some time.   - Don Young will compose something for the June newsletter from the Endowment Fund Committee to remind the congregation about this fund  -  especially to suggest that everyone donate the amount of their age on their birthday.

9.  Stewardship Campaign – It’s not too early begin planning.  Paul’s church’s 2021 theme will be “Reassess, Recalculate and Rebuild

Next meeting will be via Zoom 1:00 PM on June 8, 2020.  (at this point we will not plan to have a meeting in July)

Opening devotional/prayer will be given by Sandy Moore.

Respectfully Submitted,     Linda Schumacher

Don Pine ended our meeting with a prayer.