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Missions:
·
Glenda Creech, chair was not present – no report
available.
Finance:
·
Ernie Stamper, chair was not present. Scooter Leonard reported the 3rd
quarter revealed FUMC giving is about $12,000 behind. He said this was nothing to be alarmed
about as expenses are below the budgeted amount providing a small
surplus. The loan balance is $70,000
at the present. Dr. Gwinn added that
FUMC has been more productive in giving and pledges. The “loose giving” is up due to the many
visitors who have been attending.
Ø
Stewardship:
Paul Farrell, chair was not present. Scooter Leonard reported that November 10 will be
Commitment Sunday. The initial
stewardship mailing was done last week and contained pledge cards and a
brochure. Scooter Leonard advised the Council that the
Stewardship Committee had worked very hard to put a quality brochure
together. Two smaller mailings were planned rather than one large mailing to
keep the stewardship message in front of the church members. Motion to approve was made by Richard
Dorton, motion approved.
Foundation:
·
Bob Fleming, chair reported that the Foundation Committee had met
several times over the summer. It was
reported a sizeable bequest has been received and would soon be paying
dividends. The Foundation Committee is
planning a mailing to go out in the next couple of weeks. Foundation Stewards have requested that no
requests for funding be made to the Foundation in order to let the funds
accumulate.
Ø
Clark County Farm: Foster Ockerman, Jr. and Dr. Gwinn reported they have
been meeting with Rev. Julian Lazar a retired minister from South Carolina.
Rev. Lazar inherited a 260 +\- acre farm from his wife. The farm is located on Route 60 at Gaye
Evans Road in Clark County and he would like to donate the farm to either the
Kentucky Annual Conference or to First United Methodist Church. Rev. Lazar specifically does not want to
see the property split up or house lots sold off to help fund a project. Rev. Lazar has requested the Kentucky
Annual Conference and FUMC to each present a proposal to him of how they
would use the land for ministry. Foster Ockerman, Jr. mentioned the farm contains a
spring and a creek and could be initially used for primitive camping and
day-camp meetings. Hunt and Peggy Ray
have been appointed as a task force to work with Rev. Lazar. To date no word has come from the
Conference office and Rev. Lazar asked that First present a proposal. Dr. Gwinn felt there was no formal proposal
coming from the Conference office. Lee
Padgett, Director of Aldersgate Camp would like to partner with First UMC to
do more inner-city ministry and possibly deploy some summer staff from
Aldersgate Camp.
Trustees:
·
Brenda Nally, chair reported that the Trustees
have met several times during the summer and discussed everything from
candleholders to leaky roofs. No
formal requests were made at this time.
United
Methodist Women:
·
Kathy Sullivan, chair reported the United
Methodist Women’s Christmas dinner is planned for December 5. Kathy informed the Administrative
Council that the UMW is not happy with the expenditures
made by the National UMW and our UMW plans to make a statement by ballot
vote, sending one dollar to undesignated giving and the rest to other board
areas.
United
Methodist Men (UMM):
·
Steve Osborne, chair was not present and no
report available.
Staff
Parish:
·
Richard Dorton, chair reported the Church
would sadly be losing our Director of Youth Ministry and Director of College
Age Ministry in May when Tiffany and D.G. Hollums return to Texas. The Staff
Parish Committee is currently in the process of seeking a Youth Minister
replacement. The committee would like
to see the College Ministry position continue as a part-time position. Tiffany and D.G. shared their sorrow about
leaving.
Representative Payee:
·
Scooter Leonard reported Representative Payee is a
new ministry of First United Methodist Church. The ministry is currently staffed by
volunteers and began recently with three clients. Clients of the ministry are people who
cannot manage their money. Through
“Representative Payee” a client is assigned caseworker, the case worker
arranges for the ministry to receive the client’s government checks then in
turn issues checks for the client’s rent, utilities, etc.
Financial
Management Class:
·
Dr. Gwinn reported that a Financial Management
class is meeting at the church on Sunday afternoons. Dr. Gwinn indicated the class would be an
on going program for our congregation.
Parking
Lots:
·
Ike Flemming, chair submitted a report stating
the Parking Lot Task force has inventoried what we have at the present.
Worship:
·
Dr. Al Gwinn has been in discussion with Dr. Albin Whitworth they have identified a
couple of ways to enhance the 8:45 a.m. and 10:50 a.m. services. The 8:45 a.m. service in particular – the
Jubilee Singers will be scheduled to sing more frequently and possibly have
the Youth Choir sing. The Administrative Council discussed briefly about an
“alternative service” and determined at this time it would not be effective,
healthy and would not be able to grow at this point in time.
Building:
·
Richard Dorton reported
the Building Task Force has been in discussion with 2 architect firms in
Lexington, Johnson Romanowitz Architects, Pierson & Bender and a
design/build firm from Indiana, Partners & Associates as well. The Task Force hopes to choose a
comprehensive plan in three or four months and would be comprised of 3
components: now, near and future plans.
Evaluation:
·
Randy Clay was not present to report
but submitted information that the Evaluation Task Force has been reviewing
our core values and have scheduled a tentative meeting date of December 5,
2002.
Andover Partnership:
·
Dr. Gwinn reported to the Administrative Council that a strip of ground along side
of the Andover Community Church property is to be used to create a
boulevard. When First Church began
working with Andover we explored what could be done and began meeting with
Andover’s Leadership Team on a weekly basis with two plans of action becoming
apparent.
Ø
Short term plan:
Dr. Gwinn explained that Andover is still
considered a mission of the Lexington District and at Annual Conference he
had been appointed to both Andover and FUMC. Immediate concern was to fill
Andover’s pulpit.
Ø
Intermediate plan:
1.
Guide the mission church to the time of Annual
Conference and beyond to build the church.
Andover, at the time, was able to pay its debt but could not pay a
minister’s salary.
2.
The Leadership Team planned to canvas the surrounding
neighborhood.
3.
The staff of FUMC has been extremely helpful in
meeting the needs of Andover. In
addition our own youth group and college age group have met at the Andover
facility.
Andover
began its Sunday services in the post-modern style and has moved to an alternative
service, but the church is not growing and there is now a sense that time is
getting short. Dr. Gwinn explained in
a “snapshot”, there is no way to describe how FUMC has attempted to give its
best to Andover Community Church. They
are at a critical time in decision-making and are losing numbers.
Dr.
Gwinn gave a little history: Harvest United Methodist Church was actually the
founding congregation with a contemporary service or more of a Pentecostal
type service. They experienced a
change in leadership, Harvest UMC was dissolved and Andover Community Church
began. At that time the service was
changed to post-modern worship then to a blended service. Our leadership team recommended a major
shift in worship style to a more traditional style service. Or, a church for children where parents are
invited and there seems to be some potential funding for a children's leader.
D. G.
Hollums and the College Age Ministry are presently using the Andover facility
for a service called the Blessing. D.
G. has a vision:
Ø
A college ministry to unite college age youth
in the district and senior high students.
To have a praise band with college
students and youth
pastors in the area provide the message each week.
Ø
A web site that changes each week.
Ø
A time of “ultimate frisbee” after the worship
service.
Ø
This new ministry has 10-15 in worship each
week and would like to unite and include other denominations, to grow as
disciples in Christ.
Dr.
Gwinn shared about the FUMC’s annual family picnic held on the Andover
grounds. A good crowd attended and a
good
time
was had by all. The Andover Community
Church is a fine facility.
Foster
Ockerman, Jr. asked for other business. There being no other business brought
before the Administrative Council he moved
to the next agenda item.
Calendar
dates:
·
11/7/02 Lay
Leadership meeting
·
11/13/02 Buildings
Task Force
·
Coming up Foundation
mailing
·
12//5/02 United
Methodist Women’s Christmas party
·
12/9/02 Charge
Conference
Jim
Pepperl asked: Who speaks for United Methodists and what can we do about it?
·
Dr. Gwinn responded: The only group who speaks
for the United Methodist is the General Conference. General Conference is structured from lay
and clergy from all over the country.
Many voices are not there because we have not been willing to be
selected as voices. It is very
regretful most of the time that newspapers do not get their stories
right. Each year when Annual
Conference meets we can send recommendations and make our statements known.
Brenda Nally shared that
she is a greeter for the early service and people come in with small
children. She would like to see a
place where information could be picked up quickly so they could be given
Sunday School and other church information.
·
Dr. Gwinn shared that the staff discussed that
very issue today – first time visitor looking for a visitor packet. It might be helpful if Sunday School
classes had a hospitality person in each class.
Dr. Gwinn also
mentioned that new people are coming not for superficial reasons but for
heart-felt reasons. Ken
Klemme added that 45 people have joined our congregation in
the last 10 weeks.
There being no further
business Foster Ockerman, Jr. adjourned the
meeting at 8:55 p.m.
Ken
Klemme offered a closing prayer.
Respectfully submitted,
Joyce Miller
Secretary
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