Learning Commission Meeting Minutes
September 16, 2008
Meeting began @ 7:00
Attending: Tracy Fickenscher, Pastor Erik, Sharon
Korzan, Caroline Hobbs, Josh Graziani
Pastor Erik led prayer and a
devotional, written by George Barna.
Welcome to Josh Graziani, our
newly hired Director of Children’s Ministry (DCM). Our plan for tonight’s meeting is to bring Josh up to speed on
all of the programs he will oversee as our DCM.
Action item
Properties Committee asked if
Learning had anything that needed special attention. We discussed that the van needs some care, as follows:
Additionally, but not an immediate
action item:
Council/Budget info (Pastor Erik & Josh reported)
Council wanted committees to be
aware that Budget/Finance overestimated the income that the church would
receive on loose plate offerings for the 2008 income figures, and this is a
contributing factor in why we are running at a deficit (approx. 3K per month.)
Our spending is on target, but the congregational giving is down. Pastor Erik & Josh report that council
has discussed proceeding cautiously with budgeting & spending for
2009. We reviewed each area of the
budget as it pertains to learning. Advised Josh to contact the recent/former
leaders of each area he is responsible for to find out what was, or was not,
included in the budget.
Reviewed Time & Talent sheets
and made changes as necessary.
Sunday school (Sharon Korzan, coordinator / Josh Graziani, DCM : both
reported)
Sharon and Josh report that Sunday
school went well 9/14, with great feedback reported. Great attendance figures -70 students (not including staff.) Josh plans to launch a new monthly program,
and we discussed this at length. Josh
would also like to encourage inviting guests to increase attendance & grow
our programs. Josh would like to do
monthly contests which will include participation from each class in the making
of a monthly themed board. PE stressed importance of incorporating a biblical
theme for each board, and everyone concurred.
This concept will be launched in October, introduced at the opening, and
then it will be worked on in the individual classes. Each class will receive a reward (most creative, etc.) Josh will
coordinate with teachers. We discussed
the openings. Who will do the opening
music? Linette Angelestro had offered to lead, the opening. Sharon feels strongly about having pastor as
a presence a couple times per month. We
discussed pastor’s availability. Josh
would like to mix things up and do a fun game as an option other than singing
every week. Josh and Sharon will
coordinate the opening with pastors, Linette, etc. We discussed making the student/parent flow into the PLC smoother
and having the teachers a visible presence at the opening. For the high school SS class, Josh would
like Tracy to continue with the coffee house Sunday once a month, which she
agreed to. Josh will use this week to
pop into each class. Tracy would like
the Lutheran Handbook at her coffee Sunday. Josh gave the name “Savage” to his
high school class (Sunday’s are very awesome-God’s education). Name tags will be implemented for teachers
to wear weekly. Caroline suggested Josh
order business cards.
Fun with Faith (K-5th) Tracy Fickenscher (former coordinator)
reporting
Deborah Goebel volunteered to lead
F.W.F. Josh will be in contact with her
to discuss her availability.
After much discussion, we decided
(for the remainder of the year) on a once a month Elementary Youth Event. Josh will be Strategizing, researching and
planning for the long term. Josh will
plan an All Saints Day/Halloween party (promoted to our kids/bring a friend)
slated for 10/29. Also a Thanksgiving
and Christmas event. Regular program
(2x month) will plan to be launched after first of year.
High School (Pastor Erik)
Briefly discussed. Orientation this coming Saturday, 9/20. Youth Band concert planned for
November. Relay for Life in
October. Sharon Korzan is spearheading
this event. Brief discussion about New Orleans national youth gathering in 2009
and fundraising will be necessary. Cost
will be approx. $1,000 per child.
Nursery (Tracy reported on status, & Josh will take over from here)
Briefly discussed. Heather is paid staff. Kevin Rhodes is a paid assistant.
VBS
Tabled until next month.
Confirmation
Briefly discussed which
translation of bible we use in this class.
No other discussion this month.
High School Youth (Michael Fickenscher provided written report, as
follows)
Michael Fickenscher reports ‘The high schoolers are still
excited about Switchfoot, Sept. 26. At
this point all tickets are sold. We
have outstanding balances from 2 of them.
We purchased enough for two car loads and will have 3 adults going.
Pastor Erik met with a group of high schoolers who will form
a “Leadership” group for the year. We
discussed fund raising ideas and when we are to meet. Is seems like a great group to guide activities throughout the
next year.
We are ready to begin the New Year in Youth Group. We are looking forward to coffee house and
Starbucks Sunday. Respectfully submitted,
Michael Fickenscher’
Next Meeting: The first Thursday of every month (7:00 PM/Pastor
Erik’s office) will be our NEW official meeting date. Next
meeting is Thursday, October 2nd 7:00pm.
Meeting adjourned with prayer
approx. 9:30pm
Minutes prepared by
Caroline Hobbs
Learning Meeting
August 11, 2008
Pastor Erik, Caroline Hobbs, Sharon Korzan, and Tracie Fickenscher in
attendance
Sharon Korzan has agreed to be our Coordinator for Sunday
School….yeah!! She will be calling
Sunday school teachers from last year to confirm who will be returning this
year. She will let Learning know if she
needs help filling teacher positions.
Sharon needs dates for Rally Sunday and the first day of Sunday School.
Curriculum was looked at.
Both Sharon and Tracie felt very strongly that “Akaloo” material from
Augsburg would be great for middle and high schoolers. Tracie suggested the bible background
contained in the “Akaloo” curriculum may be appropriate for our 3rd/4th
grade class. The committee considered
“Akaloo” for the entire Sunday School Program.
“Akaloo” can be accessed from the computer for both teacher and
students. This was found as both a
positive and a negative. Those teachers
who had easy access to computers might find this format very quick and easy and
like the flexibility of arranging their lessons this way. Caroline noted that it might be harder for
those without computer and printer access.
Pastor voiced a possible concern with printing unneeded material through
the church office. Sharon will research
“Akaloo” further and find out about prices and options for materials. Possibly, we will begin trying the program
for middle and high school depending on the price. Other materials were considered.
Gospel Light was Karen’s favorite.
Sharon and Tracie preferred Lutheran curriculum. It was noted that the Hands On curriculum
was liked by some teachers. Learning
would prefer to try “Akaloo” for the entire Sunday school for the first quarter
with the option to change the younger grades if it doesn’t work out.
As there have been a few applicants for the position,
Learning would like to formally request that they be very involved with
Personnel in the hiring of this position.
Learning would like to have a strong input into who is hired. It was felt that since Learning has the
clearest idea of what is needed and ultimately would be working closely with
this person, Learning would like to help Personnel hire the correct person for
the position
The hours of the position were discussed. The idea of 10 hours a week to just oversee
Sunday School, VBS and the nursery might be a possibility. Cutting the hours by 50% would then cut the
salary by 50% and possibly open the position to others who were looking for a
job with fewer hours.
Tracie would love to find someone to take over the
scheduling of the nursery! It was
suggested that perhaps a parent of a child who uses the nursery might be more
appropriate. Tracie will look into this
possibility further. Currently, the
nursery is scheduled through the end of August.
Karen phoned in a report to Tracie. There were 126 kids total (118 in the
program, 8 in the nursery.) they had 30+ youth helpers and 50+ adult
volunteers. Since Thrivent gave a
sliding grant, we will have $500.donated to our program. There were snack donations of $410. Gospel Light donated all the student books
an expense of around $320. For these
reasons we may under budget. Karen will
have the numbers for the next meeting.
Jessica is working on recruiting someone to help her with next years
VBS. Thank you Karen and Jessica for a
great job!
We still need a coordinator if this program is going to run
this Fall.
The high schoolers are excited about Switchfoot, Sept. 26th. After handling fees, ticket master fees, and
some other fee, tickets that we thought would be $19.95 each are actually
$30.00 each. We purchased enough for
two car loads. One adult driver and 7
youth for each. It was also decided
that since the concert was the inspiration of middle schoolers Brett Crocket
and Kevin Fickenscher, they would be allowed to purchase tickets the same time
as the high schoolers. High schoolers
can purchase tickets until September 7th when sales will be open to
middle schoolers. At this point all but
3 tickets have been sold. It was made
clear that purchases were nonrefundable and a check holds your spot. Heather and Jay were hoping to purchase 7
tickets for themselves. They will be
trying to purchase another block close to the original blocks so we can all
still go together.
The high schoolers had a great summer trip. We enjoyed both our play time and our
service time. A special thanks to
Pastor Erik, Ris Anderson, and Caroline Hobbs for chaperoning.
Respectfully
submitted, Michael Fickenscher
The time and date of the next meeting needs to be
discussed. Tracie will send an email
out to confirm a date and time.
Respectfully
submitted, Tracie Fickenscher
June 2, 2008
Pastor Erik, Caroline Hobbs, Sharon Korzan, Roman Spandrio, Karen
Thomton, Linette Angelastro, and Traci Fickenscher in attendance
Council agreed with Learning that it should be a salaried
position. We will see what the
personnel committee says. Pastor Erik
to get job announcement advertised.
Concern was voiced about the job description of this
position. Pastor Erik and Tracie will take the lead with input from Sharon and
others on the committee to get the job description up to date and as clear as
possible for the Personnel Committee.
Luncheon this Sunday.
Linette needs a headcount and menu suggestions. She will do
shopping and set up on Saturday.
Sunday, Caroline and Tracie will host the event. Pastor Erik will lead discussion with
teachers. Sharon will run the Sunday
school student’s craft time. She will
enlist the help of the high schoolers.
We need to look for a Key Contact for next Fall.
Tracie didn’t understand that Jessica was only doing nursery
for May. ..so we need someone to take over.
Jessica has purchased snacks.
Tracie will temporarily take over during the summer. We need to find someone else to do this in
the Fall if we do not have the Children’s Ministry position filled yet.
105 kids so far. Pre
K and K are closed. June 9th
we will open to the public. Karen needs
a coordinator for the Thursday night dinner.
Maybe the cooks club could help out?
Thrivent has given VBS a $500. donation. Thank you Thrivent.
We need a Key Contact for next year as Tracie will be unable
to do it. Some ideas were Monica Duran,
Anne Valencia, Laurie Hall, Angela Spandrio.
Tracie will begin talking to people.
The high schoolers are excited about Switchfoot, Sept. 26th. They are also looking forward to Ultimate
Frisbee. We are curious how summer camp
signups went and if Pastor needs help making phone calls to have more sign up.
They would like to get together soon to make T-shirts and perhaps organize the
concert. They would have a small group
meet with Pastor to schedule the upcoming year and include both a trip to Magic
Mountain and Disneyland. (If we get 10
or more to Disneyland we can qualify for group discounts.)
Respectfully
submitted, Michael Fickenscher
The high school trip has the largest number signed up for a summer trip this year. Pastor will let high schoolers know when he needs help from them.
Charlene Sakioka has done a great job getting the Library out there. We need to follow up with her to find out if she has any needs.
Woman’s bible study is on track for Fall.
Although Roman voiced concerns that he may not be the right person for the Adult Ed “job” the committee encouraged him to stay on Learning and consider continuing to try and get a men’s bible study together. It was suggested that Roman be allowed to speak in church about what bible study can mean to a Christian man and father. Learning committee thinks Roman is actually the perfect advocate for this position and hopes he stays on.
Learning would like it to be known that this committee would love to keep the church at 2 services throughout the year. If that ever came up in a council meeting we would encourage to look at the possibility very closely.
Monday, July 28th
Learning Meeting
May 5th, 2008
Those in attendance
were Caroline Hobbs, Tracie Fickenscher and Pastor Erik
$ Learning’s recommendation for the Children’s
Ministry Position
A lengthy discussion
about the job description took place.
Learning would like to emphasis to council that we feel this is a professional position needed to help
grow our youth programs and should be treated as such in terms of hours and
salary. Learning would like to
recommend that the yearly salary remain what has been budgeted. ($15,000/year.) Included in the job description, Learning
would like to include a “Milestone Ministry” as well as the continuation of
current programs per the original job description. Pastor Erik will edit the current job description to Learning’s
specifications in time for the May council meeting.
$ Nursery
Tracie will check with
Jessica to see how the nursery is going.
Nursery is scheduled through May, but we need to make sure June and the
summer are also taken care of.
$ Sunday School
Pastor Erik suggested
that we have a “Dessert and Discussion Night” with those involved in Sunday
school. The idea would be that we cold
both thank our teachers and get their input for next year at the same
time. We also would like to give them
an opportunity to give their input on the Children’s Ministry position. This
will also be a time to get teachers to commit for another year if they
wish. This thank you will take place on
Wednesday, May 28th at 7:00 p.m. in the Parish Life Center. Tracie will take care of invitations. Caroline will take care of food for that
night. Pastor will take care of a
bribery gift to get people to attend.:)
$ Fun With Faith
Attendance for this program is still down but the
group we had last time seemed to have a really good time together. Parents currently attending have stated that
they really aren’t crazy about the nighttime idea or even the once a month idea
for next year. Learning discussed
perhaps “revamping” the program for those still interested and Caroline
suggested really pushing it during Sunday School and VBS this year. Pastor would still like to incorporate a
once a month family event. It was
overall felt that the friendships formed at this young age can only benefit the
children as the enter Confirmation and High school.
$ High School Youth Report
The youth would still like to put on a fundraiser
to help fund a trip to the youth gathering in New Orleans. We are planning on performing a concert in
early Fall to help raise the money that we would need. On that topic, Switchfoot tickets have just
gone on sale for their concert sometime soon, and there are tons of high
schoolers who would like to go to that.
We were hoping to buy about 15 (the same as the Fishfest tickets) and
then sell them to the high schoolers (and maybe middle schoolers.) Finally, it would be nice to have a Teen
Recreation Day where we could make T-shirts, play Ultimate Frisbee, and maybe
plan out the year ahead.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Fickenscher
$ High School/Confirmation
The last Confirmation will be on May 14th
with the Rite of Confirmations occurring on Sunday, May 18th. The
last night of Confirmation will go approximately a half hour longer than normal
so they can watch the first “Narnia” movie and have a short discussion
afterwards. Pastor has planned for the current high schoolers to kidnap the
Confirmands on the Friday before to welcome them into the high school youth
group. At this time both the high schoolers and middle schoolers will go to see
“Prince Caspian” returning to church for again a brief discussion of the
biblical influences.
$ Library
Charlene Sakioka has stepped up to do the
library....yeah. She should be turning
receipts in to get the library back up to speed. Her goal is to have it out there 2-3 times a month....which is
wonderful...
$ Adult Ed
Jenny Christenson asked and Learning approved a
new Women’s Bible study by Kay Arthur.
Learning talked about some ideas for a men’s
Bible study and will continue to work on developing something that the men of
Mount Cross might be interested in.
$
VBS
VBS sign ups are
underway. Teachers and volunteer
positions seem to be under control. We
look forward to a more thorough report next month.
Next
Meeting: Monday, June 2nd At
7:00pm….please ink it in!!!
Respectfully submitted: Tracie Fickenscher
Learning Meeting
April 7, 2008
Those in attendance were Pastor Erik, Karen Thomton, Roman Spandrio,
Jessica Guzman and Tracie Fickenscher
$
Learnings recommendation for the Children’s Ministry Position
After a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of rehiring this
position as well as discussions about salary and hours, the Learning Committee
has decided to recommend rehiring the Children’s Ministry Coordinator
position. It was acknowledged that the
Children’s Ministry Coordinator position might need to be reformulated and
education to other church members about what the position actual does may be required. It was felt that since it was already
budgeted for 20 hours a week, Learning would like to see it continue at 20
hours a week. Learning would very much
like to see this position filled by early July 2008 so the new person could
participate in our VBS program. We also
acknowledge that the Fun With Faith program will be undergoing some changes and
this could change the job description of the Children’s Ministry
Coordinator. Learning would like to
review the job description after council’s approval to rehire.
$
Nursery
Before her leaving, Renae hired a full time nursery worker. The second person in the nursery will have a
rotating schedule of existing helpers.
Jessica agreed to take on the scheduling of the nursery workers. She also felt she could find someone to do
the shopping for the nursery snacks and supplies.
$
Sunday School
Linette Angelastro has agreed to take over as Sunday school
coordinator. Linette will be
unavailable on Mother=s Day and sent an
email out to find a replacement for her.
No one has yet to step forward, so Learning has decided to cancel Aformal@ Sunday school for
that one day. As an alternative and to
encourage families to go to church, it was decided that we would be requesting
Sunday School kids to attend church to help hand out a special surprise for the
mothers that are attending. We hope
this will prevent people from feeling like it is a day off from church.
$
Fun With Faith
Attendance for this program is still down with only 4 attending the
last meeting. Tracie has agreed to coordinate
the last 3 meetings. Learning feels
that next year we will need to look at alternative ways to run this
program. Currently, monthly family
nights or events as well as evening programs are being considered. It was suggested that the focus remain on
the kids so they will continue to form Christian relationships as they enter
Confirmation and High School, but perhaps offering something for the parents at
the same time may help to form bonds among the parents as well.
$
High School Youth Report
Youth Rep. Report
The high school youth is really looking forward to the 2009 summer
youth gathering in New Orleans, and it is time to start thinking about
fundraisers to cover the costs for this trip.
The high-schoolers liked the idea of having the church youth band put on
a concert for a source of funding.
Perhaps selling Ayouth based@ Mt. Cross T-shirts and
CD’s would be a way to include the entire youth group in the fund raising.
High school would also like more social time together. (e.g. getting together to play Ultimate
Frisbee, etc.). They love the Coffee
House on Saturday nights and would like to get together more often like
that. They also like the Coffee Sundays
and working in the church services and would like to see more activities like
that as well. We feel we have a strong
bond and would love to find ways to make it even stronger.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Fickenscher
$
High School/Confirmation
Pastor Erik reported that both High School and Confirmation are doing
well.
$
Library
Ways to get the library out on a more regular basis was
discussed. No one has stepped up to be
the library coordinator, so Learning has decided to make the library less
formal. When members arrive at church
and see that the library is not out they will take it upon themselves to pull
it out. Who ever pulls it out will then
be responsible to make sure that it gets put away. Checking out of materials will also be less formal. Tracie will make a sign out/sign in sheet
for people Acheck things out.@ The library will basically be run on an
honor system. Learning figures it is
better to make the library available to those who wish to use it than to worry
about things being in perfect order.
$
Adult Ed
It was acknowledged that the woman=s bible study was again a huge success. Learning is hoping these studies will continue. Roman brought up the need for a men=s bible study and the committee agreed there was a strong need. Possible ideas to make this happen are family nights and small men’s group bible studies. It wa