Dear Friends,
It has been my custom during my interim work to report on the monthly council meeting in my E-Blast newsletters on the following Tuesday. Sunday’s council meeting was filled with lively discussions and important decisions.
There were two primary topics. First we discussed our Covid-19 protocols concerning worship and second, we heard updates on the call process.
Worship and our Covid-19 protocols
On Thursday of last week, we were all surprised when the CDC announced that people who are vaccinated are no longer under their recommended mandate to wear masks, either outdoors or indoors. There were a few exceptions regarding planes and trains. Businesses, places of work and churches can still require masks, but it appears that most will soon be following the CDC guidelines.
The CDC recommended that persons who are not yet vaccinated should, for their safety, continue to wear masks in public. I did not hear a CDC recommendation concerning persons who have had Covid-19, but are not vaccinated. Since they have a natural immunity due to their bout with Covid-19, they would probably be under the same guidelines as the vaccinated.
The council, after much discussion, decided to make the following changes.
1) From Memorial Day through Labor Day, Bethlehem will return to one service at 9 am. Our first Sunday with one service will be May 30.
2) The wearing of a mask during worship for those who are vaccinated will no longer be mandated, but is still recommended.
3) The wearing of a mask is required for those who are not vaccinated for their safety.
4) No one will be asked if they are vaccinated.
5) If you are not feeling well, running a fever, coughing, etc., we ask that you not worship on that day but instead worship with us on our Vimeo recorded service.
6) We will continue to enter through the Fellowship Hall. There will be no temperature checks. We do ask everyone to sign in and use sanitizer on their hands. This record is necessary if there is a need to do contact tracing.
7) There will no longer be a need to register prior to the service.
8) The sanctuary will be set up for 70 chairs. This should be sufficient seating for all Sundays during the summer period.
9) Holy Communion will continue as currently practiced.
After Labor Day, the council will review all Covid-19 protocols.
Call process Update
The council received an update on the call process from call committee chairperson, Jim Thompson, and from our synod liaison on Transition, Pastor Pat Reed. We were thrilled to have Pastor Pat also preach. She was ordained at Bethlehem 20 years ago this week.
Our search has narrowed to one candidate. In the coming weeks three meetings MAY take place with our pastoral candidate.
May 24 – The call committee will have their first in-person visit. Following this meeting, the call committee has three options: They may ask for additional in-person visits, they may agree to pass this candidate name to the council as their recommendation to call as pastor or they can say no to this candidate and thus start the interview process over with new candidates submitted by the synod.
May 25 – The council has set this date aside to visit with the candidate if the call committee approves at their May 24th meeting this person for call. If they do not make that decision, the council meeting would of course be canceled or postponed.
May 26 or later – If the council receives a recommendation for this candidate, and after meeting with the candidate, they also approve this person for call, then a team of two council members will meet with the candidate to negotiate a Compensation Package.
If all of these steps have been accomplished, the council will meet again to pass two resolutions for congregational approval at a specially called meeting of the congregation. The two resolutions are as follows:
– To officially call this candidate as our next pastor
– To approve the Compensation package.
How and when this congregational meeting takes place is to be determined by the council.
Everything you will need to know about this candidate will be shared with the congregation AFTER the council has approved these two resolutions.
The Compensation Package
There was much discussion on the Compensation Package. We discovered that our original Compensation Package, created in January and accepted by the congregation at our annual meeting, was neither competitive nor realistic. The synod was unable to give us any names of candidates for full time consideration. The compensation package, which includes Salary and Housing, a Portico Health Insurance plan, auto allowance, continuing education, etc., was below synod guidelines for all full time pastors except perhaps a single person coming out of seminary.
The synod transition team asked me if I would authorize a compensation package that was more in line with the kind of pastor we indicated that we wanted in our Mission Site Profile (MSP) and was within synod guidelines. Of course I agreed; there was no other option.
I suggested an amount to increase the package that I thought was still within our congregation’s capability to support and immediately four candidates surfaced. Out of these four, one candidate rose to the top of the list, the one that is now being considered.
In order to support the new compensation package that is being proposed, I advised the council that the congregation needed to do three things:
First, meet the annual budget that we did agree on. I believe that we will be able to do so with our current tithes and offerings.
Second, to be willing to use money that is available to use from our reserves. Much of the available reserves came from the sale of our orange grove property in 2019. Remember that this also allowed us to burn our mortgage. In the Grand Canyon Synod, we are one of only a few congregations that have no mortgage.
Third, I asked the council to authorize me to develop a Special Fund drive that will support our congregation’s mission and ministry during the next 18 months. Details on this Special Fund Drive will be announced in early June. It will take a few weeks for me to organize a special team to create and execute our plan.
I would like to conclude by saying how proud I am of both the call committee and council. Pastor Pat shared with us that our call committee is among the best that she is serving. The new congregational council is working as a team, creatively thinking, listening well to each other and acting faithfully. You have reason to be very proud of these servants.
Peace,
Pastor John
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Additional announcements:
May 23 rd – There will be two services, at 9 am and 10:30 am
May 30-Sept 5 – There will be ONE service at 9 am
