Date: Sunday, April 15, 2018
Governance Update
A smaller Board is currently focusing on visioning, delegation to staff, monitoring and oversight for Foothills. The Board committees (Finance, Personnel, Governance, Nominating, and Space) advise and support Board work. Additionally, the Leadership Development Team has worked with nominating committee to develop exceptional slate of candidates to bring to the congregation at the Annual Meeting on June 4.
Nominating Committee Update
The Nominating Committee has developed a new process for seeking out potential candidates. Through conversations with the Board, the committee acquires job descriptions and skills needed for each position. Then, the Leadership Development Team provides a list of qualified and willing candidates to the nominating committee along with a smaller list of elected positions. To date, all positions have been identified for the slate and will be announced in the packet before the annual meeting.
Board Visioning and Engagement Update
The Board has compiled responses from the Future-Oriented Questions and established priorities for the coming year. The Visioning Committee is also working with a consultant to set plans in motion for long-term visioning.
The Engagement Committee held three sessions for listening and discussion sessions for general questions and one additional session focused on Marc’s decision regarding non-participation at Foothills. The majority of concerns brought to the Board included:
○ What are we going to do about space? How can we improve conditions at RE building?
○ How are we working to be inclusive of those with different viewpoints?
○ Is there potential to hire a third minister?
○ What is the status of hiring for music director and church administrator?
Space Committee Update
The hired programming consultant has completed six meetings with staff and congregants to gather input regarding existing space and future space needs. The Space Committee has been in contact with other Colorado churches involved in renovation process (Denver, Jefferson, Lafayette). A group of staff and congregants visited First Universalist in Denver for inspiration and ideas. Updates from the Space Committee can be found on the bulletin board in the Social Hall. The committee is moving into more volunteer-intensive phase of operations: start thinking about how you want to be involved!
Coming soon from the Space Committee:
- Presentation of programming report conclusions at Annual Meeting
- Fun challenges for brave souls interested in exploring alternative transportation options for Sunday services
- Opportunities to get involved
○ Communications and engagement subcommittee
Ministry Updates
Our Top Ten Sunday Worship Attendance Dates have all totaled over 400 participants across the three services. On February 4, 600 people gathered at CSU for the All-Church Celebration. On lower attendance Sundays, online participation spikes. For example, in the last snowstorm, 20% of our attendance was online.
As of March, we have had 602 unique participants in non-Sunday worship activities. This would include volunteers and class check-ins. It does not include ministry teams or small groups. We currently have 140 people involved in Gather Groups (our major small group ministry initiative). When you add in the participants in other sorts of small groups, 21% of our church is currently active in small groups.
Total donations to community partners through Share the Plate through February 2018 were $32,310 and another $8,000 was donated to Faith Family Hospitality at the Auction and another $3,500 to Homeless Gear through the Rummage Sale.
Regarding staffing, we are still in the midst of our music visioning process. The Administrator transition is also still underway. Our Financial / Operations Consultant – Patrick Murphy is re-designing administration staffing and processes, Kathryn has been promoted to Office Manager, and we are transitioning to a payroll contractor. Looking ahead to coming church year, we are looking into part-time ministry staffing focused on pastoral care and older adult support and programming.
Stewardship Campaign
For more information on the church budget, please attend the Budget Presentation on May 3, 2018 from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.