The following items were discussed at the Session Meeting held on February 15 2015:
· The Session meeting began with a conversation with Norris Watkins.
A Norris is the newest member of our congregation. Please give him a warm welcome.
· There was continued discussion of the organizational structure of New Hope church.
The Session's goal should be to have the congregation ready for the new pastor.
There are 4 basic needs of the church; Worship, Nurture, Fellowship, Mission
Buildings & Grounds should be added to this.
This gives us five basic committees.
Committees may need to create subcommittees as tasks grow.
Stewardship and personnel issues should be handled by the Session as a whole.
We need to broaden congregational involvement.
We need to stimulate imagination instead of always doing the same things the same ways.
Session put this on the agenda next month for action.
· Session heard a report on preparations for the upcoming anniversary.
This should be an exciting event in the life of the church,
· The Session voted to have the communion served at the Maundy Thursday service take the place of Easter Sunday communion.
· Gerai Kocher was designated as our delegate to the Presbytery meeting on March 7. 2015 at Northside Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga.
Marilyn Suber will be our alternate.
Dorothy Parks-Piatt will be seeking Presbytery approval to continue in her pursuit of the ministry. Anyone wishing to support Dorothy is urged to attend.
· The Pastor Nominating Committee presented the Ministry Information Form to the Session for approval.
There was a discussion of various items in the form and questions about the process.
The Session voted to approve the MIF and send it to the Committee On Ministries for their consideration on March 10th.
· The Buildings & Grounds committee reported two items.
We going to sell the current ice maker in the McMillan Building and replace it with a small, more appropriate model.
Rocks have been located for the rain garden. Once they are delivered, we will need to schedule a work day to place them.
· The Session approved the start of planning for the Vacation Bible School this summer.
· The treasurer submitted his report on our finances through the middle of February and made suggestions on how we might maximize our investments.
· Rev. Jump submitted a report on his activities for the past month.
The next Session meeting will be March 15th at 12:15 PM.
