FRLC Board Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, May 17, 2016

2:00 pm MDT/3 pm CDT/1:00 pm PDT/4:00 pm EDT

 

            Present: Ed, Bohdan, Melanie

 

Check In & Prayer Bohdan led us in prayer.

 

Minutes from April Meeting Approved

 

Treasurer’s report  Tabled.

 

            Coordinator’s report: He’s had the standard communications. We haven’t done an e-news or newsletter recently and contributions are dropping off. It would be helpful to do one but he leaves on sabbatical tomorrow. They hired a man to develop a website for lay group, which they are now calling Conscious Contact. The weekly meeting has had a strong beginning, with eight regular participants. It has been a mix of recovery, spirituality, and Christian dialogue. The drum circle, which is relatively brief (20 minutes maximum) is catching people’s imagination. He is feeling good that it will continue in his absence. Half the people who are attending are in recovery and half are people looking for spirituality. As a result they are reconsidering the amount of recovery language in their readings. Some introduce themselves “My name is _____ and I just want to be here.” They purchased a domain name for the website: consciouscontact.support. It is not online yet. They are thinking carefully about the language to use so it is on hold until Ed gets back.

The Thursday meetings are going well.

                       

Old Business: none

 

 

New Business:

Denver Retreat Report: Three people attended although eight or nine expressed interested and were unable to come. The motel was on the lower end of the quality scale though convenient and affordable. We omitted the business meeting as we were all present or former board members. Appreciation was expressed for the discussion starters. We worked our way through most of the steps and attended one local meeting. The meeting space at St. Peters Lutheran Church was very helpful. Participants agreed that the strategy of meeting someplace warm in the winter is a good formula for planning future retreat.

Strategies for updating our database: It was suggested that we could work on it while Ed is gone, especially if there is no newsletter or e-blast going out. There was a discussion of how the mailing service and post office update addresses but when members list their church address those corrections don’t help. The coordinator sent the database to the board president and secretary. Both the ELCA and LCMS websites have a “find a person” capacity. It was suggested that we call the listed phone number and look the members up on the website if they are no longer at that church. Personal calls are meaningful although it can be frustrating when people don’t call back. One time when we tried this we had a “spiel” that we were all to use on the calls.

There are 217 people listed as being in recovery on the database. We tried having board members do this a few years ago and most didn’t make their assigned calls. We could ask. Ed suggested considering paying one of us to do this. We decided to try this summer and if it doesn’t work regroup. Bohdan will send an email asking other board members if they’d be willing to do this. They can always say no.

 

Plans for while Coordinator is gone: The board chair agreed to be the phone and email contact person while the coordinator is gone. The secretary will change the contact information on the website to him. Much of what he receives is written correspondence and checks. His colleague will review them and forward checks to the treasurer and the rest to the chair. The coordinator’s “out of the office” email response will include the correct contact information while he is gone. The coordinator will return August 21.

 

Board meetings over the summer: We decided to skip June since we are so late this month. Our next meeting will be on the first Wednesday in July.

 

Next meeting: July 6, 2016 2:00 pm MDT/2 pm CDT/1:00 pm PDT/3:00 pm EDT 12:00 pm