FRLC Board Meeting Minutes

Thursday, May 6, 2021

1:00 pm MST/2:00 pm CST/12:00 pm PST/3:00 pm EST

            Present: Bohdan, Michelle, Ed, Melanie, Tom

Check In & Prayer: All checked in. Tom opened in prayer.

The Minutes from 4/7/21 were approved (Michelle, Tom)

            Treasurer’s report On March 31st, the FRLC account balance was $1769.16. The current balance is $1364.17. Withdrawals in April: $600:  Pastor Ed cashed his March and April stipends early in April. Deposits in April: April 15: Melanie’s $50 check, April 19:  Network for Good check for $145.00 thanks to Melanie’s BD fundraiser.  A $60 check from Network for Good should arrive in May. The last donation to her fundraiser was in March.  The other donations were in Feb.

            Coordinator’s report: We are still waiting for Jane to find a grant opportunity to apply for.

Ed would like to change the format of the Thursday recovery meeting to include people from other denominations. Ed will rework it and send it to Melanie, who will distribute it to the chair persons. The meeting has been well attended since moving to Zoom, with participants from the Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian denominations. Melanie received 18 requests for the link to the meeting since Sunday! Perhaps we don’t need to vet them so carefully and can just block people if they turn out to be inappropriate. Melanie will think about this.

After the most recent webinar, Ed had five or so contacts from people in other denominations beginning recovery ministries. He is thinking of how to use the FRLC as a model, a mentioned in our Action Plan. Perhaps we could form a group with leadership from each denomination. Ed is very busy and is hoping for funding to come through so he has more assistance. There are a lot of transformative opportunities for the church now. We have had the vision a long time and finally have a moment where we can see it happening.

            When we have funding, a priority will be updating the FRLC website. It needs updating. There was discussion of who designed it and where we are now. Ed was going to migrate it to another platform but then the whole organization has been in transition. It will wait until we have funding and can hire someone to update it.

            There is interest in beginning another clergy meeting at a different time slot There is also interest in a lectionary study with a recovery hermeneutic. Perhaps we could recruit someone to organize it. We need to think about how to structure it so no one monopolizes the conversation.

            Addiction & Faith Conference: The Conference Planner Ed hired is amazed at the content. Clergy and church leaders were our target and were the main attendees the first year. The second year we had more therapists, psychologists, yoga teachers, treatment professionals and people looking for spirituality participate. Ed did a presentation for the Parish Nurses Association. They are interested in this work too. We are becoming known and developing credibility.  The Conference Planner will be identifying the volunteers who are needed and will be recruiting people to fill those roles.  The tasks will be similar to the past. Melanie is happy to have him do it.

            Ed continues to reflect on where to house this ministry. He is talking with the senior pastor of Karen’s church, a large church in a growing area, which may be one option. There are also advantages to be located in the center of the city.  He would like to follow up with Augsburg College also.

            Michelle closed in prayer.

Next meeting: Thursday, June 3

1:00 pm MST/2:00 pm CST/12:00 pm PST/3:00 pm EST