Category Archives: Minutes

November 2018 Board Minutes

FRLC Board Meeting Minutes

Thursday, November 1, 2018

12:00 pm MDT/1:00 pm CDT/11:00 am PDT/2:00 pm EDT

 

Present: Bohdan, Beth, Tom, Melanie. Ed, Roger, Tom & Melanie were on a pre-meeting call as Ed had an opportunity to speak at a college class at St. Cloud on Addiction Ministry. Melanie took notes and shared it as Ed’s report below.

 

Check-in and opening prayer:  Melanie opened in prayer.

 

Minutes: The minutes from September were received.

 

Treasurer’s Report: Beth resigned from the position. Funds have been transferred from the Conference account to the FRLC general fund as authorized at the FRLC Annual Meeting. Automatic payments were set up for Ed’s stipend during Beth’s tenure as treasurer. Moved, seconded and passed to Authorize Ed to seek a member of the local Addiction & Faith Conference planning committee to serve as treasurer for both accounts. The FRLC has had non-members as treasurer before.

 

Coordinator’s Report: We continue to get positive feedback on the Addiction and Faith Conference, including reports from health care professionals that they found it to be very helpful.

 

Plans are beginning to be made for next year, including hotel arrangements and date.

Grant funding is being sought to expand the Conference on a nationwide basis, offering Addiction and Faith Conferences in various locations around the country.

 

There was discussing about the FRLC giving a significant gift from Conference proceeds to thank Transfiguration Lutheran Church for supporting Ed’s work on the Conference. Beth wrote the resolution which passed unanimously. The resolution and funds were given to Transfiguration.

 

There was discussion on speakers for the next Conference.

 

We need to identify a local agent in Illinois. Ed will check with Bishop Patricia Lull regarding the best way to proceed with this.

 

New business: Should we have an FRLC retreat focused on caring for one another and spiritual nurture apart from the Conference? The retreat associated with the Conference was mostly work we needed to do in order to host the conference. Please think about this and be prepared to discuss it at our next meeting.

 

Tom closed the meeting with prayer.

 

Next regular Board meeting: Thursday, December 6.

12:00 pm MST/1:00 pm CST/11:00 am PST/2:00 pm EST

Call in number: 605-475-6333, Access code: 53120#

September 2018 FRLC Board Minutes

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Seven members were present. Check-in and opening prayer were held.

 Minutes: The minutes from July and August were received.

 

Treasurer’s Report: We had the ordinary expenses and income. The current balance is $235.83, which is less than the $300 monthly stipend. There are a number of changes happening.  The account at Wells Fargo has been closed and the funds moved to the Star Credit Union. Brian would like to transition out of his role as treasurer. He has served in that capacity for ten years. He is willing to remain on the board. He is willing to be flexible so there can be a smooth transition. Bohdan expressed appreciation for his service and the board expressed thanks for his faithful work, including writing the annual appeal letters. The Board needs to discuss maintaining our general account and ways to manage it. There has been discussion of taking an offering for the FRLC general fund at the closing of the Conference. Brian will participate in the FRLC Annual Meeting in person or by phone. The meeting is scheduled for 1:00 pm Sunday, September 30, following the Conference. There will be opportunity to elect new treasurer at that point and have a smooth handoff.

 

Coordinator’s Report: The FRLC is doing what it normally does. We have more members attending the conference than we’ve had at a retreat in a long time. About twenty FRLC members are registered. Ed noted that we have been low on funds before and that people have responded when we share the need. We haven’t asked for funds for the Fellowship in a while as the focus has been on undergirding the Conference. The Conference is raising our profile in the church relative to where we’ve been before.

 

The Conference is snow-balling. It’s a lot of work and we have a lot of great people stepping up to it. Others are taking care of the details Ed would never have thought of. God is watching over us! Our registrations are nearly full–we have capacity for 200. There are only 5 or 6 spots left. The rooms reserved for the Conference are all taken. We have over 135 room nights booked and have more than fulfilled our hotel contract, which obligated us to pay for unsold rooms if we did not meet the minimum. The speakers have all been contacted and are all confirmed. It looks like we will break even and maybe even come out a little bit ahead financially. The FRLC retreat will begin Thursday, tentative plans for dinner at 5:30 pm. Roger and Melanie have developed a draft schedule for the retreat which will be sent out be email once it is finalized. They had some questions, which Ed will respond to soon.

 

There will be a work party at Transfiguration all day Thursday before the Conference preparing materials for the participants.  All are welcome—Ed offered to provide rides (or arrange for them) from the airport as needed. There is an online app called “Sched” for conference information, which can be downloaded now. An email went out to people who are registered for the Conference but it is easy to miss in the inbox. Ed is still working on it and will send it out a few more times before the Conference. It would be helpful for us to try it out and give Ed feedback.

 

He is developing a list of people who will be there to volunteer at the Conference. He will assign tasks to people who are attending, and then answer questions when we arrive. People can trade tasks at that time if necessary.

 

Prayers are requested for Ed in these final weeks of preparing for the Conference.

 

If anyone wants to go off the board, it would be helpful to know between now and the Conference so we could be prepared for elections at the Annual Meeting.

 

Tom closed the meeting with prayer.

 

We will discuss our next meeting date at the Annual Meeting. It will likely be in November.

 

 

FRLC Board Meeting Minutes Thursday, July 5, 2018

Check In & Prayer: Brian, Bohdan, Melanie, Tom, Ed called in later. Melanie opened with prayer.

 

Minutes from the May Meeting were approved as submitted.

 

Treasurer’s report: Account totals and detail will be coming by email. Our checking account balance today is $1,192.12. No extraordinary income or expenses. He caught up on the stipend for Coordinator with double payment this month.

He received a letter from Wells Fargo requesting additional documentation of non-profit status, needed within 30 days. Some of the requests are of documents we are not familiar with. Brian and Ed recommend closing this account and opening an account at the credit union we are using for the Conference. Brian is considering resigning as treasurer and has agreed to serve through the Annual Meeting this fall. Brian will pursue this with Ed with the support of the Executive Committee (officers).

 

Addiction and Faith Conference: Melanie shared some information from the minutes of the Addiction and Faith Conference planning meeting and Ed called in midstream. The current anticipated financial shortfall is about $10,000 but we have a grant application with the Minneapolis Synod which may cover it plus a new connection with a professional fundraiser (who is in recovery) who had ideas on monetizing the event and anticipate being able to cover that. Any money over expenses will be used for future events. We have over 100 registrations at present and 13 more on the way, have an ad in the latest Living Lutheran and are adjusting plans to prepare for up to 200 people attending the event.  We’ve been asked about having tickets for individual sessions of the conference, such as Nadia’s talk. We have been declining those requests as we need the funding from full ticket “sales” to pay for expenses. If we don’t sell out, we may consider opening it up to take registrations for individual sessions. We are also considering selling access to view sessions by streaming. Ed is looking into what would be needed to videotape the talks to develop a resource for addiction ministry in the ELCA. God is looking out for us –we have a great planning team and various resource people are appearing as needed.

 

FRLC meeting schedule at the Conference: The FRLC specific events begin with dinner Thursday, followed by a Conference update and 12 step meeting Thursday evening. Friday morning would have details on the Conference and training for volunteering at Conference.  There may be a couple hours of free time until registration starts, then we would be involved in the Conference. The Conference concludes with worship at noon Sunday, the Fellowship will meet to debrief, vision the future and hold the Annual Meeting Sunday afternoon and evening. We may meet Monday morning but will be done by noon for sure. Melanie mentioned that Luther Seminary will be holding a workshop on “The Craft of Preaching” through Working Preacher which begins at 1:00 pm Monday and runs through Wednesday. This would be an opportunity for a second continuing education event on the same plane ticket. Melanie will write up an article and Ed will send it out by enews.

 

Visioning: Ed has requested the board think about the future of the FRLC and the Conference.  There are conversations about doing another Conference next year and also about working to be a resource for Recovery Ministry for the ELCA. Ed will be asking the fundraiser about the possibility of raising additional funding to support a person to be paid do this work, either in conjunction with Ed’s present ministry if the congregation decides to realign their staffing or to seek another call that would allow him to do it. Ed will bring a specific proposal on this as it develops. Those on the call are supportive of these ideas.

 

Tom closed the meeting in prayer.

 

Next meeting date: Thursday August 9, 12:00 pm MDT/1:00 pm CDT/11:00 pm PDT/2:00 pm EDT. This is the second Thursday of the month and was changed to allow our Coordinator to participate.

 

 

 

 

 

FRLC Board Minutes Thursday, May 24, 2018

Check In & Prayer: Anonymous, Arthur, Bohdan, Ed, Melanie, Brian were present. Anonymous opened with prayer.

Minutes from the January Meeting were approved.

Treasurer’s report:  Detail will be sent by email. Balance is roughly $2300 in checking account. The bills are paid, no extraordinary expenses. Newsletter bill is paid. Question about how to handle the retreat account.

Coordinator’s report: The Conference planning committee has been very active. There is a committee member who is a CPA and is in recovery who volunteered to handle conference finances. They opened an account at a bank near Ed’s church under the auspices of the FRLC, using the FRLC EIN number. Ed and Arthur are the signers on the account, although Ed cannot write checks to himself. The CPA is overseeing it and will assist in the tax reporting. It was moved to approve this arrangement for the conference and for Brian to close the additional account he began for this purpose. Brian will send the money designated for the conference to Ed to deposit in this account. The recent mailing was for the conference and was paid for out of the general funds. Brian will take that amount out of the conference donations and send the balance to Ed to be deposited in the conference account. Past retreats have been funded by participants, so it makes sense to keep these funds separate. The motion was approved.

We have about $20,000 on hand for the conference so far. There was a mailing to the FRLC to come a day early, stay a day late and help facilitate the conference, also encouragement to give financial support to the conference.  We received a gift from a church for $500 to help sponsor the conference almost immediately. Roger is making personal calls to about 40 FRLC members to follow up on the letter.

We spent $10,000 on promotion, including a full page ad in the Phoenix Spirit https://thephoenixspirit.com/  for June/July, a two month contract with Living Lutheran (July & August) for half page ads and possibly an article to go with them, and an e-blast to the Christian Century email list that went out today. The Minneapolis area Synod is working with Ed on an article, Ed and Gretchen E. are working on an article for Caring Connections, targeting Lutheran Chaplains and others. We wrote grant applications to Thrivent ($5,000) and Minneapolis Synod for $20,000. Ed has filmed two promotional videos which are being shared on FaceBook and other places. The planning committee has been attending many church and recovery events giving presentations and hosting display tables.

We have received a grant for 10 scholarships, primarily for parish nurses, and are working on guidelines for the scholarships. We are encouraging people to ask their church to help sponsor them also.

There is a volunteer working with the conference FaceBook page, and another volunteer working with the hotel and utilization of space. We have over 40 registrations at present. It is amazing, exciting, and we are really feeling the Spirit!

The article in the Living Lutheran on the opioid crisis was noted.

When we get together in the fall, come with ideas on next steps for the FRLC. Is it a new direction or a one-time thing? Please start thinking about our vision for the Fellowship. Could this become an annual event? Is that too much? Do we want to think about doing it regionally? Do we want to approach the ELCA about a position to develop recovery ministry in the ELCA?

Arthur shared his experience promoting the conference at his church. Their Addictions Awareness team advocated for it and the congregation voted to fund some scholarships. It was interested to hear the discussion and to have regular church members discuss it and promote it. Lay people in recovery will give us a much broader reach. This experience could be replicated in other churches—encourage churches to send a couple lay leaders as well as the pastor. A team can have a much larger impact. He suggested a “how to promote this in your congregation” link on our website. We are figuring it out as we go.

Ed will send a detailed list of grants and contributions to the board along with our “break even” number (the number of registrations needed to pay our expenses).

We are appreciative of the good work Ed, Arthur and the planning committee are doing. 

Old Business: September retreat: see above.

New Business:  Next meeting date: Thursday July 5, 12:00 pm MDT/1:00 pm CDT/11:00 pm PDT/2:00 pm EDT

FRLC Board Minutes Jan. 2018

FRLC Board Meeting Minutes

Thursday, January 11, 2018

12:00 pm MDT/1 pm CDT/11:00 am PDT/2:00 pm EDT

 

            Check In & Prayer: Ed, Arthur, K., Melanie, Brian were present. Arthur opened with prayer.

Minutes The minutes of the December meeting were approved.

Treasurer’s report: was received by email. We had some nice donations at the end of the year and are in a much better place financially, with a balance of $  2467.29. God is blessing us richly! Brian will have a year-end report next month. Ed has another $300 to send, including a personal check from a bishop.

Coordinator’s report: Ed has been doing the routine items, mostly responding to correspondence. There was a recent retreat planning meeting that was not well attended. He will be working to pull it back together. He meets with Meredith next week and has a list to work on with her.  He is asking for approval to go live and enter the promotional stage. They are taking Lori Swanson off the conference schedule as she did not respond to the email about the new date. Ed will let her know. The two local bishops will send representatives as our date conflicts with the Conference of Bishops meeting. We are thinking of acknowledging the presence of these representatives but not calling on them to speak. Bishop Lull said “every bishop will want to send someone” and will promote it with the bishops. Ed will be laying out a promotional plan with Meredith. We received $4,600 where were memorial gifts designated to conference, so we have some seed money. There is a graphic artist who is willing to design materials for the event. Everyone on the board will need to register and bring others. Ed is going to challenge us and remind us as a part of the promotional plan. Ed will follow up on the PayPal button for the website. The conference website has a place for people to offer scholarships to help others attend. We could approach congregations regarding providing scholarship money as well. There is a group of spiritual directors from Loyola which Ed’s wife is a part of. They have committed to offer spiritual direction at the conference at no charge to participants. The group is excited to do this!

Our grant writing partner sent information about a national webinar. Drew Brooks, the director of  Faith Partners is one of the presenters. One of our former board members, Al Dungan, was active with this group. Drew met with Ed about the conference and is excited about it. Faith Partners is a possible cosponsor and Drew will be a panelist at one of the workshops. Met with Ed and really excited about it.

Old Business: Melanie sent the grant proposal regarding funding the conference to the Deaconess Community. She will sent a copy to the board. We are asking for $20,000, the full amount of grant support that Ed budgeted for. The Deaconess Community will inform us if we are invited to submit a full proposal by the end of the month.

New Business: Neither Ed nor Bohdan will be here on the scheduled date of the next meeting. We will meet on Thursday, February 15 instead.

Next meeting Thursday February 15, 2018 following the recovery meeting 11:00 am PDT/12:00 pm MDT/1 pm CDT/2:00 pm EDT 12:00 pm

 

FRLC Board Meeting Thursday, December 7, 2016

            Check In & Prayer: Seven board members were present. We shared, celebrated and prayed.

Minutes from the November Meeting: approved as written.

 

Treasurer’s report: We had a good response to the appeal. Donations of $1499.11 came in, giving us a balance of $2012.29. $500 of that is for the Conference. The treasurer will break out the Conference funding in his report in the future. The coordinator has another $700 in donations to the Fellowship to forward to the treasurer.

Paypal button: The information needed to open the account was sent to our original webmaster, but last month we decided to forward the information to the person we are working with on the Conference website. The coordinator and original webmaster both got locked out of the FRLC website. They suspect the website got moved somehow although that is not supposed to be possible. The coordinator entered the site and updated a few things using the secretary’s username and password. He has a list of things to work on with the Conference website developer and will follow up on the PayPal button with her.

 

            Coordinator’s report: He receives the donations and forwards them to the treasurer, who deposits and records the gifts and sends out the thank you notes. We had a good turnout at the recovery meeting today. Everyone was asked to preview the Conference website: www.addictionandfaithconference.com/ There are still a couple typos to fix before it “goes live”, but the consensus is that it looks good. We have not confirmed Lori Swanson at this time, so she may not be on the program. He is waiting for that to be sorted out before going forward with the website. Neither synodical bishops will be able to attend as our conference conflicts with the Conference of Bishops meeting. They have offered to send staff to bring greetings, but the coordinator wondered about having interfaith greetings instead. Transfiguration Lutheran Church has a couple thousand dollars in their budget to support recovery ministries which will be designated to the Conference this year. A board member did a funeral for an overdose victim and the family designated the memorial gifts of $3600 to go to it also. We need a major sponsor of about $10,000 to help promote the event and allow us to conclude without major debt. We could use help from any board member who would like to work on obtaining sponsors. We are still talking with Hazelden; Fairview said they’d help some, Bishop Lull said she will approach some potential donors, and the secretary is writing a proposal for funding from the ELCA Deaconesses. The coordinator has a description of the Conference with a list of items a donor could sponsor which he will send to anyone who would like to help. They could also sponsor a vendor table. Another board member will contact a few people and find out where they get their funding and see if there are any avenues there we could pursue.

                       

Old Business: Covered in reports.

 

New Business:

It was moved, seconded and passed to move the board meeting to after the recovery meeting on the first Thursday of the month. It was more convenient for most people and we had a better attendance at both the recovery meeting and the board meeting. The motion passed.

We closed the meeting in prayer.

 

Next meeting: Thursday January 4, 2018 following the recovery meeting 11:00 am PDT/12:00 pm MDT/1 pm CDT/2:00 pm EDT 12:00 pm

November Board Minutes

FRLC Board Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

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

 

            Check In & Prayer: Brian, Bohdan, Ed, Kirk, Tom, & Melanie were present. Tom opened in prayer.

 

Minutes from the September meeting were approved.

 

Treasurer’s report There is $647.68 left in our account, which is about two month’s operating expenses. The detailed report will be sent by email. The expenses for the Rostered Leader Gathering have been paid. Information was sent to set up the PayPal account but it has not been confirmed. The website has been turned over to the person working on the retreat and it may have gotten lost in the transition. Ed will send us information when the transition to the new website is completed.

 

            Coordinator’s report We need a financial appeal and newsletter. T. moved, K. seconded that we send an appeal in a newsletter. It will reduce our balance to one month’s expenses in reserve, but without it there is little chance of improvement. It would help if the board all became sustaining members, giving monthly. The appeal letter will ask for a monthly commitment. A question was asked if an email appeal would accomplish this purpose for less money. The e-blasts reach a small percent of the membership and have not been nearly as effective. An e-blast went out recently and was received by several people. The motion passed. The treasurer will draft an appeal letter.

            The coodinator was contacted by an LCMS spouse asking for support. She found us through the website. John W. (who says hi) has followed up with her. We continue to relevant and needed.

           

Old Business:

Lay Fellowship retreat: The local planning group has been working with the new person on website and clarifying the focus. The new date is finalized, September 28-30, 2018. Rooms will be $5/night more. All speakers are confirmed with the new dates. This gives us more time to prepare and do it well. We need 100 participants minimum to break even. Both the Minneapolis and St. Paul Synod staff think this is doable.

There is a member of the planning group researching grant possibilities and Melanie’s grant writing contact agreed to assist us. Ed and Melanie will discuss how this might work later. We need to go out and start recruiting sponsors.

Our marketing person asked when we want registrations to open and close. We are looking for more information on common practices. Possibly six to nine months in advance? As soon as everything is lined up? It was suggested that we need to have funding in place, to get half of our estimated costs, $20,000-25,000, to pay for marketing and advance expenses. The time is right for this conference—there is a lot of positive interest.

 

Kirk closed us in prayer.

 

Next meeting: November 1, 2017 2:00 pm MDT/2 pm CDT/1:00 pm PDT/3:00 pm EDT 12:00 pm

 

 

 

 

October 2017 Board Minutes

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

            Check In & Prayer: Brian, Bohdan, Ed, Kirk, Tom, & Melanie were present. Tom opened in prayer.

Minutes from the September meeting were approved.

Treasurer’s report There is $647.68 left in our account, which is about two month’s operating expenses. The detailed report will be sent by email. The expenses for the Rostered Leader Gathering have been paid. Information was sent to set up the PayPal account but it has not been confirmed. The website has been turned over to the person working on the retreat and it may have gotten lost in the transition. Ed will send us information when the transition to the new website is completed.

            Coordinator’s report We need a financial appeal and newsletter. Tom moved, Kirk seconded that we send an appeal in a newsletter. It will reduce our balance to one month’s expenses in reserve, but without it there is little chance of improvement. It would help if the board all became sustaining members, giving monthly. The appeal letter will ask for a monthly commitment. A question was asked if an email appeal would accomplish this purpose for less money. The e-blasts reach a small percent of the membership and have not been nearly as effective. An e-blast went out recently and was received by several people. The motion passed. The treasurer will draft an appeal letter.

            The coodinator was contacted by an LCMS spouse asking for support. She found us through the website. John W. (who says hi) has followed up with her. We continue to relevant and needed. 

Old Business:

Conference planning: The local planning group has been working with the new person on website and clarifying the focus. The new date is finalized, September 28-30, 2018. Rooms will be $5/night more. All speakers are confirmed with the new dates. This gives us more time to prepare and do it well. We need 100 participants minimum to break even. Both the Minneapolis and St. Paul Synod staff think this is doable.

There is a member of the planning group researching grant possibilities and Melanie’s grant writing contact agreed to assist us. Ed and Melanie will discuss how this might work later. We need to go out and start recruiting sponsors.

Our marketing person asked when we want registrations to open and close. We are looking for more information on common practices. Possibly six to nine months in advance? As soon as everything is lined up? It was suggested that we need to have funding in place, to get half of our estimated costs, $20,000-25,000, to pay for marketing and advance expenses. The time is right for this conference—there is a lot of positive interest.

 

Kirk closed us in prayer.

 

Next meeting: November 1, 2017 2:00 pm MDT/2 pm CDT/1:00 pm PDT/3:00 pm EDT 12:00 pm

 

 

 

 

August Board Minutes

FRLC Board Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

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

 

            Check In & Prayer Melanie, Arthur, Kirk, Ed

            Approval of Minutes from July Meeting approved

Treasurer’s report: received by email. Current balance is $1166.33.

            Coordinator’s report: He is putting together a packet to send to Dave to take to the Rostered Leaders Gathering with ten books and “here’s what we have so far” information about the retreat. Everything isn’t confirmed yet but at least people can know that it is coming.

Mostly he has been working on the plans for the conference. He is negotiating the contract with the hotel to reduce our exposure, trying to get it as low as possible. The hotel said it is easier to add numbers and services than subtract them. There will be less meals included in the registration, although we would need to have Friday dinner and Saturday lunch included since the keynote speakers are scheduled to present at those meals.

The Minneapolis and St. Paul Synods have agreed to be sponsors. Both bishops will speak at the event. Fairview Health Services of Minnesota has agreed to be a cosponsor. They are an interfaith organization and asked if it was strictly a Lutheran event. Our keynote speakers include a Lutheran, a Christian of unknown denominational affiliation and a Muslim and the disease is not limited to Lutherans by any means so he said it is not strictly Lutheran. This expands our potential reach. The Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is putting out a white paper on addiction, so we are inviting her to speak also.

The board was invited to look at the website and give feedback. It is www.addictionandfaith2018.org While it is a work in progress it looks really good! Ed has had to make some decisions and set the early bird registration price for $288. Hotel costs will be in addition to registration. They will be about $95/night and you can have as many people in a room as you want for that price. There were several questions: would there be a price without meals? We don’t know yet but since the keynote speakers are at the meals it seems unlikely. An option for clergy that don’t want to miss Sunday morning? They could just take in the keynote speakers. The registration is not operational yet. Ed will let us know when it is ready.

There will be a barrage of publicity when it is all ready, including the ELCA pages on FaceBook, e-blasts and a newsletter.

There will be a retreat for the FRLC before and after the main event. There will be separate publicity for this part. It will begin Thursday night with welcome, dinner out and a 12 step meeting. On Friday, there will be breakfast together then we will go over retreat assignments, have some free time, then begin work at the Conference. We will be looking for people to do tasks like registration, ushering, and so forth. The FRLC event will continue Sunday following some free time. We will debrief the conference, have the annual business meeting and begin planning our next steps. Recovering clergy who are willing to do this will have a significant registration discount for the conference, possibly $200. And pastors who don’t want to do this are certainly welcome to pay the full price and attend the conference.

 

Old Business:

Lay Fellowship retreat and newsletter were covered in the above discussion.

PayPal button on website: Kirk will follow up and see if the treasurer would like his assistance.

 

New Business:

ELCA Rostered Leaders Gathering Affinity Group: there was discussion and no decision on how to pay the $245 registration fee for Dave.

 

Next meeting: September 6, 2017 2:00 pm MDT/2 pm CDT/1:00 pm PDT/3:00 pm EDT 12:00 pm