Tag Archives: AA meetings

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

June Board Minutes

FRLC Board Minutes

June 8, 2017

 

Present: Kirk, Arthur, Joel, Ed, Tom, Bohdan, Melanie

Everyone checked in. The meeting opened with prayer.

The treasurers report was approved. The balance is $1301.36

The minutes from the wrong year were sent by email. The correct minutes will be sent.

Publicity Director’s Report: 2018 retreat: Hazelden decided not to be a cosponsor, although several people on their staff are very enthusiastic about it. Eyglo continues to work with Ed on the planning. Anne Wilson Schaef is interested in being a keynote speaker.

Old Business:

Board roster: Melanie still needs mailing addresses for Joel and Roger to complete it.  Joel sent an email with his information.

ELCA Rostered Leaders Gathering in Atlanta: Dave Connors took the initiative to request that the FRLC be one of the “affinity groups” at this meeting. Last month, Ed and Melanie authorized him to proceed with this and today’s group concurred. We discussed resources he might need: FRLC brochures, copies of our book, information about the 2018 retreat. We have copies of the book on hand and can provide retreat information. Melanie will follow up with Dave, encouraging him to contact Ed for those supplies. Tom offered to make a donation to cover the cost of the books.

PayPal button on website: Brian was going to research it. We will come back to this when Brian is on a call.

2018 Retreat: What is needed from the board is to get the publicity out to your synods, networks, and on social media once it is ready to go. Tom suggested getting the publicity to Minnesota Recovery Connection. We need to find another sponsor/partner in place of Hazelden. Ed has a feeler out to Caron, which is like Hazelden on the East Coast. It would be good to have a treatment center as a sponsor. We don’t have a confirmation on William Moyers’ participation yet. Thrivent was suggested as a possible partner. We haven’t gotten a commitment from Minneapolis/St Paul Synods yet. We don’t think that will be a problem but Ed would like to have another major sponsor lined up before asking them. The local planning team is meeting tomorrow. There is a good team of local folks working with Ed, who is doing a great job at keeping it moving. The dates are April 13-15, 2018 and it is at the DoubleTree Inn in Bloomington, MN.

New Business: It was suggested that we resend the 7th tradition format to the people who chair the Thursday meetings. Melanie will send it with a reminder when she does the next meeting schedule.

The next meeting will be July 12 at the usual time, due to conflicts on the regular date.

It Works if You Work it!

One of the pitfalls to being in a “helping profession” is my tendency to neglect my own needs. Someone once told me people in helping professions go into those professions precisely because they need the help themselves. And rather than getting the help they so desperately need, they end up helping others, thinking this will satisfy their needs.  Perhaps ministers go into the ministry because it is they who need to hear the gospel so much.  In any case, as a recovering person and as a minister, I need to remember that unless I meet my own needs I cannot meet anyone else’s. As Jesus said, “Take the log out of your own eye first.”  My recovery has to come first before I can be of any use to anyone else. This means my meetings must be a priority, the steps need to be my daily habit.

People say it is a selfish program and there is much truth to that. By being selfish about my recovery, by addressing my issues first, I am in a better position to serve others. By putting my recovery first, I am putting others first.

Brother Lawrence, a monastic from the 17th century made this observation once: “It was lamentable to see how many people mistook the means for the end, addicting themselves to certain works, which they performed very imperfectly, by reason of their human or selfish regards.”  Brother Lawrence was talking about how in the name of feeding others we begin to imagine we are being fed by our actions – we become so preoccupied with forming committees, serving on boards and dealing with crises we start to see ourselves as principal actors instead of people who need to be acted upon (works, righteousness, idolatry).

My meetings feed me and keep me humble. Working the steps keeps me growing in communion with God.

They have a wonderful saying at the end of my regular meeting. Usually, after the Lord’s prayer you hear, “Keep coming back, it works if you work it.” At my home group they add this line: “Keep coming back, it works if you work it, and it sucks if you don’t.”

Ain’t that the truth!

Ed T., Editor