Tag Archives: Fellowship of Recovering

October 3, 2019 Board Minutes

FRLC Board Meeting Minutes

Thursday October 3, 2019

1:00 pm MDT/2:00 pm CDT/12:00 pm PDT/3:00 pm EDT

 

Present: Ed & Melanie at the beginning. Bohdan & Tom joined later.

 

The minutes and treasurer’s report were postponed to the next meeting.

 

Possible Next Event: One idea would be to explore having a joint cruise retreat with the RMEC. If we get a larger group we would be able to have better meeting rooms. Perhaps we could have a track for clergy in recovery and a track for laity/others. We could all worship together, hear a speaker and break into separate groups for discussion. Afternoons could be free and we could offer an additional opportunity for worship, a speaker and recovery meetings in the evening. Ed could be the event coordinator. He has gotten some preliminary information about possible cruises. Days “at sea” are more successful for meetings than days in port. Ed will send Melanie information about possible cruise schedules and she will come up with potential agendas based on them. Ed will bring the idea to the RMEC board.

 

FRLC Funds: Ed will write an appeal letter and get it out right away, including some of the great quotes from the Conference.

 

Addiction & Faith Conference: Many were inspired. A couple people expressed interest in being on the Addiction & Faith Ministry Board. Ed will be working on pulling the Board together. At the debrief we heard unmet needs from both groups. Perhaps the proposed cruise would address some of them. We want the new ministry to be sustainable and not depend on one or two people. Ed has great ideas on what to do but could use your wisdom and advice on how to get it done. This ministry is needed—it’s the right thing for the right reason.

 

The ELCA Professional Leaders Gathering in Phoenix next summer is an opportunity for some kind of FRLC event. We have been asked to have a table there, possibly lead a workshop and to lead 12 step meetings. FRLC members could help with all of those and we could find a time and place to meet. It is an opportunity to reach more people who need the Fellowship, although we need think carefully how to protect the anonymity of those who are attending. Melanie is willing to come and Tom might attend.

 

Timing: The RMEC retreats have typically in the fall. Do we want to shoot for something as soon as fall of 2020? It will depend on whether we have an Addiction & Faith Conference that year.

 

Chicago conference: one of the treatment centers who participated in the Conference wants to offer an Addiction & Faith Conference in Chicago. Ed might consult with them for a fee. They are proposing having it at Mundelein. While that was the site of the first two FRLC retreats, it is neither a neutral place nor near the airport which are two things we have tried to do. Ed doesn’t have the contacts or volunteers in the Chicago area he has in Minneapolis; however the treatment center says they have all the contacts that would be needed. If there is support for doing multiple conferences around the country maybe licensing the model would be the way to go. It would be interesting to see if the price difference would make a difference in attendance if we could put on a less expensive event.

 

Feedback on Zoom: Those on the call thought it was a positive experience. It is a little complicated to use the first time as it takes some time to set it up on your computer. It should be quicker and easier after that. We will continue to use it for the next meeting.

Melanie closed the meeting in prayer.

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 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.

May 2017 Board Minutes

FRLC Board Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

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

 

Ed and Melanie were the only ones on the call, so we talked and I took notes but it wasn’t really an official meeting.

 

We agreed that Dave C. could represent us at the ELCA Rostered Leaders Gathering in Atlanta. He has gotten the ok to have an FRLC “Affinity Group” at the event. He was not sure if he would be able to go. I let him know he had our “seal of approval” and asked that he let me know whether he is going or not. If anyone else is interested in representing us there (we have no funds to support you in this), please let me know.

 

We discussed the 2018 lay retreat. We received confirmation of the Memorandum of Agreement from Nadia Bolz-Weber’s agent:

 

Melanie:

We have received your contract. You are officially on Nadia’s schedule for April 13-14, 2018! Please find her Bio and photo attached for any of your marketing efforts.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely, Lisa

 

These dates are confirmed for the Double Tree Inn in Bloomington, MN. There is a free airport shuttle.

 

Nadia will be speaking Friday evening and Saturday morning. Other speakers include Don Shelby, a local newscaster in recovery, and William C. Moyers of Hazelden.

 

Ed and Arthur are meeting with two people at Hazelden tomorrow–the pastor who attended our retreat and their publicity person. They will be discussing vendors, networking and potential workshop leaders at the first meeting and publicity efforts through Hazelden as well as the church at the second. Ed prepared a first draft brochure to help our partners understand what we are doing, which is attached below. Please note that the schedule for the speakers in the brochure is incorrect–Nadia’s time slots are as described above.

 

Joy has the information to access the website to work on publicity also.

 

The local retreat committee will be meeting next week, on May 18.

 

We adjourned our meeting around 2:30 pm Mountain time.

 

Next meeting: June 7, 2017 2:00 pm MDT/2 pm CDT/1:00 pm PDT/3:00 pm EDT 12:00 pm

 

 

 

 

March 2017 Board Meeting Minutes

 

 

FRLC Board Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

 

            Check In & Prayer Brian, Roger, Melanie, Joel, Bohdan, Arthur, Ed, Tom.

Tom led us in prayer.

 

Approval of Minutes from last meeting January’s minutes were approved.

Annual meeting minutes yet to come.

 

Treasurer’s report was sent by email. Balance at the beginning of the meeting was $ 2275.51.

There was a deposit from the retreat of $4225 that was included in the updated report, giving a balance of $6500.51. There is one outstanding check to Mount Olivet Retreat Center for $4979.96. One more check for the retreat has not been deposited. We broke even on the retreat.

 

            Coordinator’s report: The retreat was well attended and inspirational. One participant’s first day sober was at the retreat and he remained sober throughout. There was a lot of visioning for the future, including developing a retreat and fellowship for laity in recovery. We met with several guests including staff from the Minneapolis and St. Paul Synods and Hazelden, and a professional fund raiser. The message from our guests was there is so much potential left in our current fellowship that they encouraged us to focus on this work and not on expanding the new fellowship for laity in recovery. There was a lot to think about. Retreatants regrouped and decided to go ahead and plan a retreat for Lutheran Laity in Recover next year. A team was formed with several local people plus at least one person who will participate in meetings electronically. Joy, Jim, Beth, Arthur, Roger are on the team and will meet March 16 at 9 am. Dates were proposed and the group a decided on the Minneapolis area for a location, with a preference for holding it at the Mount Olivet Retreat Center. There are no available dates at Mt. Olivet that will work for us. Melanie sent an email to a potential speaker’s booking agent but has not heard back from her.

Otherwise, the Coordinator had routine contacts, finding the work for the retreat to be satisfying. He has some checks to send to Brian.

                       

Old Business:

            Thank you to people going off of the board (Melanie): John W., Mary S. and Gary G. were thanked for their service. John responded with an email which was shared at the meeting.

 

New Business:

            PayPay button on website Our Coordinator asked if this would be possible at the conclusion of the retreat. Our web guru said she could do it but would need us to have a PayPal account and document our 501(c)3 status. Discussion included potential costs, that it may generate new donations, that we could encourage current donors to continue to give the way they do now, and that it would give potential donors another option—we might get impulse givers or use it in an email appeal—where they could give with one or two clicks. It would be good to get it in place if we grow. There were questions about how it works for the administrator. One member suggested there are other brands that deal with donations, which we could look into. Arthur can email a site with option for PayPal account or credit card. Brian will research this before the next meeting. Melanie will send Bea’s contact information.

 

            Thursday meetings—schedule leaders: Retreat participants were invited to be added to the chairperson’s schedule and current chairpersons were asked if they would like to continue. All of the current group is continuing and we have one new person for the list. The schedule will be emailed to the chairpersons when it is complete.

 

            Revising the Board: The secretary will send an inquiry to all new board members regarding contact information for a list to be used amongst the board and also what information they would like listed on the website.

 

Newsletter articles: We have frequently done a post retreat with reflections about that experience. New board members who attended the retreat are asked to write up a story (250-500 words) about the experience and what it meant for them. Anyone else is welcome to do so also. (Secretary’s addition: in the past we have also invited new board members to write a brief article introducing themselves, along with why you chose to serve on the board and what you hope to accomplish by doing so. While we didn’t discuss this and the meeting, it would be helpful should you choose to do so. The biggest challenge for the newsletter and e-blasts has been getting articles to include in them.)

 

Spreading the word: Joel offered to work on ideas on how to get the word out about our existence—to seminaries, Synods, etc. He will develop an email and send it out to the board members for feedback before the next meeting.

 

  • Next meeting date: April 5, 2017  2:00 pm MDT/3 pm CDT/1:00 pm PDT/4:00 pm EDT

 

 

 

 

 

 

December Board Minutes

FRLC Board Meeting Agenda

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

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

 

            Check In & Prayer Ed, Gary, Bohdan, Melanie. Gary dropped off the call before checking in. Melanie opened with a prayer.

 

The Minutes from November 16th Meeting were approved.

 

Treasurer’s report: The treasurer’s report was received by email. The balance in our checking account is $2761.79. Other than recent newsletter expenses, no other note-worthy income/expenses this past month.

 

            Coordinator’s report: Worked on initiating February 2017 retreat, setting dates, reserving facility and developing a tentative agenda. The treasurer wrote a year-end appeal letter and the Coordinator got it sent out. Other than that, the usual routine.

                       

Old Business:

 

New Business:

            FRLC retreat February 2017: Date: February 13-16, Mt. Olivet Retreat Center, Farmington, MN. Ed will contact the board when we need to register. The date may have to be changed to the week earlier to accommodate the schedules of some of the Minneapolis area participants. He met with a local pastor, Gretchen E., regarding the retreat. She is excited and is checking with the congregation she serves regarding their support. The retreat center may be willing to handle registrations for us, although that is not the usual procedure. We will charge only the amount required to pay for the rooms and meals; no additional fees. He offered to cover the expenses for Gretchen if needed as she will be assisting with leadership. Spoke with Tammy Devine from Portico to explore partnership possibilities with them and hopes to have someone from Thrivent, from the Minneapolis Area Synod, and from Hazelden to be at the table. We are excited about these potential connections! It appears that people are more supportive of recovery and that is making these partnerships possible.

Board members are asked to reach out to people they know and encourage them to attend once the materials are ready to go. The secretary is committed to doing so!

A question was asked about transportation from the airport or train station since the retreat center is out of town. This will be discussed later. Uber would be an option.

Melanie will touch base the potential speaker she contacted earlier and let her know this is happening, invite her to the meeting and see if still open to speaking.

Future FRLC retreat fall 2017 in Minneapolis in conjunction with the new lay fellowship. No dates or information yet. This will be developed in conjunction with the February meeting.

Discussion of meeting time and date: the January meeting will be at the regularly scheduled time.

 

Next meeting: January 4, 2017 2:00 pm MDT/2 pm CDT/1:00 pm PDT/3:00 pm EDT 12:00 pm

 

 

 

 

November Board Meeting

FRLC Board Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

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

 

            Check In & Prayer Bohdan, Gary, Melanie, Ed and Brian were present. All checked in.

Gary opened in prayer.

 

Minutes from the October 5th Meeting were approved.

 

Treasurer’s report an updated report was sent by email. The current balance is $  2605.98.

 

            Coordinator’s report Nothing unusual. The Thursday meeting continues, attendance varies. Conscious Contact meeting continues with a couple new people. He plans to contact someone at Hazelden re cosponsoring a kick off retreat for the lay fellowship. He suggested that we work with Brian and send out a Christmas appeal.

                       

Old Business:

Updating FRLC database/contact information: We will send out a self-addressed envelope or postcard for updating information with the Christmas appeal. Brian, Ed and Bodahn will work on getting it out.

 

New Business:

            Further discussion of whether it would be helpful to have the next FRLC retreat in Minneapolis in conjunction local leaders in support of development of the new lay fellowship. Ed will explore the possibility and get back to us at our next meeting.

 

Next meeting: December 7, 2016 2:00 pm MDT/2 pm CDT/1:00 pm PDT/3:00 pm EDT 12:00 pm

October Board Meeting

FRLC Board Meeting Agenda

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

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

 

            Check In & Prayer Bohdan, Ed, Melanie

Approval of Minutes from September Meeting approved

Treasurer’s report received by email. Accepted.

            Coordinator’s report a little activity, discussion of getting a newsletter out. Revisited including self-addressed stamped envelope and decided to go with it. Bohdan sent some material and will follow up. Chair requested that the Coordinator resend the database as his computer crashed.

 

New Business: The remainder of the meeting was a discussion of where we are as a Fellowship and where we are going, including retreat possibilities and support of development of the lay fellowship. At the end of our meeting, the idea surfaced of having our next retreat in the Minneapolis area in conjunction with people there who have connected with Ed regarding the development of the lay group. It could serve as our retreat and be a way to undergird that project. Ed will work on that and have information at our next meeting. Bohdan will work on scheduling the next meeting as Ed is unavailable on that date and the conversation needs to include him.

 

The meeting was closed in prayer.

 

May Board meeting

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