These documents are available to read on our bulletin board outside the church kitchen on the east wall.
Council Meeting August 4, 2024
Present: Pastor Harvey Johnson, Blair Bartling, Laurie Lamm, Deb Drew, Karen Rau, Matt
Heitmann, George Fosha, Aaron Shaha
Call to Order: 11:18
Devotional: Matt Heitmann
Review Agenda:
Additions: Under New Business
D. Ag class
Approve Agenda: Blair motion and Aaron second.
Approve previous month’s minutes: Aaron motion and Matt second.
4. Financials:
1. There was a payment of $4500.00 for the Lay Ministry. Amount that we owe is under
discussion according to how members we have at the present in the class.
2. Contributions line item is up because of the memorial’s coming in for Carolyn Gardner.
3. The reserve is low currently, partly because of the Lay Ministry payment.
4. Aaron asked why the donations were higher in Feb and March, George would need to look
and get back to him.
5. Glaser Propane reduced the church budget billing for next year 2024 is $470.00 and 2025
will be $390.00.
6. Pastor has reduced his hours from 80 to 70 in preparing for retirement. He is in the office 3
days a week plus Lay training and Sermon preparation. Will reduce his pay and his retirement
contribution. As months go on and the Lay Ministry take over, he will reduce even more but
would like to Retire and not quit so he can keep his title of Pastor. He hopes that this will
happen in the next 12 months. We may need to look at new computer since Pastor Harvey has
been using his personal computer for Sermons and posting 2 weeks in advance schedule for
bulletin.
Pastor’s Report:
We have new members, with a Baptism next Sunday and a father/son who are musical and want
to help with the music and readings.
Administrator’s Report:
1. There will be a blood drive in memory of Carolyn Gardner in Oct/Jan/April. The Red
Cross also offers Health and Safety for children, will offer to the pre-school. We were
wondering if we still are a Red Cross Shelter, Karen will check on this.
2. There are fewer emails currently, Karen is still in transition of the new web site and
emails. The new website has tabs for lector/music/beer and brats/events. We are
getting away from the monthly epistle and doing the pastor’s message each month.
Karen has all the passwords and codes for the church as they are the churches and not
personal one.
3. We are trying to transition the online church service to You-tube from Zoom it will be
much easier once this completed.
Preschool Report – Laurie White
Lyndsay has a family commitment and cannot commit to next school year but may be able to sub
as needed. Karen and Jody have qualified as teachers and Jody will be fulltime with Karen part
time. We have five kids enrolled at this time, which is low, but we lost all the 4-year-olds to the
pre-school program at the schools. We need one teacher per seven students if the enrollment goes
up, we will need to re-evaluate. The pre-school received a grant last year and they are financially
good at this time. The school schedule has changed from Calhan to Peyton schedule as student
come from that district. Staff will start on August 16th with students starting on August 21st.
Karen will check into adding information on the pre-school to the Ranchland News add.
Old Business:
A. Lay Ministry:
The Lay Ministry classes are going well, the next class is Saturday August 10th and Sunday
August 11th. They are down to seven members, Craig and stepped aside.
B. Pastor Search (still waiting for candidates)
There is a transition to the new Bishop but currently there are no new candidates in the pastor
search. The Synod is hurting money wise and are cutting back.
New Business:
A. Furnace
There was a Blood Drive scheduled for July 29th with Red Cross in memory of Carolyn
Gardner, the event did not take place because the building was too warm.
The Furnace Guy came out to check furnace and found low coolant and a frozen
panel. He also changed the air filters and recommended to change every month.
They offer a service contract for $700.00 for a two-year period. If we could get
ahead of the breakdowns and keep the furnace support, then hopefully this will
help. They said that furnaces only last between twelve -twenty years and ours if 15
years old. Karen will get a quote for a new furnace and find out more information on
the service contract and what is covers. If we do go with a new furnace MVEA does
offer rebates and we could get about half of the cost back in credits.
B. Paying Kelly for Playing Music?
Kelly is struggling financially and states that she would still play the piano even if she
did not get paid. One way we thought of helping her out instead of paying is to pay
for her daughter to go to preschool. The cost is $180.00 a month and she does get a
$90.00 scholarship each month. George will provide the in-kind donation for her
daughter to attend.
C. Beer and Brats Fest – October 5th
D. Ag Class – Aaron and Janette will do a 1 hr. lecture on Soil Health during the August
25th potluck. Aaron is looking into having help with the lectures and we may need to
provide an in-kind donation to them.
Next Month’s Meeting: September 22, 2024
Future Items:
A. Church Annual Meeting – October 20, 2024
B. Who is up for election – Blair and Laurie?
Closing prayer: All
Adjourn: 12:33 p.m.
St. Paul Lutheran Council Agenda September 2024.docx
