August 17, 2023 | Deacon Meeting Minutes

Attendance: John Reagan, Anne Hartman, Chuck Falch, Gail Graese, Vince Maro, Paul Weinke, John Genskow, James Martin

Absent: Bruce Winkler, Kathy Sahlhoff, Kristi Lambert

Guests: Mark Oldenberg

Ex Officio: Mark Schulz, David Forke

Recording Secretary: Dean Gumz

John Reagan called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

1)    Opening devotion and prayer: John Reagan

2)    Action Items

A)    BOD Team Leaders to review charter and goals

B)    Anne to complete mission team charter

C)    Mortgage Refinance plan by October 2023

3)    Consent Agenda

A)    June minutes

B)    Pastoral Report

Chuck made a motion to approve the consent agenda items.  Paul seconded the motion.  Motion passed. 

4)    Pastoral Call Update

The call committee has a list of four names that were reviewed on Sunday.  One was eliminated and three people are potentials.  Mark sent emails to each on Monday (8-14). The committee and Pastor Mark are going to reach out to the District to ask for additional names.

5)    Rental by St. Mark’s school – Pastor David

St. Mark’s has decided not to rent space for their 7th and 8th grades.  They wanted more space than originally proposed and Peace had some additional costs to modify our space which resulted in a figure that was higher than their church council was willing to spend.

6)    Year-end Financials

Primary banking accounts were moved from Nicolet Bank to Security Financial Bank.

Net income for the fiscal year was $-27,460. 

Motion made by Anne to approve the year-end financial report.  Seconded by John G.

Motion passed.

7)    July financial report

Motion by Paul and seconded by Chuck to approve July financial report.  Motion passed.

8)    Refinance of Mortgage

The current mortgage note with LCEF is due on December 31, 2023.  LCEF is proposing a renewal amount of 4.5%.  The loan balance at the end of 2023 will be a little over $400k. Discussion followed about whether we should pay down the mortgage principal or invest some of our cash into a CD.  Current CD rates are at 5.0% for 1yr or less terms.

The discussion ended with a motion by Anne to buy down the mortgage by $100,000 and to move up to $350,000 of other cash assets into a short-term CD.  Motion was seconded by James.  Motion passed 8-0.

9)    Children’s Family Ministry Director-David

David asked the BOD to authorize a search team to explore getting a Director of Children and Family Ministry with the goal of finding a person to fill that role by the end of the current fiscal year.  He indicated that Allie would be overseeing the group.

Anne made a motion to allow David/Allie to assemble a search team for the Director of Children/ Family ministry with the approval to seek either a called worker or an intern as best describes the available candidates.  Paul seconded the motion.  Motion approved.

10)  BOD goals for 2023-24

1)    Call a new pastor with the potential to become the lead pastor.

2)    Refinance the mortgage with a buydown.

3)    Promote unity and community- Fall Fest potentially Oct 15 to celebrate the wrap-up of the fall sermon series and the Feed my Starving People food packing.

4)    Support search and call for a Director of Children’s and Family ministry.

5)    Continued support and prayer for the Peace staff.

11)  Closing Prayer – Pastor Mark

Motion to adjourn made by Paul.  Seconded by Chuck. Motion approved.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Dean Gumz