Board of Stewards Minutes
March 11, 2025
Attendees: Pastor Joe Tarpley, Michael Smith, Les Swick, Dessa Boynton, Aaron Byrd, Celeste Tolbert, Ed Garrison, Diane Rutledge, Kathy Woods; Stephanie Knapp
Not in person: Erin Brady, Aaron Davis
Not in attendance: Bill Hansen
Pastor Joe: Reflections on Christian Leadership monthly study discussion.
Pastor Joe opened us in prayer at 6:06 pm.
Minutes from previous month reviewed.
ADHOC Safe Sanctuary Discussion – Joe emailed notes. (see notes page 4)
Notes include items from Denomination and Immigration. Joe would like us to review and bring back a policy a little more intact for next’s months meeting. Erin suggested to include the final policy in the safety team’s manual and review it with staff as well.
Working Team Updates:
Insurance Policy – Joe answered: for example, “can I put 3 children in my car to take them to an outing, whose insurance is in play?”. Insurance follows the vehicle. Les says we need to refine some policies and spread the work to make sure everyone understand the policies.
Les will call/email the insurance company for specifics. Insurance policy needs to be reviewed and approved each year.
Les Swick – Trustees
On Feb. 12, Les met with facilities working team.
Energy walk-through (Les and Jim Tolbert) was completed, and we are waiting on final review documentation.
Celeste – Council On Ministries
A/V (Shane Lympany) – Goals, secure sound booth in FH, lockable perimeter, cart with portable microphone, make space workable for 2 persons, in securing the booth make more aesthetically pleasing. 900 donated so far.
Greeting Cards – Gina Smith will be taking this over
Kit in Touch – Coming together.
Small Groups – Dennis new one Sunday 10am – Historical Jesus
Diane – Council On Ministries
Cameras and tripods that are under the broadcast area in the sanctuary reviewed. Shane will take monitors for recycling.
Jim Tolbert – Send Creation Care flyers to everyone you know. Showcase of Electric equipment sometime next month
AAW – Sunday the 23rd, Black Mountain Railroad presentation. Erin is interested in a yearly calendar from this group. Clair Kidney is now the chairperson.
Kathy –
UWFaith will be having a large Womens Prayer Breakfast April 12th, 2025 8:30 am to Noon at church. Veranita Alford (Joes wife) will be the speaker. $10.00 per person.
Dessa – Council on Ministries
Manna Market resumes this coming Monday.
Swannanoa clean ups – new Hands and Feet opportunity brought to our attention by Pastor Joy. Scheduled for March 22.
Hurricane Relief balance is in excess of $70K.
Finance – Stephanie Knapp
As of March 9th……
- Net income YTD was (1.8K) vs budget of ($6.9K).
- With income at 3.5K above budget and expenses at 1.6K less than budget, our loss is 5.1K less than planned through week 10.
- Total cash/general fund as of February 28th was at $313.9K, which is over 6x our monthly budgeted expenses.
SPRC –
Bridges continues to grow with 32 participants (both locations). Bridges hopefully will update the BOS often now that they are so big. They will be regrouping soon and will bring us information.
Guidelines for onboarding new employees reviewed. Reviewing for coverage when Jennifer is out for vacation, etc. Decision threshold, new addition, pay changed for all staff including Bridges staff possibly.
Town Hall recap
Hoping to increase attendance. Positively received by approximately 30 persons. Couple of suggestions about the website: name tags on Sundays, directory, what we are doing on the website, and asking new members to have input on what excited them about our church. Possibly to have Mission team do a presentation on their activities, etc.
BOS Webpage – Pictures of Board Members? If you have a digital picture, please send to Kathy Woods at mysumcemail@gmail.com.
Pastor Report – already mentioned.
BOS Covenant – Erin asked everyone to review attached BOS covenant.
Ministry Action Plan – Perhaps seasonally? Perhaps go to the committee and hold the conversation with the groups to help them fill it out. Celeste will review.
Meeting ended at 7:35 pm.
Next meeting April 8th at 6:00 pm – Mike will lead meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Woods
