Diaconate Meeting Minutes                                                                    October 7, 2009

 

Attendance: Jan Llewelyn, Carl Meade, Kathy Sullivan, Cindy Nickerson, Dave Wilbur, Bill Carr, Sara Baker, Syd Bare, Marilyn Lariviere, and Rev. Terry.
Jan opened the meeting with reading of the New School Prayer.

Rev. Terry explained that the communion bread needs to be separate from the non-glucose wafers, so we will need some cups on the trays to hold the wafers.

Committee feels the choir walking forward silently is too solemn. Is it possible that they walk forward while the prelude is played?

We need to close the Narthex doors when the prelude begins, because the noise from late arrivals is distracting.  Even whispers from the Narthex carry into the sanctuary.  They can be reopened later for ushers to setup for offering or communion.

Rev. Terry will be away this Sunday, Kathy will read the Announcements to the Radio Audience for Rev.Schultz.

Rev.Terry has agreed to repeat the Pilgrim Sunday service this year, will be Nov 22, the last Sunday before Advent.  Basically the same format, we’ll need participants to be various role players. We can discuss whether to separate the men from women and children to opposite sides of the sanctuary at the next meeting.  This would be more authentic, than how we did it last year.

We agreed to have a Harvest Table again, with proceeds to be contributed to the Salvation Army.

Minutes:  corrections needed:  Carl’s name included as present was incorrect, and minutes should have included mention of Diaconate’s desert and coffee hour schedule.  Motion to accept with corrections by Bill, 2nd by Syd. Approved.

Treasurer Report:   Carl reported we’ve had no expenses since his last report, sill have $40.64 in petty cash.

Old Business:    Jan intended to present the new EMR bag to the committee, but it has been misplaced. The duffle bag is red with white safety cross on it.  No word yet on purchase or gift of a defibrillator. 

There are six volunteers in the church who have agreed to assist if a medical need arises during a worship service. Their suggestions for supplies have been placed in the EMR bag.  We still need a straight-back chair which is one of their suggestions.

The volunteers on the EMR team will be able to make medical decisions until 911 help arrives.   Jan will plan on presenting the EMR bag at our next meeting. 

We discussed a 2009 Goal for our committee.  After some discussion we agreed that every deacon make a point to meet and greet one visitor each Sunday and invite them to coffee hour.

New Business:   Marilyn spoke to committee about her work with our children and adult volunteers.  She has about 15 volunteers which make up an ad hoc Christian Education Committee. She asked us for a liaison from Diaconate to the CE Committee. 

The CE Committee has planned a confirmation program and several service projects for the coming school year. She asked committee to get name & address of visitors we see with children so she can contact them later about Sunday School and youth events.

We discussed communion changes.  We will include water and gluten-free wafers in preparing the elements.  Dave to get the small cups to hold gluten-free wafers and update the communion setup doc.

As long as we have respect for the communion sacrament and carry out our responsibility properly we don’t need to be overly concerned with perfect symmetry as we depart the communion table or pass the elements through the pews.

We reviewed the new front door locking mechanisms again.  These doors need to be double checked before leaving the church after meetings and on Sundays.  Each door has separate lock.  The vertical locking bar on the right door (facing out) needs to be engaged for the dead bolt on the left door to be effective.

The diaconate’s Deacon of the Day responsibilities is available on our webpage, and changes made this year are in blue type.  The original copies we received at beginning of the year should be discarded now.   New changes to be made this month: The DOD must check with Mary Jane Garneau and Ed Paron each Sunday to see if they are on duty.  Mary Jane normally sits in the balcony and will baby sit tiny tots when needed, and Ed is the Sunday Sexton. Be sure to check with Ed what time he will be leaving that day.  He may have to leave early so closing will be our responsibility.

We reviewed the alarm panel outside the office door.  The emergency buttons are in pairs and buttons in each pair need to be pressed for at least 5 seconds to initiate an action.  There are buttons for Fire, Police, and Ambulance.   These are secondary to use of office phone to call 9-1-1, which should always be done first.

(pressing Fire or Ambulance will cause an alarm to sound from the panel, pressing the Police buttons will not, this is silent)  If the office door is locked then the alarm buttons for Ambulance should be used to call 911. 

FYI: Using cell phones is not recommended unless alarm panel is not available.  Cell phone buttons to press are *SP if you don’t know your local fire/police depts’ phone numbers.  Be prepared to give town and street location exactly to the responding state police officer. (320 Main St,Hyannis)

The Nominating Committee will be notified that Jan and Dave are the only members of Diaconate whose second terms are ending, and will ‘retire’ from the committee.  Everyone present has agreed to continue or extend their service for another term.

Jan asked committee to consider we ask congregation to agree to serve collectively, meaning everyone takes a turn so the same people aren’t always asked to be ushers and greeters.

Marilyn spoke to committee about the children’s participation in church service.  Children should arrive at church by 10am.  Except communion Sunday, children will come to church and sit with parents, guardians, or Marilyn from beginning of the service and will leave with her after Time for Children. 

On Communion Sundays, children will start in the classroom downstairs and join the worship service just before communion is served.  A means to communicate between Deacon of the Day and classrooms is necessary so children can arrive at the right time.  The hand-held radios stored in the outer office may work for this purpose. Otherwise Deacon of the Day will need to deliver message in person.

The children should be notified so they can enter the sanctuary during the hymn or choir anthem just prior to communion.

Marilyn will be away for Communion Sundays of November and December, but has substitutes ready; Linda Baker and Betsy Hendricks will teach the children on those Sundays.

More CORI checked volunteers are needed to help out with Sunday School and Tiny Tots.  Marilyn suggested Tiny Tots be staffed each Sunday by 9:45 for parents to visit with their children before worship service.   Also, more teacher volunteers are needed to serve for 6-week commitments with the children. 

We need to investigate why only one FM-mike is functional.  We have two, but Marilyn and Rev. Terry are sharing the one that works.

Deacon of the Day Schedule:
October 11:  Jan Llewelyn,  coffee hour host-Jan
            Greeters: Sara, Kathy,  Ushers: Cindy, Syd, Carl, Bill
October 18: Carl Meade,     coffee hour host-Linda
October 25: Bill Carr,           coffee hour host-Kathy
Communion Sunday November 1:  David Wilbur (coffee hour host-Finance Comm.)
            Greeters: Jan, Carl,   Ushers: Sara, Syd, Bob, Kathy

Jan will review our section of the bylaws, and report to committee. We discussed open positions we have on Diaconate, plus the fact we never have a full committee at our meetings. Jan will speak to nominating committee about increasing the size of our committee by two persons.  Motion by Sara, 2nd by Syd.

Cindy closed our meeting with a prayer by Charles Stanley, based on 1 Corinthians 1:9-12.
Our next meeting will be Wed November 4. Linda volunteered to close our next meeting.
Meeting adjourned about 9:10pm.

Respectfully submitted,
David Wilbur