Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ
Coordinating Council
April 20, 2007

The regular meeting of the Coordinating Council of the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ was held on Friday, April 20, 2007, at 10:00 AM, at the First Congregational Church in Waterville, the Moderator being in the chair and the Clerk being present. The minutes from the March 9, 2007 meeting were approved as corrected.

Present:
Ron Beinema, Chelsea Bicknell, Ernie Campbell, John Deal, David Gaewski, Linda Gard, John Glover, Todd Goodeill, Denise Goodman, Connie Insley, Dan Johnson, Sue Kaplan, Jane Lowell, Herb Oliver, Mark Schussler, Marty Shaw, Linda Smith, Victor Stanley, Sue Stevens, Anita White

The Treasurer (Linda Gard) reported:
- A written report was received and filed with the minutes.
- There is currently a $156,000 deficit. Loans were taken to cover these first quarter expenses. If expected income comes in, we will repay those loans soon.

The Business Manager (Mark Schussler) reported:
A written report was received and filed with the minutes.

The Conference Minister (David Gaewski) reported:
- A written report was received and filed with the minutes.
- There is an ongoing issue in one of the Associations that continues to take a significant amount of Conference staff time.
- He attended a meeting of a national committee on OCWM development, where he continues to get ideas on better OCWM development in our conference.
- He and Anne Roundy have done a lot of the ground work in preparation for writing a major grant in the area of Ministerial Excellence, which focuses on both pastors and laity.
- Two reports on OCWM were received and filed with the minutes. The first is sorted by total revenue; the second is sorted by revenue per capita. $37.98 is the average per capita amount required to perform the ministry of the Maine Conference.
- There is ongoing action toward a final resolution of the issues with the Honduras partnership AMIGOS program..
- He has been working on a plan for starting new churches. He narrowed down the list from 10 communities to two. And, he’s approached one church to request that they sponsor a new church. Sponsoring a new church often involves giving up members to the new church.

There was a discussion regarding the logistics of an expected special Conference meeting at the Waterville Church on June 9.

The Associate Conference Minister Search Committee (Mark Doty) reported:
- The committee unanimously recommended that the Coordinating Council recommend to the Conference that we call the Rev. Susan M. Craig as the Associate Conference Minister of the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ.
- The Rev. Mark Doty delivered an inspiring introduction of the Rev. Susan M. Craig.
- The Rev. Susan M. Craig spoke about herself and her journey.
- There was an informal question, answer and discussion.
- David complimented Mark Doty for being an excellent chair.

Resolved that the Coordinating Council recommends to the Maine Conference that we call the Rev. Susan M. Craig as the Associate Conference Minister. Motion carried unanimously.

Resolved that the Clerk call a special meeting of the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ for Sat Jun 9 in Waterville at 1 PM for the purpose of receiving and voting on the recommendation of the coordinating to call the Rev. Susan M. Craig as the Associate Conference Minister. Motion carried.

Recessed for lunch.

Identified the credentialing process for the special meeting:
The Conference administrators will register people as guests or delegates based on self reporting. The delegates will receive voting cards; visitors will not.

Resolved that the offering from the special meeting be sent to basic support at the national level. Motion carried.

The OCWM status letter will not be sent out with the call to the special meeting. It will be sent after the call.

Herb Oliver reported on the Town Meetings:
A written report was received and filed with the minutes.
A task force will be formed. The members will be Susan Kaplan, Jane Lowell, Herb Oliver and possible Don Isham. If Don is not able or willing, Dan Johnson will take his place.

David Gaewski reported on General Synod:
There will be about 130 people using the Conference busses.
The delegates have a gathering at the Waterville church tomorrow (April 21).

The 2007 Annual Meeting Committee (Herb Oliver) reported:
Based on feedback from previous annual meetings, the committee chose not to have evening workshops. The workshops will be held during the day.
Saturday night there will be a display of cakes that each church is being asked to supply.
The speakers will be David Schoen and Edith Guffey.
Michael Downs will do the pre-conference.
The theme is “Let Your Life Shine”.
They are still working on the workshops.
They meet again on the 8th.

There will be a gathering on June 2 and noon at the Waterville church to celebrate and give thanks to June for her ministry to the Maine Conference.

The 2008 Annual Meeting Committee:
The Rev. Whiston will be asked to chair the committee. Denise will contact him to invite him.

Coordinating Council retreat:
This needs to be planned.
Nov 16-17 were the chosen dates.
Rockcraft and Living Waters are not available on those dates.
China Lake and Biddeford will be contacted as the next two choices.
The Executive Committee is tasked with finding a location.
A possible program is exploring how to strengthen the ties between Churches, Associations and the Maine Conference and/or how and why Churches and Associations pass away.

Renewing the Conference Minister’s contract:
The Coordinating Council will need to see the contract before we can vote on it.
The Personnel Committee will be asked for their recommendation.
A committee was formed to find the previous process used to renew the contract and to determine what the process should be for this renewal and what the process should be in the future. The committee will report back at the next Coordinating Council meeting. The members of the committee are Anita White, Todd Goodeill and Dan Johnson.

Resolved that the subcommittee is authorized to view the contract and other relevant documents of Conference Minister in order to perform an evaluation.

Possible workshops on how to deal with the presence of registered sex offenders in congregations:
Some churches are already actively dealing with this issue.
There is a need to cover this issue both from a congregational heath perspective and from and insurance perspective.
There is a resource called “Balancing Act” which has a template for a covenant for these situations.
The 2007 Annual Meeting Committee is looking into having this type of workshop.

The MainStay returns in June.
Sue is recruiting authors for the upcoming edition.

The Commission for Witness Life (Ernie Campbell) reported:
A written report was received and is filed with the minutes.
The Commission for Community Life (Herb Oliver) reported:
A great deal of their time was spent on the town meetings.
They’re working on budgets. They are due by the first of May.

The State Youth Council (Chelsea Bicknell) reported:
The new Executive Committee had their first meeting.
They began the process of a new advisor search.
Their goal is to involve more churches throughout the state in the SYC activities. Some of the ideas are:
- to sponsor a youth led worship service to “tour” churches in Maine,
- to attend the association meetings or to form youth association meetings,
- to send information to churches containing information on the SYC and their events, and
- to host the annual events throughout the state.
They began planning their annual events:
- they are looking at hosting beach day at Rockcraft on August 18 and
- Midwinter retreat in Bangor.
They talked about how to support their goals of Open and Affirming and Fair Trade.
Their next meeting is April 29.

The Trustees (Ron Beinema) reported:
They meet next Thursday.

The Aroostook Association (John Deal) reported:
They were going to have a combined meeting with the Washington Association, but that didn’t work out.
They will have their Association meeting on May 5.

The Kennebec Valley Association (Jane Lowell) reported:
They will meet on the 29th.
They planning sessions have all been snowed out, so there is nothing to report on that yet.

The Hancock Waldo Association (Linda Smith) reported:
Tomorrow at 3PM is the ordination of Mair Honan
Alan Meyer will have his Ecclesiastical Council on May 20.
The Association decided that the spring meeting will be a family fun day on May 20.
They are holding Sept 8 to do a steward workshop for lay leaders in Bucksport.
They started having a regular clergy meeting.

The Penobscot Piscataquis Association (John Glover) reported:
Their Annual meeting is on Mother’s Day.

The Franklin Association (Sue Kaplan) reported:
Their spring meeting is on May 6. They will do a service for Paula Hamrick who is in care with Old South.

The Oxford Union Association (Dan Johnson) reported:
They have an Ecclesiastical council on April 22 for Vickie Carpenter at the Oxford Church.
Their spring meeting will be on April 29 at Bridgeton.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:05 PM.

Todd Goodeill, Clerk