November Vestry Meeting

Hey y’all,

We had a great vestry meeting on Tuesday.  I wanted to share with you the highlights:

• I reported some Fun Numbers:  47 people came to our New Member Dinner last month, 5 babies were baptized, and our average Sunday attendance since the fall retreat has shot up to 343 (adults and kids).
• We approved 5 new policies to govern our life together–  conflict of interest, sexual harassment, child safety, a finance manual, and a statement of faith (currently the Jerusalem Declaration from GAFCON).
• The personnel team reported the great news that we have hired Ramsey Wilson as our part-time Parish Administrator (a combination of the office manager and facility manager roles that were approved in October).  The Parish Administrator will provide staff oversight in five critical areas:  finance, facility, HR, legal and insurance, and managing the office.  We also have great volunteers and vestry members that are involved in each of these areas.
• Taking this position obligated Ramsey to resign from the vestry.  So in our current election, you will notice that the ballot instructs you to vote for 4 candidates.  In addition to Ramsey, Anne Cregger Patterson, Sarah Blaine, and Elizabeth Boesen are all rolling off.
• We are encouraged by our financial status.  Dec 1 marks our first mortgage payment on the building.
• In Outreach, we approved financial support to Cindy Darnell for a mission trip to Kenya, Andrew Thompson for a medical mission trip to Uganda, and Dade Dowdle for a water well drilling project in Mozambique.  We also decided to financially support Jesse Blaine in his full-time work with World Orphans.  We are proud of the continued excitement and creativity from many at Restoration to serve those outside our community.
• Finally, the vestry brought reflections on Restoration’s current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  This SWOT analysis will inform and prepare us for the planning and visioneering we will do at our vestry retreat in January.

God is good.