OPENING AND ATTENDANCE A meeting of the Congregational Development Commission was called to order at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 by Casey Shobe. Betsy Fornal attended the meeting along with Commission members: Dennis Bucco, Carol Drought, Joel Gardner, Jackie Kirby, Kevin Lloyd, David Lucey, and Catherine Thenault. The Rev’d José Roberts and Modesta Pellot from St. George’s, Central Falls were guests. The meeting began with a prayer.
GRANT UPDATE—ST. GEORGE’S, CENTRAL FALLS
Fr. José and Modesta reported that with grant funds from CDC they have expanded their music program. They have had an increase of about 40 in their average Sunday attendance. Betsy asked if they had made any progress in developing a brochure. They see a definite need for it, but at the present time they don’t have any clerical help. They also do not have a website or Facebook page. Casey urged them to attend the February 4 Learn & Lead on communications. Motion: To approve the third and final year of funding for St. George’s, Central Falls in support of their music program and for the development of a welcome brochure in the amount of $5,500. Lucey/Thenault. All in favor. Jackie agreed to write a letter to St. George’s. In the letter she will let them know that it is the final year of funding and that CDC would like to offer help and suggest they could also call upon the resources of the Hispanic Ministry Committee. The letter will also serve as a reminder that the next grant cycle begins very soon and a paragraph describing their proposal is due on March 1.
Jackie and Kevin wrote a letter to Joyce Penfield about the St. Peter’s & St. Andrew’s grant proposal that was mistakenly never sent. They will try to resurrect and update it.
LEARN & LEAD—COMMUNICATIONS
Catherine is confident that AIPSO will have WiFi before February 4. She will schedule a time when members of CDC can tour the facilities. Right now she has availability on Thursday and Friday (1/5 and 1/6) or Monday and Wednesday (1/9 and 1/11). We have not been able to schedule a plenary speaker. Current possibilities are Anne Rudig, from the national church and Jan Nunley.
Catherine will contact Bethany Putnam from Basil and Peppercorns about catering lunch. We will have a potluck coffee service provided by members of CDC.
Ruth Meteer will take care of ticketing. Registration will be online only through EventBrite. She will also coordinate a speaker from Constant Contact as well as someone to present a workshop on websites.
Dave Siefert will handle print media and Casey will do present a workshop on Sunday bulletins.
Nametags will be generated by EventBrite through the registration process. We need to assign a “shepherd” for each presenter.
CONVOCATION
The Mission Taskforce is keeping us informed about Convocation for the sake of transparency. Casey will email the information he has received to CDC members.
