From: Elizabeth Yerxa, Shasta DCOM Secretary
Date: Saturday, February 3, 2007
Subject: Minutes of January 27, 2007 SDCOM Meeting
at Trinity United Methodist Church, Anderson
To: shasdist@sbcglobal.net

Participants: DS Ben Silva-Netto, Rosemary Landry, Carol Layton, Priscilla Hanford, Julie Horne, Elizabeth Yerxa, Maggie Kennedy, Pauline Bowen, Connie Lancaster, JoAnn Eastlick, Jim Horton, Georgie Summers, Joe Riker, David Haynes, Ed Coker, June Rothe-Barneson, Wanda Celli.

Opening/Worship: Chairperson Priscilla Hanford opened the meeting shortly after 10 a.m. DS Ben Silva-Netto gave a brief update on some of the Conference news, noting that our Conference has sent more than 50 teams to the Gulf in the aftermath of Katrina, including a recent team that included Bishop Shamana. He also reported that he will be part of a team from our Conference headed to the Philippines to lend support to the clergy there who are being attacked for organizing the poor. Fifty clergy persons so far have been killed for their efforts to aid the poor. Ben then led us in morning worship.

Treasurer's Report: Treasurer Maggie Kennedy presented the year-end 2006 and 2007 budgets, and noted that of the $12,150 budgeted for 2006, only $9018.52 was spent, leaving a balance of $3131.48. Moreover, our assets as of 12/31/06 are a whopping $17,703.67 as a result of past years' rollovers. This amount is already more than the $15,700 budgeted for all of 2007, without any income received for 2007. She encouraged the group to spend some money!

Communications: June Rothe-Barneson reported that she pulls articles of interest from the Conference "Instant Connection," as well as articles submitted from within our district for the eNewsletter. She meets in the Shasta District office on the third Thursday of the month with Ben, Priscilla, Julie Horne, and web manager Billie Sommerfeld to finalize each month's issue. The deadline for submitting articles for the eNewsletter is the third Wednesday of the month. Articles can be submitted to June care of the District Office website, shasdist@sbcglobal.net. Joe Riker noted that some of the punctuation in the newsletter comes out as Greek or symbol font; June will talk to Billie about this problem; perhaps using a different font. Carol Layton suggested that local church newsletters should reference the Shasta District newsletter address: shastadistrictumc.org. DS Ben stressed that EVERY local church should be profiled (church history, current church programs, brief message from the pastor) in an issue of the eNewsletter, both for archival reasons and for connectional reasons--people should be able to find information about our churches when they look up our website or go to sites like "Find a Church."

District Children and Youth: Conni Lancaster reported that she was discouraged to have had only 5 responses from the 32 churches she emailed in early January, inviting them to start a Shasta District Youth Council on Ministries. Discussion followed about the lack of connectionalism with youth in our district and that perhaps we should focus on getting youth together at the cluster level first. Ben suggested that those interested in working on a district-wide Youth Council might have a retreat weekend at the Shasta Church that would include skiing. Georgie Summers suggested taking our funds and hiring a youth coordinator for the whole District. Carol Layton suggested that we use some of our funds to send youth delegates to Annual Conference. Pauline Bowen noted that each cluster needs to assess the interest in connectionalism at the youth level.

Julie Horne moved and Maggie Kennedy seconded that we allocate up to $1000 to send youth delegates to Annual Conference from our district. Interested youth should fill out applications; the Conference reviews the applications and chooses the youth delegates. The motion passed unanimously. All churches in the district will be notified of this decision. Churches should also be on the lookout for information from Janis Chisholm about scholarships and internships for youth.

Ben noted that the General Board of Discipleship has said, "Use us!" Conni then proposed that we use some of the $4000 budgeted for children to bring a Sunday School trainer out from Nashville to do a teacher training. The cluster reps will assess the interest in such a training at their cluster meetings in early February, and Conni will check with Redding UMC, Yuba City First UMC, and Eureka UMC about hosting such a training.

Church and Society: Julie Horne reported that she had only had one response to an email she'd sent to all the churches earlier this year regarding Church and Society; she had hoped to have at least an educational and informative C and S group within our district. Ben noted that the General Board of Church and Society keeps a watchful eye on issues before Congress, e.g. whether the Bush Presidential Library should end up on the SMU campus in Dallas.

Ben and Julie then gave a VIM report. The faulty roof on the Church of the Redwoods in Klamath has been replaced; now, the church must deal with the water-damaged walls as a result of the old leaky roof. Other VIM projects include painting the Oroville church and assisting the Dunsmuir congregation in the renovation of the building adjacent to their church.

SDMM: Rosemary noted that the annual meeting of SDMM is coming up in April. June urged us to promote covenant relationships with missionaries. June highly recommended Elizabeth Ryder as an excellent speaker on many different global areas, particularly Africa, China, and VIM trips. Elizabeth was a missionary to the Democratic Republic of Congo and is with the General Board of Global Ministries and VIM and will be part of the VIM trip to West Angola later this year. She is a psychiatric nurse, has worked with burn patients in West Angola, and is also very knowledgeable about environmental issues. Elizabeth Ryder can be reached at P.O. Box 241, Tahoe Vista, CA 96148, (530) 546-8823. Other missionaries available for covenant relationships are Carol Partridge, serving in Strumica, Macedonia, and David Persons, serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Interested churches can contact June Rothe-Barneson for further information.

Shasta Camp: Pauline reported that since the shell collapsed on the new retreat center, they have been soliciting bids for rebuilding to submit to the insurance company; new plans must fit the old footprint. The rebuild is, unfortunately, being held up by the insurance company's lawsuit against the engineer for an alleged design flaw. Nothing can be done in the way of rebuilding until the lawsuit is cleared up, so this season, the building committee is focusing on what it would take to improve the roads and upgrade the drainage system. SDMM has higher insurance premiums because of the new (collapsed) retreat center, so now the camp and SDMM are splitting the $3000 per year insurance fees. There has been some talk of shifting the camp from a "district" camp to a "conference" camp. Camp Fundraising: Ben reported that his wife Marlyn is spearheading arrangements for a Shasta Camp fundraising event featuring "The Spiritual Image" choral group from South Hayward and a dance troupe from Pinole. A tentative date was set for Saturday, May 12, at Paradise UMC. Marlyn is forming a committee to finalize dates and locations for performances in at least three venues.

District School of Witness and Service: Jim Horton presented the upcoming calendar of classes, and noted that a class on preaching and a class on wholeness and healing may be added later. Jim encouraged people to register at least one week in advance so they will know whether or not the class is a "go"--must have at least 5 or 6 students.

Ethnic Ministries: Carol Layton reported on the Klamath church, which has seen a surge in Native American members since the area has reverted back to tribal lands. Carol moved, and Julie Horne seconded, that we allocated the $2000 budgeted under ethnic congregational development to go to the Church of the Redwoods in Klamath for the development of emerging Native American ministries on that site. Ben pointed out that Church of the Redwoods is the only Native American congregation in our conference, and several noted that Pastor Michael Piña is doing a fine job there. The motion passed unanimously. Carol reported that the Hispanic ministries in the Smith River church are defunct, but that there is a Spanish bible study in the works. Ben reported that Martha Noble is doing Hispanic ministry in Guinda.

CLUSTER REPORTS:

Butte: Ed Coker reported for the Butte Cluster, noting in particular the suitcase ministry in Paradise and the Christmas dinners and gifts for needy families provided by the Gridley church.

Lake: Wanda Celli reported that Clearlake Oaks and Clearlake are thriving and that the Federated congregation in Lakeport has made two trips to the Gulf coast with Habitat for Humanity and is now working on its ninth Habitat house in Lake County.

Shasta: Conni Lancaster reported that Redding First UMC celebrated its 125th anniversary this year, is planning a UMWIM trip to Louisiana and Mississippi, hosted two Emmaus retreats, has a very active UMW group, and many adult and children's programs, including a "tweeners" 4th through 6th grade Thursday evening group that feeds into the youth group. The Fall River Mills church took in four new members this past year, and the Shasta Lake City congregation held an "envisioning" meeting in December. Trinity Anderson welcomed 13 new members in 2006 and is very active in the community, serving Community Dinners to 40-50 monthly, offering a Kid's Place after-school program, and providing meeting space for parenting classes and other training sessions.

Siskyou: JoAnn Eastlick reported that the Shasta and Dunsmuir churches meet regularly. Yreka has begun a children's choir, will be offering a Lenten study entitled "the Life You've Always Wanted," will host a "Celebrate Recovery" group in the spring, and is offering a parenting class with a meal entitled "Making Children Mind, Without Losing Your Own." Montague is sending four members to Georgie Summers' upcoming Paul study and is very active in the Food Closet. Basel Rafeedy has been serving the Ft. Jones/Etna congregations since July and has children and youth ministries in both churches; they meet together monthly for social events. Basel is also teaching "Rediscovering our Methodist Roots" on Monday nights, and the Saturday men's prayer breakfast is thriving.

Coast: Carol Layton reported that Smith River is alive and well; Crescent City took in 7 confirmands and 13 new members in 2006; Klamath is redefining itself with the influx of the Native American membership; McKinleyville is rocking and holding four services a week and raising money for a new building. Things are also going well in Arcata, Fortuna, and Eureka. The Crescent City church has a grief ministry and is putting together a grief handbook.

Glenn/Colusa: Joe Riker reported that Orland Federated's youth group will be taking its third ecumenical mission trip, this time to Seattle to help the homeless. Orland collected 300 food baskets at Christmas, celebrated a "Blue Christmas" of spiritual healing, and hosted a "Boston New Year's Eve" party with clam chowder--the party celebrates the New Year at 9 p.m. Orland also has an active men's group and a regular movie night. Elizabeth noted that Trinity Colusa celebrated its 150th anniversary in October with a historical pageant and reception, had a children's Christmas pageant, participated in the food basket program, and has active adult and children's choirs, two adult studies, and an active youth group.

Sutter/Yuba/Yolo: Lou Gaschke sent a written report for his cluster, as he was not able to attend the meeting. He said the tone throughout his cluster is very upbeat, but that his smaller churches are very concerned about the large increase in apportionments for 2007 (up 100% for the Sutter Church).

Older Adult Ministries: Rosemary Landry reported that a resolution will be presented to the Board of Discipleship that an older adult ministries council be formed to address the needs of the fastest-growing group within the United Methodist Church. She referred to several resources for older adult ministry, including "Becoming Fully Alive," "Living Fully, Dying Well," and "10 Gospel Promises for Older Adults." Carol Layton moved and David Haynes seconded that the SDCOM approve the adoption of the resolution regarding the older adult ministries council. The motion passed unanimously.

Spring Clergy/Laity Retreat: This retreat will be held Monday, May 14 through Wednesday, May 16 at the Fortuna UMC and will feature singer/songwriter Sam Kaufman. The Fortuna UMW will provide the food. (Kaufman is also leading a women's retreat at Grace UMC in Yuba City February 9-10 entitled "Taste and See," based on Psalm 34.)

Adult Spiritual Retreat: Priscilla asked for feedback on an adult spiritual retreat, to be held late summer. Shasta Camp is a possible site, or the group could meet in a hotel. Priscilla, Rosemary, Carol, Julie, and Thom Brackney will meet later as a committee to further investigate the possibilities.

Lay Leader Report: David Haynes reported that while many churches within our district are thriving, 18 churches within the district need revitalization. He and Ben will be traveling to Guinda in April. Also, they will be addressing the apportionment issue again.

Other Action: Pauline Bowen moved and June Rothe-Barneson seconded that SDCOM endorse David Haynes' nomination as Conference Lay Leader. The election will take place at the 2007 Annual Conference, for the term beginning in 2008. The motion passed unanimously.

Conni Lancaster suggested that we offer pre-Annual Conference training to new lay representatives.

SDCOM also agreed that it was appropriate to honor out-going secretary Holly Kendall with a printed resolution of appreciation for her service. Priscilla will follow up on this.

Next meeting: The next meeting will be a teleconference; the date and time are TBA.

Ben led the closing prayer, and Priscilla adjourned the meeting at 3 p.m.