Colorado Springs Quakers

Minutes for Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business

Colorado Springs Friends Meeting

Eighteenth day of the first month, 2015

In Attendance: Lisa Lister, Bill Werling, Sarah Callbeck, Jonathan McPhee, John Robey, Bill Durland , and Genie Durland

Meeting opened with silence at 11:35 followed by the following reading from Faith and Practice:

For it is the corporate Truth or Light for which Friends labor together, not the proof or justification of the rightness of any particular position (Barney Aldrich, p. 119).

I always go to the monthly meetings because if I don't, they usually end up doing some darn thing or other. (Nancy Springer, p. 119).

  1. Acceptance of minutes: Twelfth month: not approved due to oversight, to be addressed next month.

  2. Reports

    1. Ministry and Oversight Committee: did not meet.

    2. Meeting House Committee: Minutes accepted. Summary: Refinancing our mortgage will be an ongoing discussion for some time. We will need to refinance before we have a "balloon" payment in 2016 or 2017. [Ann] will get us the dates and numbers we need to start having serious conversations with FGC and other lenders. We also discussed the idea of borrowing money in addition to what is owed on the mortgage so that we could build an addition to include bathrooms, a kitchen and storage. We have many considerations. Please send your thoughts to [Ann][AnnDaughtery] or bring them to the committee. The committee meets at 9AM at the meeting house on the second Sunday. At the committee meeting there was also discussion about grants for larger projects at the meeting house. The FGC Meeting House Fund has grants for greening the meetinghouse and we received one to replace the heater. A possible future grant request would be to replace the doors of the meeting house so that they are easier to operate and more weather proof and redo the foyer.

    3. First Day School - no report

    4. Finance Committee: the minutes and financial reports were accepted with many thanks. Sarah Callbeck reviewed year-end financial statements. At their monthly meeting, the Finance Committee discussed the calculation of funds available for budget needs. Currently, the Meeting has $1,400 from year-end donations available for budget allocation. A decision was made to allocate thoughtfully, since some pledge monies, now at $910 per month, are likely to be received as annual rather than monthly contributions. Given this consideration, it was proposed that the budget for 2015 should remain in its reduced form (as presented at the December 2014 business meeting), and the $1,400 allocated conservatively. For travel to IMYM, $415 would be allocated to Travel Reserve. Another $50 would be placed in Emergency Reserve. Any balance not needed for January expenses would be put into the Mortgage Reserve. The Finance Committee requested approval of this decision. The business meeting approved this request.

    5. Library: No report

    6. Nominating Committee: Nominating committee did not report, however, there is a dire need of another person to be on the Finance Committee (contact Molly if interested - molly@wingate-consulting.com ). Also, Bill Durland will be leaving the M&O Committee (as he was on the committee in an interim basis only).

    7. Peace and Justice Committee: There was discussion on how the Meeting should respond to the NAACP bombing. The possible options discussed were meeting to discuss this issue (and related issues), officially expressing our willingness to provide support as needed or standby and await any request for assistance from the NAACP as Bill Durland has already contacted them.

  3. Old Business - items listed in the announcements were discussed.

  4. New Business - none discussed.

  5. Announcements

    1. February potluck will be February 1. Genie will facilitate a discussion on the queries related to the IMYM Minute on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This is an important topic, and we hope that we can have good sharing on this topic. Lisa will send the queries out in advance of potluck.

    2. Formation of adult education book study and discussion group. We are proposing that we start with The Essential Elias Hicks. Bill and Genie will facilitate the discussion. After an informal poll was taken about best times to meet, it was determined that after meeting on the 2nd Sunday of each month works for most. The first meeting, therefore, will be March 8. The book is available for $13.50 from Amazon, or $15 from the FGC bookstore. Please RSVP to durlandwe@gmail.com if you will be attending.

    3. John Robey needs a ride to the Meeting House each Sunday through at least the end of February. There is a sign-up in the Meeting House.

    4. There will be a presentation titled Conflict in the Middle East by Nidal Alfarajin who lives in a refugee camp near Bethlehem on February 2, 2015 at the Colorado College Worner Center WES room at 902 N. Cascade Ave, Colorado Springs 80903.

    5. The play Tribal Tales will be presented May 1, 2015 at the Cottonwood Center for the Arts Theatre. This play is a parody about violence in the Old Testament and addresses the issue of peace in the Middle East. More to follow as the date approaches.

    6. IMYM is in need of the Clerk, YFM Coordinators and the Kitchen Liaison (Contact Sarah sarahkc48@gmail.com if interested in the IMYM positions)

    7. Boulder Meeting will host Colorado Regional on April 26, 2015 with an overnight for the Junior and Senior Young Friends on the night of April 25. We will have worship, potluck and a program. Topic: Developing a Quaker Response to the New Jim Crow: How can we add to the race relation discussion.
      We suggest people see the film Selma and read The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander in preparation.

  6. Closing: Meeting was closed with silence at 12:44

Submitted by Bill Werling, Recording Clerk