Council Notes

Notes Stewardship Council

July 9, 2026

Pastor Andrew

This summer season I have rejoiced in the work that God continues to do in our church.  New young families have made their way into our congregation, the Elders have begun the listening meeting process and are already receiving good feedback, and God continues to bless his Word and apply it to our hearts and lives. It was a real blessing to dedicate ten children and to see three young people baptized by Pastor Joseph before he left. We also gained a new member last month. 

Personally, I’m beginning to think about the fall when I will return to our Exodus series. I am also working with the search team as we look for and discern who will be our next Associate Pastor. I’m thankful that we have had a few preliminary conversations with potential candidates. 

Along with my work in the church, my personal life is becoming more complicated. This month, my baby is due. I’m thankful to God for his blessings and I’m thankful also for this council and especially the Elders in their flexibility as I prioritize the needs of my family. I will most likely be off balance for a while but I know that the leaders we have in place will hold things together. 

I continue to pray that God will have his way in our church and look forward to what he will do in the future. 

Elders – Frank

• The Elders have begun a new series of Listening Meetings. This effort will mainly be facilitated through the Sunday School venues. We will hand out questionnaires that will be filled out at the time. Then we will go over as many answers as possible. 
  • The results will be consolidated and generate analytics.
• Scholarship fund: The Elders are continuing to work through creating an outline of how the program will be administered.  Rick has developed an application form and will distribute it to the Elders for review.  

Trustees – Brian

• The trustees worked on the HVAC system. A new pump and a new pressure tank were installed, and plumbing was changed. It’s working well now.
• David Prieb suggested getting different controls for the cooling system

Finance/Budget – Charles

Charles presented the budget as of the end of June 2026. The budget is short by $40,938.26.  We are at 41% of the budget and should be at 50%. All bills have been paid, and missionaries have received their money for the first 2 quarters. Joseph received his last paycheck and was reimbursed for his expenses for attending Ponca. The actual budget need will reflect a $1,000 decrease because of not having an associate pastor at this time. 

Business

• Search Team – Have had some leads. Pastor Andrew visited with 2 possible candidates. Next, they will come in to talk with the Search Team.
• Zoar Church will have a 1½ inch ad (church name or whatever we choose) across the bottom of the Inman Museum calendar and we will be the sponsors for the month, and it will be directly mailed to all households.
• Zoar Church will be giving $400 (from the church missions project designated fund) to Janet McMahon for her mission trip to Uganda in early fall.

Other Business

• Brad will check with Jared Enns on the status of the installation of the modulator.
• Offer voter registration at church. Need to do that now before the primary. Have voter guides available.
• The 4-year $27,000 pledge to the JAARS account for the Carters will start in the 3rd quarter.
• Elders had talked about paternity leave for Pastor Andrew, and it was agreed upon to give him 2 weeks.
• Possible people to fill the pulpit – Brian Harris, Alden Dick, Tim Sullivan, Tabor College president
• Salary Team has met, and they are getting close on a decision on the salary for Lexi Milne, Children’s Ministry Director. Also need to verify with Lexi on September 1, 2026, as her full-time start date. 

May 28, 2026

Pastor Andrew

This last month has been mostly uneventful. As our spring programs come to a close, I often wonder what I will do with my extra time. So far, I have not really had any. Our church has finished up our Moving from Maintenance to Mission series, and I have begun to hear people say things like when are we going to start? These comments encourage me, though I’d like to be clear that moving from maintenance to mission is mostly a heart change. I’m not interested in changing the branches but not the roots. As the Elders interact with the church and thinks and prays about what’s next, I hope all of us will consider our hearts. What are we willing to do or change for the mission? The answer to that is to expose our hearts.

I’m thankful today for the ministry of Joseph. He has done a good job, and I believe we can say goodbye to him with a clear conscience. We are also blessed to say goodbye to him as a congregation that has genuinely benefited from his ministry. Joseph leaves us better than he found us. 

My recent baby dedication class went well. I was deeply blessed and encouraged by the hearts and intentions of our youngest and newest parents. They represent the next generation of this church along with their children. 

I always like to remind our council, especially with summer approaching, that rest is important. The fall and winter represent our busiest times. Allow yourself and the church to take a breath as we enter the summer season. 

Thank you all for your hard work and service to the kingdom. 

Elders

• Elder nominations: No nominees have left their names stand.  
• Nomination period officially closed with no nominations being announced from the pulpit. Nominations will be open again next year.  
• Considering having a class on leadership, possibly a teacher from outside Zoar.  Class in the fall and Elder nomination next spring.
• Mission support for Joseph and Brianna Carter: The Mission Team would like to utilize the Fiscal Year Carryover within the Designated Funds - $27,000 spread over the next four years.  This support was approved by the Elders as comes as a motion from them to the Council. Motion was approved. 
• Scholarship fund: The Elders are continuing to work on creating an outline of how the program will be administered.  Rick has developed an application form and will distribute it to the Elders for review.  
• Maintenance to Mission: We need to develop listening meetings with questions to determine what the congregation sees as the mission.  
• Consider inviting others to the listening meeting and planning meetings.  
• The Elders are working this spring on a plan that will include listening meetings, noting activities already started, and feedback sessions that will culminate by the end of the year.  This will enable the congregation to fully see the “mission” and move from Maintenance to Missions by the beginning of the year.
• Baby Dedication is scheduled for June 7th 
• We will have another dedication service in the near future.

Trustees

• Ordered a new boiler pump
• Gail made a hole through the wall in the classroom to gain access to the boiler pump. A door will be placed in place of that opening. 
• New slide has been installed on the playground set

Finance/Budget 

Charles presented the budget as of May 27, 2026. The budget is short by $37,874.12.  We are at 32% of the budget and should be at 42%. All bills have been paid, and at the end of June, missionaries will receive their money for this quarter. 

Authorized signatories on accounts at the bank were updated. 

Business

Discussion on Joseph Carter's employment compensation and other expenses

Discussion on Lexi Milne’s full-time position/salary and job description

• Pastor Andrew would like to see her have full ownership in 4 areas
• Wednesday Night Activities
• Children’s Church 
• Sunday School
•  Nursery

April 29, 2026

Pastor Andrew

Today I’m reminded most of all that our church and my ministry are dependent of the sustaining grace of God. The old Hymn goes, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because he lives, all fear is gone, because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives.” It’s easy for pastors to feel pressure to be clever or perfect. I’m never perfect, and I’m rarely clever. I hang my hope on Christ, who is the chief shepherd. My life is worth the living just because he lives. 

Today, I want to voice my gratitude for our Elder Board. The Elders have taken on the responsibility of overseeing the church as Christ has called them to. In doing that, they have also been empowered to hold me accountable and give me needed counsel and encouragement. I’ve had the blessing of benefitting from their wisdom and their willingness to disagree with me in a Christ-honoring way for the good of the church. Please pray for the Elders as they grow more and more into the leaders God calls them to be.

As you have noticed, I have started a series on moving from maintenance to mission. I believe this shift has been received well by the congregation, but I’m assuming that some have been surprised that this shift isn’t just about programs but starts with a heart that’s willing to be stretched and challenged. Before this shift affects how we plan and spend money, it affects our hearts. My prayer for this group is that God’s missional call to all Christians would fully work in each heart here, especially mine. 

On a different note, Joseph is wrapping up his time here. I’m thankful for his efforts and wish him the best through his transition to the next thing. As the search team has invested in letting people know about this job opening. Please continue to pray for the search team and our next Pastor.

Thanks to each of you. Thank you, Elders, for casting vision. Thank you, trustees, for maintaining the vision, and thank you, finance, for subsidizing the vision. We have done our best; now we look to God to build this house. 

Elders

·         24-hour prayer: Rick passed out thank-you cards to all who participated.  Thanks were given to Rick for taking charge of this project, last year, this year, and planning for next year.  

·         Elder Nomination: Nomination process kicked off.

·         Child dedication: We will plan for a service soon.

·         Went to all adult Sunday school classes to get feedback on their thoughts about the new format of the annual meeting and what is important to them about Zoar in the coming year. 

o   We will put together an analysis of what we learned. 

Trustees

·         Becky Wagler has been painting outside at the church

·         Brian and Charles have been working on the boiler pump 

·         The damaged slide to be replaced on the playground is under warranty

·         We asked Chris Ledbetter to join the trustees

·         Staci Eddy has been permitted to use the field at church for Rec ball in May and June. 

Finance/Budget

Charles presented the budget as of April 28, 2026. The budget is short by $30,939.57.  We are at 26% of the budget and should be at 32%. All bills have been paid, and missionaries have received their money for this quarter. Building insurance has increased 25%. 

Pastor Andrew
We continue to proceed with usual church activities. Of note, this last month, the Church Vision and Goals meeting seemed to be a real success. Our new format focused on the future and gave our church ministries the ability to rejoice in what God has done, while looking forward to the New Year. It’s my desire to see the Vision and Goals meeting as part of a strategic year-long format that engages our congregation. The Elders will use something we are calling a Listening Meeting to connect with our people concerning many of these topics. We’d invite you to stay tuned and participate in this system.

 

Frank’s recent visit to the Light House SS is an example of this type of thinking. His good impulse on that sort of follow-up represents wise Elder leadership hopefully resulting in more transparency and trust across the board.

 

I’ve begun to sense some fatigue in our Exodus series. When an appropriate point comes, I will shift my focus and work on something else for a while before returning to finish our series.

 

Both Joseph and Lexi are operating well. Joseph recently had almost forty students on a Wednesday night, more than

I’ve ever really seen. Meanwhile, Lexi has had to deal with some behavioral issues with some of her students. I felt she handled all this with real professionalism.

 

I continue to keep my eyes on Jesus, the head of the church and the one who holds everything together.

 

Elders
Elders only met one time in the past month due to rescheduling the business meeting. Not much else to work on but we all were working on our areas of focus. Elders are working to listen to the congregation and offer leadership as necessary. Some of what we are working on are as follows:

 

Finance/Budget
Charles presented the budget as of March 11, 2026. The budget is short by $26,262.38. Not a good start.
Mission Sunday brought in $3,600, which was a record low. There was discussion and it was suggested that we announce a week ahead about Mission Giving.

 

 

Pastor Andrew suggested to the trustees to put in a sand volleyball court. (sand, net, lights)
If we were to proceed with this project, it was suggested that the men’s fellowship help with this.

 

January is the busiest month of the year for our office as Melissa gets reports and other information together for the business meeting. I’m thankful for her hard work.

 

Both Joseph and Lexi have been working on their New Year’s vision and goals. They will be set to present their thoughts at the Vision and Goals meeting. I’m thankful for their forethought and willingness to embrace the process.

 

Last Sunday we had the joy of affirming two new families into church membership. It’s always a blessing to see new folks join our number. My prayer is that Zoar continues to grow into a place where people feel fed, encouraged, and challenged in their faith. 

 

I’m so thankful for the willingness of the Stewardship Council to try new things as we changed the business meeting format. Hopeful this will be strategically beneficial for the body.

 

Please continue to pray for me as the pastor of this church. I’m thankful for God’s grace and His enduring goodness as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.

Brad Franz was approved as the Annual Meeting Chairman.