August Session Summary

The Session held its regular “stated” monthly meeting on August 5, attended by REs Joel Aguilar, Tony Anthony, Wayne Bowman, Carl Ede, TEª Interim Pastor John Rantal.  REs Wayne Bowman and Matt Turner were excused from the meeting.  With a quorum present, the meeting was called to order at 7:07 p.m.

Pastor’s Report — Pastor John offered his monthly report summarizing his oversight of the TNPC ministries in July.  Of note were the high number of hospitalizations and medical procedures during July, and the after-church fellowship lunch on July 11.  Further, the discussion from last month's Session meeting about including more contemporary songs in worship resulted in some new “substitute” Ensemble offerings, with the suggestion of expanding the Ensemble repertoire this fall.  Pastor John will continue his sermon series from The Sermon On the Mount, with the section on The Lord's Prayer beginning in September.  Pastor John will also teach the fall quarter adult Sunday School class on ‘Genesis 1-11: Introduction to the Bible” beginning September 12.

Youth Ministry — David and Heather Zeiger gave a report about fall plans for the Youth Ministry, noting ongoing efforts to develop the sand volleyball court.

Communicant’s Class — Pastor John summarized the progress of the Communicant's Class, noting that all students have completed requirements to receive their own copy of the ESV Study Bible donated by John & Marsha Crosby. Those students who desire to pursue communicant membership will be interviewed by the Elders following completion of the class on August 29.  At the next evening Communion service, each will give a personal testimony, take the vows of church membership, and be received as communicant members of TNPC.

Session Forum — The Session held a "forum" meeting on July 13 to continue the process of developing the ministry vision of TNPC.  Elders will meet together in pairs during the next month to develop proposals that further articulate ideas that have been suggested so far.

Administration — The FY-2011 Budget was presented to the congregation on July 25. Members of the Budget Committee made themselves available to answer questions following the worship service.

Instruction — Provisions for training men who wish to seek the office of Ruling Elder or Deacon this coming January were reviewed.

Outreach & Missions — Two missionary visits were planned for the next two months, one of which was that of MTW's Betsy Christiansen on August 8.

Congregational Life — Pastor John requested that Saturday, October 23 be set aside for a fall fellowship event with a western-themed chili cook-off.

Special Request — Pastor John requested vacation leave for the week of September 20-26 so that he and Cindy may attend the MNA Church Planters Assessment Center at PCA headquarters in Atlanta.  The Session, responding to a challenge grant from Southwest Church Planting Network director Bill Thomas, voted to appropriate $1,300 toward the cost of sending the Rantals to this training which would qualify them to serve as PCA church planters.

Next Session meeting — Thursday, September 9, 7:00 p.m. in CE Room 205-206. All are welcome to attend.

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ªNote: RE = ruling elder, TE = teaching elder, the two classes of Elders in the PCA