A Message from

Your Bishop’s Committee

Your Bishop’s Committee held its regular monthly meeting on Nov. 21.  Following an opening prayer from Lucy Gowan, the attendees talked about where they are on their spiritual journeys.  We then discussed the parables from Matthew about the lost sheep and the brother who sinned.

The first focus of the meeting was the Parish Profile, newly completed by the Transition Committee.  The profile summarizes all activities that take place in our church and it discusses all the ministries we hold dear, as well as our dreams for the future.  It is a wonderful advertisement for St. Philip’s.  Enthusiastic and unanimous approval was given for the profile, and many thanks to all members of the Transition Committee for their thoughtful and diligent work: Tod Connor, Jane Ellis, Diane Evans, Marcus Granger-Jones, Jeremy Honey, and Karen Krestensen.  If you

have not seen the profile yet, click here.  If you have trouble accessing the web version, print copies will be available in the foyer.

The next phase of the search process is completing the official Church Deployment Office Profile.  This is a form that has many specific questions about where we are and where we would like to be as a congregation.  Your answers to the survey presented by the Transitions Committee was extremely useful in preparing this section.  The BC also decided on an appropriate financial package that will be offered to candidates for our next pastor.

Bob O’Brien reported that we had a good month for income and expenses.  Discussion turned to the 2006 budget, which is a major concern for a number of reasons.  The search and calling of our new pastor will incur many extra expenses, and even without that we have a significant shortfall in the operating budget for next year.  It was decided to have a special funds drive to cover the search & call expenses.  Lucy unofficially kicked this off last Sunday in her announcements when she reported that a member has generously offered to match all special donations up to $2000!  Please consider what you can do to help St. Philip’s succeed during this most important and exciting time.

Finally, Bill reported that we have two new tenants upstairs!  This was most welcome news indeed.  He will be assessing our expected income and maintenance for 2006 to include in the upcoming budget.

Facilities Corner

Looking back over the year it seems that water has been unusually expensive. We are spending a lot of money either bringing water in or keeping it out or keeping it contained. This month was no exception.

Old corroded pipes and fixtures in three different church locations incurred a $3200 expense this month. Although this was unusually high, there are no other known leaks at this time.

“St Philips Office Suites” (upstairs rentals) would like to thank Glenn & Barbara Luque for their gift of carpet. We were able to carpet and pad the entire area making our only “investment” more desirable.

On this same note we would like to welcome Kevin to unit 8 and Ed to unit 1. Kevin provides educational counseling to middle and high students and Ed is starting an investment business. Out of 8 units available 5 are now rented.

Thanks also to our monthly facilities coordinators Barbara Lyon (Sep), Dennis Potts (Oct), and Bill Kelly (Nov).  Please volunteer for December. I predict it will be an easy month.

             Bill DeRouchey, Facilities Coordinator

New Altar Guild Director

Many thanks to Barbara Lyon for taking on the very important role of Altar Guild Director.  This dedicated group of people work hard every week to lend beauty and dignity to the sanctuary, enriching the worship that we all share on Sundays.

Barbara has made a specialty of making our church beautiful: from her tireless work preparing for the fundraisers, to various projects on the church gardens and grounds, to her recent creations in Liturgical Arts.  Now our sanctuary will receive new benefits from her loving attention.