Agape Church of Christ

Minutes for May 21, 2008 Meeting

Those present were:  Kirk, Scott, Doris, Rick, Jay, Jackie, Sharon, Linda, and Gayla.

• Jay checked on doorbells for signaling beginning and ending of classes.  A simple one could probably be installed for $100.  Action on this was tabled for now.
• Size of TV screen was discussed so those in the back of the auditorium could see the songs.  Probably more than one screen would be better and where to mount them was discussed.  This was also tabled for now.
• Scott wants to have a short sermonette for the kids before they are dismissed for Children’s Church.  They will be brought to the front right after communion for this lesson which will relate to what the topic is going to be for the adults. 
• Expansion Plans were discussed.  Expansion Options were distributed and discussion was held on each one.  (Stay where we are; Move to two services; Expand our present facilities; Buy a new facility; Buy land to build; Sell building and meet in an alternative location; Merge with another church)
• Sharon checked on the price of American Legion building which is $475,000 for a 16,000 square foot facility.  There is land for sale at NW corner of Union & Prospect and property on Union near Lansbrook.  Robert Howard is the owner of these two properties and has not returned Sharon’s inquiries.  Rick will contact him to see if he can get some answers.
• No. 1 Option was decided to be to stay where we are now on a short-term basis, and buy land to build on and start paying on it.  No. 2 Option is to sell our present building outright and meet in an alternative location.
• Kirk and Scott raised the possibility of contacting churches in other cities to see if they would be interested in using our church as a mission field and providing some support to help us in this transition period.  Scott knows of someone who can possibly help in this area.

Minutes for May 7, 2008 meeting

Those present were:  Scott, Sharon, Gayla, Kirk, Jay, Rick, Mark, Tracy, Jackie and Doris

• The Involvement Form was reviewed and suggestions made for additions to the form:  Reading Scripture, Funeral meals, Kitchen duty in general and Sunday a.m. kitchen duty, Teach Children’s Church, Praise singers, Update website, Visitation, and a line for “Other.”  Also, Small Groups questionnaire form can be added.
  
• The completed form will be distributed on Sunday, May 11.  Anyone can fill one out and will be asked to turn it in the same day.  Also, it will be put on the website and when Bill sends out the e-news, he will refer people to the website to print one and fill it out if they aren’t here on Sunday.
• Discussion again about prayer request time.  Possibility of submitting prayer requests before Sunday was discussed.  We plan to continue to take prayer requests from the congregation during worship but since God hears those petitions, the person leading prayer won’t go into detail about them.
• Discussion about meeting and greeting each other across the aisle at the beginning of the service was mainly voted down.
• Testimony time was talked about again and it will be implemented soon.
• It was determined that having the announcements at the end of the service would help them to be remembered better.
• A monitor was talked about being installed in the middle of the auditorium ceiling so those in the back could see the songs.
• Jay will check on having an inexpensive bell system installed.
• Scott hasn’t heard back from Monty in Stillwater about coming up to lead singing.
• The next meeting on May 21^st will focus on expansion.  Sharon has been doing a little checking on new locations.  There is land available at the corner of Union & Prospect and Prospect west of the railroad tracks.  The 37 acre tract of land on East Prospect that was considered earlier cannot be split up and we don’t need that much land.

Minutes for April 27, 2008 meeting

Those present were: Scott, Sharon, Rick, Kirk and Doris

• Giving notice to those serving in worship ahead of time is important – possibly by e-mail with acknowledging whether that person can serve. Check with Jason if we can help him in this area. We need a bigger variety of people serving instead of the same ones over and over.
• Scott will prepare an involvement form for people to fill out. It is requested to have persons fill them out and hand them in the same day – possibly doing this on May 10th.
• As some girls have expressed an interest in reading scripture during worship and possibly some women want to expand their areas of involvement, men and women alike will check areas they are interested in serving, then Scott will give lessons on women’s roles in the church – either this summer or fall. Once the involvement form has been prepared, Scott will contact other groups for their input on the form.
• Prayer request time is still lengthy. We will be exploring ways to shorten that time.
• A testimony time was discussed during Sunday worship – more like an interview process.
• There are problems with people being able to see the PowerPoint songs. We can possibly have two monitors – one on each side of the room – which would help. They would need to be large enough so those in the back could see them.
• Since we need a bell system to begin and dismiss classes, we will explore possibilities for that. A wired-in system would possibly be an expensive process, and we should wait for that after we decide if we are going to be staying in our present facility or moving to another one in the near future.
• We will contact Jason to see what he has found out about acquiring more land around us. Sharon will call a realtor about what other land or facilities are available in other areas of town.
• We will think about having our mission statement put on a banner. T-shirts are going to be made with the Agape logo and the meaning of agape.
• Monty in Stillwater is waiting to hear from us about coming up and leading singing. Gayla is the one who knew about him. Possibly we can have a conference call with him to see what his thoughts are and what we would like to have done.
• Check on lapel mikes or hand-held mikes for praise singers.
• Scott knows of someone who is willing to come here and give a weekend seminar of how to have a more meaningful worship.
• Sharon said that we should leave the coffee/donut time alone on Sunday a.m.
• A fan is probably needed in the front for Scott.
• Our next two meetings will be on Weds., May 7 and Weds., May 21.