Support Ministry Team subgroup: Communications Team

Last meeting: May 1, 2008

Attendees:

Steve Hale

Elizabeth Hensel

Guest Kristi Picken

Staff: Jan Sommerfeld

Excused:

Mark Des Rochers

Carrie Kiekhaefer

LeAnne McFadden

Welcome & prayer

Important items of information:

Guest Kristi Picken brainstormed with the team on how FELC members and staff could conserve our natural resources at home and at church, including:

AT HOME AND AT YOUR OFFICE

• Set your default printer specifications to double-sided copies.
• Try to break the habit of printing material on one side of a page. Get into the habit of reformatting your printing styles. Try to get 4 pages down to one. When you’re printing a document several pages in length, consider formatting the documents in order to print four pages onto one page, especially if you need the material for reference purposes.
• Online resource: Visit thegreenoffice.com, where office products made from 100 percent recycled materials can be purchased.
• Use window shades in your home and office to control heat exposure.

AT CHURCH

• Project the order of worship on a screen at the North Site to reduce the number of bulletins that are printed.
• Make a portion of the worship bulletins generic, so it can be reused from Sunday to Sunday, reducing the number of pages that must be printed each week.
• Since the announcements are available online, rather than printing and inserting the 2-page announcements in each bulletin, make them available in the Gathering Areas and/or have greeters hand them out to worshipers.
• Make the Congregational Council binder available online (this project is in progress) and rather than printing another binder for new Council members, the binders can be reused, with updated information being inserted.
• Encourage more members to sign up to receive the monthly newsletter online to reduce the number of newsletters that are printed.
• Include an announcement in the bulletin and newsletter that alerts members who sign up for Simply Giving that they still will receive quarterly contribution envelopes unless they call Jenell Barth at the North Site to cancel their envelope delivery.
• Inquire whether our current contribution envelope provider can send envelopes once a year or send them to the church where they would be available for members to take home from church.
• Purchase biodegradable cups for fellowship.
• Include energy-conservation tips in the newsletter. (Tip of the month).

SUGGESTIONS FOR PROPERTY OVERSIGHT TO CONSIDER

• Continue to add motion lights in rooms that are being renovated.
• Install automatic flushers on the toilets.
• Plant prairie grasses at the North Site on the south side of the building and the hill so it saves on maintenance. Perhaps mow a walking path.
• Include blue (standard color for paper recyclables) recycle bins in the Fellowship Hall kitchen. Include recycle bins for paper and commingled items at North Site and Downtown Site Gathering Areas during special events.

ECHOES: The team recommends that going forward, the name, ECHOES, be upper and lower case to be consistent with the logo and store signage. The current upper case format denotes an acronym. Jan will forward this recommendation to the Outreach & Social Ministry Team.

Worship bulletins: The team evaluated the design, color and format of our worship bulletins. Amy Truby, who currently creates our bulletins, will be leaving at the end of the month and a new staff person will be trained to take over the role. It’s a logical time to review the functionality and attractiveness of these publications, taking into consideration our limitations of printing them in house on equipment that doesn’t print high-quality graphics. The general consensus is that the current bulletins generally are readable and adequate. One issue is the half-sheet pages which fall out during worship. One suggestion was to staple the bulletins in the middle. The team will continue to evaluate the color and design options of the bulletins and make a recommendation to the Worship Ministry Team.

Pastor Dave’s Devotions: It was suggested that the devotions be relocated from the welcome table at the North Site to one closer to the Sanctuary, to make them more readily available to worshipers. It was thought that they currently may get overlooked.

Adjournment: The Lord’s Prayer

Next meeting: 7 p.m. Thursday, May 29, Downtown Site Lounge.