Moderator, Larry Lopp, brought the meeting to order.

Stephen started the meeting with a prayer.

Gina Wetherill reported on the Vision Committee’s understanding of how Skyland church wants to go for the next few years. The suggestions as a whole fell into three main areas: Greening, Youth, and Outreach. The council decided we should add: Spiritual Growth and Communication and sharing. It was decided that the committee representatives should ask their committees for suggestions of ways to implement the visions. These should be e-mailed to Gina by April 8, 2007. The Visions Committee will prioritize and present these suggestions to the counsel and congregation at the April 15th congregational meeting. It is hoped that the congregation will then be motivated to heartily support the new projects that emerge from these visions. The council praised the Visions Committee for the terrific work.

The Pledge committee presented several graphs which displayed the various dimensions of pledging in the Skyland Church. Around 6o members actively pledge. Surprisingly, one person is giving a disproportionately large amount. This is making it possible for Skyland to “stay in the black”. The pledge committee wishes that other members of the church would increase their pledges so that such a large amount of the giving of the church did not fall on one person.

The council discussed how we might present the giving opportunities to the congregation. Points made were:

1. The UCC and Skyland church do not have an agreement on how we “should” pledge.

2. UCC encourages giving ½ of our tithe to a church if we choose to. This would be 5% of each pledge’s income. However, they leave it to each person to decide if this works for them.

3. We need to represent what people give as pledges in terms of the demographics so that the congregation understands what is needed. Then they could make better decisions about what their part in the giving could be. They need to know that 85% of the cost of running the church is fixed.

4. We have, in the past, thought that people would automatically give as much as is needed to cover the budget. That hasn’t happened and people have had to be pressed for more.

5. We have several ideas for how to present this to the congregation: witnessing steward, information going out in newsletters, information on the website.

It was suggested that, perhaps, we might delay presenting these ideas to the church and just allow the giving to happen as it may this year. Then we would educate the congregation on the financial needs of the church throughout the next year. After discussion Holly moved that we put the education letter, containing Stephen’s ideas, written by Richard Lyness, from the council as a whole, in the newsletter immediately. Gina seconded the motion. The council decided that we would create a newsletter article, with a graph showing distribution of pledges last year. Brian Wood proposed we amend the article to include another graph reporting pledging activity at Skyland church. Holly seconded this motion. The council voted to do so. Stephen’s suggestions about how to approach giving will be used in the article.

Stephen gave the minister’s report. Saturday, May 5, 2007, four mountain churches will cooperate in a Mountain Clean-up Day. The churches participating will be the Catholic, Mormon, Mountain Bible and Skyland churches. The council was pleased that there has been such interest in cooperation among the mountain churches.

Stephen also thanked the council for the creation of the Vision Committee. He reports that he appreciates knowing the mission and direction that Skyland members feel to be important. This helps him in creating his own mission and direction.

Reports were given by committee Chairs.

Ø Deacons reported the decision to charge $1000.00 to nonmembers for use of the Sanctuary and Whittaker Hall together. They will charge $400.00 to nonmembers for the use of the Sanctuary alone. This will be advertised. The Deacons are also implementing fire protection for Skyland. The Deacons want to thank Fern Thompson who has pledged to give $100.00 per month for the express use of the deacons to provide food in various forms through the Food Pantry. The Deacons also thank the council for the approval of a new intern. They have interested recruits.

Ø Nancy Jo proposed there be one password for all the committees to enter their minutes in the Web Page. Del Mahrle seconded the proposal. The council voted unanimously to set a single password. The password was agreed upon.

Ø Holly reported that Patricia Wood developed a Lent special literature for the Sunday school. Carole Green has contributed greatly with her puppets and teaching of songs to memorize the “Lord’s Prayer”. Patricia will be leaving the fall, so there is a need for a new Sunday School Superintendent. The Easter Egg Hunt is planned. Sarah Defalla will be working with the youth. They are planning a Mother’s Day service. They are looking for a youth leader. $250.00 has been contributed to send a person to UCC conference as a youth representative. Julia is planning to attend. The Nursery is going well. Kelly Leary is doing two Sundays a month. Sign-ups for other Sundays are on the Calendar. Also, Stephen will lead an Adult Ed Series.

Ø Missions reminded that the movie:”An Inconvenient Truth” will be shown Sunday, March 25, 2007.

Ø Stephen reported that Sky land’s Youth group is thinking of combining with the Almaden Youth group. A dynamic young woman who is the Almaden youth leader would lead them. We would pay part of her salary. This is not in the current budget. It would be less than $10,000. Kim and Peggy are going to take the youth to get a feel for the group. Another idea being considered is combining with the La Selva Beach youth. Jane Grady would lead them.

Ø The Women’s group reported that their retreat was a success. They are planning a money-raising, soap-making class. They are planning ways to orient the congregation to the new kitchen.

Ø Pastoral Relations Committee reported that they have had 37 responses to the “appraisal of Stephen” request. They will meet to review these. Then they will meet with Stephen to convey the gist of these appraisals to him. After that, the general information will be made available to the congregation in a report.

Under New Business, the council discussed AA’s use of Whittaker Hall on Monday evenings. It was suggested that we approach the contact with the idea of having Al Anon and Alateen meetings on the same night. Brian Wood moved to have Stephen approach the AA . John Gaffney seconded. The council voted for Stephen to take this to the AA representative. We agreed to list AA on the church calendar. Gina will do so.

Also, The council agreed to allow a Music and Arts camp to be held at Skyland Church in Whittaker Hall Monday through Friday, 8:00A.M. —6:00P.M. for six weeks in July and August. A question was raised about charging for the use of Whittaker for this. After discussion, Brian Wood moved that we charge a minimum amount to Los Gatos Recreation Department for the use of the facilities. John Gaffney seconded. The council voted to do so. Holly will deal with the logistics.

Stephen led the council in a closing prayer.

The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Del Mahrle, Clerk

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