Old Business

The minutes were approved for the September 27th meeting.

We began the meeting with a discussion about the DVD for House of Books: In Their Own Words. Anne gave a short summary of the African Library Project DVD and her trip to Africa this past summer. Ultimately it was decided that Anne would give the sermon on Nov. 11 and show some video clips and then there would be a collection to support the DVD. Anne would write an article for the November newsletter which would give a link to her website which has a more complete accounting of her trip with her niece, Lesley Louden. Stephen said that he felt it was good for the church to support its own people. After the DVD is completed, along with help from the youth group we can do a book drive.

Then Anne attempted to analyze the numbers that came in from the survey. It seemed that over two thirds of the congregation wanted the same percentages of distribution of the money or wanted a very small change (1%-2%). We then read out loud from one third of the surveys where people wanted a major change in the distribution of the monies. After we looked at these Stephen said that he saw that even those surveys that wanted change were evenly distributed between categories and offset each other. So the resolution seems to be that there will be no change in the distribution of the Skyland 10K monies.

Last summer the Skyland 10K run cleared $5422, which was less than the previous year. Jackie will contact Paula Leary to find out about the Running calendar and whether the church has a date for next year�s 10K. Jackie said that she would go over the percentages of the previous distribution and email everyone what the final allocation of the 10K run monies will be.

Joan said the we have a new Indian student who she will report on at a later date, Jackie added that she was concerned about supporting the Indian student and the Fiji student if we had fewer funds because their education costs were fixed. Stephen said that perhaps he could use the minister�s discretionary funds to help. Joan added how important she felt that education was in the developing world.

Nancy Jo reported that plans for the mountain clean up on November 10 were going well. All four mountain churches were participating and that the Church of Latter Day Saints were excited to host the clean-up day. Nancy Jo said the article would be in the Mountain Network News. Also she would submit an article to the Skyland newsletter and announce it in church.

Joan reported that she had corresponded with Dr. Ammon of Global Strategies and he will be able to visit Skyland Church and speak on Jan. 13th. Bridget will be available as well. Everyone said how excited they are that both of them will be there. Joan will write to them and confirm the date.

New Business

The consumables that go into the Migrant Worker�s kits will be collected on November 18th, Nov. 25 and Dec. 1. We will pass out zip-loc bags and a list of needed consumables and then will collect them as well as bless them during the church service. Janet Davies will distribute the consumables to the migrant workers in Davenport. Joan said that a free store is set up there where the workers can shop for free and get the toiletries that they need, Jackie said that they did that last year and in the past they had passed out kits as needed. Mary Ellen will write an article about the kits for the November newsletter. Stephen suggested that Janet Davies do Words for the Children on Nov. 18th. Jackie will ask her and said that Janet has done such creative Words for the Children in the past.

Nancy Jo gave a through report on the council meeting. The council discussed how to make the Harvest Festival easier. Everyone liked the big tent especially because of the rain. So two more tents are needed. Also everyone wanted to slim down the number of whatnots. The jams, jellies and soaps did very well. They will expand the silent auction and solicit quality items. The biggest change will be to raise the standards and pre-sort. That will make recycling and moving-on of unsold goods easier too. The community will have to be informed that there will be no more electronics. So there are lots of plans to make next year�s festival even more successful. Nancy Jo also reported that Brian Wood resigned from the Board of Trustees. Jackie reiterated that she had already submitted the statement about the Mission Board to the council.

Anne was asked to be the next chairperson and Jackie reassured her that there would be a year�s apprenticeship so that she could learn the duties and responsibilities. Anne said that she would be honored to be the chairperson and she felt that Jackie and Joan Law had done such a superb job as previous chairpersons. We discussed possible new members to replace our irreplaceable outgoing members, Joan Law, Mary Ellen McTamaney & T�Shala.You will be sorely missed!

Jackie said that Nancy Jo had designed a beautiful web page that would be the green page. Nancy Jo reported that the florescent lights were in down below as well as the new windows.

Mary Ellen graciously invited the mission board to her house for the next meeting on Nov. 27th at 7:30PM.

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