Topics discussed:

Online Calendar:

We discussed having a web-enabled calendar that lists any church meetings or events. There needs to be an easy way to view it as well as an easy way to manage it. John showed us on his laptop computer a web-based calendar that might fit our needs. We discussed the possibility of having a calendar gateway committee comprised of one member of each of the church boards, who would be responsible for collecting calendar input from their respective board, plus an actual calendar manager, who would input the data into the calendar. Either that or we could train people on how to use it. It would have to be journalized so that we could see who made what changes. Questions that arose: What information is published publicly vs. which information is private? Do we need a password protected section of the calendar and/or the website?

Decision: Names and email addresses are not to be published publicly.

Online Database: The list we use now for mailing out the church newsletter is full of outdated information and unknown recipients. It would be useful to have an online database that can be updated easily. A question about the information pew cards go was brought up. Where do they go? The trustees, the deacons? How can we put the information into a usable form? The online database might be somewhere for this information to be input.

Technophobes: How do we handle people who do not have email or web access?

Nancy Jo suggested a buddy system where a web-enabled person buddies with a non-web-enabled person to deliver email messages by telephone or in person.

Meeting Minutes: There is a one month lag time between meeting minutes creation and publication, and even then they are not getting out to the general church body. Gina suggested an online minutes form, with easy to fill in fields, that is submitted and automatically posted on the church website. Minutes that are not approved yet would be flagged as such.

Newsletter: We discussed having a summary of minutes from each board in the newsletter each month. This summary would be imported directly from a summary field on the meeting minutes online submission form. There would be a link on the online newsletter to the full text of the minutes. We also discussed a possible re-design of the newsletter, to make more efficient use of the format and to add more design elements such as graphics and photographs.

How-to manual: There is a need for a "how-to" manual for the church. It would answer questions such as, "How do I make coffee?" "How do I turn on the heat?" "Who launders the dirty tablecloths after potluck Sunday?" "Who do I talk to if we are running low on supplies?" and all the other sundry questions that arise. Question for all boards: What are the jobs we are responsible for and who does them? Gina will help to capture info on tasks and begin to pull info into central place.

Misc: It was agreed upon that annual report should be published on our website as well as printed. Larry pointed out that the church P.A. system is for music and not voice and that some church attendees are not able to clearly hear the sermons

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