Grace Episcopal Church and St. Stephen’s Parish

Online Tidings

Pentecost 12, 2007

P.O. Box 51410, Colorado Springs, CO 80949
www.graceepiscopalcolosprings.org
grace.episcopal.church@gmail.com
719/328-1125

Prayer of the Week

Saint Bartholomew:

Book of Common Prayer, page 192

Services This Week

Sunday services this week will be at 12:45 pm at First Christian Church, on the corner of Platte and Cascade. Deacon Sally will preach, and the music will include Orlando Gibbons' Lord, Increase My Faith and Ave Verum by Edward Elgar, as well as hymns 47, 371, 596 and 574. There will be no coffee hour this week.

In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, today we remember Christ Church in Aspen, Prince of Peace Church in Sterling, St. Andrew's Church in Ft. Collins, St. Benedict Church in La Veta and St. James Church in Meeker.

Tuesday Bible Study

• To begin to appreciate the significance of God's covenant with David for understanding the content and meaning of the New Testament.
• To understand the biblical idea of the monarchy and the Old Testament background for the Davidic covenant.
• To understand the basic outlines of the promises made to David and the shape of the Davidic kingdom under both David and Solomon.

Nominating and Electing Vestry Members

The basic requirements for nomination for vestry are: 

1. minimum twenty-one years old,
2. "in good standing" for at least six months prior to election (good standing means you are an Episcopalian officially on the parish roll)
3. nominated in writing by three members of the parish in good standing.  Nominations may be submitted to any member of the Nominating Committee by letters or email.

The Nominating Committee includes the current vestry plus Father O'Donnell and Deacon Sally.  We ask that nominees submit a brief biography showing their church and/or other relevant experience and stating their interest in serving.  The most important qualifications apart from basic eligibility are strong interest in serving the Church and willingness to give time to it.

The deadline for nominations is Sunday, August 26th.  A slate of nominees from the Nominating Committee and nominations by parish members will be published on Sunday, September 2nd.  There will be a simple ballot for the special election on September 10th.  The top three vote-getters will be elected.

What is the workload?  The vestry meets once a month usually on the third or fourth Tuesday at 7:30 pm.  Meetings may last two to three hours. There may be occasional extra meetings to deal with matters needing immediate attention.  Email traffic can be extensive at times to avoid too many extra meetings.  There are delegated oversight tasks among vestry members in areas such as finance and Christian education, communications, or oversight of our responsibilities at First Christian Church. 

Appointed vestry will serve until the next annual parish meeting, which will be held at the usual time specified in the 1974 By-Laws of the parish that still govern us.

Financial Update from the Vestry

In order to improve our financial tracking and reporting, the vestry has been working with Doug Derr, treasurer of the Sangre de Cristo Region of the Diocese, the Church of the Good Shepherd, and former treasurer of two churches back East. Doug comes highly recommended by the comptroller of the Diocese and we are very blessed to have his services.

Based on Doug’s recommendations, the vestry is setting up a three-fold financial structure. A committee of 4-5 parishioners under the direction of vestry member David Watts will oversee the structure and recommend to the vestry any adjustments or changes as the need arises. This structure is far more extensive than anything Grace Church has attempted in the past and requires some changes in the way we typically handle our finances. However, the vestry believes these changes are necessary to put in place sound internal controls, embodying standard accounting practices and procedures that will withstand the scrutiny of annual audits.

To facilitate the financial tracking and reporting for the church, Doug recommended the purchase of church accounting software. Of the four software packages considered, the vestry approved the purchase of Church Windows software. In addition to tracking all income and disbursements, individual contributions, etc., the system also records all modifications to church accounts to provide an accounting trail that documents the changes that are made. We are also purchasing a laptop that will be dedicated to this task. 

Briefly the structure, as described by Tim Fuller last Sunday, is as follows:

1. Management of receipts, which means receiving and counting weekly contributions.  Approximately 4 teams of 3 counters each will rotate this assignment each week. David Nuss has offered to take responsibility for scheduling and management of the counting teams. David has been involved with the weekly counting at Grace for several years and we are grateful for his dedicated service. We will be looking for volunteers to staff these positions.
2. Data entry and maintenance of church accounts. Doug Derr is training parishioner Bill Marbaker on the use of the software. Bill is a longtime parishioner at Grace and handles the finances of his family business. Balance Sheets, Profit and Loss statements and other financial reports necessary to assist the vestry in planning and providing financial information to the parish will be generated directly from the software program, based on inputs to the system. This integrated approach for our church’s finances provides all the tools necessary to accurately gather and report on our financial health.
3. Disbursements or payment of bills and other expenses. For the time being, David Watts will be responsible for writing checks on behalf of the parish. All checks will require two signatures.

The vestry is agreed that what happened with the church’s finances in the past resulted from a lack of adequate internal controls and church accounting practices. We believe the steps we are taking are the right ones for the short term and we will continue to elaborate on them in the long term.

If you have questions about the vestry's plans, please contact David Watts at 389-0050. To volunteer for a counting team or other tasks you may email Marti Lindberg or call 636-1863. A financial statement for the second quarter of 2007 will be available to the parish after church on August 26.

ESM Offerings

Memorials and Thanksgivings

In the Life of the Parish

Summer Child Care

Following our usual tradition there will be no Sunday School for the children during the month of August. Young worshipers will remain with their families for the full service. We are grateful to the fine volunteers who provided care for the children during June and July, giving a welcome break to the regular Sunday School staff. The Nursery will be available as usual with many thanks to the faithful staff who care for our littlest parishioners.

Grace Midweek Services at First Christian

Tuesdays -- 10:00 am -- Holy Communion with Fr. Michael, followed by Bible Study at 10:40 am.

Thursdays -- 12:00 noon -- Healing Service and Holy Communion.

Youth Group

Hospitality and Housekeeping

Please do not bring any peanuts or foods made with peanut products into First Christian as there is a child with extreme allergies.

Tithes and Contributions

All contributions directed to our post office box or placed in the collection basket during Sunday services are used only by Grace Episcopal and cannot be accessed by the secessionist congregation.

Lesser Feasts and Fasts

An creative thinker and writer of a series of books William Porcher DuBose (1836-1918) taught for most of his life at the University of the South in Sewanee. Here is a sample of his theology:

"God has placed forever before our eyes not the image but the Very Person of the Spiritual Man. We have not to ascend into Heaven to bring Him down, nor to descend into the abyss to bring Him up, for He is with us, and near us, and in us."

Almighty God, you gave to your servant William Porcher DuBose special gifts of grace to understand the Scriptures and to teach the truth as it is in Christ Jesus: Grant that by this teaching we may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Scott Christiansen in Concert

On Sunday, August 19th at 3:00 pm, the FCC concert series is presenting an organ recital played by Scott Christiansen. The program will feature music by J.S. Bach, Paul Hindemith, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, Alexandre Guilmant, and Derek Bourgeois. A free will offering will be taken.

Weekly Calendar

Contact Information

Minutes of the April and May Vestry meetings can be found on the Grace Episcopal homepage.

Minutes of the June Vestry meeting will be posted soon.