CITC Transition Team Meeting Minutes 3/29/09

Process

1. The Transition Team will begin having regularly scheduled meetings twice a week. We will meet every Monday and Thursday from 8:00 – 9:30pm. Monday will be at Cafe Brazil in Oak Cliff and Thursday will be at Cafe Brazil at Mockingbird and 75.


2. Notes will be taken at each meeting and we’ll try to have them posted on the blog about a day later.



3. At the end of each meeting we will set the agenda for the next meeting.


4. Anyone is welcome to show up to discuss the items on the agenda.


5. We will continue having 10am community meetings on Sundays through April. There will be some exceptions, such as Easter Sunday where we would like to take that time to honor Laura and Neeki. We will announce those exceptions in advance.


6. The Team made a commitment to start and end meetings on time.


7. Voting
   
   
   
   1. The Team did not reach resolution on how decisions will be made.
      
      
      
      
      1. Some members prefer a consensus. For those members, winning a vote is not really a shared vision.
      
      
      2. Some members prefer a vote with some threshold for carrying the motion. For those members, consensus is a little fuzzy and have not been helpful in the past.
      
      
      3. Because the church does not have official membership, we are not sure how to determine who even has the right to vote.
      
      
      4. We will try to reach a resolution during Monday’s meeting.
      
      
      
      
   
   
   
   2. We did agree on some principles.
      
      
      
      1. We must announce votes in advance.
      
      
      2. We cannot rely strictly on those who attend meetings. There must be other ways for congregants to express their will.
      
      
   
   

Timeline

1. During the next 10am community meeting on April 5, we would like to get a consensus from the community to pay Courtney for an additional 12 hours of work per week through the remainder of her Methodist appointment at the end of June. She is currently paid 20,000 annually by the Methodist Church for 20 hours of work. This would be $192 per week and would be our only staff expense through June. Scott will generate this proposal.


2. Easter is the last Sunday for Laura and Neeki.


3. The Sunday after Easter, Courtney will be at an Alliance of Baptists conference out of town. The Transition Team will take responsibility for the service that week.


4. The team did not reach resolution on specific dates, but agreed on some milestones and talked about factors that might influence timing.
   
   
   
   
   1. The Team believes the church has some identity issues that can not be quickly resolved. We have some people who have been around a while and are aware of the church’s heritage. We have many people who have just joined our community since we came to Oak Cliff. There are others who left the church since we moved to Oak Cliff, but may be interested in returning. All of these groups view the church differently and individuals within those groups have varying levels of ownership and commitment. The Team feels that there needs to be a shared vision going forward and that may take time to develop. This doesn’t seem like a time for quick decisions.
   
   
   2. If Courtney did not plan to continue here after her appointment runs out, she would be reappointed at the beginning of June. Therefore, she needs some level of commitment from us prior to that so that she will know whether she needs to seek reappointment.
   
   
   3. Milestones. These are all critical and intertwined to some extent. The Team is trying to determine if we can get consensus on all of these in one sitting, perhaps the Sunday after Easter when we will be on our own. It may be too much and/or make it impossible to have the worship experience that we believe is very important to our community right now.
      
      
      
      1. Commitment. We need a commitment from people to God and to one another that we will work toward that shared vision. Teri will provide some preliminary language for this.
      
      
      2. Budget. We need to affirm a budget and probably make pledges to support that budget. Wes will provide some preliminary numbers.
      
      
      
      3. Call pastor. We will most likely recommend that we call Courtney through the end of the year. We think this allows the church time to work through some things and allows Courtney some stability and security for her family and career. Courtney would be one voice in determining what kind of church we will be and would help shepherd us to that next step. If things work well for the church and for Courtney, we would make a decision at some point to make her our pastor for the foreseeable future.
      
      
   
   

Other Issues

1. The Team agreed to engage a consultant to discuss specific issues related to personnel, professional ethics, boundaries and organizational structure. This is a preliminary meeting with the Transition Team to help identify and frame issues for discussion. This will preempt the standard meeting at Cafe Brazil this Thursday.


2. The Team needs to discuss how we will have music after Neeki leaves.

Agenda for Next Meeting

1. Commitment/Voting


2. Budget


3. Goodbye to Laura and Neeki