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ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH, ELCA
Shawano, Wisconsin
Zion Lutheran Church Council Meeting Minutes
Date February 21, 2012
1. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: Time 6:30 p.m.
Present: Scott Glysch, Gordon Holten, Kathy Bruhn, Timothy Herrmann, Keith Herm, Ginny
Vraney, Mikki Moesch, Jim Ash, Jim Zimmerman, Pastor Sherven.
2. INSTALLATION OF CONGREGATION COUNCIL by Pastor Sherven.
3. SOUND OFF: Bob Gehm, who was representing the nominating committee and also outgoing
chairperson of the Stewardship Committee, addressed the council concerning future nominating
committees. He asked that job descriptions be made by all council members regarding their
positions so it would be easier for the calling committee to relay this information to the next
potential council member. Also, if the nominating committee could be assembled and meet
with the Pastor in December in order to organize and be ready to start calling people right after
the holidays and have enough time to acquire the necessary council members before the annual
meeting in January. Bob also explained the purpose of a nominating committee and then
welcomed all the new members of the council and thanked them for serving on Zion’s council.
4. MINUTES: Motion made by Mikki and seconded by Ginny to approve the minutes as printed
for the January 10th Council Meeting. Motion carried.
5. PASTOR’S REPORT: Pastor Sherven reminded everyone of the Lenten Season that begins
tomorrow, February 22nd with Ash Wednesday. The theme for this Lenten Season will be
“The Journey” which will consist of the following topics: Solitude, Prayer, Humility,
Confession and Self-Esteem. Pastor passed around a sign up sheet for council members to
volunteer for monthly devotions at the beginning of each council meeting. He also noted that
registration for the Synod Assembly being held June 1st and 2nd is due by the end of April.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
a. Worship/Music: Kathy looked further into the issue of obtaining organ and piano
tunings cheaper than what we were paying for with Fabry, Inc. Tom Salzman from
Appleton tuned the organ and Mr. Krueger from Clintonville tuned both pianos and
saved money from what we had paid to Fabry, Inc. in the past. Kathy has also been
working with Leigh to plan the summer worship schedule.
b. Health Ministry: Ginny announced that they had 40 donors for the Red Cross Blood
drive held in January. However, both she and Patsey Robertson gave negative
evaluations to the Red Cross for the way they handled themselves and will not schedule
them for further blood drives at Zion. Their committee will host a blood drive from
North Central Wisconsin in August. Patsey Robertson’s retirement reception was held
on February 12th in the fellowship hall and Patsey was absolutely thrilled! Pastor
Sherven told stories, Scott Glysch presented her with a rocking chair from Zion and
Ginny presented her with the ottoman to match it from the Health Ministry Committee.
Some people shared memories and Patsey’s graduation hymn was also sung. 21 Prayer
Care Packages, which included the Lenten Devotional Books, were packed and shipped
to Zion’s college students last Thursday. Lenten Devotional Booklets were published
by Sharon Erickson and Christy Hay & Bernadine Wendt assembled them to complete
them last week. Health Ministry contributed a raffle bag for the Helping Hands Market
Day currently on display and they will also serve the Lenten Soup Supper on Ash
Wednesday. Cellcom has again sponsored Zion’s Relay for Life Team that will be held
March 31st with 16 walkers signed up. The Parish Nurse position has been posted and
applications are being accepted until March 3rd.

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c. Staff Support: Jim Ash, who is the new chairperson, reported that now with Patsey
Robertson gone, Leigh may need some additional help in the office and he will try to
keep on top of that.
d. Church in Society: Mikki reported their committee is busy organizing the “Helping
Hands Market Day” fundraiser which provides assistance for needy families. They
have found that occasionally there are families here at Zion who are seriously struggling
financially and this fundraiser is one way of being able to help them directly. A silent
auction is presently on display to help one of Zion’s families and details are listed on
the bulletin board.
e. Stewardship: Jim Zimmerman, who is the new chairperson, had nothing to report.
f. Property: Keith obtained a bid from Dearco to replace the sacristy door that is in poor
condition. To repair the door would be $350 or $1,400 to replace it. Jim Ash made the
motion to replace the door for $1,400 and Gordon Holten seconded it. Jim Zimmerman
objected but the motion carried. The money to replace the door would come out of the
Building Fund. Keith mentioned that in regards to the windows Dearco replaced
earlier, the old blinds would be re-installed.
g. Pre-Confirmation Education: Timothy and his wife, Samantha, had a proposal that
they would like to see added to the confirmation curriculum, making students/parents
choose an activity of service as a requirement. Pastor Sherven felt that any changes in
the confirmation curriculum should be made after his retirement.
6. TREASURER’S REPORT: Gordon read the financial update that will be printed in the Focus
stating Zion’s General Fund took a financial “dive” in January. Our balance dropped from
$12,000 to $4,643.88, which was mainly due to higher expenses and a drop in member
contributions. Gordon explained this was expected and is typical of past Januarys, although
February so far doesn’t appear to be much better. A motion was made by Mikki and seconded
by Keith to approve the Treasurer’s Report as written, motion carried.
Scott then reviewed the bills to be paid. A motion was made by Jim Zimmerman and seconded
by Jim Ash to approve the February bills for payment and the motion carried.
7. OLD BUSINESS: None
8. NEW BUSINESS: A sheet was passed around to the council members detailing information
that Debbie obtained concerning the upgrading and updating of the office computer system.
The final price to purchase new computers and the packages needed in the office came to
$4,109. Ginny made the motion to have Debbie obtain another itemized bid from one other
source for the exact items for comparison and review it at the next meeting. Jim Zimmerman
seconded the motion and the motion carried. Gordon then brought up the issue of Zion’s
website and how we should update it, make it more appealing and better suit Zion’s needs.
Mikki Moesch’s son has volunteered to assist with the updating of the website.
MEETING ADJOURNED at 7:49 pm.
CLOSING DEVOTION: Pastor Sherven
Completed in God’s Service by:
Julie Effenberger
Acting Council Secretary