1. Ministry Teams Meeting Minutes: 14 May 2014
Ministry Team: Ministry Team: Newcomers
Members Present: Cheryl Waechter, Judy Garces
1. Shepherd Ministry –Discussed expanding the scope of the Shepherd Ministry to include newcomers who have not
joined Nativity as yet but, are attending services regularly as well as attending other church activities.
A. A particular family came to mind. Bobbie Feraco was asked to contact them in order to make the personal
connection.
2. Revisited the goal of integrating greeters & ushers into NMT.
A. Greeters & ushers will be asked to have one of their group join NMT at Team meetings to make them part of
this ministry.
B. If this is not feasible a few members of NMT meet with a representative to discuss the newcomer process and
how they can help meet the Team goals. Such as point out visitors to Team members, hand out pew info
cards as visitors enter the church, etc.
a. Judy will contact Greeters
b. Cheryl will contact Ushers

2. Ministry Team: Buildings and Grounds
Members Present: David, Randy, Riley, Chris and Alfred
Agenda Items:
• Follow-up on last meeting’s action list.
Action Item Assigned To Due Date Comment
Create spring cleanup workday
plans
Alfred March 22 Done
• B&G workday – big THANKYOU!
o The workday March 22 was a great success - thanks to all those who volunteered their time and skills.
o The full list of activities was completed and the grounds look wonderful.
• Nativity objectives
o The proposed new objectives are:
Faith: Provide an environment in which individuals explore and identify their sense of faith as part
of the body of Christ, and practice their beliefs in the church and in the world.
Worship: Create engaging worship opportunities to respond to the needs of diverse populations.
Community: Nurture Christ-like servant leadership through a process of conversation, action,
and reflection to equip each member of Nativity for ministry in the wider community.
o Consider how the objectives, from a Buildings and Grounds perspective, might suggest topics for
discussion/further study or new initiatives to try out.
What can our team do to help the church community work towards those expanded objectives?
What can we do to turn those objectives into concrete action items?
o Phrase those ideas as goals, action items and identify ways to monitor/track our progress towards those
goals.
o (These items were discussed in plenum before the team meetings started, so we decided to not discuss
them any further in our meeting).
• Prepare an office space for the youth Minister, who is planned to start mid-June.
o Location – in the staff office
o Desk – we will use the desk that is currently in the printer room (with the public PC)
o Desk chair - Sue has one she will donate
o Side chairs (2)
o File cabinet – we will ask Daughters of the King if they still need the file cabinet that currently is in the
parlor.
o Bookcase
o Laptop/desktop computer with Office – Alfred has one ready that was donated to the church. Only
expenses are memory, Windows 7 and MS Office.
o Office phone – we will in the beginning share the phone in the staff office between the business manager
and the Youth Minister.
o Office supplies
o Pens, pencils, pads, sticky notes, stapler, staple remover, tape dispenser, scotch tape, paper clips,
building keys, hanging file folders, file folders.
• Trailer removal status
o Judson Witham (Isaac) is working on removing the trailer. The first section is ready to be pulled out.
o Isaac still believes he can get it out without major disruption, but he will have to take the corner of the
playground fence down temporarily.
• Termites in the church building
o A section of the church building was treated for termites a year ago.
o The termites were back this spring, but the warranty from last year’s treatment covered a retreatment.
o We will have to continue keeping an eye on the area in question (window in the back right corner of the
nave (when facing the altar)).
• Parking lot project
o Delays in getting started were caused by the wet spring. The ground was too muddy for heavy machinery
– both at our site and the site where we will get the fill dirt from.
o Final City of Raleigh review of the permit is under way and the permit is supposed to be release mid-
week.

3. o The contractor appears to be ready to start immediately when he has the permit.
o First order of business will be to remove the trees that need to go.
o Construction of the sediment basin will be next.
o Then grading will begin, dirt trucked in and the foundation for the parking lot created.
o When the dirt has settled enough, the parking lot will be paved and finished.
• What to do with the sediment basin after the construction period?
o The sediment basin is no longer needed or required after the construction period.
o In order to compensate for the loss of trees where the sediment basin is located, we need to come up
with some constructive ways to make that area look green and inviting again.
o The pre-school may be able to use some of the area; we will discuss with them when we see the exact
size and location of the basin.
o Parts or all of it can be filled with mulch or wood chip and turned into a rain garden where we plant
butterfly bushes, willows or other shrubs or trees that do not mind having wet feet from time to time.
o Another option that may be available is to use the area for an expanded Nativity garden.
We can put in raised beds and add garden soil along with walkways to connect the expanded
garden to the existing Nativity Garden.
o Other ideas?
• Dead oak tree close to the entrance
o An old oak tree close to the entrance need to come down. Its branches are entangled with the power
lines, so it will be a little tricky to take it down.
o We will ask for an estimate from our arborist Andrew Wharton and the Leaf and Limb tree removal
company.
• Anything else we need to discuss in today’s meeting?
Action Items Assigned/Tracked:
Action Item Assigned To Due Date Comment
Plan staff office restructuring day Alfred June 11
Ask DOK about file cabinet in Parlor Alfred June 11
Check out if we have a problem with the hot water
heater that supplies the Sacristy
Alfred June 11

4. Ministry Team: Outreach
Members Present: Carl Sigel, Pete Crow, David Lynch, Becky Christian, Pat Watson,
Annette Hughes, René Garcés
Agenda
1. Presentation by Becky Christian on CODEP and Haiti
a. Thank you to goes out to Becky for presenting CODEP program.
b. CODEP started in 1990 to educate Haitians in sustainable farming , reduce deforestation, and mitigate
erosion
c. Started near watershed in local communities called “lakous”.
d. Local volunteers work 1 day/week with incentives (e.g. to earn tools, get food to each ans ell, own a small
home, etc).
e. Process involves digging ditches in the side of hills and mountains with grasses planted below the ditch on
the side towards foot of the hill/mountain, and deciduous trees planted above the ditch, so their leaves fill the
ditch over the years, and after a few years will serve as mulch for planting fruit trees in the ditches.
f. CODEP may try working more with the government as a partner.
g. When a church becomes a covenant church, they establish a project to work with CODEP, and include visits
of volunteers from the church(es).
h. St. Andrews Presbyterian was interested in CODEP, as possible partner with COTN; perhaps Outreach can
budget to donate funds to CODEP in near future.
2. Update from Carl on Stop Hunger Now (SHN) packing
a. Carl reported SHN is booked for Sunday on August 17, 2014. Carl will contact SHN and let them know Rene
will be back-up in Carl’s absence if they should need to contact someone for preparation prior to SHN
event/date.
3. Outreach of potential interest to youth
4. Leadership for our team
a. Annette may put together agenda for next month.
b. Patti Trainor planning to attend next month’s Outreach ministry meeting to present information surrounding
youth involvement/projects with Episcopal Farmworkers Ministry.
5. Discussion of non-action items of interest to group
a. Pat spoke with Soapstone Methodist Church members whom expressed interest in doing WIHN with Nativity;
perhaps need to advertise WIHN in next GT bulletin.

5. Ministry Team: Youth
Members Present: Beth, Jane, Sally, Fran, Dave
Sally, Jane, Fran, and Dave gathered with Stephanie to have an initial phone interview with a candidate for the Interim
Youth Minister position. It was decided to release one candidate from further consideration, to arrange an in-person
meeting with two candidates, and for Stephanie to have an additional phone conversation with another candidate.
Before the call, Beth shared changes to Diocesan Events for Youth for the upcoming year, in response to feedback
gathered from youth and youth leaders. Events will cost less, and some have been combined to make them more
accessible and logistically easier to attend. Upcoming are some webinars for youth leaders. One is scheduled on J2A for
May 27.
Other agenda items postponed.

6. Ministry Team: Communications
Members Present: Emilie Sigel, Gail Christensen, Sarah Bernart, Jason Pace, Diane Reitman, David Cariss, Catherine
Davis
Agenda/Items Discussed:
1. New graphics for summer activities have been assigned to the Graphics Team under Jason Pace:
a. New summer schedule - roadside banner, web banners, posters - Diane Reitman
b. Ascension Day and Pentecost - web only
c. Vacation Bible School, called SonTreasure Island, July 18-20 - roadside banner, web banners, posters - Ben
Huckaby
d. Stop Hunger Now - August 17 - web banners, posters - David Cariss
2. A/V system in the nave: Speakers in the nave have been requested by the Communications Team, but first we
need an acoustical engineer to evaluate the space. Gail will discuss with the Senior Warden. Then money has to be found
in the capital expense budget for the alterations to the nave. We also note that the a/c unit is so noisy it has created a
"dead zone" of sound in some pews.
3. Video camera purchase: The purchase of a video camera to record sermons, whole services, concerts, etc. is
included in the Communications budget. Catherine Davis, a professional photographer, has agreed to research what kind
to buy. Among the requirements would be: integration with the audio now being handled by Josh Booth; the quality of the
sound and picture; portability; synchronization of software; manned or unmanned?; zoom ratios; web-friendly rate; size
and distractability.
4. Phone app for spreading information to the congregation : We discussed whether a phone app should be
developed to push information to parishioners via their smartphones. We will consider a survey of parishioners to ask if
they would use it, what kind of OS do they have, and what kind of info would they want to receive. We would also need a
volunteer in the congregation who knows how to write apps. Jason and Ben will research this.
5. Goals for the Communications Team : We discussed some ways we could be better communicators in the future.
Among the ideas:
a. develop brochures re weddings, funerals, baptisms, confirmation, estate planning, upcoming classes, and of
course a Welcome to Nativity brochure
b. placing articles in the local newspaper might be helpful, for example the Nativity garden might be interesting to a
TV station or a newspaper. Diane Reitman will contact Waltye Rasulala for a media contact list.
6. Articles for Glad Tidings, website: Gail will contact Becky Christian about writing an article for Glad Tidings and the
website about the services the Communications Team offers to the Ministry Teams, for example proofreading, design,
coordinating the various outlets for
Action Items Discussed/Tracked:
Action Item Assigned To D
Write article for Glad Tidings and the website about the services the Communications
Team offers
Becky Christian 5/
Complete design assignments Diane Reitman, Jason Pace,
Ben Huckaby, David Cariss
Ti
Research video cameras for purchase Catherine Davis 6/
Explore a phone app for news, info about Nativity Jason Pace, Ben Huckaby 6/
Present results of website usability study Jason Pace 6/
Contact acoustical engineer to do space study for nave Jason Pace 6/