Our "Jump Start" prayer gathering on Monday mornings is off to a great start! We have had as many as ten people praying together and all have expressed what a blessing the time is and how it has helped them to begin the week with a godly perspective. This week, Pastor Steve will be attending the six AA meetings hosted by our church. He will be conveying our welcome and support to those who gather weekly in our church building. He will also invite them to offer prayer requests in our prayer journal and/or to come and pray with us on Monday mornings. Pastor Clint will be talking to the foreman for our construction team. Through the foreman we hope to leave a prayer journal in the construction office and will also invite construction workers to offer prayer requests or to come early for work and pray with us. This is our first step in reaching beyond this congregation with this ministry to express Christ's love in tangible, respectful ways.

   On Friday, February 10 the program will be presented by Nancy Bucher who is the Curator of Horticulture at the Toledo Zoo.  She will be speaking  mainly about "Houseplants" - but she may also touch on the Zoo's greenhouse and conservatory and even the Lights at Christmas because she works with all of these.

   The group has two meetings planned for off-the-church-campus  for this Spring.  Our YH phone callers  will be helpful in letting people know for sure "where to go" so you may want to write down the information they will give members each month.

   The February meeting will be in Fellowship Hall and access to it is through a side door near the Memory Garden. 

   As usual, we begin to gather at 5:30 p.m., eat at 6:00 p.m. with the short business meeting and program beginning around 7:00 -7:15 p.m.

Please  bring a food dish to share and your own table service.

*Because the official session minutes have not yet been approved from this meeting, these are highlights only and are subject to change. After approval, full session minutes will be available in the church office.

The session was happy to meet with prospective new members. After discussion with the inquirer's class members the motion to accept Dorothy and Bill Bonser, Jeff DeArmond, Brent Harrill, Cortney Lefebvre, Chaz Price, Jason Rager and John Sluhan. into membership in Maumee First Presbyterian Church was approved. Prospective members Sandy Laas and Barbara Wingate were unable to attend and will be approved at a later date.

The following consent agenda was approved:

• Motion to approve the Clerk's Report of January 23, 2012 (Clerk)
• Motion to approve the Clerk's Report of December 31, 2011 (Clerk)
• Motion to receive Congregational Meeting Minutes of January 8, 2012 (Clerk)
• Motion to approve Session minutes from November 28, 2011 meeting. (Clerk)
• Motion to approve baptism request for Jackson and Olivia Price, January 29, 2012 or February 12, 2012
• Motion to approve wedding request of Jason Rager & Cortney Lefebvre, October 13, 2012
• Motion to approve the change of date for the Kirkin' o' the Tartan from October 14, 2012 to October 21, 2012 to avoid possible conflicts with October 13, 2012 weddings
• Baptism of Elijah Savage-Edwards at a date to be determined.

Treasurer's Report: Elder Mary Siefke

Mary had good news to report from the December 31, 2011 financial report. December was a great month and pledge income exceeded budget by $7199 while non-pledge income exceeded budget by $14,426. This non-pledge income appears to be from regular non-pledging members and not from any new source. For the year, income is ahead of budget by $6472 while expenses are favorable to budget by $57,471. Our endowments held their own in December and showed slight gains over November totals. This $63,856 amount compares very favorably to the $10,658 total at this point last year.

Deacon's Report: Deacon Steve Wacha.

Steve expressed thanks for poinsettia and usher help over the holidays.  He reported that the deacons have sent out many care cards recently and if anyone knows of anyone in need of a pick me up they should let the deacons know. The next big item for the deacons will be the Agape meal.

Commission Reports:

Praise! (Worship Commission): Shannon Weimerskirsch

Pastor Tolbert explained that a Focus Group is being formed to study reformed principles of worship. Their goal will be to determine what a worship service in a church that follows the tenets of the reformed faith should look like. For instance, confession of sins is a tenet of the reformed faith so where should confession of sins occur in the worship service?

MO (Mission & Outreach Commission): Wendy Price-Kiser and Crawford Strunk

The mission trip will be delayed until the Spring of 2013 due to logistics. The commission is working on local or regional opportunity for this summer.

• Approved motion to adopt the philosophy for mission support (this philosophy "will encourage membership participation in the mission activities of our church which will include advocating for the support of particular mission projects from the general mission budget"

Discipleship Commission: Marc Savage and Kristen Wacha

• Approved request to host a fundraiser activity on March 10, 2012. This      one event would take the place of the adult TNT, the Time and Talent      auction and the Youth Revue.

Frontline (Evangelism Commission): Jack Hemple

Jack reports that there have been between seven and ten people at each of the jump start gatherings and the experience has been a good one. He also reported that two non-members from Griefshare have been attending Sunday services.

Committee Reports

Finance: Mary Siefke

Mary explained that the church has received a $20,000 bequest from the Neva Karl estate.

• Approved the application of the Neva Karl Estate Memorial (as approved by the family) towards the Capital Campaign.

Communication: Andy Woodard

Andy explained that the sponsoring of showings of "Courageous" at the Maumee Theatre was a great success. There were ten shows and four were filled to capacity. Concessions quadrupled and the theatre even added four additional free showings. It was estimated that over 5000 people saw it, not including the night where Cedar Creek bought out the venue for itself.   Our investment was $475.           

Nominating: Jack Hemple and Charlie Sheets

The committee is now at full staff and they will meet shortly to begin working on a slate for an associate pastor's nominating committee.

Building Renovation Project Team: Jim Calderone

Jim reported that the deconstruction is progressing well. A few glitches have arisen as the new elevator shaft was dug but nothing major has arisen. He reminded session to keep the doors closed in the chapel and sanctuary to help keep things cleaner. Jim also stressed that as many activities as possible should be scheduled at Union School. Our contract with the construction company calls for them to have the public areas available for our use on Sundays and for major scheduled events but otherwise we are interfering with their work if they have to continually maintain those areas for our use.

Resource Development: Elder Marc Savage

Marc explained that they are starting to plan a dialog with the congregation about the capital campaign.

Vision: Judy Harbaugh

Judy explained that the usual February session retreat will not be scheduled but a late April date is being considered. One suggestion for the retreat has been that we, as a session, should spend some time determining who we are as a church and what it means if we define ourselves one way and some members don't agree. In other words, how do we celebrate diversity and sit together and celebrate God together.

Pastor's Report: Pastor Tolbert

Pastor Clint shared a handout explaining the outcome of the Fellowship of Presbyterians Conference he attended in Orlando recently.   To summarize, about twenty percent of those attending the conference have decided to split off from the PCUSA into a group called ECO (Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians). Pastor Clint is not part of that group but rather he believes as the majority does that our church should not leave the PCUSA. He explained that one of the issues discussed at this gathering was that although our denomination requires all church officers to adopt the essential tenants of the reformed faith as expressed in the confessions during their ordination vows, nowhere are those tenants spelled out.   Further discussion on this topic will be held in future session meetings.

Credo Conference. Pastor Clint explained that he has been invited to attend a Credo Conference in March. This is a gathering of pastors serving congregations. The Board of Pensions of the PCUSA offers these sessions which are similar to a retreat for mid-career pastors in order to cultivate their well-being in spiritual, vocational, health and financial matters. Participation is by invitation only.

January Finance Report:

January Total Income:                  $76,602               January Total Expenses:                 $67,459

Year To Date Income:                 $411,748               Year To Date Expenses:               $338,749

Same Time Last Year:                 $339,527               Same Time Last Year:                   $329,248

June Baker                      Swan Creek Health Care  

Bill Bonser                      St. Luke's ICC 

Dolores Finch                 Flower Hospital  

Glenn Meerdink            UTMC ICU