Ad Council Notes Sep 2025

Trinity UMC Administrative Council Minutes

September 18, 2025

Present: Rev April Wegehaupt, Pastor Carla Gunn, Steve Stoppkotte, Carol Stoppkotte, Bruce Schreiner, Deb Brummund, Vaughn Minton, Susan Stoppkotte, LeEllen Haynes

Administrative Council met September 18, 2025. Chair Steven Stoppkotte called the meeting to order. Rev April opened with a prayer followed by Steve reading Trinity’s Mission and Vision statements. Minutes of the August meeting were approved as written.

Old Business:

Safety Plan: Rev April will review the Safety Plan. A video can be made to share with the church, maybe during First Responders week on October 26. Jason has checked the batteries in the defibrillators and they are okay. Some of the fire alarm sensors got wet and need to be replaced after the area dries out.

HIV/AIDS Emergency Fund: LeEllen reported that the fund has been closed. Nebraska AIDS Project did access most of the funds. The remaining $373.71 will be sent to the United Methodist Global AIDS Committee.

Haven Garden: Carol reported that McCain Foods employees are scheduled to come October 18th to clean up the garden.

New Business:

Constant Contact: The office would like to use the Constant Contact program for texting church members. It would cost $10 per month to send up to 500 texts a month. Members would have to sign up to receive the texts. Deb Brummund made a motion to get the program and Bruce Schreiner seconded. The motion carried.

Administrative Council Meetings: Administrative Council will be moved to Oct. 23 at 6:00pm so Susan can prepare the Charge Conference booklet. Pizza will be provided. The council will meet through Zoom from November through March.

Administrative Reports:

Finance: Bruce reported that this past month we had a deficit of $18,000, and $31,000 year- to-date. The offering per Sunday is above 2024. Bruce recommended and made a motion to pay $4,500 in Mission Shares for August. The motion was seconded and the motion carried.

An audit is completed yearly. Zak Schroeder has donated his time to do this for the past several years.

Trustees: Rev April said Floor It has looked at the issue with the seam in the Miller Hall carpet. The church is getting a new carpet cleaner. The roof work is being completed now. They found a soft spot that had to be replaced. A dedicated Youth Room is being created in the basement. Trustees Committee is looking into getting a 60-65 inch smart TV.

SPRC: Vaughn reported that SPRC will do staff reviews on October 15. They will look at job descriptions to see what revisions are needed. They will need to meet on setting staff salaries for the budget.

Vision Committee: The committee has hosted 2 more Meet and Greets for Pastor Shella. Attendees have shared ideas for the church and from this, a youth bell choir is being formed. They will be labeling water bottles for the 4th Street Festival.

There were no reports from Endowments or Stewardship.

Program Reports:

Family Ministries: Rev. April said Christina is working on securing a booth for the 4th Street Festival. Volunteers will be needed to man the booth.

Hospitality: Pastor Carla said they are adding new items to the visitor bags. On October 19 there will be 3 baptisms and several new members joining. They hope to encourage new members joining on each 5th Sunday.

Missions: Deb reported that Missions collected hygiene items for Project Connect. At the last Loves and Fishes food distribution, 525 boxes were given out. 1660 people were served and 50% of the families had children.

Hydration Sunday will be December 7. Travel mugs will be given out. Each cup will have a card with a survey to put in the collection plate during the service.

There were no reports from UMM or Healthy Congregations.

Pastors’ Reports: Rev April is planning a kolache making event at the church. Nov. 5 will be a chili cook-off. Nov. 16 is Charge Conference. Committees will need to submit their reports for Susan to pre- pare the booklet. Dec. 7 is the Live Nativity at Fonner Park.

A men’s Bible study has started on Wednesday evenings. The 14 Confirmation students will meet monthly the 2nd Sunday after the church service. Cairo UMC gifted Trinity’s prayer shawl group with a large amount of yarn.

Trinity’s 160th anniversary celebration will be September 20, 2026.

Pastor Carla will travel to the Midwest Distribution Center October 6-10. She will be taking medical supplies.

The meeting adjourned. The next meeting will be October 23, 2025.

Respectfully submitted,

LeEllen Haynes, Secretary