Annual Gathering Business Meeting
August 1, 2020
The meeting was called to order by Wendy Showalter at 1:00 pm CT
Pastor Sue Beall led us in prayer.
Seating of the Delegates. A quorum was established.
A motion was made by Gary Franzen to amend the agenda to state that we have chosen to have this meeting electronically. It was 2nd by Jane Winge. The motion passed.
Wendy introduced the Executive Committee, Standing Committee Chairs, and Regional Coordinators.
Greetings were given by Brian Schwarz, NLS Executive Director.
Wendy encouraged everyone to review all the items in the virtual binder if you have not already done so.
The agenda was approved.
Nominations
Nominations for Vice President of Administration – Debbie Klatt has agreed to run.
There being no nominations from the floor, a motion was made to close nominations for VPA by Elaine Gomulka and 2nd by David McConnell. Motion passed. Debbie was elected by acclamation.
Nominations for Treasurer – James Ryan has agreed to run. There being no nominations from the floor, a motion was made to close nominations for Treasurer by Pastor Conda Lashley and 2nd by Jane Winge. Motion passed. Jim was elected by acclamation.
Nominations for Spiritual Director – We have two nominees, Pastor Sue Beall and Pastor Chris Hogstad. There were no further nominations from the floor. Pastor Sue Beall was elected as Spiritual Director.
Proposed Bylaw Changes
The committee consisted of Pastor G. Karl Gaston (chair), Mark Hammond, Bobbi Lind, Pastor Paul Schmidlin, and Jim Ryan.
Change Bylaw 2.2 to read:
The Newsletter is to be posted on the National Lutheran Secretariat website and an electronic notification emailed to all recipients in the National Lutheran Secretariat database. Each secretariat is responsible for supplying National Lutheran Secretariat Secretary with the correct name, email address, street address, and secretariat office of each of the members of its governing body and the prior year’s delegates.
Change for Bylaw 2.2 was voted on and passed.
Change Bylaw 3.4 to read:
Written notice of the annual meeting shall be made stating the place, day and hour of such meeting. This notice shall be mailed electronically to each member secretariat and delegate not less than 90 days prior to the meeting. Notice of special meetings shall be given to each member secretariat and delegate not less than 30 days prior to the meeting. Notice of meetings shall be deemed delivered when the electronic mail has been sent to the delegate’s email address as it appears in the records of National Lutheran Secretariat database. Notice of the annual meeting may be sent in the Newsletter.
Change for Bylaw 3.4 was voted on and passed.
Proposed Bylaw 4.2 – Change to say:
Each affiliated secretariat may be represented at the Annual Meeting by lay delegates based on the greater of one of the following formulas (based on last available Annual Activities Report, previous numbers will be used if current Annual Activities Report is not received by April 1st with previous year numbers):
The number of Delegates will be based on the following formula using the number of persons who have attended a Via de Cristo weekend through its ministry as a secretariat (e.g. 0-999 participants – one delegate; 1000-1999 participants – two lay delegates, etc.)
OR
The number of lay delegates, based on the number of weekends based on the Annual Activities Report held the previous calendar year, are as follows: Number of Weekends (e.g. 0-4 weekends – one delegate; 5-8 weekends – two delegates; 9-12 weekends – 3 delegates; 13 or more weekends – 4 delegates.)
A motion was made by Jill Norell and seconded by Sylvia Meister to change ‘based on’ to ‘determined by’ in the second and last paragraph and add the word ‘lay” in front of delegates in the second paragraph as is written above. The motion passed.
Bylaw 4.2 – Amended to say:
Each affiliated secretariat may be represented at the Annual Meeting by lay delegates based on the greater of one of the following formulas (based on last available Annual Activities Report, previous numbers will be used if current Annual Activities Report is not received by April 1st with previous year numbers):
The number of lay delegates will be determined by the following formula using the number of persons who have attended a Via de Cristo weekend through its ministry as a secretariat (e.g. 0-999 participants – one delegate; 1000-1999 participants – two lay delegates, etc.)
OR
The number of lay delegates, determined by the number of weekends based on the Annual Activities Report held the previous calendar year, are as follows: Number of Weekends (e.g. 0-4 weekends – one delegate; 5-8 weekends – two delegates; 9-12 weekends – 3 delegates; 13 or more weekends – 4 delegates.)
After discussion, the Change of Bylaw 4.2 was amended and was passed.
Proposed Bylaw 4.5 – Change to: National Lutheran Secretariat Executive Committee, by affirmative 2/3 vote, may suspend or expel an affiliated secretariat for causes detrimental to the corporation’s activities or if the affiliated secretariat is in conflict with the corporation’s goals and objectives until formal action can be taken by National Lutheran Secretariat.
A motion was made by Loren VanPelt and seconded by Barb Halverson to add the following additional language to by-law 4.5: Any formal action by the National Lutheran Secretariat also requires a 2/3 vote. The affiliated Secretariat can ask for a review by submitting in writing to the executive committee any time prior to any formal action by the National Lutheran Secretariat. During suspension the affiliated secretariat forfeits their voting rights.
After much discussion on Bylaw 4.5 and suggested verbiage changes a motion was made to table further discussion on Bylaw 4.5 by Conda Lashley and seconded by Jane Winge. Motion passed.
A motion was made to table all further discussion on the rest of the proposed bylaw changes by Andrew Schlecht and seconded by Jane Winge until the 2021 Annual Gathering. Motion passed.
Business
Kelly Hays-Thorson made a motion to have a study team setup before the Mid-Year Meeting to determine if the existing formula is appropriate and equitable for determining the number of voting delegates allotted to each secretariat for the Annual Business Meeting. Seconded by Suzanne Bathe.
Dick Brenneman made a made a motion to call the question. Chris Hogstad seconded. Motion passed.
It was agreed upon to setup a team to evaluate the existing formula.
Wendy suggested we postpone the update on the NLS 5-Year Plan and will send information out to the community. Motion made to postpone by Patti Burton-Pye and seconded by John Colin. Motion passed.
Jim Ryan presented the Treasurer’s Report and the Proposed Budget for 2020-2021.
A motion was made by Raleigh Sandy to approve the budget as presented. John Colin seconded. Motion passed.
A video presentation from 2021 Annual Gathering Host Committee was viewed.
A motion was made by Suzanne Bathe to adjourn. Barry Trost seconded. Motion passed.
Meeting adjourned.
Eric is our current Webmaster and works on the NLS Communications Team. Raised in Judaism, he found Christ and the New Testament at age 16 in a Southern Baptist Church. He searched many denominations for the real church, only to find the Holy Spirit is present in all of them. He's worked for One for Israel, a group of native Israeli believers who are sharing the gospel in the holy land in Hebrew and is part of the only Hebrew speaking seminary in Israel.
