While the congregation was gathered, Pastor Susan took the opportunity to provide an update on the progress of the Community Development Corporation. It was reported that the architects are in the process of being chosen. Additionally, the congregation should anticipate a questionnaire to be distributed in the near future to collect opinions regarding the redesign of our worship space. John Coakley has arranged for a NBTS Board Member and reformed architectural expert, David Cooper, to discuss the reconfiguration of the space with Pastor Susan.

The difficulty of the budget discussion was offset by the joy of surprising the pastors by celebrating the 10 anniversary of their time at FRC. A wonderful luncheon that was provided by many hands, David Waanders gave a tribute to the pastors, the tribute was joined by many other voices, lastly several lovely gifts from the congregation were presented.

We started with the background information and the decision for the replacement of the windows in the (Education building) tower. Currently the windows are quite loose and paint is coming off daily. It has become a safety issue that has to be addressed soon. We will replace the four windows that are visible from the street and will board up the four windows facing the roof.

The men’s shelter will be housed in the Fellowship Hall since upstairs is no longer available for them.

David Waanders and Margaret Coakley were assigned as our representatives in the Classis.

We add our support to the proposal of Hope Church (Holland MI) for a procedural change in selecting the next General Secretary of the RCA by the Search Committee.

Next, we spent time on the Revitalization Templates of the committees.

Afterwards, we went into our regular reports by the standing committees. The reports were read and highlighted where necessary. The Finance Committee brought forward three recommendations:

a. $15,000 to be withdrawn from the endowment fund to cover anticipated operational
expenses.
b. To pay the MPG invoice for October (about $100,000) as follows:
$40,000 from the Construction loan (line of credit), $13,000 withdrawal from endowment,
$47,000 either from the expected reimbursement from the NJHT or (if the money is not
received in time) an additional withdrawal from the endowment.
c. To accept the treasurer’s report and the balance sheet.

All recommendations passed.

The chart about the fund-raising was included. To our surprise on Wednesday, we received a grant of $15,000 that pushed us above the $300,000 in donations mark. We had been hovering there for last fewmonths. (Editor’s note: Praise God!)

After all this, we turned to Pastor Susan and allowed her to explain a bit more about the progress of the Town Clock Community Development Corporation, which is the name of our 501(c)3.

We received three proposals from three architectural firms regarding their expertise in re-design and working with various state agencies. (See Susan’s report in the newsletter.)

(Clerk’s note: Hopefully, you were able to attend the congregational meeting (Oct 31st), where further details will be provided.)

As building usage manager, Susan received a request for using the space to teach Latin dancing. Consistory allowed her to continue the negotiations. (Clerk’s comments: Shall we see some dancing now at our next Chili cook off?)

And miraculously, we were able to go through the 4 mm thick Consistory package in 2.5 hours, thus we were about to disband shortly after ten. (Editor’s comment: This simply shows how active a congregation we are! Amen.)

Among the many committee reports Consistory received that night was also a report from the Finance Committee. It delineated the design of our first Annual Pledge Campaign. Consistory reviewed the written material that will be sent to our active members, as well as the timetable of the campaign. Then it passed the campaign by vote. The Finance Committee emphasized that the campaign was not intended to provide a special measure for dealing with the annual budget deficit. Instead, the Committee hopes that the campaign will serve all our members as an educational tool on congregational giving. In addition, the Committee hopes that the campaign results will provide the church with more predictability as far as its projected income is concerned.

However, Consistory did not just talk about money that night. There was also a report on the coordination of some of our preservation efforts with neighboring Christ Episcopal Church. The combined Coordination Committee has just met for a second time.

Then there was the news of a special Baptism on Sunday, Feb 21st. This is a result of the current new member class and fits well with the baptism-centered liturgy we will employ during Lent.

We began and closed the evening with prayer. In gratitude, we lifted up to God the signs of growing life in our church: The new member class, the successful completion of our men’s shelter week, and the recent increase in our fund-raising for the preservation project. We also brought our concerns before God: The situation in Haiti, the struggles of some of our churches without installed pastor in the Classis of New Brunswick, and the situation of the Western troops in the Middle East. It was a meaningful evening.

Consistory will meet in a special session on Saturday, Jan 23rd, in order to find ways to decrease or eliminate our annual budget deficit. Due to the newsletter deadline, we will have to report on this at another time.

• Approved the Vision Statement for the 501(c)3 application for our Community Development Corporation.
• Accepted the recommendation to hire James Oleg Kruhly and Associates to do a feasibility study of the sanctuary.
• Accepted the offer of an assessment of the church cemetery as part of a Rutgers University class.
• Accepted the Circle of Ten fund-raising proposal. We will seek out ten donors from outside the congregation who would be willing to give $10,000 each toward the preservation project.
• Will send Heather Epstein to the Lay Recognition Dinner in April for the work she has done for the church. (Two other candidates are also being solicited.)
• Discussed the formation and future scope of work of a Preservation Coordination Team between First Reformed Church and Christ Episcopal Church, which includes the architects of both projects.