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Congregational Meeting May 6, 2007. AGENDA Vision Team Update Information Technology Proposal. Vision Team Strategic Question. How can FUMC lead and respond in a constructive way to the imminent changes in Katy, in a way that preserves our heritage, mission and values?.
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Congregational MeetingMay 6, 2007 AGENDA • Vision Team Update • Information Technology Proposal
Vision Team Strategic Question How can FUMC lead and respond in a constructive way to the imminent changes in Katy, in a way that preserves our heritage, mission and values?
Vision Team Decision Hierarchy – FUMC 2006Major Decisions derived from Themes • Givens (decisions already made) • Located in Katy • Aging buildings • Katy is growing and changing • Retain heritage and identity • Major ministry choices are made and are effective • Church must connect with new changing community (new membership) • Strategy (focus now) • Welcoming • Assimilation • Facilities • Tactical (focus later) • Ministry changes (adjustments) • Buying Real Estate • Technology • Staffing • Training • Measure member involvement
Decision Making Roles Vision Team (Work Team) Church Council (Reviewers) Congregation (Decision Makers)
Frequently Asked Questions • What’s happening with the Pie Shop and Apartment Complex? How do these fit in with facilities? • How will we handle expensive maintenance items like air conditioning, with all this talk about facilities? • What’s the time frame for doing all of this? • How will the congregation decide about facilities?
Progress Report • Vision team has been meeting twice a month, focus on facilities • We developed a set of objectives to help us to evaluate different facilities strategies • We are interviewing other churches to gain insight about their facility strategy • We are identifying Pros, Cons and Trade-offs for different facility strategies
Facility Strategy Interviews (in progress) Churches Changing Location: • First Baptist, Katy • Cornerstone UMC, Copperfield • Churches Renovating or Rebuilding: • First UMC, Sugarland • A&M UMC, College Station • Churches Staying As Is: • First UMC Beaumont • Grace UMC Baytown • Churches with Multiple Locations: • First UMC Houston • Memorial Drive UMC (These are just a sampling)
Sample Interview Questions • Describe the area when the decision was made. • What were the concerns your church was facing? • What were your objectives in pursuing this strategy? • What risks did you anticipate? • How were you objectives met (or not met)? • What went better or worse than you expected? • What issues came up when executing your strategy? • What advice would you offer us if we pursue a strategy like your church did?
Insights So Far • There is a financial/stewardship concern in every strategy • Any significant facility change will take time to implement (fund raising, planning, execution) • Every strategy has Pros, Cons and Trade Offs • Every strategy needs to have a strong focus on Welcoming and Involvement
Next Steps - Facilities • Complete the church strategy interviews • Evaluate the strategies against objectives • Use the data to develop a preferred alternative • Review by Church Council (June 26th) • Present the alternatives and recommendations to the Congregation (method yet to be determined) – late summer/early fall
Information Technology Proposal • FUMC’s IT infrastructure is in a tenuous state • Many issues (these are just a few): • Limited budget • No onsite or phone support contract • Outdated equipment, Network problems • Recent lightning strike damaged equipment • No backups, UPS, limited data centralization • No Antivirus Updates, inadequate spam filtering • Loss of productivity, staff frustration • Inefficiency from lack of standardization
Information Technology Proposal • An IT Proposal was presented to Finance Team and Church Council in March • The proposal was conditionally approved for an amount of up to $22,000 • Get bids from two service providers (Solerant, ACTs) • Establish an IT Committee to review bids, prioritize the most critical issues, make recommendation and do long-term IT planning • IT Committee: John Sanins, Don Harper, Roger Klein
IT Recommendations • Utilize Solerant for an IT support contract • Solerant has been done a good job with repair work for FUMC • Good reputation, competitive price • $14,000 is required to address our critical IT needs: • Pending bill for recent support: $2,000 • One year support contract: $6,000 • Hardware: $3,700 • Software: $2,300