Church Council Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2026
Meeting called to order by:Kevin Bock
IN ATTENDANCE: Pastor Jon Wendt, Jan Arends, Kevin Bock, Chris Christensen, Tracie Fischer, Jeni Rudenick, Joel Schoer and Jared Zollner
DEVOTION
Pastor Jon led with devotion from Romans 12:2.
REPORTS
● Pastor’s Report
○ Pastor filled in for Tracy Lutheran. Performed two out of four funerals in a week;
○ Preparing for kick off Sunday on September 6th;
○ Has met with the religious education board. They have opted for a curriculum where the lessons can be printed off each week as needed. Due to the smaller number of kids attending religion, they will be combining classes. Trying to keep class size to around 3-4 per classroom;
○ Helping Hands Sunday will be on September 13th;
○ Two potential confirmands in October;
○ Pastor and family welcomed one of their two foreign exchange students last week
● Secretary’s Report
○ The minutes were emailed to the council following the July meeting with copies available at the August meeting;
○ Amendments to be made to the July minutes regarding the financial summary
Approval: A motion to approve the July minutes with the amendments was made by Tracie Fischer and seconded by Jared Zollner. Motion carried.
● Treasurer’s Report
○ Balances were presented as follows:
■ Checking: $21,270.64
■ General Savings: $10,774.73
■ CD (7 months at an interest rate of 3.55%): $32,000.00
■ Building and Repair: $8,164.52
■ Memorial Savings: $13,280.24
■ Scholarship Savings: $1,704.52
■ Scholarship CD: $10,300.00
■ Youth Group: $6,298.99
Approval: A motion to approve the Treasurer’s report was made by Jared Zollner and seconded by Jan Arends. Motion Carried.
OLD BUSINESS
● Canopy Repairs: Chris will be meeting with Bailey Boerboom this week regarding the lights;
● Internet: Haven’t heard of any issues; Joel continues to monitor;
● Weather Stripping: Chris remains in contact with Tim Iverson regarding completion of this task;
● Parsonage Floor: Project is complete. Kevin stated that there may be a small bill coming because they were short two boxes;
● Software Update: Pastor is meeting with church secretary Jan Remiger to work through the Libra Office Software that will be used.
NEW BUSINESS
● Appointment: A motion to appoint Jeni Rudenick as church council secretary was made by Chris Christiansen and seconded by Joel Schoer. Motion Carried.
● Donation: Acknowledged that the Wabasso Lions donated $1000 to St. Matthew’s Youth Group;
● Insurance: Kevin Bock signed the acknowledgement that the property insurance costs have increased;
● Propane: Discussion was made regarding the purchase of LP for the year. Lock in gallons we used based on the average from the previous 3 years;
○ Motion to approve the number of gallons to purchase based on a 3-year average was made by Joel Schoer and seconded by Jan Arends. Motion Carried.
● Confirmands: Pastor stated there are two individuals who are due to be confirmed. Julius Yang needs to complete some more sermon notes but has met everything else; and Madeline Zollner who has completed the requirements;
○ Motion was made to approve the confirmation of Julius Yang and Madeline Zollner upon completion of their required work by Chris Christensen and seconded by Tracie Fischer. Motion Carried.
● Parsonage: Kevin stated that they are looking at doing something with the dryer at the parsonage. The dryer vent isn’t venting out properly. Possibly switching the washer and dryer around;
● Office Computer: Pastor mentioned that the computer in the main office is outdated. Would like to start thinking about getting an updated computer;
● Bank Signers: The approved bank signers for church accounts were discussed
○ Building and Repair: A motion to authorize to delete Deacon and update to vice president as an approved signer, was made by Jan Arends, seconded by Chris Christensen. Motion Carried.
● Constitutional by-laws: The constitutional by-laws were discussed as to how it defines church members. Any proposed changes to the by-laws need to be brought up at the annual meeting.
● Member Directory: The council went through the member directory to review membership statuses. Council members volunteered to try to contact a few names on the list that had moved away but were still listed as a member. They would be contacting them to see if they became members of a different congregation or if they simply wanted to be removed as a member of St. Matthew’s. Discussion regarding the results will continue at next month’s meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
● A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Jared Zollner and seconded by Tracie Fischer at 10:10 pm. Motion Carried.
● The next meeting will be held on September 14th at 7 pm.
● The meeting closed with the Lord’s Prayer.
OLD BUSINESS
● Canopy Repairs: Chris will be meeting with Bailey Boerboom this week regarding the lights;
● Internet: Haven’t heard of any issues; Joel continues to monitor;
● Weather Stripping: Chris remains in contact with Tim Iverson regarding completion of this task;
● Parsonage Floor: Project is complete. Kevin stated that there may be a small bill coming because they were short two boxes;
● Software Update: Pastor is meeting with church secretary Jan Remiger to work through the Libra Office Software that will be used.
NEW BUSINESS
● Appointment: A motion to appoint Jeni Rudenick as church council secretary was made by Chris Christiansen and seconded by Joel Schoer. Motion Carried.
● Donation: Acknowledged that the Wabasso Lions donated $1000 to St. Matthew’s Youth Group;
● Insurance: Kevin Bock signed the acknowledgement that the property insurance costs have increased;
● Propane: Discussion was made regarding the purchase of LP for the year. Lock in gallons we used based on the average from the previous 3 years;
○ Motion to approve the number of gallons to purchase based on a 3-year average was made by Joel Schoer and seconded by Jan Arends. Motion Carried.
● Confirmands: Pastor stated there are two individuals who are due to be confirmed. Julius Yang needs to complete some more sermon notes but has met everything else; and Madeline Zollner who has completed the requirements;
○ Motion was made to approve the confirmation of Julius Yang and Madeline Zollner upon completion of their required work by Chris Christensen and seconded by Tracie Fischer. Motion Carried.
● Parsonage: Kevin stated that they are looking at doing something with the dryer at the parsonage. The dryer vent isn’t venting out properly. Possibly switching the washer and dryer around;
● Office Computer: Pastor mentioned that the computer in the main office is outdated. Would like to start thinking about getting an updated computer;
● Bank Signers: The approved bank signers for church accounts were discussed
○ Building and Repair: A motion to authorize to delete Deacon and update to vice president as an approved signer, was made by Jan Arends, seconded by Chris Christensen. Motion Carried.
● Constitutional by-laws: The constitutional by-laws were discussed as to how it defines church members. Any proposed changes to the by-laws need to be brought up at the annual meeting.
● Member Directory: The council went through the member directory to review membership statuses. Council members volunteered to try to contact a few names on the list that had moved away but were still listed as a member. They would be contacting them to see if they became members of a different congregation or if they simply wanted to be removed as a member of St. Matthew’s. Discussion regarding the results will continue at next month’s meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
● A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Jared Zollner and seconded by Tracie Fischer at 10:10 pm. Motion Carried.
● The next meeting will be held on September 14th at 7 pm.
● The meeting closed with the Lord’s Prayer.