Joint Board of Trustees/Elders & Luz De Vida Meeting Minutes - 9/16/2025

09/16/2025 Trustees Meeting Minutes

08/19/2025 Trustees Meeting Minutes

LCMS Suggested Guidelines for Law Enforcement

Present were: Pastor Mark Tooley, President Fred Hildenbrand, Vice President Millard

Littlepage, Treasurer Wesley Brown, Financial Secretary Barbara Galloway, Head Elder David

Schmidt, Elder Don Galloway, Elder Jim Mitchell and Recording Secretary Corey Schmidt

A Quorum was present - 7 Trustees [4 for Quorum]

Present From Luz de Vida were: Greice Sanchez, Eli Sanchez, Yonni Perez, Joel, Lionel and

Aden Gonzalez

Welcome and Introductions

Opening Devotion - Pastor Tooley

Luther’s Small Catechism - 3rd Petition of the Lord’s Prayer - “Thy Will Be Done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.”

President - Fred Hildenbrand

Clarified our intentions from a prior discussion that we are not interested in selling the church but if we were, Luz de Vida would be the first to know.

Would like to schedule a date for another joint dinner for the leadership between I

Immanuel and Luz de Vida. Agreed to Wednesday November 12th 7pm at Jalisco.

Presidente - Luz de Vida -

Luz de Vida is starting a choir and would asked permission to use the Fellowship Hall on the 1st and 3rd Friday’s of the month from 7-9pm for choir practice. Trustee’s and Elders agreed this was acceptable.

Luz de Vida Youth Group is having their anniversary celebration Sat 9/20 at 5pm and Sun 9/21 at 1pm. Facility usage was previously approved at the May Trustee’s meeting.

Closing Prayer - Luz de Vida

End of meeting with Luz de Vida.

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Recording Secretary’s Report - Corey Schmidt

Distributed 8/19/25 minutes via email to trustees a few days after the meeting. Dispensed with reading the minutes. Motion to approve minutes was made by Wesley, seconded by David.

Pastor’s Report - Mark Tooley

Funeral scheduled this Monday at Immanuel at 11am Christopher Canty - Relative of Jim Mitchell. Cutis Short reached out on behalf of his daughter Mallory Short who were previously members of Immanuel. They are interested in doing a private baptism date and time TBD.

Circuit Forum on 9/28/25 in Dover, DE - election of delegates for National LCMS convention.

Several families set to join our membership ranks as a result of our Adult Information Class.

Some are transferring membership others through adult confirmation after the completion of 5 of 6 classes.

Reformation Celebration planning meeting this Saturday, 9/20 at 10am.

President’s Report - Fred Hildenbrand

Nominating Committee Report - Barbara Galloway

Candidates who have agreed to let their names stand for officers: Congregational President - Corey Schmidt and Recording Secretary - Roxanne Mitchell.

Elder Don Galloway will have faithfully completed his 6 year term at the end of this year. Paul Denton has agreed to let his name stand for Elder. Others are also considering letting their names stand for Elder.

Voter’s meeting scheduled 11/23/25 between services. Election of officers

and presentation of the Spending Guide are the agenda.

Spending Guide printed at a minimum 2 weeks prior - November 9th. Members are encouraged to bring up any questions or concerns prior to the meeting in order that the meeting can be run efficiently.

9/24 SED Training on Church 360 10 AM. Barbara, Wes and Pastor to participate.

Vice President’s Report - Millard Littlepage

Called Family Heating and Air Conditioning and they replaced the condensation pump in storage room. They are due to come out 9/23 as part of our service agreement to prepare the HVAC for winter.

Millard also painted the wood trim around Narthex doors.

Financial Secretary’s Report - Barbara Galloway will be attending the Training on Church 360 with Wes and Pastor.

Treasurer’s Report - Wesley Brown

Financial Status as of 8/31/25:

Checking account balance: $25,156 ($14k needed by the 5th of the month).For the Month of July:

Income / Expense

$26,782 / $23,148

For the Year to Date:

Income / Expense

$208,188 / $211,590

($3,402)

Elder’s Report - David Schmidt

David and Fred completed Pastor’s annual review on 9/11/25.

Gave his report on nominations for Elder earlier. Pleased that members are letting their names stand for the position.

Old Business

Financial Review - Kullman still hasn’t responded to our inquiry requesting an itemized invoice for services performed, which was emailed to them 3 weeks ago. Trustees instructed Wes to pay the invoice. Details of the recommendations provided by Kullman will be presented to the Congregation at the November meeting along with notes on how we are addressing or have already addressed said recommendations. One recommendation which we need to address is the hiring of an external bookkeeper. Given the estimated yearly cost of approximately $5k, it is appropriate to add this cost to the Spending Guide and present to the congregation for approval in November.

Reformation Celebration - Several Pastors in our circuit have already RSVP’d to attend. Will need volunteers to go around with clipboards to collect metrics like; what brought you here, where do you go to church, etc., to build connections and establish relationships. Worship committee met last Sunday and outlined service format. Meeting this Saturday at 10am to

further detail plans for the event and assign jobs to volunteers.

New Business

Advent coming up. Pastor’s father in law, who is an ordained minister, will be leading services for the week when Pastor takes his final vacation for the year.

Motion to adjourn made by Wes, seconded by David,

Closed with prayer.

Meeting adjourned 8:35pm