Board of Elders (“BoE”) Meeting Minutes

October 11, 2014

Present: Liqin Chen (Chair), Pastor Caleb Chang, Ke-Chieh Chu, David Ho, Timothy Lu, Xinwen Wang (Board of Deacons [“BoD”] Representative), Ming-Jer Tsai, Terry Yang (Secretary)

Absent: Yuguang He

Elder Liqin opened with prayer at 9:09 am.

1.     Brief Sharing

Elder David shared about the recent successful evangelistic meetings two weekends ago, both at CBCGB (with 34 new converts) and a cross-Chinese church one (with 12 new converts) which Elder David spoke at. Pastor Caleb shared about the fruitful evangelistic meeting, which he spoke at, at the Atlanta Chinese Christian Church, mother church to the Atlanta Chinese Christian Church- North (where Pastor Caleb Huang accepted the Senior Pastor position). Elders shared the impact of the Chiu Hsiang movie and mission presentation last weekend. Elder Ming shared his excitement about the interest that Chinese fellowships are showing in participating in social concerns initiatives, as well as his recent trip to Russia.

2.     Update on State of CBCGB

Pastor Caleb provided the following updates on:

• Mandarin Gospel Meeting two weekends ago;
• Upcoming 45th anniversary worship, membership meeting and celebration;
• Plans for the 2015 Memorial Day Chinese & Youth Ministry retreat;
• 2015 calendar, currently being edited by pastoral staff;
• Pastoral reviews still to be completed;
• Pastor Caleb’s outside speaking commitments this past year;
• Upcoming Pastor’s family retreat on October 12-13.

3.     BoD Update

Deacon Xinwen and Pastor Caleb provided the following updates on:

• Responsible usage of church funds, including Capital Fund budgeting process;
• Allocation of existing bank funds;
• Metrosouth funding options;
• Parking difficulties during construction.

4.     Policy Review

Pastor Caleb presented, with pastoral staff approval, three policies for approval by the BoE: Scholarship, Vocational (Parachurch) Christian Ministry and Outside Speakers and Performers. After review and discussion, BoE suggested additional revisions to Scholarship and Vocational (Parachurch) Christian Ministry policies and tabled approval to e-mail pending completion of updated version of policies. Outside Speakers and Performers policy review and discussion tabled until the next regularly scheduled BoE meeting.

5.     Annual Meeting Preparation

Discussed logistics necessary to prepare for upcoming anniversary service, Annual Meeting and anniversary lunch next weekend, as well as both the online and physical hardcopy distribution of the Annual Report. Individual Elders suggested changes to the format of the portion of the annual meeting focused on prayer for CBCGB vision. BoE reviewed Chinese translation of the proposed Bylaws revision in order to minimize potential confusion, and approved one change in the Chinese translation in clause 8.4.3. to ensure that the word “binding” is included. BoE requests BoD support during the Annual Meeting to collect written questions from the congregation for Elder Liqin to address during the Question & Answer portion of the Annual Meeting. BoE tasks Elder Terry to review the proposed Annual Meeting slide deck for grammar and content prior to the Annual Meeting.

6.     MobilePack

Elder Ming presented proposal for large-scale community service cross-churches in partnership with non-profit organization Feed My Starving Children using the MobilePack project template. The Social Concern Ministry asks support in principle for the project from the BoE. Potential benefits in cross-congregational/fellowship unity, leadership among fellow churches and partnership with potential community organizations (e.g. Lexington High School) for leadership/visibility within the community. BoE approves in principle; specific logistical and budgetary proposals for the project will be reviewed for approval as completed over the next couple of years.

7.     Continuing Education Support

Pastor Caleb proposed a change in CBCGB personnel benefit policy to better support staff interested in continuing education. BoE discussed options for revising benefit policy; Elders Terry and Timothy assigned by BoE to bring specific written proposal at next regularly scheduled BoE meeting for review.

Elder Timothy closed with prayer at 1:30 pm.

Addendum: BoE approved Scholarship Policy as attached over e-mail on November 3, 2014.

長老團會議紀要

時間：10/11/2014 上午9點9分到下午1點15分

地點：CBCGB教會辦公室

出席：陳利欽(主席)，章開第牧師，朱克潔，何明治，盧忠信，汪新文（執事會代表），蔡明哲，楊德禮（秘書）

缺席：何煜光

上午9點9分陳利欽長老禱告開會。

1.長老們分享：

• 何明治長老分享，兩周末前成功舉行的兩次布道會，一次在本堂（34人決志），另一次跨華語教會由何長老證道（12位決志）。
• 章開第牧師分享，他的福音布道會在亞特蘭大華人基督教會很有成效。那裏是黃子嘉牧師接掌主任牧師的亞特蘭大華人基督教會北堂的母堂。
• 長老們分享，上周末電影秋香和宣教使命的影響。
• 蔡明哲長老分享，華語團契熱情參加社會關懷對他的激勵，以及他最近的俄羅斯之旅。

2.教會近況

主任牧師報告：

• 兩週末前的華語福音布道會；
• 將臨的45屆年會崇拜、會友大會、和慶祝；
• 2015年國殤節周末華語部和青少年事工退修會的各項預備；
• 2015年行事曆，牧師們正在編輯。
• 牧師各項檢討，有待完成；
• 開第牧師一年內已定外出講道的服事；
• 將臨的牧者家庭退修會， 在十月12至13日舉行。

3.執事會近況

新文執事和開第牧師報告：

• 教會基金負責任的用法，包括資產基金預算編列程序；
• 現存銀行基金的配置；
• 南區植堂基金的選擇方案；
• 施工期間，停車的種種困難。

4.政策評審

經教牧同工同意，開第牧師提交長老團三項政策：獎學金、專業基督徒（福音機構）事工、和外來講員和表演者。經過評審討論，長老團對獎學金、專業基督徒（輔助教會）事工這兩項作了補充修訂；並且，等待這些政策更新版本完成後，用電子郵件的傳遞通過。對外來講員和表演者的這一政策的審議，留待下次常例的長老團會議繼續。

5. 預備年會

討論了預備年會後勤服務之需要，年會和下周末周年午餐，以及網上年度報告和紙質複印件的分發。幾位長老建議改變年會部份的形式比例，注重為教會異像祈禱。長老團審定教會憲章修訂版的中文翻譯，為了減少潛在混淆，批準中文版在8.4.3.一處的修改，確保包含“binding約束”這個字。長老團要求執事會支持，在年會中從會眾收集書面問題，以供利欽長老在年會的問答部分來解答。長老團分派德禮長老負責年會前審定年會幻燈片的語法和內容。

6. 行動包廂MobilePack項目

蔡明哲長老提交議案，為跨教會大範圍社區服務，和非營利組織“餵養我的饑餓兒童Feed My Starving Children”合作，使用“行動包廂MobilePack項目模式”。社會關懷事工請求長老團在原則上支持此項目，會有益於會眾和團契合一、與周圍教會、潛在的社區組織（如：勒星頓高中）合作，和社區內帶起領導作用和知名度。長老團原則上同意；此項目具體的後勤和預算等議案，將在一兩年內陸續準備好，再提交審批。

7. 支持繼續教育

開第牧師提交CBCGB職員福利政策的一項改動，為更好地支持職員對繼續教育有興趣。長老團討論了修訂福利政策的方案；長老團指定楊德禮和盧忠信兩位長老提出具體的書面議案，交下屆常例的長老團會議審評。

盧忠信長老於1時30分作結束禱告。

附錄：長老團核准獎學金政策，附在2014年11月3日電子郵件之後。