2014 Annual Report

2014 was a good year for ministry. Many thanks go out to many individuals and groups for making our ministries as fulfilling and effective as they are. Last year has also shown us areas for improvement. We are called by God to live into the fullest of the gifts we’ve been given. We can celebrate our successes even as we learn from them in order to grow into 2015. Among the first good things that we accomplished was to top our numbers in attendance for Ash Wednesday. We even welcomed new people to our community at that service. The ministry of presence with one another at common worship is at the core of what it means to be in Christian community together. At several services last year, individuals remarked how nice it was to see a full sanctuary. It feels good and it prays good to be surrounded by sisters and brothers in Christ. Encouraging attendance is a ministry we are all called to - by God and by one another. As new people join our parish, as they have in the last year, we need to make sure they are given opportunities to fully enter into our parish home. How can we take the warm and inviting welcome - that we’re already very good at! - and follow through with invita-tions to get involved? Remember that church is not just a noun. It’s a verb too! In 2013 we tried out our outdoor chapel for a couple services, and they went very well. Last summer we increased the number of services and added some special music. All of these services were well-received, well-prayed, and very well supported both before, dur-ing, and after the worship. Summertime attendance typically goes down. Is there a way to make these and/or other summer services more attractive? Perhaps we use different mu-sic? Perhaps coffee hour is a picnic? The word “liturgy” means the work of the people. Your input into our services, both during worship, and in the planning of them, is a great ministry for a creative person. The Holy Spirit has led our understanding of stewardship down a very interesting path. Did you know that St. Mary’s is at the forefront of the Church when it comes to reimagin-ing stewardship in the 21st century? As a new generation of Christians takes their place at the table, we see that they have a very different way of looking at things. The conver-sations I’ve engage with my peers and Diocesan staff seem to indicate that our aware-ness of this changing dynamic is far ahead of most other parishes. Keep your hearts and minds open to the movement of the Holy Spirit. She’s taking us somewhere really power-

Annual Report

The Rev. Laurel Dahill

ful! Bringing in a new staff position in Christian Education is something that has been needed for years. Our adult volunteers have been beyond excellent helping our youngest disciples grow their relationship with God. There aren’t enough good things to say about them. I have observed however, a burden of the ministry that was preventing those volunteers from being spiritually fed. The formation of our youngsters is critical to our mission. Thanks to an anonymous donor, dedicated support for that ministry became a reality. As our parish grows, this particular area of ministry will need to be able to effectively grow with it. How can you help support the Christian formation of our youngest disciples? The parish-wide retreat was hugely successful. Attendance was very good, and participants were given a good introduction to the purpose and importance of spiritual retreats. In 2015, I would like to take this to the next level. Connecting with God is what we’re all created to do. Have you experienced a spiritual retreat? Join us. It seems that serious concerns surface in our parish about every 6-months. This is a pattern that I’ve noticed, not just in 2014, but over the years that I’ve been here. Sometimes it has to do with interpersonal relationships, and sometimes it has to do with more concrete issues. In either case, the Vestry has handled each one with grace, justice, and above all, strong leadership. Your Vestry is to be commended for their attention to effective leadership when serious con-cerns are brought before them. In the coming year I want to continue to develop our leadership to grow their strength and confidence so that we can lead our parish further into the fullness of all the gifts that God has given us. Please pray with me that the heart of our community can be so transformed and inspired by the Holy Spirit that we exceed our expectations; in the name of our Saviour Christ, and to the glory of God. Reverend Laurel+

Thank you to Marguerite for all of the work she does to make my job easier.

Thank you also to our counters: Paul Henderson, Chris Beach, Brian Kelly, Carl Mihalyfi, Vikki Toll, Ann Kovl, Nancy Gutelius, Shari Hart and Kim Spilko.

The 2015 budget will be presented to the congregation at the annual meeting on January 25, 2015. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THIS BUDGET WAS NOT APPROVED BY THE VESTRY.

I have included the 12/31/2014 Balance Sheet and the 2015 budget in my report.

As of 12/31/2014, the balance in our PNC checking account was $143,941.51 Total as-sets including all of our investment accounts were $267,192.97 The general fund balance was $222,329.44. The General Fund is our assets minus our obligations.

Total investment income for 2014 was $7,372.73. This was comprised of $1,817.61 in income distributions from the Growth and Income Fund and Increases in that fund and our Comerica Investment Account.

An additional $32,243.63 has been received toward the pledges for the Fellowship Hall. To Date, $139,011.18 has been received.

The balance on our commercial loan was $210,064.27 at year end. We have $17,231.12

in the Fellowship Hall business checking account at PNC and an additional $20,466.54 in

the PNC Money Market account. In addition to our monthly loan payment, quarterly prin-

cipal payments of $2,000 were made.

St Mary’s-in-the-Hills

2014 Treasurer’s Report

St Mary’s-in-the-Hills

2014 Treasurer’s Report

INCOME

2014 Budget 2014 Actual 2015 Budget

Pledges $ 172,524 $ 168,279.00 $ 156,834

Loose Plate $ 3,000 $ 4,415.00 $ 3,000

Coffee Hour $ 425 $ 457.10 $ 425

Miscellaneous $ - $ 8,713.23

Investments & Endowments $ 1,800 $ 7,372.73 $ 1,800

Total Income $ 177,749.00 $ 189,237.06 $ 162,059.00

EXPENSES

Diocesan Assessments $ 17,720 $ 17,720.04 $ 18,070

Staff Pay

Pastor-Stipend $ 40,000 $ 34,999.92 $ 40,000

Pastor Housing Allowance $ 25,000 $ 30,000.00 $ 25,000

Pastor Pension $ 11,700 $ 12,958.00 $ 11,700

Pastor-Annuity/Medical $ 8,388 $ 11,380.86 $ 8,388

Pastor-Dental $ 540 $ 619.38 $ 530

Pastor-Life Insurance $ 360 $ 474.00 $ 408

Salary-Sunday School Di-rector $ 2,550.00 $ 8,500

Salary - Music Director $ 10,066 $ 9,227.24 $ 10,066

Salary - Parish Administra-tor $ 9,360 $ 10,717.50 $ 9,360

Salary - Nursery Staff $ 1,936 $ 1,936.08 $ 1,936

Salary -Custodian $ 6,650 $ 6,584.40 $ 6,650

FICA & Other Salary Taxes $ 2,549 $ 2,372.71 $ 3,325

Workers Compensation $ 420 $ 351.00 $ 415

Sub-Total Staff Pay $ 116,969 $ 124,171 $ 126,278

Office Expense

Copier Lease $ 1,175 $ 1,273.55 $ 1,300

Bank Charges $ 24 $ 33.00 $ 24

Office Supplies $ 900 $ 1,222.66 $ 925

Postage $ 250 $ 389.00 $ 300

Printing $ 75 $ - $ 75

"St. Mary's in the Hills 2014 Expenses and 2015 Budget

"St. Mary's in the Hills 2014 Expenses and 2015 Budget

Sub-Total Office Expense $ 2,424

$ 2,918

$ 2,624

Administrative Expense

Rector-Business Allowance $ 500 $ 574.41

$ 500

Parish Discretionary Account $ 788 $ 668.98

$ 788

Rector-Continuing Education $ 750 $ 346.80

$ 750

Leadership Development $ 200 $ 321.09

$ 200

Sub-Total Admin. Exp. $ 2,238

$ 1,911

$ 2,238

Phones/Internet/Computer

Church Phone $ 1,430 $ 1,375.67

$ 1,430

Cell Phone $ 650 $ 648.00

$ 650

Website Advertising $ 1,000 $ 120.00

$ 1,000

Computer Hardward $ 500 $ -

$ 500

Computer Support $ 248 $ 248.00

$ 248

Sub-Total Phones, etc. $ $ 2,391.67 $ 3,828.00

Building - Grounds - Utilities

Utilities

Electricity $ 7,725 $ 6,550.58

$ 7,450

Water & Sewer $ 1,000 $ 282.66

$ 1,000

Gas $ 7,000 $ 5,103.30

$ 7,000

Waste $ 800 $ 982.32

$ 1,032

Utilities Sub-Total $ $ 12,918.86 $ 16,482.00

Building Insurance-total $ 4,351 $ 4,700.00

$ 4,700

"St. Mary's in the Hills 2014 Expenses and 2015 Budget

Building Maintenance

Janitorial Supplies $ 275 $ 219.31

$ 275

Pest Control $ 450 $ 966.52

$ 443

Repair/Maintenance $ 3,838 $ $

Maintenance Equipment $ - $ - $ -

Building Maint Sub-Total $ 4,563.00 $ 4,522.30 $ 4,556.00

Grounds Maintenance

Landscaping $ 250 $ - $ 250

Lawn Maintenance $ 2,144 $ $

Snow Removal $ 860 $ 1,025.00

$ 860

Grounds Maint Sub-Total $ 3,254.00 $ 3,265.00 $ 3,110.00

Sub-Total Building, etc. $ 28,693.00 $ 25,406.16 $ 28,848.00

Departments / Committees

Christian Education

Church School $ 500 $ 344.35

$ 500

Youth Sunday School $ 150 $ 150

Adult Education $ 300 $ $

VBS $ 250 $ - $ 250

Fellowship $ 124 $ $

Christian Education Sub- $ 1,324 $ $

Music $ 1,395 $ $

Handbell Choir $

Evangelism $ 500 $ 500

Advertising $

Love INC $ 1,500 $ 1,500.00

$ 1,500

Stewardship $ 450 $ - $ 200

"St. Mary's in the Hills 2014 Expenses and 2015 Budget

Ministry Expense

Coffee Hour $ 500 $ 465.05

$ 500

Worship-General $ 150 $ 210.40

$ 150

Altar Supplies $ 400 $ 459.51

$ 400

Bulletins $ 60 $ 13.43

$ 60

Bulletin Inserts $ 325 $ 391.49

$ 325

Ministry Expense Sub-Total $ 1,435 $ 1,540

$ 1,435

Sub-Total Depts/Com $ 6,604 $ 5,851

$ 6,659

Other Expenses

Supply Clergy $ 1,000 $ 398.92

$ 600

Special Vestry Approved $ 800 $ 1,031.99

$ 800

Payroll Fees $ 360 $ 410.00

$ 468

Scouts-Charter Fees $ 80 $ - $ 80

Sub-Total Other Expenses $ 2,240 $ 1,841

$ 1,948

Total Cash Expenses $ 180,716 $ 182,210

$ 190,493

Income vs Expenses $ (2,967) $ 7,027 $ (28,434)

Serving on the Vestry during the past year were: Jim LaSovage, Doug Shelton, Joe Shively, Nancy Gutelius, Mike Beem, Ann Kovl, Kim Kelly, Erika West, Sheri Hart, Holly MacMahon, Bree Schultz, and Lisa McGeen.

Bree Schultz and Lisa McGeen served as Wardens, with Bobbi Patton as Treasur-

er. Bobbi served the parish for her first year as Treasurer, and we owe her our many and

warmest thanks for having done an excellent job. Sheri Hart served as Secretary, re-

sponsible for taking the minutes of Vestry meetings.

Thank you all for your dedication and service during this year.

Reverend Laurel has now been at the helm here in our parish for over a year, and has

taken us in new, welcome directions. We are tremendously fortunate to have her here

with us.

We’ve had moderate growth in our members, with both new and familiar faces in the

pews each week.

Reverend Laurel and the Vestry worked to continue initiatives that had begun in the pre-

vious year, particularly in the areas of evangelism, communication, and outreach. Our

continued work and support for Love INC., which maintains a clothes closet in former

classroom space of the undercroft as well as the 5th Monday community meal which St.

Mary’s prepares at Lake Orion United Methodist Church. St. Mary’s ongoing support of

Crossroads Soup kitchen in downtown Detroit continues to be an important ministry for

our parishioners. The Sullivan Memorial emergency food pantry in our undercroft was

heavily utilized during 2014. The Youth Group and the Boy Scout Troop, two of our youth

outreach ministries, continue to thrive with outstanding adult guidance.

Under Keenan’s direction, the choir was able to take on new and more challenging mu-

sic, as well as finishing the year with much needed new choir robes on order. The bell

choir also continued to grow and develop with the help of Keenan and Carol Main; the

Warden’s Report

Bree Schultz

bell choir was able to share their talents with us during several services.

We continued to make our facilities available to the community, including serving as a

polling place for local elections.

As we had both hoped and projected, we realized significant savings with the addition of

our new high efficiency boiler. Gratefully, it continues to bring us warmth and provide us

with a facility that welcomes all the ministries we house.

We were able, through a generous donation, to bring a Youth Education director onboard

in the fall. Brittany Kochajda transitioned into her new position, with the help of Cathy

Flanders and the rest of the Sunday School teaching staff.

As we enter 2015, St. Mary’s in-the-Hills Episcopal Church closed the year with a sizea-ble budget deficit projection, but we did have new pledging units join our community. Av-erage weekly attendance was stable over the course of the year, and attendance on Christmas Eve topped 227.

Warden’s Report

Bree Schultz

Vestry Candidate Biographies

I am Viki Toll. I came to

St Mary's in 1996 and found my spiritual home. I was married to my late husband Glenn here. My

three children are Kristian, Bree and Cody. We are all blessed with their spouses Meg, Jason and

Barb. Three grandchildren and four gcs-in-law grace our family.

In life i work for NOTA . We provide transportation for seniors, disabled persons and families of lim-

ited means. Though a job, it feels more like a ministry.

Here in St Mary's i serve as a lay eucharistic minister, sing and count. It is also my privilege to give

aloud the prayers of the people and read lessons. Serving as a property committee member has

taught me much about the physical needs of our building and the constant attention required to

keep our community comfortable and safe.

Viki Toll

Colleen McKenna

Greetings! I would like to introduce myself.

I am Colleen McKenna and my family and I have been members of St Mary’s-in-the-Hills for sev-

eral years. Our son, Nick, started out as a member of Cub Scout Pack 28 and achieved his Eagle

as a member of Boy Scout Troop 128, both are associated with St. Mary’s. Through his associa-

tion with the Troop and his enrollment in the God & Church program, we came to know St. Mary's

In The Hills as that "missing" home of worship in our lives. We love the smaller parish atmos-

phere here at St Mary’s and wonderful people we have met over time. We have enjoyed recon-

necting with the church where we were absent for a time.

I was born and raised in Waterford, Michigan and my family were members of St. Benedicts Cath-

olic Church. I attended Waterford schools and upon graduation from high school, attended the

State University of New York at Potsdam. I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Sci-

ence - I've been a paid geek ever since.

I spent the first 2+ years after college living out east in Maine (had to answer those "What Ifs"),

but my heart and my roots called me back to Michigan. I was lucky enough to transfer through

my company at the time and it was there that I met my husband, John (we have been married for

over 22 years). Soon after we were married we promptly started our family and settled in Lake

Orion. We have a son, Nick, who is currently a Junior at The Citadel in Charleston, South Caroli-

na and a daughter, Rachel, who followed in her father's foot-steps and is a freshman attending

Mercyhurst University for pre-med.

Vestry Candidate Biographies

Both Nick and Rachel were acolytes and upon their graduations, I have taken their place at the

8:30 service. I also help with presenting the elements, Altar Guild, the yearly maintenance days

and miscellaneous tasks as needed. I am a "working mom" and spend my free-time in my gardens,

cuddling our cats, reading and sending care packages to the kids and their friends. Our family

were avid campers while the kids were growing and we have horse-backed in Yellowstone Park,

went whitewater rafting and caving in Pennsylvania, zip-lined in Massachusetts, explored the Fin-

ger Lakes, hiked and explored in Maine and Vermont, and bobsledded in Lake Placid, New

York. Family trips are never boring!

As a parent, I volunteered on the Carpenter PTC for 8 years, serving 6 of those 8 years as Secre-

tary, Treasurer and President (couldn’t pull off the quad). I then volunteered at Scripps Middle

School for 4 years, serving 3 of those years as PTO Treasurer. Many of the procedures I imple-

mented are still being used today. In High School, I turned my attention to Hockey – helping to or-

ganize the LO Hockey Golf Auction and managing Rachel’s hockey team. Now that we’re empty-

nesters, it’s time to redirect my skills.

It would be a privilege and an honor to represent the congregation of St. Mary's In The Hills on the

Vestry should you choose me.

Kristin has been grateful to the congregation of St. Mary’s in-the-Hills for graciously allowing her to continue to show up for some 15 years. Although she’s looking for the locks to change any mi-nute, she’s hoping that the opportunity to serve on the Vestry ill be a chance to do some good work in her appreciation for the warmth St. Mary’s has shown her for her entire stay.

Over the years, Kristin has dabbled in a few ministries, including “Lemming” which isn’t actually groups of Episcopalians running headlong over a cliff and into the sea, presumably after a Vestry meeting, as one might suspect. Rather, is it serving at the Altar, alongside Laurel and others, to “feed the sheep” as a Lay Eucharistic Minister. This one feels like home, so she hopes not to be fired. She also lectors, blithely mispronouncing difficult words like Melchizedek and Laodiceans, and taught the kids in the church school for a time, having a wonderful time doing both. Now that her children are older (all teenagers – Karmen, PJ (Paul, Jr.), and Kevin – weep), they hope she doesn’t become involved in the Youth Group. Husband Paul, works midnights and is rarely seen in these parts, but loves to attend when he can.

One Lent, she thought she should try baking some handmade bread for the altar just for fun and it stuck, so she still does. That’s been fun and now the kids are helping, too! Lastly, once upon a time Kristin did the church newsletter, still her first ministerial love. She was lucky enough to do two other newsletters as well, when she was the office manager for a couple of other churches in the diocese.

Kristin Kahrs

Vestry Candidate Biographies

There’s a few other things in there, too, which probably don’t bear mentioning, and a few other

things left to try, like maybe adult education or bringing new groups into the church to enjoy our

hospitality. She hopes to see, as part of your new vestry. Pray for her. Please.

Sunday School 2014

Holly MacMahon

COMMISSION: Christian Education and care for children in our nursery through fifth grade.

COMMITTEE: Brittany Kochajda is our new Christian Education Director for our elementary school age group assisted by Cathy Flanders, Holly Mac Mahon, Lisa McGeen, Stacy and Dan Tines, Jennifer Cawley, and Sheila Thomason. Janet Spears is Head Teacher for our nursery assisted by Trudy Zelezic

PURPOSE/MISSION: To provide loving care for children from infancy through fifth grade and use an approved curriculum which embodies the teachings of our Church and its rituals.

Leader: Brittany Kochajda and Janet Spears

Last meeting date: November 2014

MEETING FREQUENCY: With the hiring of Brittany there were interviews and meetings with Reverend Laurel, Cathy Flanders, and Holly MacMahon. Cathy facilitated a transition plan for Brittany which introduced Brittany to our volunteer teachers, curriculum, current structure of our routine on Sunday and our supply closet. A celebration lunch at Casa Real in Oxford occurred November 16th to acknowledge Cathy’s many years of service and leadership to our Church families and to welcome Brittany as our new Christian Education Director. Reverend Laurel, Holly MacMahon, Stacy Tines,Lisa McGeen, and Brittany’s sister Brianna attended.

MEETING VENUE: Classrooms in Fellowship Hall

EXPENDITURES TO DATE:

Sunday School now has a line item in the budget to cover an annual salary of $8500.00 Money spent YTD is $ 850.00

Money spent for S.S. expenses is $328.35 YTD

Nursery has spent 53.83 from the wash account.

NEW PEOPLE JOINING THIS COMMITTEE

Sunday School 2014

Holly MacMahon

Brittany Kochajda is our new Christian Education Director and we have not had any new parent volunteers join our team.

WHAT IS GOING WELL

The transition of a new Director is going well. Brittany has a warm welcoming style with the chil-dren and they seem very at ease with her. She began working on getting ready for the Christmas Pageant right away by teaching the children a song, assigning parts, and

getting costumes ready. She has come prepared each Sunday with a craft idea and snack so that her support volunteers can help the children and not focus on leading. I think that this shift will have a positive effect on recruiting new volunteers.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT:

I am hoping that as Brittany becomes more comfortable with our Church family she will include herself in other activities. She and her twin sister are very close and seem very supportive of one another’s interests. Brittany has created a schedule for the new year 2015 which includes two vol-unteers to work with her each Sunday.

Our Christmas Pageant was on December 21st. Eleven of our children participated wearing ani-mal masks and some simple costumes. After each animal offered their gift to baby Jesus the chil-dren sang three verses of Jesus love me with Keenan accompanying them on the piano. Bravo well done!!!

Attendance in the Nursery has been very light, sometimes no children are requiring care. As chil-dren transition from the Nursery to the Sunday School they may want to return to the Nursery and Janet always makes that available to them. Janet wishes she had more children. The Play Mat she purchased is a good addition to the room’s equipment. I encouraged Janet to get the clean-ing supplies she wants for the room and to keep them in the cabinet where other supplies are. Parent volunteers are going well.

LOOKING AHEAD

Brittany will have more opportunities to expand activities as the new year unfolds to include mak-ing communion bread with the children. As Spring approaches we will discuss Vacation Bible School.

Youth Group

Nancy Gutelius

Commission: Youth Group Education Purpose/mission/vision: To educate our teen church members and help them realize their talents and future positions within their church family.

Leader(s): Ann & Brad Spear

Last meeting date: September 2014 Meeting or activity frequency: Youth group meet every Sunday during the school year Meeting Venues: Youth Group Room Expenditures to date: $275.00, for the garden project How many new people are being invited to serve on this committee?

Currently have 5 teachers on the monthly rotation: Ann and Brad Spear, Bree Schultz, Emily Munro, and Nancy Gutelius

What's going well?

Youth Group programs kicked off in early September. The kids appear to enjoy the curriculum, and are open to discussion.

What needs improvement?

Attendance is not regular by the students; there can be 2 students one week and up to 9 another. It makes it difficult to estimate materials and snacks. There is a bit of disconnect (which is typical for this age group) of the kids and church and church obligations. Would like to find a way to make them feel more connected to St. Mary’s and to each other. The Community Garden project for the kids started well in the spring of 2014; they seemed united in their project planning and planting. However, several of the students graduated and the rest had not made formal commitments to keep up with the watering. It was a good education for them as they had originally planned a larger garden; and did not realize the long-term aspect of the commitment. Need to find appropriately trained adult volunteers to be able to offer overnights, such as for New Year’s and Maundy Thursday. We could use some new volunteers.

Upcoming Plans:

Lenten Project for Lent Community Project for Spring DIA Trip for March Murder Mystery Dinner for May Beach Party for June/end of Year

AngelFISH: On Christmas morning, 14 children in our communities received gifts they would most likely not have gotten had it not been for the generosity of the members of St. Mary’s in-the-Hills congregation. A big thank you to Maxine and Paul Henderson for once again getting all of the gifts to St. Joe’s in time for the parents to get them and wrap them.

Love INC: The Clothes Closet that we operate is still open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The morning hours from 9 to 12 are devoted to receiving, sorting and stocking the shelves with items donated by people within the community. Clients are able to make their selects in the afternoon from noon until 3 o’clock. All clients have vouchers that must be presented to the volunteer in the closet that identify them as someone that has been given permission to use the closet by the main office of Love In the Name of Christ. There is a need for one volunteer to fill a vacancy on the third Tuesday of the month. Love INC also runs Bed, Blessings and beyond, a household ministry, and Little Luxuries, a personal products ministry, at Christ the King Church on Drahner Rd.

Monday through Thursday, anyone can get a free meal at one of the churches that is a partner of Love INC. Monday the meal is at Lake Orion United Methodist. Tuesday meals are hosted at Im-manuel United Congregational Church in Oxford. Oxford United Methodist does the Wednesday dinner and Thursdays meal is held at Christ the King Church.

Other ministries operated by Love INC include a laundry ministry, a gas card ministry and emer-gency food closets. If you know someone that might benefit from the services of Love INC, please give them the number for the main office 248-693-4357.

Crossroads: June 8Th was the day that St Mary’s provided the lunch at Crossroads in 2014. It takes many hands to pull this off. Most of the shopping is done on the Friday before and delivered to Crossroads. On Saturday a group of eight or ten prepares the vegetable. We peel and cut up 50 pounds of onions, carrots and celery. We also clean 50 pounds of potatoes that will get cut up on Sunday. On Sunday we make 120 gallons of pea soup and 1800 sandwiches. In 2014 we served about 800 people.

Outreach

Bobbi Patton

The Tuesday morning Bible Study meets from 10am until noon each week. Coffee and tea are provided along with occasional treats. We take the summers off from early June to Labor Day.

This year we have, with the leadership of our priest, Rev. Laurel Dahill, focused on the Lectionary Readings that will appear the following Sunday. From time to time we discuss whether we want to change this format, but for this year, we have found it very informa-tive and helpful to continue this study program.

Those who have joined us at various times this year are:

Melissa Breckenridge

Fran Masek

Trudy Zelezic

Rose Marie Frazer

Dolores Kelley

Kim Bickel

Bobbi Patton

Susan Suter

Maxine Henderson

Paul Henderson

Sue Sanna

Vicki Joy

Mary Beth Weichert

We encourage and welcome newcomers whenever you can join us!

Tuesday Morning Bible Study

Sue Sanna

This is our 11th year together. We usually meet the 3rd Tuesday afternoon of each month from 12:30pm to 3pm-ish. We meet in members homes and the hostess that month provides the main course while two other members bring a salad and dessert. We have about 12 members, but always glad to welcome more!

Here are the books we read this past year:

January The Shoemaker's Wife by Adrana Trigiani

February City of Women by David R. Gilham

March Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

April The Fisherman's Wife: by Kathleen Glavich

The Gospel according to St. Peter

May Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

~ SUMMER BREAK ~

September The Soldier's Story by Ron Steinman

October The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

November House Rules by Jodi Picoult

In addition to meeting each month, this year we also did a field trip organized by Marj Mihalfyi.

Marj set up a private tour for us at the Scripps Mansion on Scripps Road across from Canterbury Village. We had a wonderful tour - they have great plans to bring the interior of the house back to historical accuracy. After the tour we all went to lunch at C-Pub. It was a wonderful day!

Easy Readers Book Club

Sue Sanna

Music

Keenen Thomason

2014 was once again an outstanding year for St. Mary’s music program. The vocal choir continues to shine as they lead our congregation in song every Sunday at the 10am service as well as Christmas Eve and Holy Week services. This group of dedicated individuals meet for rehearsal every Wednesday evening from 7-9pm from September through early June. The choir in 2014 had 17 members: Melissa Brecken-ridge, Janice Dalgliesh, Mike Dalgliesh, Rose Marie Frazer, Sarah Kielinen, Holly MacMahon, Emily Munro, Sara Munro, Bree Schultz, Viki Toll, Peter Trumbore, Sarah Trumbore, Peggy Wenk, Anne Spear, Brad Spear, Kathy Spearin Hurst and MaryBeth Wiechert and was directed by Keenan Thomason. The choir is currently looking for new members to join. If you are interested please contact Keenan Thomason or a cur-rent choir member.

Also in 2014 the bell choir has begun regular monthly performances at the 10am service and will continue to be present throughout 2015. This is thanks to the dedicated members: Judy Bishop, Laura Carter, Nancy Gutelius, Sheri Hart, Bernie Hetrick, Showey Howey, Bobbi Patton and their outstanding director Carol Main. The bell choir rehearses every Sunday from 11:45am-12:45pm from September through early June. They are also looking for new members. Please contact Carol Main or a current bell choir member if you are interested in joining.

In addition to our regular performing ensembles listed above St. Mary’s hired a brass quintet led by Keenan Thomason to perform at our Easter and Christmas Eve services. We also welcomed world multi-percussionist Mark Stone and his wife Lesley-Anne Stone to perform on steel drums, Sean Minnie on bag-pipes and an acoustic ensemble of members from St. Mary’s for three of our outdoor services this summer.

2014 was also full of some exciting changes! As the music program continues to grow our space in the choir loft does not. However, with the help of several members of the choir and congregation we have transformed our space to accommodate the members of both choirs and reorganize the choir loft. We pur-chased several bookshelves for the vocal choir (see pictures below). This allowed us to clear out enough space in the closet to have a locked space for the bell choir to store the bells. Previously the bells needed to be carried up and down the stairs every time they were used. This new storage space alleviates that problem.

Since the vocal choir has more members that we own robes and the current robes are more than 25 years old new robes have been purchased. This was possible thanks to many years of fundraising and help from the vestry. The new robes are expected to be delivered in February of 2015.

Once again this year the choir is thankful for the generosity of Victoria Shively who has offered her talent to accompany the choir several times throughout the year on the piano. Also, I would like to thank Levi and Sarah Trumbore for leading the music for the children’s service on Christmas Eve.

Many thanks to all who all work to make the music program a delight and great success at St. Mary’s.

Before new shelving in the choir loft. After new shelving in the choir loft.

In 2014, the Stewardship Committee built on the Stewardship as Lifestyle theme of the previous year, using the following statements as guides:

Vision: Stewardship is all that we do with all that we have all of the time.

Mission: To raise consciousness about 21st Century stewardship.

2014 theme: Everything is stewardship.

Throughout the year, we published short pieces in the Stewardship Corner in an effort to keep all of us thinking about the many ways God presents stewardship opportunities. Several sermons had strong stewardship elements. It was by intention that emphasis on financial support took a back seat until autumn. That said and done, we all know that fi-nancial support of St. Mary’s is essential to parish health.

As pledges came in more slowly than expected, we made announcements and men-tioned the shortfall in relation to the proposed budget. The table below shows our support in three prominent categories, with the two previous years for comparison.

2013 2014 2015

Pledges 63 70 61

Total $173,734 $172,724 $143,254

Average $2,757.88 $2,467.49 $2,348.43

Your Stewardship Committee,

The Rev. Laurel Dahill, Nancy Gutelius, Bree Schultz, Pete Trumbore, Jim LaSovage

Stewardship

Jim LaSovage

St. Mary’s raised $3,690 for the 2014 CROP Walk on May 4. Once again, we surpassed our goal of $3,600.

Twenty-one walkers and our favorite mascot, Rocket, participated in the walk.

Twenty-five percent of all the money raised stayed within the local community for Fish and Love INC. We are looking forward to a bigger and better year in 2015.

The committee (Maxine Henderson, Deb Lunney, and Erika West) wants to thank all of those who participated.

CROP Walk

Maxine Henderson

Purpose/mission/vision: To promote an active and community conscious congregation supporting the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Goals: Help St. Mary’s provide a living example of Jesus Christ to our community through creating and maintaining visibility.

Many of the ministry areas at St. Mary’s overlap. Outreach, Fellowship and Evangelism have many area in common. Following are the areas that have been active for part or all of 2014:

* Pub theology continues to be active at local restaurants for members of St. Mary’s, as well as members of the community.

* Parishioners supported the annual Crop Walk in Lake Orion.

* Manned the registration table for Dragon-On-The-Lake boat races.

* Sponsored Crossroads Soup Kitchen.

* Continued to provide Fifth Monday meals at Lake Orion United Methodist Church.

* Held the annual Blessing of the Animals for members and the community.

* Building Bread Sunday was re-energized.

* Recruited new ushers during the annual Ministry Fair.

* Greeters consistently provided by the Vestry.

* Website and Facebook pages are updated regularly, including weekly sermons available to listen to.

* Addition of Blue Christmas service.

* Commitment to weekly children’s sermon and including children in the service on the second Sunday of each month.

What’s going well: Building Bread Sunday was re-energized. Most areas have maintained strong visibility.

What needs improvement: There is no formal committee, this should be formed. More efforts should to be made to increase visibility in the community. The avenues for this can be determined by the committee.

Evangelism

Ann Kovl

Members: Maxine Henderson, Madelyn Peruski, Carolyn Birch, Deb Lunney and Bobbi Patton. The committee would like to thank the many members of the parish who send cards and words of

encouragement to varied Recipients. The people who receive the cards are often surprised and very pleased that someone

is thinking of them when they most need it. Mission: The Pastoral Care Committee meets on the third Sunday of the month at 9:30 am to dis-

cuss and act on the pastoral Needs of the church family. The Pastoral Care Commission involved three types of ministries : We provide pastoral care needs such as providing funereal service luncheons and/or coffee and

dessert following the service. In 2014, the committee provided this service and more for the funereal service of Peggy Wenk. We also actively send Get Well, Sympathy, and Thinking of You cards to fellow parishioners. We provide meal to members and families during difficult times. Again, we would like to thank

Bobbi Patton, Maxine and Paul Henderson, Sue Sanna and o all those who have volunteered their time and make meals for those in need.

Pastoral Care

Deb Lunney

Commission: Fellowship Committee - January 2015 Purpose/mission/vision: To bring together par-ish members in a social & enjoyable context.

Leader(s): 2014 - Lisa McGeen & Ann Spear; 2015 - Nancy Gutelius

Last meeting date: December 2014 Meeting or activity frequency: Meetings - Bi-monthly. Events, monthly or bi-monthly Meeting Venues: Fellowship Hall Expenditures to date: Unknown How many new people are being invited to serve on this committee?

The invitation has been extended to the parish; at present, the members are Nancy Gutelius, Sta-cy Tines, Lisa McGeen, Ann Spear, Showey Howey, Trudy Zelic, Sara Stuck, Kim Kelly

What's going well?

The committee members are excellent about assisting with events. February’s Dinner & A Movie Night is generally well attended.

What needs improvement?

We could use some new volunteers, and would love more members from the 8:30 service. Would like to see more events attended by those other than who are in the committee

Previous Events: Autumn Outing to Yates Cider Mill at Canterbury Holiday Movie Night in Decem-ber

Upcoming Plans:

Dinner and a Movie in February Bocce Ball Gathering Lenten Potluck Dinner Open Mike Night Flower Arranging Class

Fellowship

Nancy Gutelius

Property Committee members this year were Mike Beem, Nancy Gutelius, Paul Henderson, John McKenna, Viki Toll, Sara Munro, Deb Lunney, Julie Kopka, Bob Kopka, and Sue Sanna. We meet the 2nd Sunday of each month.

Here is a summary of some of the things we covered in 2014:

+ Mike and Janice Dalgliesh offered to replace the Courtyard Doors (glass doors in our Gathering Space). These doors are being given in memory of their son, Rory Dalgliesh. A dedication of these doors will occur later in 2015.

+ Railings to assist at the altar. Requests had been made for this by several parishioners. With the help of Paul Henderson's railing contact, as well as the wonderful wood crafting for the top of the railings by our own Doc Dewey - we have very handsome railings to aid those who need it.

+ A Grant through the Diocese and a Rebate from Consumers Power - handled by Paul Hender-son, brought in $10,000 and $1140 respectively to help offset the costs of our new boiler system, which cost close to $24,000. The new boiler is so efficient - it is 30% to 40% cheaper to operate and we are now able to keep the sanctuary and Hamm Room warm 24/7!!! However, the initial cost has been a huge hit to our church budget, though necessary, as the old one kept failing dur-ing winter. Any donations towards this cost would greatly help our current Church expenses and budget..

+Back door to the Fellowship Hall - Paul installed a stopper and holes in the deck so that we can keep that door open when deliveries need to be made or we just want some fresh air!

+Painting of Bell Tower Room and Hamm Room. It was a big project and we had lots of help. Those helpers included: Viki Toll, our leader. Kim Trumbore, Sara Munro, Sarah Trumbore, Roger Lee, John Weichert, David McGeen, Sue Sanna, Trudy Zelezic, Holly MacMahon, Rose Marie Fra-zer, Paul Henderson, Carol Main, Bernie Hettrick, Kathy Dewey, Sheri Hart, Marlyn Stroud, Max-ine Henderson, Kathy Spearin-Hurst, Showey Howey, and Deb Lunney.

+ Fellowship Hall back door, the outside railing. This was accidentally "taken out" by a Love, Inc. client, who later expressed a desire to repair it. However, Chris Beach and Roger Lee came to our aid and made it stronger than ever!

+ Sanding, priming, painting the outside railings (front & back) done by Sue and Tom Sanna.

Sue's husband, Tom, also filled in all the "wells" around the black railing posts with cement to de-lay the rust and wear at those base points (now no water will collect there).

+ Spring and Fall Clean-ups and lunch, provided by our committee. Huge thanks to those who stay to help clean the inside and outside of the church. Also a huge thanks to Troop #128 for coming out in force to rake up leaves. We cannot thank you enough! Great lunch after was enjoyed by all.

+ Thanks to Bob Kopka (and Julie) for completely cleaning out all our gutters. We will need to look at the roof situation of our older bldgs. In the near future and consider whether gutters are neces-

Property

Sue Sanna

sary at all on the steep pitched church roof.

+ Power washing and staining all outside wood stairs, decks and benches - Paul and Maxine Hen-derson have done this for several years and it always look so great after they are done!

+ Raccoon issues in roof near office. Big thanks to Bob Kopka, a new member at St. Mary's, who made sure this was secured and closed after we had problems this Spring and Summer.

+ New Scout Sign - provided by Chris Beach and installed by Paul Henderson.

+ Cleaning of carpets in church sanctuary, office and Fellowship Hall.

+ Stations of the Cross - we had one of the crosses down this winter. Reason still really unknown. Paul was able to salvage the plaque and has bought a new cross and will install when weather im-proves.

+ Narthex fluorescent lights went out - Paul found the loose wire and fixed it!

There are a multitude of other open issues that hopefully will be resolved in the coming year. We always are so glad when new people want to join our meetings. We also are thankful to the many who prefer not to "meet" but are very willing to help whenever a job looms.

As always, this report would not be complete without a special "thank you" to Paul Henderson , who more than weekly checks on things at our church and if needing repair, notes it and makes sure it gets fixed. Many things Paul fixes himself. Light bulb, lighting and sump pumps are his spe-cialty but nothing escapes his eye! We are so fortunate to have Paul's help

.

Property

Sue Sanna

Pub Theology

Doug Shelton

The Pub Theology group meets on Tuesdays at 7 P.M. to discuss a wide variety of philosophical

subjects relating to our Christian beliefs. Doing this over food and/or drinks makes for an informal

setting where ideas can flow. We generally have a turnout of between 8 and 15 people and it nearly

always includes people from outside of our church family. Our group has a wide variety of ages (21

and over for obvious reasons) and people from many different stages of life which tends to create

lively discussions. Not only do we benefit from each others widely divergent views, the very pres-

ence of a Christian group in a pub setting attracts the attention of people in our community who

most likely have little or no connection with churches. Our meetings typically last about 90 minutes

and recently we have been meeting in downtown Lake Orion.

This ministry continued to make Prayer Shawls for those in need of comfort while undergoing med-ical procedures, after a loss, or during an illness and recovery. Like all acts of generosity, the presentation of a Prayer Shawl enriches the giver as well as the recipient. Preemie hats, booties, and 24 inch square blankets were crocheted/knitted for the Beaumont Hos-pital Fetal Loss Program. These items have helped mothers in the grieving process after the premature loss of their babies. The biggest project the group encountered was making scarves for the homeless sponsored by the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Detroit. Thanks to the ladies who diligently crocheted/knitted, St. Mary’s donated 81 scares and 45 hats and gloves for the homeless. The Stitchers meet on the 3

rd Saturday of each month.

Spiritual Stitchers

Maxine Henderson

Panera Bread Ministry

Paul Henderson

Each Friday, a representative from St. Mary’s retrieves the day’s leftover bread, bagels,

scones, cookies, and other goodies from the Panera Bread on Baldwin Rd. at I-75. This is an

absolute treasure trove of wholesome bakery goods. An average haul fills the back seat of a

car from seat to ceiling plus the passenger’s seat full of sweets. The day’s bounty is taken the

following morning to the Baldwin Center Soup Kitchen in Pontiac for distribution to our broth-

ers and sisters in need. Many thanks to the Panera Team; Paul and Maxine Henderson, Sheri

Hart, Stacy and Dan Tines, and John and Mary Beth Wiechert.

Members: Dan Tines, Kim Trumbore, David McGeen, Lisa McGeen, Brad Spear This year saw a redesign in the website to a format that is more mobile device friendly. It was a

complete change and has increase traffic to our website and earned us compliments on how well we keep it up to date.

The St. Mary’s Facebook page has remained one of the strongest ways we use to communicate

current and coming events within the parish. We have also been able to use this site to help promote other outreach events such as Pub Theology which now has its own Facebook page.

The web committee has also used Facebook to advertise for Easter and Christmas services

school to encourage new members. The newsletter has moved to mostly online edition with just a few paper versions going out which

save us some money. We are also trying a new format and being sent quarterly. We have been working through ensuring that all of the information on the website stay up to date

and easily used across both mobile and standard devices.

Website and Newsletter

Lisa McGeen

Administration

Doug Shelton

The Administration Committee meet and delivered employee reviews.

The process of moving reviews being moved from mid year to the end of the year has been a posi-tive change.