Next Step Committee
Chapel of the Cross
October 31, 2004
Attending: Committee members Jay Bryan, Paul Carew, Martha Dill, Terry Eason, Barbara Schutz, Rob Sullivan, Ted Vaden, Robert Wright. Ex officio: Stephen Elkins-Williams, John McGee, Dick Taylor. Guests: Bill Daniell, Nancy Tunneson
Ted gave a brief history of the long-range planning process, noting that it has involved extensive study and involvement by a lot of people over a period up to three years. He urged the committee to resist the temptation to re-study and to have a bias toward action. Dick cautioned us not to feel that we needed to have everything accomplished, especially re facilities design and capital planning, by Sept. 30, 2005. But we can have a process launched by then.
Ted went over the charge to the committee from the Vestry. Stephen Elkins-Williams reported that Barbara Day and Mary Schoenfeld have been appointed to chair the Hospitality Committee recommended in the Long-Range Plan, and he and the wardens are working on a Program Review Committee. Those chairs will be invited to future Next Steps meetings.
Bill Daniell, as chair of the Long Range Planning Committee, gave an overview report on how that work was done, then introduced subcommittee chairs to report on their individual parts.
Terry Eason reported on worship and liturgy recommendation. Stephen said the Rector is canonically charged with liturgical matters, and he is working with the Rector’s Liturgical Advisory Committee on the recommendations. He said he is in agreement in general with the recommendations. He mentioned the possibility of new priest David Frazelle handling a new service. Dick observed that the recommendations regarding worship and program are near-term, not needing the longer time horizons and analysis of facilities recommendations. Jay asked if the recommendations were prioritized, and Terry replied that first probably would be attracting young people and second the 7 p.m. service. It was noted that a new parish hall could accommodate a contemporary service, perhaps simultaneous with one of the main Sunday services.
Nancy Tunneson reported on the Program Committee recommendations. She said the committee found that Chapel of the Cross suffers from the “paradox of size,” making it easy for parishioners to be spectators. Deepening Christian community is the ultimate goal. Needs are more intentional hospitality and better space. Other recommendations: review all programs to eliminate duplication or those that no longer fit our mission and identify gaps, use the pulpit/classroom to address the issues of the day. Dick and Ted said we’ve been doing that noticeably of late, and Stephen said that’s intentional. Dick observed that program also is a space issue, that form follows function and we need to be clear about what programs we’re committed to. Need to consult with staff in the program review process.
Rob Sullivan reported on the Facilities Committee recommendations. He challenged the committee to imagine that, to best meet the needs of the parish, we moved to a new location where we could have space to suit our program and worship needs, as previously discussed. But we will not move, because of our historic commitment to the campus. So we need to think in terms of making the kind of improvement and investment on our current site that would serve the same purposes as if we moved. We can’t “tweak” it. He recommended, therefore, that we take the more ambitious approach of the Facilities Subcommittee and replace the Battle and Yates buildings with an entirely new structure that serves our needs. Rob acknowledged that it would be expensive and hugely disruptive, but it would serve our long-term interests of 20 years and beyond. He said this could be done incrementally, building fellowship hall first, then the rest. Bill Daniell said a task of the committee will be to frame several sets of questions to put to design consultants, ranging from the full project envisioned by Rob to scenarios short of that, depending on cost. Rob said he hoped we would constrain ourselves from the start. Robert Wright said he hoped we would think big. He said we have members who have much greater giving capacity. Paul advised that we put money in the annual budget for design consultant. Robert suggested we could take planning funds not from operating, but from capital reserves. Dick asked what our fund-raising capacity would be, and how much debt capacity. John McGee said he would research the debt issue. Terry and John said cost of consultant could be in the $35-50k range.
Ted proposed that we put together an action plan for proceeding. He noted that, if we met on a monthly basis, we would have the opportunity for 6 meetings before the Vestry retreat in May and 10-11 meetings before our Sept. 30, 2005, completion deadline from the Vestry. Dick Taylor suggested that the worship and program recommendations were already in process and that we focus on design and capital planning. The committee agreed by consensus to create a subcommittee, chaired by Terry and including Rob and Martha, to put out a Request for Information to architects. They will copy that communication to all committee members and proceed only with approval of Rector and Wardens.
The committee agreed to meet again on Nov. 21 and Dec. 19, both at 1:15 p.m. in the church library.
Last updated: February 18, 2005
