Church Council held its second meeting of the year on March 3. Church Council is the governing board for Signal Crest business and is made up of representatives from all ministry areas of the church, lay leaders, committee chairs, and at-large members. Your 2019 Church Council representatives can be found by  clicking here .

To better understand the governance of both the United Methodist Church and Signal Crest UMC, please  click here  to download an overview provided by our own Trusted Leadership team.


To help keep you in the loop, here is a summary of what was discussed during the meeting:

Tina Close, Chair of Finance, shared more detail about our 2018 year-end financial position. As previously reported, Signal Crest ended 2018 in a healthy financial position. You may see the final year-end balance sheet by clicking here . We fully paid our apportionment to the Holston Conference ($104,522 in 2018).

The Finance Committee also requested an off-budget capital expense for a new guitar for The Crest worship service out of the designated Music Fund. Church Council approved this purchase.

Anne Pitts, Chair of Stewardship, reported that we have received 118 commitments totaling $613,179 to-date in 2019. This is $33,904 more in commitments for 2019 than in 2018. In 2018, 55% of our income from giving came from pledges and 45% came from non-pledges. We expect that trend to be similar in 2019.

It is not too late to turn in a Gift Plan for 2019 if you would like to do so. You may drop it in the offering plate ( click here to download Gift Plan Card), complete one online by clicking here , or drop yours by the church office.

Lynn Lancaster, Chair of Staff-Parish Relations, reported to Church Council on our open positions and recent staff changes:

  • Senior Pastor Appointment: Appointment Week was last week and is continuing into this week where the Bishop and District Superintendents meet and begin the process of making pastor appointments. Staff-Parish and Trusted Leadership teams have provided comprehensive information to District representatives to support their decision-making process in selecting the “best fit” for Signal Crest. We still anticipate that we will be able to announce our new Senior Pastor in mid-April.

  • Crest Worship Leader: We have received applications and expect to have final candidates lead worship in the Crest service over the next few weeks. We are currently on track to hire the new worship leader by April.

  • Director of Children’s Ministry: We have extended the application deadline to April 30. Taylor Moore has agreed to be the interim director until a replacement is found.

  • Youth Director and Director of Discipleship: Rebekah Ducote has moved to the role of Director of Discipleship and Drew Barton has moved to the role of Director of Youth. To read about these changes, find the announcement here.

As of now, these staff changes have not affected the 2019 church budget.

Allan Ledford, Director of Music, reported that the Summer Concert Series, which will take place during the 11:00 a.m. worship service during July, is being named in memory of Nanci Crewe.

Mitchell Johnson, Associate Lay Leader for Elevated Warmth , shared a plan to host a community-wide Easter Egg Hunt and Spring Festival on Palm Sunday (April 14) that would include singing on the grounds from groups within the church as well as musicians in the community.

Travis Close, Boy Scout representative, shared the need to discuss the possible formation of a girl-only Boy Scout troop. Church Council plans to discuss this in more detail at its next meeting and invites any members who are interested in the formation of a girl-only troop to attend.

Doug Fairbanks, Senior Minister, closed the meeting with his Pastor’s Report. He urged those who had not seen his video and response to the special session of the General Conference to view that by clicking here . He and I attended a worship service and debriefing from the special session of General Conference on March 3 that included a report from one of our conference delegates. This April, the United Methodist Judicial Council will review several proposed amendments to the Traditional Plan to determine if they are constitutional. If deemed constitutional at that time, the Traditional Plan will be effective January 1, 2020. Doug reiterated that the United Methodist Church is one of inclusion and all are welcome to worship at Signal Crest.

In partnership,
Mark Smith
Chair, Church Council

P.S. The next Church Council meeting will be April 7 at 6:30 pm in the Interpreter’s Room. All are welcome to attend.

The approved minutes from the January 28 meeting may be found by clicking here .