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The Coordinating Team has called a
Special Meeting of the Presbytery of Tampa Bay
for 8:30 a.m. on Friday, February 26, 2021, using Zoom.

If you are a minister member of PTB or already know you'll be a ruling elder commissioner, please register now by clicking here.
Please forward this email to your elected ruling elder commissioner(s) to the February 26 Special meeting!
Dear Colleagues in ministry and clerking,

The Coordinating Team (CT) has scheduled a Special Meeting of the Presbytery to be held on Zoom on Friday, February 26th at 8:30 a.m. for the following purposes: 

  • Consider amendments to PTB bylaws establishing the Associate Presbyter for Emerging Ministries as a part of Presbytery Leadership, amending the language for terms of office for the Coach & Coordinator, Stated Clerk, and Treasurer, and adding permission to suspend the requirement for a written ballot for each of these positions if there is only one candidate,

  • re-elect the treasurer for the Presbytery of Tampa Bay, and

  • elect a new vice-moderator to fill the unexpired term left vacant by the resignation of Ruling Elder Sally Speer, and fill other vacancies as needed.

A complete meeting packet will be distributed no later than Friday, February 19 (possibly sooner) with reports from CT and the Committee on Nominations and Representation. but this email serves as the required 10 days' notice for all special meetings.

Briefly, here's why CT called this meeting --- look for more details in the packet coming soon:
  • Some may not realize (or have forgotten) that the position of Associate Presbyter for Emerging Ministries was created for a two-year designated term that ends at the end of May 2021. The Coordinating Team is convinced that this work is essential and must be continued beyond the end of the term and become a part of the formal structure of the Presbytery (and intends to nominate Rev. Libby Shannon to continue in that role for a three-year term consistent with the terms for the Stated Clerk and Treasurer).

  • In reviewing and updating documents in the new year, we discovered that the Presbytery had failed to notice that we had somehow permitted Treasurer Terry Dennis' term of office to expire in November. He is willing to continue serving in that role and will be nominated for reelection.

  • CT also learned that our bylaws do not provide for what happens in the event that an election does not take place on time or waiving a requirement for a written ballot if there is only one candidate.

  • Finally, it is with regret that the CT accepted the resignation of Elder Sally Speer from her position as Vice-Moderator of the Presbytery.

Zoom is both our platform and "host church" for this meeting:
  • The online meeting will start promptly at 8:30 a.m.
  • The online meeting "room" will open for sign-in no later than 8:00 a.m. so you can connect (and troubleshoot if needed) before the Presbytery meeting starts.

In August 2020, the Presbytery of Tampa Bay adopted "Special Rules of Order and Standing Rules for Electronic Meetings of the Presbytery of Tampa Bay," and we'll be using them again for this meeting.

As we did in August and November, to maintain the integrity of the meeting while also conducting an open meeting, we'll limit registration and participation in the Zoom meeting environment to those with the privilege of the floor.
  • We'll also again make a live stream available for observers and guests who might have attended in person may still watch on YouTube at this link: https://youtu.be/lRI4LLgwTY8.
  • If you have any questions about who should and shouldn't register for the Zoom meeting, please reach out to me ASAP.

As required by the Special Rules (and explained in the Additional Tech Guidance), using Zoom is mandatory for participants. The Coordinating Team understands that requiring participants to use Zoom means that some who might serve as commissioners to an in-person meeting may not be able to participate in an online meeting. At the same time, CT was encouraged by positive feedback from people who were able to participate in our August meeting but who told us they wouldn't have been able to make it to Lakeland if we'd met in person.

We will offer online training for new participants; watch for more details on those opportunities --- and find more important information about how we use Zoom --- on our Orientation/Refresher for First Time Commissioners and anyone new to Zoom for a Presbytery meeting webpage at https://presbyteryoftampabay.com/orientation/.

Key next steps:
  1. Minister members should register ONLINE to attend the meeting by clicking here or on one of the links below --- or send me a request for an excused absence. If you have trouble with the online registration, please reach out to me, NOT to Ann Marie in the office.
  2. Scroll down and review all information in this email
  3. Click to download and review the Special Rules, Additional Tech Guidance, and "Zoom Expertise" for PTB Zoom Meetings. --- and please share these documents with your commissioner(s) and/or direct them to the Orientation/Refresher web page mentioned above.
  4. Elect your elder commissioner(s) to the Presbytery meeting and let us know who they are by sending their name(s), email address(es), and phone number(s) to Ann Marie in the office at office@pbty.com with "(Church name) Elder Commissioners" in the subject line. (This helps preserve the integrity of the meeting by comparing online self-registration with the names of commissioners elected by sessions.)
  5. Share this email with your ruling elder commissioner(s) so they can register for the meeting AND sign up for an online Zoom orientation/practice session between now and the meeting.
  6. If you're a minister who needs an excused absence, please send an email with "Excused Absence" in the subject line to me at statedclerk@pbty.com.

Key dates:
  1. Friday, February 19, is the latest we'll distribute the Presbytery packet via email and on the website.
  2. Friday, February 26, at 8:30 a.m. is when we'll call the Special Meeting to order.

Look for more info on the content of the meeting soon. I'm sending this special email to give the required ten days' notice for special meeting to minister members and ruling elder commissioners that they need to have to register and start getting ready to use Zoom for the meeting.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to me with questions.

Blessings,

Bill

Rev. William A. Wildhack III
Stated Clerk and Manager of Communications
(813) 868-4800, opt. 2
Direct (813) 308-3200 -- not mobile; no txt msgs, please!

P.S. THANK YOU TO ALL THE CLERKS (AND THOSE WHO HELP THEM) WHO HAVE COMPLETED THE ANNUAL STATISTICAL REPORT!!! At press time, there were only 15 left to go for me to follow-up with. Thank you!
+ + +
My work is supported by per capita funds from congregations in the Presbytery of Tampa Bay, which also help unite all Presbyterians in sharing God’s love through mission and ministry. Thank you!
Please forward this email to your elected ruling elder commissioner(s) to the February 26 Special meeting!
Please double check that you're electing the right number of commissioners--and then tell us who you elect!
Some of these numbers change each year, so please be sure to check the 2021 Presbytery of Tampa Bay Plan for Parity of Ministers of Word and Sacrament and Ruling Elder Commissioners to ensure you elect and send the right number of ruling elder commissioners
Along with making sure your commissioner(s) can connect to Zoom, click here or on the image to ensure you select the right number of ruling elder commissioners according to the 2021 Plan for Parity approved in November 2020.

IMPORTANT: Please send the following for each commissioner in an email AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to Ann Marie in the office at office@pbty.com with "(Church name) Elder Commissioners" in the subject line:

  • Commissioner's First and Last name
  • Commissioner's email address
  • Commissioner's phone number

THANK YOU!
Everyone participating will need to be on Zoom
All minister members, ruling elder commissioners, and others with voice and vote -- or just voice -- will need to have and use Zoom in order to participate
Using the free Zoom software for computers and/or tablets and smartphones provides us with additional security and feedback/voting features for the meeting. Having a Zoom account makes it easier, but isn't strictly required. (Zoom offers both paid and FREE accounts; you don't need a paid account to participate!)

If you don't already have Zoom, you can download the right Zoom software for your desktop or laptop computer by clicking here. The "Zoom Cloud Meetings" mobile apps are also available from links on that same page.
  • NOTE: we strongly encourage you to use a desktop or laptop for this meeting even if you have Zoom on another device.

If you've never joined a Zoom meeting before, the 1-minute video and info on Zoom's help page on Joining a Meeting is a great place to start.
  • Zoom's help page on Getting Started on Windows and Mac has more detail (though some of the options described there will not be available in our meeting.
  • You can also get a preview of the in-meeting feedback controls we'll be using on Zoom's help page on Attendee controls in a meeting. That page includes specific info on how those will look on computers, Android, and iOS devices.

IMPORTANT: please update your Profile Name in Zoom to at least show your name instead of something like ("Dave's iPad" or "My Phone"). This will help us keep track of who's who at the start of the meeting.
To join the meeting on Zoom, all participants will first need to register ONLINE to attend
Since we won't be meeting in person, there won't be any sign-in tables (and your "nametag" will be the name Zoom displays on your image).

All participants need to register ahead of time so we'll recognize you at the online door from the electronic "waiting room" into the meeting.


After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting along with a reminder to sign up for an online orientation/training in how we'll be using Zoom.

If you don't get a confirmation email within 24 hours of registering, please contact Stated Clerk Bill Wildhack at statedclerk@pbty.com.
More details on the meeting will follow shortly! In the meantime, all ministers and ruling elder commissioners planning to attend need to register -- which you can do now by clicking here if you haven't already done so.
Have you found, "liked," and "followed" the Presbytery of Tampa Bay on Facebook yet? We post informational, inspirational, and sometimes thought-provoking items there fairly often --- and offer a Small Church Network Facebook Group linked from that page. Click the button below to visit our Facebook page and be sure to click on "like" or "follow" to be notified of updates!
Remember, there's always something new to see on our Facebook page and more at the Presbytery of Tampa Bay website. Click the buttons below to start exploring!
Our next regular issue of the eNews will come out after the Special Presbytery meeting on 2/26, so send items to me before then, please! -- Bill