MEMBERSHIP and PERSONNEL COMMITTEES

The Membership Committee welcomes visitors and gives them a small bag with information about St. Mark, assists in new member exploration classes, organizes information for the yearly directory and the Pictorial Directory every five years, and helps maintain church membership records. 

Exploration (new member classes) are led by the Pastor approximately twice a year. Each class has three meetings on Sundays before worship.  Our total membership is 459. 

The continued quest to erect a St. Mark sign at Claymont and Kehrs Mill is stalled. Ballwin personnel changes have made receiving permission an on-going process. 

The Welcome Center table has been moved from the coffee station to the area in the center of the Narthex. Every Sunday one or more of our committee are available to greet and answer any questions. When a visitor signs our Friendship Pads at the end of each pew, our pastor will send a personal welcome letter, and our committee also sends a postcard. The yearly phone directory appeared a little later than usual this year. It was decided to have this book printed and/or get information from our Simple Church Database. The directory does not cost anything for St. Mark. Our committee has also helped other committees at their events such as the Fall Festival, a basket for Trivia, assisted in Breakfast with Santa and participated in Discovery Sunday. 

Respectfully submitted, Sally Shepherd, Elder and Chair of Membership

PERSONNEL COMMITTEE 

The Personnel Committee, acting with authority delegated to it by the Session, is responsible for serving the needs of both the congregation and the staff in all matters relating to personnel, and for overall administration and coordination of the St. Mark Church Staff and the Claymont Preschool Staff. The committee’s activities include: (1) coordinating staff performance reviews, (2) coordinating staff goal setting, (3) preparing and updating job descriptions, (4) proposing staff compensation adjustments, including the pastors’ terms-of-call, (5) updating the St. Mark Personnel Policy Manual and other personnel related documents, and (6) coordinating staff replacements and other staffing changes. 

A major focus of the Committee early in the year was preparing for Pastor Dave’s sabbatical which occurred from early June through August. During that time, Pastor MP assumed the duties of Head of Staff, and Pastoral Associate Carol DeVaughan returned to St. Mark part time to provide ministry assistance. The Committee worked with the pastors and the Finance Committee to help facilitate the administrative support for the sabbatical. Pastor Dave returned in September, and led the effort to accomplish the annual staff performance reviews, then started the process of setting goals for 2024. 

As a result of initiatives approved by the General Assembly, and then the Giddings Lovejoy Presbytery, the Committee updated the Personnel Manual to provide for extended (up to 12 weeks) medical and or family/emergency leave for ordained staff. We also updated the Head Pastor’s job description to reflect increased emphasis on planning and managing streaming content for worship services and for congregational communications. 

Finally, as a result of the Session vote to discontinue Saturday worship services, we ended the weekly arrangement with Mark Reynoso as Saturday musician with our sincere thanks for his 10+ years of service in that role. 

 Respectfully submitted, Kim Michel, Chair