Worship: Blaine Gregg, ministry personnel at St. David’s led our post-Easter worship service.

Welcome: After worship and a cup of coffee we were warmly welcomed by the Chair of the Board of St. David’s United. We were treated to a brief history of the church and it’s building. You can find more about this active church at its website:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/stdavids/

Introductions: Audrey Mitchell from Devon-Calmar pastoral charge re-introduced David Stewart a former member of presbytery back to Yellowhead. He had been absent while he was fighting cancer and he gave a stirring call to action for the churches to take a leadership role in reducing the incidence of cancer through lifestyle changes.

Executive Secretary: After Chair Lilley Glebe opened the meeting and went through the order paper, she introduced a special guest: Lynn Maki, Executive Secretary of Alberta and Northwest Conference. Lynn expressed her pleasure at being at this meeting since she spent 9 years in Yellowhead presbytery in Grande Cache and Barrhead. She extended an invitation to the Conference meeting with the theme: "A Question of Leadership." She invited us into the questions: "How do we need to act to move the church through adaptive change?" and "How is our presbytery doing in the challenge of adaptive change?"

Godspot: Curtis Tufts from Spruce Grove pastoral charge offered some spiritual food after lunch with a reading from Ruben Alves’ book I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body.

Congregational Development Co-ordinator report: Pat Bourque gave a brief itinerary of the places she has been, supporting the work of the local churches in the Northern region of our Conference. She reminded us to mark our calendars for April 20 & 21, 2007 for the Northern Regional Event with theme speaker Gil Rendel of the Alban Institute.

Youth & Young Adult Ministries: Pat graciously gave up some of her time for Conference office colleague Shauna Gibbons of the Youth Ministry Training Program, Karen Bridges from the Training Program Committee and Jillian Gish from the Youth and Young Adult Ministries committee. They educated us on the Youth and Young Adult Training Program with diploma from St. Stephen’s College, the work of organizing rallies for youth and events for young adults in the Conference and the bursary funds available for the diploma and youth events. Shauna has space at the Conference office in Edmonton and you can leave a message for her there.

Christian Development Report: After the Divisions had a chance to meet and Curtis Tufts brought us back with another excerpt from I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body, Natalka Dreichel of Christian Development reported for her Division. First off, Marilyn Morse gave us an update on the UCW presbyterial. Next Natalka gave us the information on the upcoming camping season. Donations of materials or money can be made to Camp MacKinicholea or to Surprise Lake camp and both camps have tax-deductible status. Both camps have websites:

Surprise Lake http://yellowheadpresbytery.org/slcamp.htm

Camp Mac http://www.campmack.ca/

Communications Report: Darren Wooff reported for the Division of Communications and this was the last report as the Division needs a new Convenor. This was evident during the report as a spelling mistake by the Convenor led to Yellowhead "pens" becoming something quite different. Communication is examining the possibility of Yellowhead presbytery pins. Plans are also in the works for a presbytery orientation pamphlet. Bruce Jackson announced the sale of t-shirts from the last Conference with the Yellowhead logo on them for $20. Proceeds from the sale of these shirts will go towards the expenses for Face-to-Face visitors from Zambia this next year.

Finance Report: Leslie Penny reported for the Division of Finance. An application for a $2000 matching grant to Camp Mac was passed on to the national church. Wabamun United Church is not using their building currently so they will rent it to a local museum on a 25 year lease.

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Tom Sawyer stopped signing mileage cheques long enough to give a report on presbytery finances. Only a few pastoral charges are behind on their assessments.

Pastoral Oversight: Co-chair Marj Steele was ill so co-chair Wayne Shortt reported by himself. Our prayers for good health go out to Marj! The new visitation handbooks are being field-tested. In time there will be three handbooks: one for 1^st year visitations, one for 3^rd year visits and one for camps. Wayne was thankful for the annual reports he received from pastoral charges.

Chair’s Report: Presbytery Chair, Lilley Glebe, gave a report on Conference Executive meetings. A review is being done on the length of the term of Conference president (looking at extending it from one year to two). The news was received that St. Andrew’s College and St. Stephen’s College, which had been amalgamated are now de-amalgamated. Naramata Centre is embarking on a $3 million capital campaign and will be looking for our help. The Conference budget includes a 4% increase in assessments.

Stewardship: Convenor Timothy Thomas distributed certificates to the pastoral charges congratulating their donations to the Mission & Service Fund.

Church in the World: Bruce Jackson reporting for the Division, spoke about the many events that had taken place around the issue of water. Rose Smith and her family from Devon are working on planting gardens in Africa. 100,000 gardens have been planted in Swaziland. She would like to talk to congregations about this work. Cecile Fausak guided us through the package on the 20^th anniversary of the apology to the Native Peoples of Canada. The 10 visitors from Zambia will be in Canada in March 2007. The cost is $40,000 of which $14,000 is already in place. Presbytery was asked to provide $1000 for this mission project.

Evening presentation: Chris Giffen passionately spoke about his experiences in India and Africa.

Worship: The second days’ worship was led by Lilley Glebe, again choosing the Book of Luke (Luke 24:13 – 45) emphasizing HIS resurrection to the Disciples and to us.

Ministry Personnel and Education: Phyllis Greenslade, Convenor, reported the maternity/Paternity Handbook updates to be in the hands of the appropriate General Council Committee. Judy Stretch of Pastoral Relations recommended that retirement of Michael Chandoo of Salisbury United Church be postponed until June 30 ,2007. In Education & Student’s news, Val Ellis has finished her discernment.

Nominations: Nominations for Yellowhead Presbytery for 2006 – 07 were called for and discussed briefly. Nominations for General Council Commissioners for 2006 was completed: Blaine Gregg is the Order of Minstry Personnel delegate and Fern Klassen is our Lay delegate.

Gift Planning: Kathryn Hofley the Gift Planner for the Prairie Region gave a presentation next. Planned gifts are gifts from accumulated wealth, not income. From 1998 – 2004, 99 congregations in A&NW Conference had 270 bequests of $3.8 million. Kathryn is available for more information or to speak to your congregation.

God Spot: Cecile Fausak gave a reflection using the book, A Mile In My Shoes by Trevor Wilson. Wherever we are, whether at home or on a Pilgrimage, we must apply the 5 principles as pointed out in the book: To be Present, Listen, Notice, Question and Share.

Stewardship Workshop: Tim Thomas presented the book The Power of Asset Mapping by Luther Snow in a unique workshop. Group participation resulted in 10 projects ranging from the ridiculous to sublime. This two hour workshop gave us an insight as to what can be achieved by brainstorming.

Upcoming Presbytery Dates: October 18 & 19, 2006, February 14 & 15, 2007, May 17, 2007 in Beaumont (?) and October 2007. We need invitations for places to meet!

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