The meeting was called to order at 10:00 A.M. At St Paul's Lutheran Church in New Braunfels, Texas by Karl
Vermace, President.
Members present: Karl Vermace, Don Gerhart, Al Sunday, Ron Ortenstone, Pastor Charlie Eckert, Willie Spreen,
Frank Pennington, and Dennis Hickey.
Members Absent: Charlie Schwartz, Darren Brehmer, Pastor Lynn Schudy-Ziese, Anton Mahacek, and William
Gustafson.
Guests Present: Pastor Charles DeHaven, Senior Pastor of St Paul's Lutheran Church in New Braunfels.
Opening Prayer and Devotion: Pastor Eckert led the group in devotion and prayer.
Minutes: The minutes of the October 6, 2005 meeting were reviewed and approved without correction.
Treasures Report: The Treasurer’s Report was presented by Frank Pennington and approved. (Attachment 1).
Financial Committee Report:
1. The committee presented a recommendation to submit to the Assembly in February that the Endowment Fund be
eliminated from the Southwestern Texas LMM programs and that the funds currently invested with the ELCA
Mission Load Fund be disbursed to complete the of the LMM Cross Trails Project. We are currently
$2,643.00 from completion of our goal. Any residual funds left after this obligation is met should be donated to the
church wide LMM Fund Raiser (Attachment 2). This recommendation was approved by the Board and will
be presented to the Assembly at the February 18th meeting.
2. The committee submitted the following recommendations to the Board for approval for presentation to the
Assembly (Attachment 3).
a. LMM Church wide $1.5 million project – donation of $1,000.00
b. LMM Master Builders – donate $1,000
c. Cross Trails Legacy of Promise – donate $1,000 per year for 3 years
d. 100 Men Club – start one like they have in South Carolina with the stipulation that a separate committee
should be formed to oversee this program. This committee would establish the rules and regulations and
would report to the Board.
3. The committee also presented a budget which they recommend be presented to the assembly at the February 18th
meeting (Attachment 4). This was approved by the board.
Synod Liaison Report: None was presented as the representative was absent.
Pastoral Advisor Report: Pastor Eckert expressed concern on the subject of communication with the churches and
men of the Synod.
Conference Reports:
Austin Conference: No report due to lack of representative. Karl did remark that we are trying to get one of
the men from Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Austin to fill the position.
Victoria Conference: No report as representative was absent from meeting.
Coastal Bend Conference: Willie Spreen briefed that the quarterly breakfast was coming up in January.
San Antonio Conference: Don Gerhart said he had been working with the members of Christ the King at Elm
Creek and Dennis Hickey said he had met with the members of St Marks in Adkins.
Rio Grande Valley Conference: Ron Ortenstone briefed that members have been working as volunteers at the
Comfort House (Hospice) doing handyman work.
Old Business
2006 Assembly Presentation Report: Pastor DeHaven presented an update on the assembly. The theme for this
assembly will be “Tool Time in Southwestern Texas” and the guest speaker will be Roland D. Martinson who will be
speaking to the general membership on the book he co-authored with David W. Sanderson and Paul G. Hill, titled
“Coming of Age”. There will be 2 workshops and then a working lunch where the annual meeting will be held. The
cost will be $25.00. There will be a morning worship service and the church has agreed to donate the monies to our
LMM so that we might complete the project of raising $10,000 to support Camp Chrysalis. The meeting will be over
by 1:30 or 2:00 P.M. So everyone can get home while there is still daylight.
Web Page: Karl reported that the meeting had taken place in Fredericks burg and Dennis Hickey would be the Web
master. Dennis at that time displayed the Home Page he had developed and briefed the board that it would be hosted
on Yahoo and wold cost $135.00 for the first year and then would cost $143.40. He explained that he chose Yahoo
because it gave provided us with more storage space and bandwidth then the other web hosting companies.
Nominating committee: The name of Alvin Sunday was submitted for Vice President and Leroy DeHaven for
Treasurer.
Yearly News Letter: Dennis stated he hadn't taken any action on finding a price yet.
New Business
Tri-Synodical LMM Meeting: Karl briefed the members on the meeting that had taken place in Austin between the
NT-NL LMM, Gulf Coast LMM and SW Texas LMM. He asked that all who could make it please attend the
meeting which will take place on February 4, 2006 at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Austin.
Bibles for Groups: Karl briefed the board that he had received an e-mail from Doug Haugen that each synod would
be receiving 90of the Master Builder Bibles to be given to congregations starting or rejuvenating their men's ministries.
So if you know any congregations that fit this description please let him know ASAP.
Activity Reports: Karl briefed the board that he needs activity reports from the different congregations to include
dollar amounts of how much they raised and what they donated their funds to. Please get them in ASAP.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be on February 18, 2006 at the annual assembly which is being held in St Paul
Lutheran Church, New Braunfels, TX.
The meeting closed with the Lord's Prayer.
/s/
Dennis J. Hickey
Secretary
Southwestern Texas Synod LMM
