ANNUAL REPORTFOR 2023

INDEX
Annual Congregational Meeting of Crosslake Presbyterian Church
14444 Daggett Pine Road, Crosslake, Minnesota 56442

Meeting held on Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at 5:00 PM_________________________________________________________________
Pastor Mark Fordwww.crosslakepres.org|(218) 692-4769

Item

Page

•

Agenda1•

Pastor’s Report2•

Committee Reports:
Building and Grounds

3

Fellowship3

Clerk of Session

4

Deacons

4

Finance & Stewardship
Gifts & Memorials Subcommittee
Endowment AccountMission Giving Subcommittee

•

•
•

5, 6
6
7, 8
9

Nominating

10

Worship

10

Personnel

11

Spiritual Growth112024 Budget
Page 1Page 22022 Annual Congregational Meeting Minutes
2023 Congregational Meeting Minutes to electmembers

12
13
14
15

AGENDA•

Opening Prayer Pastor Mark Ford, Moderator•

Quorum Validation•

Approval of the Agenda•

Approval of 2022 Annual Congregational Meeting Minutes (page 14)•

Written & Oral Reports of Committees
Nominating Committee Written Report Mary Clement, Chairperson

Election to 2024 Nominating Committee (3 members)
 Two members from the congregation, one from Session•

2024 Budget Presentation
 Steven Anderson, Treasurer•

Old Business•

New Business•

Adjourn•

Closing Prayer Pastor Mark Ford, Moderator

Page 1

PASTOR’S REPORTON THE MARK—ANNUAL REPORT VERSION 2023
A couple of weeks ago, I was helping afriend replace a starter on his pickup-truck.
The first thing we did was to go online tofind out how to do it. We searched the year,
make, and model of the pickup. While there
were often many videos of how to do it, we
would select the video that had the clearest
and simplest directions. The videos would
lay out exactly the steps that needed to betaken in order to get the starter replaced.
They usually made it look very simple andeasy to do. However, the reality of actually doing it often did not match the ease in which it
happened in the video. The benefit of watching the videos was that they laid out step-by-step theentire process necessary to replace the starter in the pickup. Disconnect this bolt, unhook thiswire, remove this screw, replace, and put everything back together.
Sometimes it would be nice if the church could find a simple process to be the church, to growattendance, support and do the work of mission, and how to be the Body of Christ in the world.
You can go online and find all kinds of plans, programs and how-to videos, but they often offer
contradictory (and sometimes unhelpful) ways of accomplishing all that we want out of and for the
church. The church is not a one-size-fits all organization.
While we may not have a step-by-step guide to being the church, we do have the words ofscripture and the presence of the Spirit to guide us. We are called to persevere, endure, and bepatient (among many other callings). As recorded in Hebrews, chapter 12, “Therefore, since weare surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sinthat clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance (endurance, patience) the race that is set
before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy thatwas set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the righthand of the throne of God”.
We do not know the future, but my hope and prayer is that we would not be a church that justgoes quietly into the sunset, but instead perseveres in our calling to be the witness to Christ in thistime and in this place. We are called to endure and be patient even when ways of the world makeit seem that our existence is hopeless. We worship a God who is the God of new beginnings, a
God of resurrection, and a God of hope. While we may not have a video to guide us step-by-step,
we do have the Spirit of God who will lead us if we but persevere, endure, and be patient. In thathope let us put our faith!
Respectfully submitted,
Pastor Mark Ford

Page 2

BUILDING & GROUNDS COMMITTEE
2023 Members: Jack, Becker, Chairperson, Steve Anderson, and Loyal Meech
Building and Grounds had three meetings this past year. Items discussed as follows:
New sign print was shown to the congregation for final design. Their approval wasreceived. Motion made, seconded and approved by Session. Sign was installed late fall
and the old sign was removed.
Lawn care: Tru Green sprayed for weeds and dandelions. Shrubs were trimmed andnew chips were added where needed.
Heat pump: Necessary work completed on it this past fall costing $1,240.
Snow removal is being done by Hidden Pines for year 2024.
Set budget for 2024.
Respectfully submitted,
Jack Becker, Chairperson

FELLOWSHIP COMMITTEE
2023 Committee Members:
Bonnie Miller—Acting chair, Jane Milliman, Shari Ochs, Marge Angell, and Judie Larson
The Fellowship committee has done a good job in keeping our church members engaged with
one another. Women’s lunches were held throughout most of the year at various restaurants inthe area. Men’s lunches were held at Pine Peaks in Crosslake.

Fellowship helped with two Memorial services during the year. The first for Valerie Nelson in
March and for Rory Olson in August. Coffee, cookies and bars were served before Rory’s
service.
We held a soup and chili dinner for the Maundy Thursday service in April.
We had a joint picnic with Baxter church in June at a park in Baxter after the service in the park.
Fellowship helped with several potluck dinners during the year. In August we hosted the Baxter
church with a joint potluck. Jack and Jane hosted a chili potluck in October. We also had a Pasta
Potluck in August, a Pizza Party at Moonlight Bay in November, and a Christmas Party atRiverside Inn in December.
Respectfully submitted,
Bonnie Miller, Acting Chairperson

Page 3

CLERK OF SESSION REPORT
Session Members: Steve Anderson, Jack Becker, Mary Clement, Dewey Krueger, and Loyal
Meech
Clerk: Arleen Steele, Pastor: Mark Ford. Custodian: Brenda Britton.
Office Administrator: Judy Regan.
Session met 12 times during the year and there were 2 congregational meetings.
The Crosslake Presbyterian Church has formed a continuing agreement with Lakes Area
Presbyterian Church to share Pastor Mark Ford as our Pastor. The agreement is working very
well. Stever Anderson and Arleen Steele meet quarterly with two members of LAPC to discuss
any problems there might be between the two Churches. There have been none, but
communication is important.
The session members for 2024 and 2025 will be Marge Angell, Steve Anderson, Jack Becker,
Dewey Krueger and Loyal Meech.
Respectfully submitted,
Arleen Steele, Clerk of Session

DEACONS COMMITTEE

2023 Members: Judie Larson (term completed), Marge Angell, Shari Ochs (chair, termcompleted), Jan Lallman and Joan Krueger
2024 Members: Jan Lallman, Marge Angell and Joan Krueger“The Deacons are the caregivers of our congregation.”
In 2023, the Deacons assisted with monthly communion. The “Deacon of the Month” wasresponsible for preparing and serving the elements.

Cards were sent to the members celebrating birthdays, along with sympathy cards and get wellcards. We also sent Christmas cards, New Year’s cards, Easter, and Hello cards to members andfriends who live away. During the Christmas season, we assisted in helping the staff at Golden
Horizons “deck the halls” and provided candy canes to their residents. We also gave out cookie
tins to our members.
We would like to give a special thank you to Kate Stangl for helping the Deacons with fulfilling
duties of the deacons amongst our congregation. Thank you Kate!
Deacons were always available for transportation, phone calls, meals, home visits and homecommunion, or just a friendly smile throughout the year. Being a Deacon is a special privilege.
Respectfully submitted,
Shari Ochs, Chairperson
Page 4

FINANCE & STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE
Members of the committee: Steve Anderson, Treasurer, Brenda Brittan, Financial Secretary,
Dewey Krueger, Patty Norgaard, and Loyal Meech, Chairman.
Louis Smith oversees our Stock Market Investments
Gifts and Memorials sub-committee members include Brenda Brittan, Dewey Krueger, ShariOchs, and Marge Angell, Chairman.
Missions sub-committee members Steve Anderson, Joan Krueger and Shari Ochs Chairman,
The Missions sub-committee has been organizationally reassigned from the Deacons Committee to
F&S. A disbursement report for 2023 is attached. The committee is requesting worthy organizations
be provided by the congregation for the 2024 distributions. The Deacon Committee asked forfunding and Session approved a special offering on the first Sundays of June, July, and August.
Reserve funds of $15,217 were used to pay expenses.
The new church sign has been installed and the cost was $6,650. A new church logo has been
approved, and will look and be in concert with the church sign. The committee met regularly and a
total of 9 meetings were held in-person or via Zoom throughout the year. A budget of $132,506 wasestablished and approved by Session for 2023. The actual income and expense break down for2023 will be provided by Steve. Income was $126,132.
It was decided by the committee and Session to provide a Love Gift for the five members of staff.
The checks were distributed about the time of Epiphany. The funding for the checks came fromdesignated giving by members and friends of the congregation. The chair person of Personnel has
suggested that Steve and Brenda be included next year.
The budget for 2024 is expected to be approximately $133,256 pending Session and congregational
approval. The budget includes a 3.5% increase for Pastoral compensation. As in 2023, it isexpected that there will be a shortfall. The anticipated shortfall amount is $35,096. There aresufficient reserves to cover this amount. This year, the committee again decided to forego the pledge
process. The committee trusts that through prayer and with God’s help, the necessary funds will be
provided.
Steve has began the process of purchasing Certificates of Deposit by transferring $7,000 per monthfrom reserve money market savings. The first transfer was in December and monthly purchases willcontinue for six months. The CD’s have a maturation of 6 months which provides for a renewal date
for the first CD in the same month as the purchase of the 6 th CD. This cycle will continue until all sixof the CD’s have matured. Should the funds be needed they will be available no later than a monthat a time.
Signatures for the church checking account have been updated and the necessary requirement foran additional signature has been changed from $1,000 to $2,000 within the church by-laws.
Continued overPage 5

FINANCE & STEWARDSHIP continued
Continued fromprevious page
Throughout the year Steve Anderson handled the duties of treasurer and Brenda Brittan served
as financial secretary. As a congregation, we owe Steve and Brenda much gratitude.
Louis Smith carefully watches over investments in the Stock Market. His report is attached.
Marge Angell chaired the Gifts and Memorials sub-committee for 2023. The yearly report for
Gifts and Memorials is also attached. My thanks to both of these two individuals.
I also thank all the committee members listed at the beginning and throughout this report for
their service and dedication to overseeing CPC’s financial well-being. They are very able
members and our congregation is blessed to have them share their time and talent. And finally,
thanks to those of you in our church family for your contributions in underwriting our financial
needs so that the ministry of Crosslake Presbyterian Church continues.
Respectfully submitted,
Loyal Meech, Chairperson

GIFTS & MEMORIALS SUB-COMMITTEE REPORTMarge Angell, Chairperson; Dewey Krueger, Shari Ochs and financial secretary Brenda Brittan
In January a gift of $3000 was received for Pakistan Scholarship. Those monies were distributed in two payments, January and August.
$100 was received in memorials for Rory Olson. Those were undesignated.
A new communion set was purchased. It is a pottery set with matching pitcher, chalice andpaten.
At the end of the year we have a balance of $6,340.94.
Respectfully submitted,
Marge Angell, Chairperson

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FINANCE & STEWARDSHIP continued
ENDOWMENT AND INVESTMENT FUNDS REPORTPage 7

FINANCE & STEWARDSHIP continued
ENDOWMENT AND INVESTMENT FUNDS REPORT continued

Page 8

FINANCE & STEWARDSHIP continued

MISSION GIVING REPORTPage 9NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Committee Members: Mary Clement, Chairperson, Brenda Brittan, Jan Lallman
and Dewey Krueger
The Nominating committee filled one position for the upcoming terms:
Nominated Session members are:•Marge Angell (2025)

Nominated for Deacons are:•
Jan Lallman (2025Respectfully submitted,
Mary Clement, Chairperson

WORSHIP COMMITTEE

Members: Ginny Anderson, Mary Clement, Glenda Meech, Kate Stangl and Arleen Steele,
Chairperson.
The Session of Crosslake Presbyterian and the Session of Lakes Area Presbyterian continue intheir agreement to have Pastor Mark Ford administer to both Churches for the foreseeing future.
We have formed a committee that meets with Lakes Area Presbyterian Church, 2 members from
CPC and 2 members from LAPC. Those members meet quarterly to check on how things aregoing with the agreement between the two churches. So far everything is going smoothly andeverything is going along fine.
Thank you to Kate Stangl for filling in as our Pastor when Pastor Mark needs time off. She also
provides the music during the winter while Glenda is in her southern home. It is muchappreciated. Thank You to Glenda Meech and to Kate for their beautiful music, it adds a lot to theservice. Thank you to Marge Angell who always makes sure the correct paraments are in place
for the different seasons and makes sure the church is decorated for Christmas and Easter.
Thank you to the members that help with this task. Thank you to Judy Regan, Administrator for
keeping everything running smoothly and keeping members informed with a weekly Friday
update.

Respectfully submitted,
Arleen Steele, Chairperson
Page 10PERSONNEL COMMITTEE
Committee Members: Mary Clement, Chairperson, Ron Ochs, Jack Becker,
Arleen Steele, Jerry Norgaard and Jan Lallman
With a full staff in place on January 1, 2023, the Personnel Committee had a lighter year
than in the past 2 years. The major work of this committee is hiring when needed anddetermining what to pay each staff member, always a difficult task as they are all suchblessings to us. Presbytery guidelines were considered. The church therefore worked tofall within those guidelines and the Personnel committee thought it prudent to go with therest of the church thus giving our staff members 3½% raises in pay.

Also a big thanks to Loyal Meech and his F&S committee for tending to Christmas gifts
for our staff members. While that is usually handled by Personnel, it was not possible thisyear so thank you to all on the F&S committee. And thank you to the congregation foryour generosity in this effort.
Members of the Personnel committee this year were Jack Becker (Building and
Grounds), Jan Lallman (F&S), Jerry Norgaard and Ron Ochs (at large) and Arleen Steele(Clerk and Worship). My profound thanks to each of them for their time and their
wisdom.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Clement, Chairperson

SPIRITUAL GROWTH COMMITTEE
In 2023 I led a study group on The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister.
We met together for 21 weeks, studying topics such as Regret, Meaning, Fear, Ageism, Joy,
Authority, Transformation, Newness, Accomplishment… The list goes on, as there were 40
different chapters in Joan’s book, plus an introduction and an afterward.
Each session began with prayer and then a funny story about aging. We shared our commentson the week’s chapters, looked at relevant scriptures, read quotes on topic that I found online,
tackled questions from Joan’s study guide, heard readings from other books, and closed withprayer.
During the five months of the study on aging our attendance ranged from 12 to 3, and most often
6 to 8. After each session most of us had lunch together at Moonlite Bay.
Some time ago, I began writing a daily devotional on questions that God/Jesus ask of people inscripture. I haven’t gotten far enough in that work to use it to lead another study group this year,
as I had hoped. But I found three books online on that topic and ordered them all, so perhaps
this year’s spring to fall study group will be on questions God asks of those who are willing tohear them.
Respectfully submitted,
Ginny Anderson, Chairperson

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2024 BUDGET (Page 1)

Page 12

2024 BUDGET (Page 2)

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ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING

2022 ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETINGMINUTES OF MEETING
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Meeting opened at 5:00 PM
Pastor Mark Ford, Moderator, opened with a prayer.
A quorum was declared.
There were 10 members present in person, and 3 members present via Zoom.
MSP to approve the agenda.
MSP to approve Judy Regan as clerk pro-tem.
Reports were reviewed from the Annual Report and presented. There were no questions, andno discussion. One correction was made to the Nominating Committee report. Bonnie Miller isthe chairperson and not Mary Clement as written. The change was made.
MSP to receive the report as presented with the one correction.
The chair of the 2023 Nominating Committee selected 3 people for 2024. The following people
have agreed to be on the committee: Mary Clement as Session member, Brenda Brittan, Jan
Lallman and Dewey Krueger. There were no nominations from the floor.
MSP to elect these members.
The budget for 2023 was presented. A short discussion followed, and the Treasurer answereda few questions.
MSP to receive the Budget Proposal (previously approved by Session).
Old Business: None
New Business: None

Respectfully Submitted,
Arleen Steele
Clerk of Sessions

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CONGREGATIONAL MEETING

2023 CONGREGATIONAL MEETING
Sunday, December 3, 2023
Meeting opened at 9:00AM
Pastor Mark Ford, Moderator, opened with a prayer.
A quorum was declared.

MSP to approve the agenda.
The chair of the 2023 Nominating Committee selected 1 person for Session for 2024-2025 and1 person for Deacons for 2024-2025. The following people have agreed to be on thesecommittee: Marge Angell as Session member, Jan Lallman as Deacon. There were nonominations from the floor.
MSP to elect these members.
The compensation package for the Pastor was presented to the congregation.
MSP to receive the Compensation Proposal (previously approved by Session).
MSP to adjourn the Congregational Meeting. Pastor Mark Ford closed with prayer at 9:10 AM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Arleen Steele
Clerk of Sessions

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