The Session of Westminster Presbyterian Church (WPC) convened for a stated meeting at 2:19 p.m. on 9 April 2006 in room 105 of the WPC Mission Center. The Moderator, H.Holderness, was present and called the meeting to order and it was opened with a devotional and a prayer by D.Wellemeyer.

Associate Pastors B.Berghaus and P.Ransford were present.

Elders F.Anton, B.Derr, A.Denson, D.Elvers, N.Gaddis, J.Graham, C.Haynes, J.Jones, S.Landis, B.Nicoll, D.Wellemeyer were present. Elder M.T.Peters was absent and excused.

WPC staff member N.Rozak was present.

Clerk of Session D.Derr was present.

The Moderator declared a quorum present.

COMMUNICATIONS:

Dismissals:

Motion: A motion dismissing the following members of WPC to their respective new churches as indicated was made, seconded and approved:

Members New Church

Leroy Chambers Roxboro Baptist Church, Roxboro, NC

Debra Bagwell Aldersgate United Methodist Church, Charlottesville, VA

OLD BUSINESS:

Letter of Appreciation to Jim Salamon

Motion: A motion that the final version of the letter of appreciation from the Session to Jim Salamon be presented to him and read by the Clerk of the Session to the Congregation during the “minute for mission” during both worship services on Sunday, April 30, 2006, was made, seconded and approved.

People Needing Session Attention

As to the following, the Elders are still trying or otherwise have not yet made contact with the people they are calling.

People to Contact

Robert Crumpler

Helen Monson

Dan and Bonna Robbins

Howard Ross

Nancy Walden

Karen Wells

Elders Making Calls

N.Gaddis

B.Derr

D.Wellemeyer

N.Gaddis

J.Graham

D.Wellemeyer

Motion: A motion to move Scott and Rebecca MacLeod from the Active Roll to the Inactive Roll was made, seconded and approved.

D.Elvers reported on conversations he had had with people from three different churches with the following different interim situations: Interim Pastor is in place; Interim Pastor has finished; and search for Interim Pastor is in process. He also called Lynn Stahl to talk about details of the process of the Interim Pastor search. It appears as to timing that nothing can be done officially until after July 1, 2006. The typical number of members on an Interim Pastor Search Committee is five. He currently has fourteen names of potential Interim Pastor candidates. It appears that the peak months for selecting and hiring an Interim Pastor are June through August.

Motion: A motion to form an Interim Research Committee (“IRC”) with D.Elvers as the Convener and the following persons be asked to serve: Elder Beth Maxwell, Deacon Bill Scott and former Deacon Holly Schmidt, with Elder Richard Draffin and M.T.Peters as alternates to use the information gathered to date by D.Elvers and others and to continue researching information about the process of searching for and hiring an Interim Pastor as well as developing information on the names and data on potential Interim Pastor candidates with no authority to negotiate or otherwise to act on the process itself was made, seconded and approved.

The minutes of the retreat and stated meeting of the Session on January 6-8, 2006, the called meeting of the Session on January 15, 2006, the called meeting of the Congregation on January 22, 2006, the called meeting on the Session on February 5, 2006, the stated meeting of the Session on February 19, 2006, the called meeting of the Session on March 5, 2006, the called meeting on the Session on March 12, 2006 and the stated meeting of the Session on March 19, 2006 were read, approved and adopted as distributed with the following corrections: in the minutes of the called meeting of the Session on January 15, 2006, on page 2 in the second subject line delete “COMMERATE” and insert “COMMEMORATE”; in the minutes of the stated meeting of the Session on February 19, 2006, on page 3 in the second line under “COMMISSION REPORTS: Worship” after “and” insert “J.Jones”; in the minutes of the stated meeting of the Session on March 19, 2006, delete the second sentence under “COMMISSION REPORTS: Ways and Means” on page 2 and insert the following: “$5,000 of the $51,000 surplus in 2005 is being directed to the Diaconate for an item cut in the WPC 2006 Operating Budget” and on page 3 in the second line of the second paragraph delete “P.Berghaus” and insert “B.Berghaus.”

Ways and Means: (D.Wellemeyer) The minutes of the Ways and Means Committee meeting on March 8, 2006 and Financial Statements for March 2006 were distributed via the Session Packet mailing and key points in them were summarized. The Commission has not yet met this month.

Fellowship: (C.Haynes) Will host a reception after the Choir’s music program on May 7, 2006.

Education/Kindergarten: (N.Rozak) Planning for Programs for Vacation Church School is moving forward. Deacon Bill McAvoy is coordinating the Easter Brunch.

Worship: (D.Elvers) Communion will celebrated on Maundy Thursday, April 13, 2006, with D.Elvers as the responsible Elder and on May 7, 2006 with Elder responsibilities as follows: S.Landis (8:30) and M.T.Peters (11:00).

Sanctuary Guild: (J.Jones) The Sanctuary has been cleaned and polished for Easter.

Youth Liaison: (S.Landis) Will be meeting with leaders from the Durham Crisis Response Center tonight and this program will be followed up with assertiveness training on April 23, 2006 with S.Landis and Eileen McAvoy. There are 35 youth signed up for the summer mission trip to Mississippi. All Confirmands are on board to complete the confirmation training.

Assimilation: (B.Derr) Will meet later this month. Everyone, including the Pastors, was asked to urge everyone to support and promote the coffee and juice gatherings in the parlor.

Inquirers-Candidates: (C.Haynes) Esther Acolatse has interviewed for a permanent position at Duke. Marian Draffin will be available for a call in October.

Assessment: (B.Nicoll) A summary of the results of the Congregational Questionnaire is now available in the library in the Mission Center and there will be an announcement in the newsletter about this.

Nominations: (D.Elvers) Is still seeking to achieve gender balance with nominees for Deacon.

Barbara Campbell Davis has advised the Moderator that she wants to meet with the Session. The Moderator is going to coordinate with Barbara Campbell Davis to see if she can meet with the Session during its stated meeting on May 21 and if not, to schedule a called meeting of the Session to meet with her.

Concerns over the medical condition of Josie Humphries, Graham Kelly, Peggy Glenn’s father were expressed.

Joy over the births of Spencer Robert Brown, son of Robin and Doug Brown, and Elise Joy Chang, daughter of Rachel and Jamie Chang was celebrated.

P.Ransford: Will be the New Hope Presbytery representative to the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance national conference later this month in Florida.

The Session's current business, having been completed, the Moderator declared the meeting adjourned and it was closed with a prayer by J.Jones at 3:48 p.m.