The council met on Sunday, March 15th, for its monthly meeting. The following are highlights from the meeting:
Committee Reports:
• Stewardship – last meeting was held on Wednesday, March 11, 2026; report was
reviewed and only question was the need for a “Shelby Refresher” for members,
particularly instructions for new members and making sure Username and
passwords are issued.
• Outreach – report submitted by Mike Bauman and was reviewed no questions or
discussion
• Property – Matt Greising – report submitted and reviewed. The Property Team
requested approval of the Building Use Policy and Process. Matt encouraged the
members to review the links attached to the report. It was brought up that perhaps
there would be a need for a committee to be established to review and set up a
policy to include rules and policy for the use of facilities, fee structure, and whether
to offer to non-members, etc. Matt, Jeanne and Julie will meet to discuss this
further and set up guidelines. This will be tabled for next month’s meeting.
• Children, Youth and Family – report was submitted and reviewed no further
questions asked. Their next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 18, 2026.
• Worship and Arts – report was submitted and reviewed.
o The desire to start a Fellowship Team that aligns with the four mission/vision
pillars that Deacon David and Pastor Krista have been presenting in their
sermons. Establishing this team is an important step towards this purpose.
This will be included in the Friday Email and invite our members to contact
Pastor Krista or Randy if interested in meeting to discuss the team’s
formation. Gregg and Lorrie Kobliska have expressed interest and bring a lot
of ideas/creativity for the team from the church they attend in Florida.
o Julie brought up the idea of how to acknowledge our home bound
members during the services -Melvin Smith will bring that up in the next
Worship and Arts meeting – perhaps adding their names to the slides at the
beginning like the Prayer List
• RIC
o April 19, we have the Nico Lang Book Event
o April 26 Braver Angels after service – Susan Manning is working on organizing
this event
• Council Worksheet – has been updated. Pastor Krista and Randy are working on
forming a “Strategic Planning Team” to consider trends in churches. Find our
strengths, weaknesses and obstacles towards a bright future and our desire to
continue to build out and “grow into” our four pillars.
• Deacon Report – report submitted and reviewed
o Pray-ground is going well
o High School Mission Trip has 6 youth (5-1 ratio) and two adults going to
Brooklyn, NY – dates still being worked out
▪ Fundraising we have the Chili contest and raffles on Saturday, March
21st – Pastor Miller to be our guest Pastor for both Saturday and
Sunday services
• Pastor Report – report submitted and reviewed; nothing specific was discussed
Old Business:
▪ Concealed and Carry – Randy attached information from the Synod about carrying
concealed weapons in places of worship for council members’ review. Pastor Krista
and Randy have reached out to the Response Advisory Team (RAT) and have set up a
meeting to discuss this topic. A report will be available at the April Council meeting.
▪ St Mark’s Personnel/Policy Manual was distributed to be added to the Council
binders and has been shared with the staff
▪ Lay Leadership Day -Jeanne her husband Mike, Cassie, Randy and wife Debbie and
Matt who attended and shared the programs they attended and will be shared on
Friday email. Some of the events they attended were
o AI as a tool – Practical Ways to Get Started
o Try Something – Anything
o Building Community Connections
o A Child Shall Lead Them – Youth Ministry
o From Passion to Plate
New Business:
▪ Pastor Krista – started a discussion on sharing our worship space with the TUMAINI
SWAHILI CHAPEL (Aurora) it is Synod Authorized Worshipping Community. The
group would meet once a month on a Sunday for about 4-5 hours as they bring food
to share. There are about 12-20 congregants they would be bringing their own sound
system. More information and discussion are pending.
▪ Thrivent – Information about ‘choice dollars” and how to designate which will need
to be done by end of March
▪ Sanctuary Piano – this has been a high maintenance instrument throughout the
years. Presently, the piano does not hold a tune for very long and requires
consistent resources to tune it. The cost of rebuilding the piano and the long-range
ongoing costs to maintain it are being weighed against replacing the piano with a
more reliable/higher quality piano. Purchasing a used piano is also being
considered. In the meantime, we may move the piano in Sanctuary Hall into the
sanctuary as the current piano is either rebuilt or its replacement is procured.
Other:
▪ Synod Assembly Video – filming to start Thursday, March 19, 2026
Next Council Meeting:
Sunday, April 19, 2026, at 11:30 am
The Council is committed to open communication and ongoing transparency with the congregation.
Please feel free to reach out to a Council member with your questions.
2026 Council Members
Randy Steinheimer (President) president@stmarksaurora.net
Jeanne Flynn (Acting Vice President) --flynn64sq@sbcglobal.net
Julie Joerger (Congregational Secretary) julposada.60@gmail.com
Robert Creaney (Treasurer) rob.creaney@sbcglobal.net
Cassie Blickem blickem@mac.com
Gena Gerdin genagerdin@comcast.net
Matt Greising mpgreising@gmail.com
Mary Mandel marymandel610@gmail.com
Melvin Smith kg70gp@gmail.com
Gregg Kobliska grkobliska@yahoo.com
Pastor Krista Zimmerman (Pastor) kzimmerman@stmarksaurora.net
Deacon David Webb dwebb@stmarksaurora.net