Berkeley UMC Servant Team 2025
Berkeley Servant Team 2025
Position Name End of Term * Term #
Council Chair/Lay Delegate Sandy Cox (2026) 1
Lay Leader/Lay Delegate Rachel Trudell (2026) 1
Trustee Shirley Dubuque (2026) 1
Trustee Betty Barnes (2025) 2
Trustee Don Wolfe (2027) 2
Trustee Brian Peters (2027) 1
Trustee** Jeff Cecil **
SPRC Summer Kaylor (2027) 2
SPRC Rita Littlefield (2027) 1
SPRC Nancy Cecil (2026) 1
SPRC Cheryl Johnson (2026) 1
SPRC ** Mike Crevier **
SPRC (Lay Leader) Rachel Trudell (2026)
SPRC (Lay Delegate) Sandy Cox (2026)
Treasurer Kelly Kirkland (2025) 1
Finance Myrna Cavender (2025) 1
Finance Ray Curtis (2027) 1
Finance ** Polly Aranda **
Finance ** Ray Hodson **
Secretary Patty Gaston (2025) 1
At-Large Suzanne McClanahan (2026) 1
** Non-Council Position
Endowment Fund Committee
Catherine Waltman (2025)
Al Green (2025)
Kimberly Gamble (2026)
Carolyn Brown (2026)
Jim Barnes (2027)
Rich Errington, chair (2027)
Nominations
Susan Curtis (2025)
Jim Barnes (2026)
Rita Littlefield (2027)
Rachel Trudell / Lay Leader
TBA
Members may serve two consecutive terms if re-elected (years in parentheses indicates the last year of the term).
*One Term = 3 years.
Servant Team Meetings
Servant Team meetings (formerly known as Leadership Team) will be held at 7pm on the 4th Tuesday of each month in the Fellowship Hall. All church members are welcome to attend in-person or via Zoom. The Zoom invitation link is: https://tinyurl.com/bddd4syv
Minutes
May 2025 Servant Team Minutes
MINUTES
BUMC SERVANT TEAM MEETING
MAY 20, 2025
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The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by Sandy Cox, chair, and opened with a prayer by Ray Hodson. Sandy explained that the meeting was to be a question and discussion session about the upcoming collaboration between Oak Hill and Berkeley churches and not the regular Servant Team meeting. The meeting was open to any Berkeley members who wanted to attend. Also present at the meeting was Rev. Ryan Jenson from Oak Hill UMC. Rev. Jenson is the Pastor of Youth and Young Adult Ministries at Oak Hill.
Sandy opened up the meeting for any questions, comments, and concerns that anyone wished to express. Questions, concerns, and comments included the following from those present and on Zoom:
1. How is Berkeley a church if there is not a minister? This was a serious concern several people expressed. Some stated that not having a senior minister on site is problematic. Summer Kaylor explained that Marcus Freeman, the District Superintendent, had made a concerted effort to find a full time minister for Berkeley but was not successful. Summer said that Dr. Freeman had determined that Berkeley was not “healing” and that this is part of what the UMC universal is also going through. This comes from the recent disaffiliations that the UMC has experienced with many churches leaving the denomination.
2. Is the UMC leadership committed to finding Berkeley a minister?
3. Concerns were brought up about the difficulty with the Oak Hill/Berkeley pastoral committee. Sandy shared the draft proposal of the 2025 preaching schedule and the responsible ministers for pastoral care to help members better understand how the duties would be distributed.
4. How can our church become healthy in order to get a full time minister? Who determines what will be the healing and what does that mean?
5. What if a minister is still not found after a year? What will happen then?
6. Is Dr. Freeman finding what we (Berkeley) want in a minister or what he believes we should have? Tracey Beadle will become the District Superintendent in July 2025 and will be committed to continuing this collaborative effort.
7. Could Berkeley partner and discuss strategies with other churches who are facing similar struggles? There are 6 churches in the district who are in a partnership like Berkeley and discussions with them could be helpful.
8. What can Berkeley do to develop a youth and children’s program? What can we do to better appeal to young adults?
9. What are each of us doing to invite and bring in new people to Berkeley?
10. How will evangelism and finance work within Berkeley? Who will be in charge of the BUMC child care?
As part of the discussion and to help everyone better understand the process, Sandy shared the draft Memorandum of Understanding between Berkeley UMC and Oak Hill UMC. The finalized document will be signed by both churches and will be effective July 1, 2025. The memorandum will continue until a full time minister for Berkeley is found or will end on June 30, 2026, whichever comes first.Assurances were made from Rev. Jenson that Oak Hill is totally supportive of this collaboration and will continue to provide any and all resources needed.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:27 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Catherine Waltman
​
April 2025 Servant Team Minutes
​MINUTES
BUMC SERVANT TEAM MEETING
APRIL 22, 2025
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by Sandy Cox, the chair. Jim Barnes opened the meeting with a prayer. Present at the meeting were: Kelly Kirkland, Summer Kaylor, Nancy Cecil, Rachel Trudell, Myrna Cavender, Jim Barnes, Betty Barnes, Suzanne McClanahan, Sandy Cox, Patty Gaston, Brian Peters, and Vikki Schwarz. Present via video were Ray and Roz Hodson. Catherine Waltman was present to take notes.
Sandy Cox led a discussion of Chapters 3 and 4 of the book When Helping Hurts that members are reading. She asked everyone to choose a particular ministry of the church they liked. Sandy read an excerpt from Chapter 3 about how someone was supported and encouraged to move successfully out of the poverty cycle. There was a discussion of the various ministries at Berkeley and how they might be used more deeply and intentionally. Sandy encouraged members to look at these ministries through the three ways described in the book: Relief, Rehabilitation, or Development. Members shared their ideas on how ministries could be used through these ways to deepen our ministry and outreach efforts.
There were minor corrections made on the minutes from the prior meeting, and the minutes were then accepted. Spiritual Care has announced that Thursday, May 1, is National Prayer Day. Berkeley will be observing this, and the sanctuary will be open for anyone who wishes to use the church for prayer.
Rachel Trudell, a member of the Nominations Committee, advised that the Endowment Committee has been in need of additional members. She recommended the following persons to serve for staggered terms ending in the following years.
2027: Jim Barnes and Rich Errington
2026: Kim Gamble and Carolyn Brown
2025: Catherine Waltman and Al Green
Ray Hodson gave a brief explanation of the endowment fund and how Berkeley can use these funds for church needs. A motion was made to accept the Nominations Committee report for the Endowment Committee. All agreed and the motion passed.
There was a discussion of adding or involving members from each outreach ministry to the Church Council. Sandy said she believed this would bring a better balance to the Council with more focus on outreach and ministry. Currently, the focus is primarily on the administrative side. There was further discussion of how best to achieve this improved balance on the Council and whether it should wait until Berkeley has a senior minister in place. Sandy recommended that members think about this issue more and it will be pursued later. Sandy also stated that she would like to have some issues resolved before the new minister arrives so he or she can focus on ministering instead of getting “in the weeds” of administration right away.
Kelly Kirkland presented the Financial Report. He explained that he has added a high level report page with less details. He also broke down the report in three different ways and asked members to give him feedback as to what works best for them. Several members indicated they like the “simpler” and easier to read report. Several questions from members were asked about the report, and Kelly provided further clarification. Patty Gaston suggested that more meeting time may be needed for the financial report to be sure everything is covered. Sandy stated that she was seeking to keep meetings on schedule but if discussions on finance issues are needed, meetings can clearly be extended.
Sandy adjourned the meeting at 8:09 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Catherine Waltman