The meeting was called to order at 6:31pm

Bylaws. The board reviewed draft bylaw amendments that, in part, dated back multiple years but had yet to be completed. The draft bylaws had been emailed to the Board on February 27th, in excess of 10-days as required. Upon review and with final revisions, M/Phil and S/Barry to approve the amended bylaws. Upon discussion, motion passed unanimously.

The current makeup of the Board includes one person who is planning to move out of town in September, and a second person who will need to leave the board around October. We are seeking two members among our congregation who are interested in serving on the Board. Contact any Board member if you are interested.

Pastoral search. Now that MissionGathering has an Interim Lead Pastor, the Board would like to prioritize the process to find a full-time permanent Lead Pastor. The church previously created a Pastoral Search Committee that had already completed a lot of work on this process. They created a Congregational Profile report for use in the DOC Search & Call process. While many people that were directly involved in that process may no longer be a part of MissionGathering today, their efforts and resulting work product will be a huge help since a lot of the heavy lifting has already been done and their foundation will be instrumental in describing our church and crafting job expectations for our congregation.

The Board intends to use the DOC Search & Call process in combination with other search processes (direct connections, referrals, etc.) to search for our new permanent Lead Pastor. The church congregation is currently very small, and does not support the creation of another Pastoral Search Committee. The Board will lead the search process but welcomes the participation and involvement of all who are interested.

Danielle will contact the DOC to seek their guidance and support for this process. Meanwhile Phil will start to seek out other appropriate third-party job sites, such as progressivechristianity.org and launchpadpartners.org, and gather the information needed to create job postings.

For the next couple Sunday services the Board will start making announcements of the need for new Board members and a new Pastor. A formal presentation will be provided at the annual all-church Town Hall meeting.

MissionGathering's annual all-church Town Hall meeting is scheduled to occur immediately after church services on Sunday, April 2, 2023 at the church location at 8693-B La Mesa Blvd., La Mesa CA 91941.

Church Location and Office. MissionGathering currently meets every Sunday in a rented auditorium of a small local school, located at 3051 El Cajon Blvd. The current location is available to us only for about 4-hours every Sunday, for Sunday services. We do not have any regular way to use the location for services on alternate dates, to plan small group gatherings, to coordinate other church activities, to host meetings or congregation events, to meet with new visitors, etc. At the same time, MissionGathering is currently renting a separate office space for day-to-day business operations, along with storage units for church equipment. All this results in a cost of about $3,600 per month, all to have a church gathering space for a maximum of 4-hours per week.

MissionGathering's former sale of the Polk Avenue property has provided about $1.2M in assets dedicated to the purchase of a new building. In addition, MissionGathering has about $518,000 in reserves that can be used both for ongoing operational expenses, as well as toward real capital improvement or acquisition. Experts in the real estate market are indicating that the interest rates, pricing, facility sizes, and market conditions are not in MisisonGathering's favor at this time. In the meantime, MissionGathering really needs a "home" that we can call our own 7-days per week (and ideally serve as an office and storage space when not in active use).

Braeden has been exploring potential partnerships with other progressive churches. He recently opened a discussion with one church in La Mesa, who is open to renting to us. But, in order to do so, MissionGathering's services could not compete with the existing church and would thus need to move Sunday services to a Sunday afternoon (12pm or later) or Sunday evening. Nes's history with MissionGathering suggests that past attempts at evening services have not worked previously for our church, and feels that a noon service is unlikely to work for our congregation.

Meanwhile, Phil has been exploring alternate locations that could work for the church, and found a couple commercial properties for lease that may be sufficient. The commercial properties are not traditional churches, but may provide MissionGathering with the freedom and flexibility to use the space whenever desired.

The Board discussed the various options, strengths, benefits, and potential future for MissionGathering. The Board felt the most important thing is to have a "home" that is there when people expect it, and which allows us to grow and change. For many months we have been relying on other people to allow us to use their space for church worship. We have an opportunity to have a space of our own, that we can use in any legal way that we desire, at any days and times that we desire.

Financial update. Barry is in close coordination with our contracted bookkeeper, Phil Fowler, and is getting all arrangements coordinated for payroll, etc. Barry had provided an update of MissionGathering’s accounts.

As a reminder, MissionGathering San Diego has two notes (“accounts”) in partnership with the Disciples of Christ as a result of the sale of our former property on Polk Avenue. Those two accounts hold the remaining proceeds from the sale of the property. The proceeds total $1,093,735 in one account, and $517,932 in the second account. Both accounts are held in escrow pending the final completion of the sale contract. Based on the sales contract, the funds in both accounts are restricted from use until such time as the sale finally closes. Once unrestricted, this balance of the larger account must be used for the acquisition of a new property. The balance of the smaller account is unrestricted.

The Board has received notice from the DOC Church Extension Fund that the sale is expected to complete closure on March 23, 2023. At that time, $517,932 becomes available to MissionGathering for the procurement of real property or operational expenses.

No other financial report at this time.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Minutes prepared by Phil Collum.