The Session voted unanimously to approve two recommendations from the Reopening Task Force:
- To fully reopen the church building to all groups, both internal and external; and
- To lift the mask mandate (making mask wearing optional) while maintaining the current social distancing practices like cordoning off every other pew. Unvaccinated persons are encouraged to continue to wear a mask for their own safety.
This guidance was informed, in part, by the extremely high vaccination rate in Howard County and within our congregation.
In other business:
The Session unanimously offered its vote of confidence in the direction of planning underway for a 3rd Capital Campaign, which is required by our mortgage lender and will launch on Vision Sunday, Oct. 24. The vote to choose a specific approach from available options will come later.
Church Treasurer Bob Ashman and members of the Finance Committee are tackling these labor-intensive preparations with the assistance of consultant Jeff Newlin, who also helped guide our first two efforts to raise funds to pay for the Ministry Expansion Project. This is intended to be the final campaign.