Heard it at Council: May 2026
By Kate Silfen, Church Historian | May 12, 2026 Council Meeting Report
The Reverend John Edgerton opened our May Council meeting with a brief reflection on his recent appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show describing Old South’s participation in GBIO’s campaign to pressure Citizen’s Bank to stop funding immigrant detention centers. John shared that he was initially reluctant to appear on the show due to his previous experience with the media when he was Lead Pastor at the Oak Park Church. Ultimately, John decided that having the opportunity to talk about Old South’s decision to engage with the GBIO campaign was the right thing to do. Members of Council then had the opportunity to break into small groups to talk about a time they had chosen to do something difficult because it was the right thing to do.
After that special time of sharing, Council moved into a discussion about the Church’s financial picture. This past month, Old South has been blessed with an unrestricted gift that the Finance Committee recommends dedicating to operations to offset our anticipated budget deficit. Building use has increased this past month, but congregational support is down. Finance Committee Chair Paul Kuenstner provided a first quarter report on our finances noting that the allocation of the one time gift to our operations does not eliminate the need to address the ongoing structural deficit. He noted that the Finance Committee is working on a manual of finance policy and procedure for the church and proposed that we shift the timeline of budget preparation so that a budget can be presented to Council in December annually in advance of the start of the fiscal year which corresponds with the calendar year.
Old South’s Multimedia Director Jamie Garuti Sage came to Council to talk about our web presence. An anonymous donor has contributed funds that have been designated to the work of improving the website. Jamie explained that our current website has three types of information: 1) external information for the public 2) internal information for current members and 3) archival material, including blog posts and sermon recordings. It can be difficult for visitors to our website to find the information they need because of some navigation and content challenges. Her goal is to streamline the website, make it easier to navigate, and to update the photography. Jamie’s first priority is to optimize the experience for external users with the hope that internal users may eventually be able to use the Church Center app for information. We completed a user experience study of church members in 2023; Jamie will work to acquire a user experience study for non-members in the coming months.
In other good news, Council members approved a motion to empower the Leadership Committee to populate a search committee for our next settled associate pastor. The new “Belong” Task Force has now been formed, and the members are eager to work with our consultant Roeshana Moore-Evans. Finance Committee Chair Paul Kuenstner reported that a sub group of the Operations Committee will be overseeing upcoming work to our building, and are looking to engage a firm in a “master services agreement” that can help to support the large portfolio of work that will take place over the next decade. Initial work is expected to begin in the spring of 2027.