HUCC Communications Team

Many of you know that the past decade has brought many changes to the Communications Team at HUCC. We’ve gone from a monthly printed “Tidings” newsletter to a weekly electronic version that contains many more photos and links which serve our ministries and programs. We also post abundant church-related information on our social media accounts, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Follow us on these social media accounts to learn what’s happening in the Rocky Mountain Conference, the United Church of Christ and with our many partners in social and environmental justice.

The communication team consists of Pastor Chelsea, Roger Lamoni, Peter Christensen, Connie Nomann and Jim Bale. The elected position of Communications Officer, who oversees the work of the communications team, sits on Council and serves on the Executive Committee, is currently vacant. Want an influential HUCC leadership position as Communications Officer? Contact Carol Copene. The team also welcomes members and friends who can help with Tidings and our social media accounts. If you are interested, please let Roger Lamoni or Jim Bale know!

Compassionate Action and Outreach Team

The Compassionate Action team is a busy group of folks! Led by Scott Smith, our Compassionate Action team coordinates numerous outreach activities annually at HUCC. In recent years, these have included Operation Sandwich, the Giving Tree, and diaper drives; ‘Undie Sunday’ and ‘Sock-it-to-Me’, which benefited the Geraldine E. King Women’s Center; and the Golden Celery Challenge in which nearly one ton of food was donated by HUCC members and friends to the Crossroads Urban Center. In ongoing activities, HUCC members deliver meals weekly via Meals-on-Wheels and cook or serve lunches at the Volunteers of America Youth Center in downtown Salt Lake City. The Compassionate Action team helped submit a successful Rocky Mountain Conference ‘In-the-Mud’ grant that enabled the HUCC worship and communication teams to purchase a new iPhone and hard drive to record and store our worship services.

Although the pandemic severely curtailed many formal HUCC outreach activities during the past year, HUCC members continue to display the creative spark that helps them make a difference in the lives of others. Our members led food and school supply drives for the Rose Park neighborhood and coordinated a ‘reverse Advent’ calendar that collected much-needed food for the Crossroads Urban center pantry.  We look forward to the time when our members and friends can meet in-person and safely resume group activities, such as Operation Sandwich, and march together in the Pride Parade. Please consider joining this wonderful group of volunteers who enjoy their time together as they help others!

Human Resource Committee

The Human Resource Committee (HR) provides oversight for all salaried and non-salaried staff of HUCC except for the Holladay Preschool personnel. HR is responsible for a formal hiring process as well as reviewing and updating personnel policies and job descriptions. HR conducts exit interviews, resolves disputes among paid staff and gathers information from the congregation for use in reviews. The Committee works closely with the Pastors in conducting performance reviews of other staff members and advises Council regarding compensation and benefits.
The Human Resources Committee reports to Council and is comprised of four Church members who are selected by Council to serve two-year, renewable terms. The Moderator is an ex-officio member with vote.  HR members enjoy their roles and work well together. Current members include: Kate Palmer (lead), Amy Spratling, Chuck Dillard, Dale Berreth, and Jim Bale (ex officio). Members of HR are selected by Council with advice from the Spiritual Gifts (nominating) team. Interested in joining the team to help HUCC run well? Contact Carol Copene, Chair of the Spiritual Gifts team, and she will forward your name to Jim Bale, HUCC Moderator.

Finance Team

The Finance Team facilitates and oversees the financial infrastructure that enables HUCC to fulfill our mission and extend an extravagant welcome to our members and the community. Without meticulous attention to the financial resources of Holladay United Church of Christ, we would lack sufficient resources to fund the ministry teams and church activities.
In addition to recording cash receipts from donations, authorizing and accounting for cash expenditures, reporting financial results and coordinating the annual budgeting process, the Finance Team serves as the Stewardship Committee. Many of the activities of the Finance Team take place each week or month on an as-needed basis. This year the Finance Team coordinated HUCC’s successful application for Paycheck Protection Program funds. The Finance Team is especially active at the end of the year in requesting and summarizing pledges for the upcoming year, creating the operating budget and discussing it with the Church Council and obtaining approval from the congregation. At each Winter Congregational Meeting, the chair of the Finance Team summarizes the financial information for the congregation.

The Finance Team has three elected financial positions and additional members with a financial understanding of HUCC. The current Finance Team consists of the Financial Officer (Dennis Bayes), Treasurer (Jean Boyack), Financial Secretary (Paul Jewell), Stan Foutz, Rori Piggott, Steve Schneider and Debbie Wilkerson. The Financial Officer serves on Council and is a member of the Executive Committee. Interested in serving? Contact Carol Copene, chair of the Spiritual Gifts Committee.

Caring Ministry

HUCC Caring Ministry is composed of many generous volunteers who actively support our clergy’s pastoral care system. Caring Ministry responds to the needs of our church family during times of crisis through visitations, meals, cards, holiday baskets, phone calls, emails, texts and prayers. In addition, the Caring Ministry team provides family support by helping make funerals and memorial services meaningful and memorable.

The team meets monthly via Zoom at 9:30 AM on the fourth Thursday except for July. The team eagerly anticipates the day when it can meet again in person in the church conference room! Team members include Pastor Chelsea Page, Jean Boyack, Becky Burrage, Laurel Davey, Jan Foutz, Kathy Gamble, Dianne Gaschler, Edith Gates (team lead), Keith Guernsey, Ruth St. Martin, Laura Osburn. Ruby Ostermann, Kate Palmer, Becky Reed (Colorado), Diane Stallings (North Carolina), Nan Sturgeon, Jean Wallberg, Debbie Wilkerson and Karen Young. Interested in joining the Caring Ministry team? Contact Edith.

Pastoral Relations Committee

The Pastoral Relations Committee (PRC), an HUCC standing committee, supports healthy relationships between the pastors and congregants. The PRC serves as 1) an advisory group to the pastors: sharing ideas, dreams, expectations, and concerns of the congregation; and 2) as a support group for the pastors’ leadership: interpreting roles, functions, boundaries, opportunities, and needs of the pastor to the congregation. In essence, the PRC provides a pathway for effective communication between the pastors and the congregation.The Pastoral Relations Committee consists of six members; all must be members of HUCC. Two members are selected by each Pastor, and approved by Church Council; and two members are appointed by the Council. All PRC members serve renewable two-year terms. The PRC meets approximately once monthly. The current PRC members are Tiffini Adams, Pam Erickson (chair), Chris Gamble, and Jono Centurier-Harris; Pastor Brent and Church Council will be recruiting two additional members during the coming year.

Spiritual Gifts and Nominating Committee

The Spiritual Gifts (Nominating) Committee consists of the recent past moderator (an ex-officio member with vote) and four other voting members, one of whom serves as chair. The committee’s principal task is to select candidates for the moderator, vice-moderator, finance officer, communications officer, and other elected church positions, such as a pastor search committee and the members of HUCC ministries. The Spiritual Gifts Committee also nominates delegates to the Intermountain Association and the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ. The committee works closely with the moderator and Council to identify HUCC members who lead or participate in HUCC ministries, some of whom also serve on Council. The Spiritual Gifts Committee members are nominated by Council and approved annually at the winter congregational meeting. The current members are Carol Copene (chair), Marilyn Dillard, Linda Hilton, Ruby Osterman and Carl Adams (past moderator). Each member serves a 2-year term and is eligible to serve a second term.

Faith Formation Team

The Faith Formation Team organizes activities in which God calls young people, with their families and communities, to love in action as a way of life. We currently meet one Saturday morning per month via Zoom to create intergenerational events, evaluate and plan programs and curriculum for youth and children and guide the adult volunteers in our programs. We begin each meeting with personal support and sharing, and the leaders of adult faith formation activities are welcome to join us before we shift the focus to children and youth. Our team reports to the Council Officer for Faith Formation, customarily the parent of a child in our programs, who relays information from Pastor Chelsea to Council at its monthly meeting.  This position is currently vacant, and the officer will be nominated by the Spiritual Gifts Committee this spring.  Please consider serving! The Faith Formation Team actively recruits new members to assist in the planning of activities for our children and youth.  We are also recruiting new teachers for the fall to work one hour twice a month. Please contact any current member of our team! (Pastor Chelsea, Trent Parkhill, Sara Schneider, Becky Burrage, Kyla Asmar, or Kate Palmer)

Green Justice Team

The Green Justice Team seeks to embody God’s extravagant love by caring for Creation while seeking justice for the oppressed and vulnerable.
Our goals include:

• Support sustainable improvements in the facilities and operation of our church;

• Inspire members and friends to embrace sustainable practices where possible in their homes and personal lives;

• Advocate for the protection of ecological and human health in the wider community, in solidarity with those who are most vulnerable and impacted.
Last year the Green Justice Team hosted educational events on composting, recycling and electric cars. Members of our group are focused on air quality, renewable energy and the proposed inland port.
We meet every other Wednesday at 5pm over Zoom; our next meeting is scheduled for February 10th. To join the HUCC Green Justice Team email list, please contact Christopher Thomas.

Worship Team

The Worship Team currently consists of: the Senior Pastor; the Associate Pastor; Music Director (Eric Richards); Worship Representative (Shesh Tipton through May); Connie Nomann, our tech guru; and at-large church members, Martha Moler and Teri Jewell. Our task? To create worship experiences for our congregation and community that provide motivating and loving spiritual guidance in word and music, all in the name of God.
We write liturgy, choose themes, and evaluate how each service fulfills the needs of the church. What can we do better? What shall we repeat? The pandemic presented a unique challenge for us, and virtual church has dramatically changed how we present the message. We have learned to adapt to these challenging circumstances and provide inspiring worship opportunities for the congregation. We look forward to working with our new senior pastor, Pastor Brent, and incorporating his style as our worship services and opportunities continue to evolve.
Our team gets along well, and we respect each other immensely. If you would like to contribute to this team, please contact Shesh Tipton. We always love new ideas!