The Session has been reading together, The Sailboat Church by Joan S. Gray for the past two months. The Session spent much of the meeting reviewing their impressions of the book by reflection, discussion and prayer. One of the elements of the book that was well received was a dedication to 40 Days of Prayer which Session did with prayer partners. The Session agreed to continue to dedicate itself to prayer as it discerns next steps, including how it will share this experience with the church and how it will invite church members to “come & see” for themselves.
Session Action Items:
1. The following baptisms were approved:
a. McLean Sutton Beams, daughter of Blair and Kaleb, on Sunday, January 11, 2026
b. Marion Bradley Jamison, daughter of Thornton and Lauren Jamison, on Sunday, March 8, 2026,
c. Clara Virginia Adams, daughter of Samuel and Christy, on Sunday, March 22, 2026
2. Approval of Non-Member Wedding: Rachel Pugh & Harman Guraya on April 11, 2026.
3. Session approved a contribution to a Love Offering to honor our retiring General Presbyter, Sue Westfall, and authorized Finance to identify the funds.
4. Session approved a recommendation from the Nominating Committee to call a Congregational Meeting for the purpose of electing Whitney Jamison to serve as a member-at-large on the Nominating Committee for Sunday, November 9th during the 11:00 am Worship Service.
5. Upon recommendation of the Worship Committee the following dates for monthly Communion were approved by Session acknowledging that church life events may cause some rearranging during the year. December 14, 2025, January 4, 2026, February 15, 2026, March 1, 2026, April 5, 2026 (Easter), May 24, 2026 (Pentecost), June 7, 2026, July 5, 2026, August 2, 2026, September 6, 2026, October 4, 2026, November 1, 2026.
Finance and Endowments:
John Summerford reviewed the financial condition through September. Revenue is behind budget and expenses are running under budget. FPC has a net deficit of ($107,140) see financial table. He stated that higher operating expenses (insurance, utilities) were being realized. We need our pledged income to come in, and he encourages all to catch up on pledges. He reported that $750 had been allocated from the Manly Neighbors Endowment Fund to assist Kathryn Kaylor for supply costs for her Eagle Scout project. She is building an information board at Living River for her project. Budget requests from all committees are due November 13.
Stewardship:
Danny Potts reviewed progress on the current Stewardship campaign with Session. As of our meeting he stated 180 families had made pledge commitments of $1.44 million (on par with same time last year). Stewardship will begin making calls to encourage additional pledges.
Fellowship/Mission:
Jill Cilimberg reported how pleased the joint committees were with our first ever FPC Serve Day on September 27th. The turnout was amazing. After enjoying breakfast together, our groups disbursed and fed 175 people at the Community Soup Bowl, baked bread at FPC and then delivered to 11 home bound members, packed 1,000 secret backpack food bags for elementary children at the West Alabama Food Bank, assembled three beds and organized donations with High Socks for Hope, and stocked food donations and cleaned out a vacated room at New Heights Center.
Current Membership of FPC: 775
Next Scheduled Communion: November 2, 2025
Next Stated Meeting: Monday, December 1, 2025, at 5:30 pm
Next Presbytery Meeting: November 20, 2025, Edgewood Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, AL
Members may view the FPC Website to see our current Officers of FPC (Elders and Deacons) at https://www.fpctusc.org/resources/officers-of-fpc.