Two very exciting things happened at the vestry meeting last night. I am going to be getting a stipend (that means money coming in!) and I have been appointed to the vestry.

The vestry approved a $600 per month stipend for me as an intern. I have been covering the church front desk sense the vestry was forced to drop our Parish Administrator back from 40 hours a week to eight. She now only does the church books. The vestry had planned to hire an Office Administrator for 12 hours a week. I had agreed to fill in for a month while someone was found, and when it turned out that I could get the job done effectively, I agreed to stay on through the summer to help balance the church budget. My agreement ran through the end of September.

Last night at the urging our our clergy, the vestry decided to take me on as a intern and give me a stipend approximately equal to the amount they had originally budgeted for a secretary. The long and the short of this is that I will again be getting a paycheck next month.

The second big piece of news is that as of mid-night I am now on the All Saints vestry. I went to seminary right out of college and never got a chance to serve on a vestry. One of the thing I wanted to do before restarting the ordination process was to serve on one. The vestry has been short a member sense one of its members died of prostate cancer. I will serve as appointed by the remaining vestry members until the annual meeting when my position will be confirmed by the congregation.

The Episcopal church has places a renewed emphasis in Lay ministry and leadership in the last ten years. While I am frustrated that I could not make the Ordination Process in El Camino Real work out, I am thoroughly enjoying the chance to use what I have learned in the last several years in my new parish. I am thrilled that I can now cover the monthly cost of my student loans, and have a little left over to spend on some of those things we just couldn't swing before like a decent internet connection.

One last thing coming up is the annual stewardship drive. I have been the stewardship chair for the last three years at All Saints and it is once again time to hand out pledge cards and plan for mission and ministry in the year 2010. In all it is going to be a very busy time but at the end it will also be a time of great accomplishments.