We had a very productive vestry meeting in September. Rebecca Gray was nominated and voted in to serve the remainder of Elizabeth Wrona's term. A warm and hearty welcome to Rebecca, and fond farewell to Elizabeth. Betsy Gerdeman also indicated that the September vestry meeting may have been her last. She and Pete are off to New Zealand to seek their fortune, with a projected departure date of November 2nd. We will miss Betsy on the Vestry; her work with our Stewardship Commission has been outstanding. We also welcomed our new seminarian (from the Virginia Theological Seminary [VTS]), John Frazier to Pohick.

Much discussion centered on our response to the decisions reached at the 74th General Convention. Present actions/decisions:

• Calendar Year 2003 (CY03) Pohick contributions to the diocese, as previously pledged, will remain unchanged.
• With our next stewardship campaign, beginning this month, parishioners will be able to identify how their gifts may be spent. Options include:
  • No change. Contributions used for Pohick expenses; 10% goes to the Diocese of Virginia (18% of the Diocese's income goes to the national church).
  • Contributions restricted to Pohick and Diocese.
  • Contributions restricted to Pohick.
• Of course, there is no way to control what the Diocese does with Pohick contributions. Our restrictions will be manifested in a reduction in contributions linked to current diocese/national ratios. More on this as we launch our Stewardship Campaign.
• A number of our parishioners have asked for an opportunity to register their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the General Convention's outcome. Two petitions have been drafted to this end. The first expresses disappointment at our delegation's actions. A second petition requested and submitted in draft by a number of our parishioners supports our Diocese's actions. As of the writing (September 14), we have received 84 signatures; 77 against and 7 for the actions of our delegation to the General Convention.

Also discussed at our September vestry meeting:

• The vestry approved a proposal by Ken Wrona (Cemetery Warden) for the interment of West family remains (Pohick vestryman, 1744-1749) in our courtyard.
• We approved a proposal by Bill Bland to emplace a bench in memory of Diane Bland near the existing benches near the Parish Hall.
• John Pasour indicated that there are still no indications that we are eliminating the $29,000 budget deficit for the year.
• Randy Brooks passed on that Joe Moran finished his Boy Scouts Eagle Project - replacing the brick walkway to the Vestry House (excellent job Joe!).
• David Lehner (Worship Commission) briefed that 8 parishioners have signed up for adult choir, the "biggest sign-up in memory."
• One of our two Education For Ministry (EFM) groups is short of the six needed to run the Thursday night session.
• Tutoring for Gunston Hall Elementary School begins in October (Tuesday evenings).
• Stewardship testimonials to be presented at the October 12th ant 19th services.

We invite prayerful reflection on the days ahead. Please also feel free to contact me regarding any other Pohick topics/ suggestions. If you wish for issues to be addressed before the vestry, label all written/ electronic correspondence "Vestry-Gram." Either use the proforma in the back of the Pohick Post, or better yet, e-mail me at TSMayberry@comcast.net.

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