A.  Annual Report – by The Rev. John Dryden Burton, Assisting Priest
Of course, the event of the year had to be ordination to the sacred order of priests on August 12 by Bishop Benfield.  However, the real highlights are the ministry activities which include:

• a class on suicide and its impact of family and friends in March with Gloria Burton;
• assisting in the preparation for confirmation and reception of Beth and Heather Quinney; and,
• startup of a new ministry of worship in song, scripture reading, and prayer on Wednesday mornings at Brighton Ridge Nursing Home.

B.  Annual Report – by The Rev. Betsy Porter, Assisting Priest
As a priest on the Ministry Support Team, it was a privilege and a blessing to serve with so many capable and dedicated ministers, both lay and ordained, at St. James’ in 2007. Celebrating the Eucharist and preaching continue to give me great joy.  Whether at the Church, at Peachtree, in homes or in the community, I have been honored to serve. I look forward to new opportunities to contribute to our shared ministry in 2008. In Christ’s love—The Rev. Betsy Porter

C.  Preaching by Laura Shoffner 
It has been my privilege and blessing to be a part of the monthly preaching rotation.  The discipline and spiritual growth involved in preparing a sermon have benefited me personally, but far more important is my prayer that as I serve as a vehicle for God's word, you, the beloved people of St. James', have also benefited.  Thank you for your support and encouragement of this ministry.
 
D. Music
In 2007 Carroll Heath continued to serve as Music Director and Organist. Charles Gay resigned as Choir Director and moved to Illinois.  Al Lacock and Ann Carter served as choir director, and Mark Mallett  took on the role of choir director in the fall. He continues to serve.   A couple of musicians served at the new 5 pm service including Karen Masters.

E.  Worship Assistants by David Miller
Worship assistants share the light of Christ, the word of God, the blood of Christ with their fellow worshipers, and the concerns of the congregation with God. What a privilege!  There are 28 worship assistants at St. James – quite a few, I believe, for a congregation our size. I am thankful for the reverence and humility with which they serve.  I ask you to express your appreciation to our servers.  I also ask you to join them!  “Joy!” is the word I hear from the assistants when they tell me how they feel about their participation.
 
F.  Altar Guild Annual Report by Cheri Mumaugh 
2007 was a smooth year for the altar guild.  We have returned to Madeira as our altar wine of choice as the linens and our volunteers would not have survived too many more spills of red port.  I want to thank all our faithful members and especially Gloria Rennels for scheduling the 10:00 clean up, Judy Godfrey for taking care of the linens, and Cheri Lacock for being there whenever a little extra help was needed.  I have done this job for several years now and if anyone would like to step up as co-chair with the intention of training to take over at some future date I would be glad to have the assistance and could give you plenty of time to get comfortable with the many details and tasks involved.  It would be a blessing to have two people fully trained in all aspects of the altar ministry so that I could have a little more flexibility in my schedule.  If this could be your future calling to ministry at St. James or if you would like further information please let me know. 
 
G. Ushers
Dave Vanselow recently took over leadership of the ushers. More  ushers are needed to help with this important ministry.

A. Godly Play & SchoolHouse by Jessica Guillory
Beginning in September 2007, a Godly Play class was formed for a group of 5 children who have come faithfully each Monday to learn together. Thus far the children have learned about many Parables and it seems that the story of the Good Shepherd is the favorite.  Celeste Raphael assists Jessica Guillory in ensuring that each child’s needs are met throughout the class, during the telling of the story and during the art/exploration time.  Though the ages range from 2-7, the children have shown kindness and thoughtfulness to one another which is inspiring.

St. James has provided a gathering place for local home schoolers this year.  Twice a week, 7 eager students fill the SchoolHouse for World History, and Art History: Architecture, and 2 more students arrive for pre-school lessons.  Learning together in such a wonderful, peaceful space has made the classes all the more special for these students.

B. SHIFT by Kathy Cantele
SHIFT, our youth group, has had another busy year.  We focused primarily on raising money for People Helping People through "flocking."  We had a wonderful time participating in the Christmas parade with our flamingos.  SHIFT is planning more community service projects and "flocking" in the New Year.

C. Godly Play by Celeste Raphael
Since mid September an average group of 4-5 amazing children have been meeting over at the Saint James house on Mondays for about an hour. During this hour the group of children have been learning about the parables, which are taught by Ms. Jessica while I act as gatekeeper. After the lesson the children do some creative work, which can include artwork or telling a parable themselves. Last but not least we have our feast, normally juice and crackers. Each child helps with this by passing out the crackers and juice after I have gotten it all prepared or collecting the trash once everyone is done with their feast. Then we all say good-bye until next week.

D. Praying the Psalms
Class taught by Dale Caldwell during June and July.  Dale also adds a great deal to the Sunday morning Bible study, and teaches Bible classes at the Methodist Church as well.

E. Prayer Practices by Larry Wagner
Classes on prayer practices were held several Wednesdays last summer.  Discussion included, Benedictine practice (our prayer book) is example, Centering Prayer, Meditating on the Lord's Prayer, and a look at the use of a Prayer Necklace.

F. ECW annual report by Marty Johnson
The Episcopal Church Women of St. James' have had a busy and thriving year.  We have been involved in several projects thus far from the United Thank Offering campaign to helping at the Echo dinner.  By far, our most rewarding endeavors are the donations of cookies and goodies to the Eureka School children, the beautiful Christmas Baskets full of goodies and prayer shawls and scarves which were delivered to 14 different individuals this year, and the 41st Silver Tea which resulted in a donation of $2,930.00 given to the newly organized Carroll County Habitat for Humanity.  Most of all, we enjoy gathering as a kaleidoscope of different women who bring our hearts, voices and hands together to share the love of Christ with each other and those beyond us.

G. St. James’ Website by the Rev. John Burton
Our presence on the World Wide Web (www) at stjameseurekasprings.org was visited over 2400 times in 2007.  In addition to general information about the location, worship times, and ministries of St. James’, the website offers:

• Weekly announcements
• Monthly newsletters in text and PDF versions
• Archives of sermons since 2006
• Vestry minutes for the preceding 12 months
• Links to other helpful websites 
  

Information of interest to our parishioners or to those who might want to know more about St. James (potential visitors to Eureka Springs or those consider relocating here) is always welcome as are photos of events at St. James.  They may be submitted by e-mail to frjohndb@gmail.com.

H. St. James’ Library by Susan Walter
Thanks to member donations, the library now has 2050 catalogued books plus tapes & CDs, periodicals, reference materials, a collection of St. James’ newsletters from 2002, Vestry minutes, and more. Come visit at the St. James’ House, select a book, make a cup of tea and settle in to read… or check out a book to take home. The library is open when the office is open and on Sunday mornings.

A. Pastoral Care Team by Susan Vanselow
The Pastoral Care Team under the compassionate and capable leadership of Larry Shoffner provided visitations, meals and transportation to members of St. James' congregation during 2007. Regular weekly contacts were made on a rotating basis to three members of the parish.  Food, transportation and other services were provided to parishioners as their needs became known, as well.

In an attempt to stay in touch with all members of the congregation, team volunteers have been assigned names of members of the congregation whom they will contact on a rotating basis every six months.  If concerns, needs or requests come from such contacts, they will be communicated to Rev. Edie Bird or the team leader. If anyone not currently on the team wants to share in the ministry or if anyone alerts us to needs we may not be aware of, they are invited to please contact me.  A special thanks, also, to those team members who served so faithfully in 2007.

B. Eucharistic Visitors by Judy Godfrey
St. James’ has 11 dedicated, licensed Eucharistic Visitors. Ed Tolle was added to our number in 2007. EVs made 76 Visits in 2007 and served 240 people. Coordinators for 2007 were Suzanne Tourtelot and Judy Godfrey; Coordinators for 2008 are Jane Acord and Judy Godfrey. EV team @ St. James’: Jane Acord, Gloria Burton, Judy Godfrey; Martha & Larry Johnson; Cheri Lacock, Larry and Laura Shoffner; Ed Tolle; Suzanne Tourtelot; Milo Warner.

A. Annual Poinsettia Sale
This year the Poinsettia Sale run so beautifully by Caren Holliday raised more money than ever.   Half of the proceeds went to Habitat for Humanity and half to the Outreach fund.

B. Silver Tea – see above under ECW

C. MDG Yard Sale - Kathy Cantele & Betsy Porter (for St. James’ MDG Committee)
The MDG Yard Sale in August raised over $2600 for outreach to those who have very little in this world—both here at home and around the world. Love and generosity abounded both before, during and after the sale.  Special thanks go to our friends Charles and Diane Gay who gave us many wonderful things to sell.  Thanks to all of you who worked so hard to make this project a great success, not only in terms of funds raised, but also in terms of loving and generous service to those in need.

D. ECHO by Rebecca Babbs
On October 11 St. James provided dinner for ECHO (Eureka Christian Health Outreach).  We made Chili, salad, cornbread and cookies with twelve people serving dinner and fifteen to twenty involved in the cooking. We served dinner to close to 100 people, sent home plates of food, and had some left over for the Open Door.

E. Parking Lot by Susan Walter
The Bank of Eureka Springs gives St. James’ Vestry the opportunity to raise funds once each year by making their downtown bank parking lot available so we may collect the parking fees. This year volunteers at St. James’ manned the parking lot on Saturday, May 19, and raised $458 for outreach.

F. Planet Home
Patrice Gros is the leader of Planet Home, a group dedicated to living in a more ecologically sound way on planet Earth. Since 2006, when the Archbishop of Canterbury asked Anglicans worldwide to reduce our carbon footprints and take the threat of global climate change seriously, St. James has sponsored movies and discussions about the issue. Last summer we began to host the newly formed Planet Home, which includes Kathy Cantele, Don and Jeanne Omundson, as well as many people from the larger community. The group does a weekly table at the Farmers’ Market, and is planning a series of informational movies at the Library Annex this winter. The group meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 6 pm at SJH.

A. Breakfast Club – by Gloria Rennels & Billie McCabe
St. James breakfast continues to roll on successfully. We have a lot of fun and fellowship not only in the partaking of breakfast, but also in the prep and clean up. At present, we desperately need volunteers to help clean the kitchen after breakfast
The bank balance for Jan 2007 was $224.37 and $263.97 at year-end. We gave Laura Barker $100 as a Christmas gift for her faithful service in preparing breakfast for us for all these years.

B. Open Door - Gloria Rennels
Since opening September 16 of 2007 this season, Open Door has served 354 meals.  79 of these meals were sent out to people who were unable to be at Open Door physically.  The 5:00 service has added a whole new dimension to Open Door.  We are enjoying the kids and their parents immensely.

C. Receptions by Gloria Rennels
The Life Sacraments committee of ECW has provided a reception for all baptisms, confirmations and funerals taking place in the church. In 2007 there were 18 baptisms at Easter and Pentecost and 3 confirmations in August. They also provided a reception for the Ordination of John Burton into the priesthood. Life Sacraments is funded by the ECW and involves all of the women of the church.

D. Foyer Groups by Karen Pryor
Originated by Cheri and Dan Mumaugh, Foyer is a way for people from our different church services to gather in small groups at each other’s homes, for a meal and to get to know one another.

A. Treasurer – Kevin Crosson, please see last page of this report.
B. Office Administrator by Susan Walter
Life as the office administrator is varied and interesting.  My 28 hours each week is divided between financial duties and communications.  I also maintain the library, answer phones, prepare mailings, and serve as clerk of the Vestry.  The office is open Tuesday – Friday, 8:30 am – 3:30 pm.  Please let me know if I can help.

1. Some of my financial duties: – prepare monthly reports for Vestry and diocese: write checks & pay bills; record offering & send quarterly statements, serve on the budget committee and compile year-end reports.

2. Some of my communication projects: - Weekly announcements, monthly newsletters, yearly church directory, bulletin board, Liturgy booklets, assigning Sunday servers, maintaining the prayer list

C. Consecration Sunday by Judy Montgomery
The “Celebration Sunday” model that we have used for the last several years continues to work well for St. James’.   The 2008 stewardship campaign was successful due to tremendous participation:

• from you as a church body, who “got it” when the messages about stewardship were presented!
• from the vestry members, speakers and preachers!
• from Rev. Edie and Susan who helped us all fulfill our duties on schedule at every step of the way, from the first meeting to the counting of the money and beyond!

The numbers tell it all:

•  52 pledges for 2008 (there were 54 last year)
•  $104,052 pledged (up from $98,022 last year)
  

D. Building/Organ – Bob Rennels
E. Gardens by Nigel Hartey
Improving the soil was high on the priority list for the gardens this year.  Purchases included tables & chairs for the lower garden, and a beautiful concrete planter for outside the church.  We expect lots of healthy flowers in the coming seasons – thanks to all who helped but especially to the home school children for their creative containers and their parents for helping to rake, to Noelle for watering, and to my Stan for bringing heavy containers of dirt, rocks, and whatever else I needed.

F. Vestry by Don Omundson
As I conclude my term as Senior Warden, I am grateful to report that parishioners are continuing to demonstrate a healthy commitment to St. James.  This is manifested in various ways—the expansion of our ministry through outreach, the growth in membership, and the support of ministry through the generous sharing of time, talent, and financial giving.   Thanks to the generosity of George Gifford through his estate bequest, we will soon experience the sounds of a new pipe organ to further enhance our Sunday services.  Finally, I want to congratulate our dedicated Vicar for her successful effort to reach out to the broader community and to young families therein.