Fred Schuld

In Canadian tax law, the same issue exists, and in this case you cannot determine yourself whether you are classified as an employee or self-employed; it is determined by CRA, the Canada Revenue Agency, according to similar rules that the US IRS uses. The Canadian publicationon this is RC4110, available at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/rc4110/.

Thanks for this.

You did not mention Picasa. I use this application a lot to post and share photos. You get 1 Gb of free storage, and you can buy more. You can download the Picasa program, and it rapidly organizes all the photos on your computer. You can share all or some with whoever you want, and these can be in high quality. It is better than Facebook in this regard.

Also, a comment about gmail. I use Yahoo mail, and have not changed to gmail because I don't want to change my address. But gmail has a lot less pop up advertising, and is cleaner.

Success, today, after posting this, my app now is working properly. It was not functioning for a week. Perhaps some technician tweeked it to help. Thanks anyway

We recently downsized. While I am not a pastor, we were able to donate some to our church library, and others to a thrift store our church members operate. Our children were given first choice, but books are not so much in vogue for them. We love books, but have gone ourselves to e-books better for travel, and space taken.

I offer a copy of our music and liturgy committee mandate, which may help, as follows:

5.5. Music and Liturgy Committee
November 1, 2006
A. Mandate
To implement the goals and decisions pertaining to music and liturgy as
established by Council for worship by the congregation, and to make
recommendations to Council with respect to such worship.
B. Membership
i. The committee shall normally consist of ten members, the Ministry Elder, the
Senior Pastor, the Music Director, the Contemporary Music Coordinator, all
ex officio, and six members at large.
ii. A term of office of the six members at large will normally be three years;
members may be appointed for a second term. At least one member of the
committee will retire annually.
iii. The Chair shall be appointed by Council Executive.
iv. The committee will select a Secretary.
C. Responsibilities
i. With the ministry staff, co-ordinate and enhance the liturgical practices of the
congregation through, among others, study and reflection on the function of
liturgy, evaluation of liturgical practices and worship services, and the
selection or creation of appropriate liturgy.
ii. To enhance the meaningful integration of music into our liturgy, the Music
Director and Contemporary Music Coordinator will attend all meetings in
order to:
a. Evaluate with the committee how well music and liturgy are integrated in
each worship service, whether the needs of the congregation are being
met, and whether the members of the congregation are satisfied that the
music and liturgy enhance their worship of God.
b. Bring forward proposals for special events or services.
c. Prepare a schedule for musical involvement and participation in the
worship services on a tri-annual basis for the Committee, which shall be
forwarded to Council Executive.
The Contemporary Music Coordinator will assist the Music Director in
developing and preparing the schedule of musical involvement and
participation.
iii. To ensure that worship is enhanced through the effective use of sound and
visual aids, the Chair of the Audio-Visual (Sub) Committee will report to the
Committee as requested to:
a. Review procedures and develop policies as needed.
b. Ensure that enough qualified volunteers are available to operate the
equipment.
c. Forward recommendations for technical upgrading or repair as needed.
d. Present budget requests for operating supplies, equipment acquisitions or
upgrading, and team training needs for inclusion in the annual budget.
2
e. Report on Audio-Visual Committee and other volunteer meetings held for
mutual encouragement and training.
iv. To co-ordinate the involvement of participants in the liturgy by seeking
people in various age groups, encouraging participation, and assisting ministry
staff in identifying and equipping members to use their gifts.
v. To keep current with musical and liturgical developments and trends and to
evaluate new forms and practices on a continuing basis.
vi. To ensure that the congregation is informed and, where appropriate, educated
with respect to the music and liturgy of West End Christian Reformed Church.
D. Meetings
Meetings shall be held on a monthly basis or at the call of the Chair, or whenever
at least three members request that a meeting be called.
E. Communication
Copies of the minutes of committee meetings shall be distributed to all members
of Council Executive after each meeting, and to the Church’s Administrator for
filing. Any further distribution of minutes will be done at Council Executive’s
request, via the Church’s Administrator.

We have greeters, but also hosts serving weekly at our church. The hosts welcome visitors personally and encourage them to fill out cards. My experience, both as a home church member and as a visitor is that few persons will fill these out unless specifically requested by another person who greets them and visits with them as a visitor.

<p>We do have a pedestal station with our guestbook where they can also fill these out. The guest book helps with acknowledging visitors. We are not perfect, or even that good at these things, but these are my observations about things I think will work well if we use them.</p>

I think it looks better. I like the links on the opening page. I am not sure I could tell exactly what has changed, but it is more attractive.

So far, despite a lot of emails, and local bulletin notices, few in our congregation have registered on the Network. I would like to see more use of it as there is so much information, but perhaps there needs to be more interest stimulated and a need to go there. I don't have any suggestions right now, but would like to hear ideas that have worked.

I love it that you used a harmonica in worship. I was given a harmonica at age 5, and that started a lifelong love of music for me,especially church music. (I am now a senior)

i concur with a lot of the sentiments in this article. Of course, I personally like singing and am a choir member, and have been most of my life but young men and boys as well as women are not being encouraged to sing. Many churches overwhelm anyone who would like to sing along with amplified singers up front, loud instruments, and singers who may be so good they intimidate or discourage congregational singing. the worship leaders should have as a goal, increasing congregational participation, and what they say and how they present their musical offerings can help to achieve this. I feel that their mandate should be to encourage and enhance this participation, not to stage a concert.