Interim Update for July 26, 2019

One More Small Group to go

Three of our four Small Group meetings are in the books, and I'd say they have gone reasonably well. The first two meetings went about two hours, and the third on Wednesday evening was about 90 minutes. There have been 12-15 persons at each meeting, although there has been some overlap as least three of the Transition Team have been at all the meetings, and Mike B. also. The 4th and final meeting will be Sunday after worship. We'll order out pizza for lunch.

One more survey

The last thing that we will do to gather input from the congregation will come in the form of another survey. This survey has items taken directly from the Ministry Site Profile, here they are:

• From the list below, select the five most critical TASKS that our new pastor will need to address.
• From the list below, identify five gifts for ministry that our next pastor MUST bring to our congregation.
• From the identical list below, identify five more gifts that would be HELPFUL for our next pastor to have. (Do not duplicate choices from Question 2.)

Questions 4-8 are duplicated from the small group meetings, are optional, and added to give those who didn't attend a small group meeting to offer their responses to those questions. It should only take you about five minutes to complete questions 1-3 of the survey, so I encourage you to do do it now. You can find the survey here. Hard copies of the survey will be provided at the next two worship services for those who prefer to complete the survey that way.

Suggestions for Call Committee

A form to offer suggestions for congregation members to be appointed to the Call Committee were in last week's bulletin, and will appear this weekend also. So far, I have received two suggestions. Remember who was on the Call Committee for Pastor Juli? Thanks to professional librarian Jan L. who found the info in her archives: Brad Rohrbacher (chair), Mandy Bova, Mike Berger, Zerek Lilly, Karen Wilson, Nancy Pickens and Loretta Meacham.

Diakonia update

In last week's update I provided information about a new synod program that will be offered in our area (at Grace in Fremont) called Diakonia. Diakonia is a program of Christian education that is fairly intensive -- it meets for three hours (6-9pm) on Wednesday evenings from September through May, six courses of 5 weeks each over a two year period for a total of 12 courses. So far I know of two people who have expressed an interest. I have received more detailed information from Pr. Jarrod Schaff (St. Paul's North Robinson) who is a Diakonia presenter in the SE Converence:

• Diakonia flyer
• Diakonia Schedule for 2019-2020
• Diakonia Application Form

Orchard Grove and Bellevue care

Tuesday was my monthly visit to Orchard Grove and Bellevue to bring Holy Communion. Activities leaders at these places do a good job of getting residents to the services. For those unable to attend I usually bring communion to them in their rooms.

FLAME Pastors meeting on Thursday

Following the care center visits on Tuesday I went to Sandusky to join the meeting of the FLAME pastors.

NALIP event

NALIP (National Association of Lutheran Interim Pastors) is the organization that for many years has provided basic training for interim ministry, and is the training that I participated in 2013-2014. NALIP is offering a specialized workshop in Stow, Ohio on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, August 12-14. I have registered for this workshop, entitled "Misconduct in Congregations." From the flyer: "Misconduct might express itself in terms of sexuality of finances or emotional abuse. Whether from a church member, lay leader, or rostered person, misconduct impacts larger systems and can raise opportunities to seek wholeness." One of the presenters is our own (former) Bishop Marcus Lohrmann, who as Bishop will be able to speak from volumes of experience in his 18 years as our bishop. You can view the flyer here. I will be commuting to the event on those three days.

Shady parking lot meetings

I've heard some reports of cars with people in them in the church parking lot late at night. I remember that happening once when I left the church late. If this continues, perhaps a call to the police with a request to monitor the lot more often would be in order.

Visits

Ellen D. was taken to Bellevue Hospital on Wednesday evening. She's expected to arrive at Willows rehab soon so she can regain some strength. Marti M. had a knee replaced at Magruder on Monday. I saw her on Thursday, and she had been cleared for a weekend rehab bed also at Magruder. She'll continue her recovery at home following the weekend.

Interim Update for July 19, 2019

Visit Sandy W.

On Sunday I visited Sandy W., who recently took up residence at The Meadows at Osborn Park. She will no longer be able to stay in her home in Bellevue. Sadly, she is now under hospice care.

Funeral for Ted Dress, husband of Pr. Janine Dress

On Monday I attended the funeral for Ted Dress, who died on July 10. You can read the obituary here. Janine is a member of the Pines Retreat Center pastor's group that has been meeting twice a year for the past 15 years. Janine served her seminary internship at St. John's back in the late 1970's. The funeral luncheon was at St. Paul's Danbury, where Pr. Chris Young recently retired from. At the luncheon I sat with Pr. Matt Musteric, whose first call was to Bethlehem Pemberville under Pr. David Wietelman, the congregation he was called to following his years at St. John's. You can't go too far in our synod without making some kind of connection to St. John's.

Eastern Conference Pastors Meeting

Eastern Conference Pastors met Tuesday morning at my former stomping grounds, St. Peter in Norwalk. Our primary program for the meeting was Carolyn Guy, who is our synod's Coordinator of Communications and Technology. In this capacity she facilitates the synod’s communications and media presence, in addition to providing communications and technological administrative support for the professional staff. Her presentation included helpful tips regarding our congregations' web presence and use of social media. Like I said above, lots of people have belonged to or are connected with St. John's.

Diakonia Program will begin in September

The other presenter for our Eastern Conference Pastors' meeting was Pr. Chris Young (St. John's again!), who provided information about a Diakonia program starting in our synod, of which she will be one of the class leaders. Diakonia is an intensive adult Christian Education program that meets during the school year on Wednesday evenings from 6-9 pm. The sessions will be held at Grace Fremont. The program lasts for two years, and involves six courses each of the two years. Topics covered include Old Testament, New Testament, Church history, and pastoral care. I would strongly encourage anyone from St. John's that would have any interest to check it out. My First Galion interim had four members that had enrolled in the Diakonia program in the Southeast Conference. You can read more abouat Diakonia here. Let me know if you're interested!

Executive Team Met Tuesday

Exec met Tuesday, and and our discussion included formation of the Call Committee. I have prepared a bulletin insert that will be in this and next weekend's bulletin which is a request for Call Committee suggestions from the congregation.

Summer Senior Social Huge Success!

On Wednesday, at least 80 people came together for our Senior Summer Social, the brain-child of Pat Olsen, who made the suggestion at our June Council meeting. Pat, Marlene and Minetta formed the core of the planning team, and they had plenty of help to make this event a smashing success. Two van loads of residents from Orchard Grover and Bellevue Care attended the event, along with many of our seniors that have been unable to get out, but with some help from family or congregation members, made their way to St. John's. Entertainment included Marlene on the piano, dancing by Rose and Dakota, a piano solo by Kaden, Cindy and I singing a few songs trying some harmony, and Paul provided the postlude on the organ. Thanks to all who made this event a success -- Becky, activities director at Bellevue Care was very impressed, and plans to bring more next time.

First Small Group Meeting in the Books

Wednesday continued to be a busy day with our first Small Group meeting. I thought the meeting went very well -- we had about 15 in attendance. There was good conversation, and the Transition Team took lots of notes. Halfway through we paused for some refreshment by way of root beer floats. Three more meetings are scheduled, Sunday after worship on July 21 and 28, and next Wednesday at 7 pm. I know we have some council members signed up for each of those meetings, so see you there!

Thursday Bible Study continues

The Thursday morning Bible Study group has been meeting intermittently during the summer weeks, but resumed our Bishop Daniel's study of the Sermon on the Mount. This six-session study usually takes us two weeks to complete one session. We completed the first part of session five this week, and then we have 1.5 sessions to go.

Bill Cramer Memorial Service

Will conduct memorial service for Bill Cramer on Saturday, June 20, 2pm, at the Lakefield Manor Club House, 4901 W. Waterberry Dr., Huron.. You can read the obituary here. He was a brother to Renee Strayer-Hart and Norman (Joyce) Cramer, and an uncle to Valerie Graziano.

Audit continues

The audit of the St. John's financial records continues. They should be completing their work soon. Mark, one of the auditors says he's seeing nothing out of the ordinary, so that's good to hear.

Weird Temporary Electrical Outage on Wednesday

Late Wednesday afternoon, there was a strange power outage at the church. There was no power to the the light in the hallway inside the office entrance, in the entryway outside the elevator, and the security keypad was not working. I had to call Mike B. to come and let me in with a key. No tripped circuit breakers could be found, but low and behold, a couple hours later the power to those areas returned. Weird.

Bishop Daniel's Messages

• Last week's message
• This week's message

Half-Year Giving Statements Going Out Soon

First half of the year giving statements will be going out early next week. Our plan is to include a brief report, thanks for your gifts, and encouragement to continue faithfully with your giving.

August Newsletter Items needed soon

August will be her soon, so that means Newsletter items to Kristen. Yeah, that means me, too.

Interim Update for July 12, 2019

Summer Senior Social Ready to go

This looks likes it going to be a real nice event -- lots of planning and love have gone into it, so we're hoping for a good turnout. Remember, this is a congregational event, an opportunity to meet and greet many of our senior members who find it difficult to attend events at the church. Orchard Grove and Bellevue Care will be bringing a van full, and rides are being arranged by family members and friends for others who do not otherwise get out a lot. There will be good food (bring a dish to share), good fellowship, and good entertainment. Marlene will play, Rose and Dakota will dance, Paul will play the organ, and there may even be a wandering "minister-al." Special thanks to key leaders Pat, Marlene and Minetta. Ya'all come now, ya year?

Memorial service for William R. Cramer

On Wednesday I met with William C. Cramer in Sandusky to plan a memorial service for his father, William R. Cramer, who died on April first at a care center in Florida. He and his wife, Theresa, had been spending winters in Florida for a number of years. William was baptized and confirmed at St. John's, and were active members when they were younger and raising their family. You can read the obituary here. He was a brother to Renee Strayer-Hart and Norman (Joyce) Cramer, and an uncle to Valerie Graziano. The service will be next Saturday, July 20, 2pm, at the Lakefield Manor Club House, 4901 W. Waterberry Dr., Huron.

Willows service on Monday

I conducted the Willows communion service on Monday, which is normally anchored by Pr. Katie Suggit, Grace Castalia, and our own Jan L. Katie was out of town, and Jan was still recovering from a long return trip from South Africa, so I brought my guitar and managed just fine. On the way back to Huron, I stopped at Providence Commons and visited Tom L.

Education Team meeting

I met with the Education Team on Tuesday evening, and we needed to cover some things before August arrives. Heather reported number on VBS (down from last year) and expenses (down from last year) and confidence that ICC will continue to be an enthusiastic and reliable partner in this ministry is also down. Other items of discussion included some minor changes in class structure for Sunday School, as we are combining the 6th graders with the 7th and 8th, and will also include them in the confirmation program. We also discussed at length scheduling in light of several families playing sports at ICS, meaning required CCD classes on Wednesday evenings. We will be meeting with confirmation parents on Wednesday, August 7 at 6:30 to orient them to the program for the coming year.

Back to School Program registrations

Once again St. John's was the staging area to register families for the Back to School benefit program, which provides gift cards to needy families to purchase school clothes and supplies. Many thanks to Sharon Hill. who is the key leader for the administration of the benefits. Volunteers were on hand for the three registration session on Wednesday morning and afternoon, and Thursday morning. Helping out were St. John's members/friends Carol Stout, Joanne Engler, Ann Paul, Tonya Frailey, Connie Meacham, and Renee Strayer-Hart. Thanks all! Sharon even came back later on Thursday for a family who couldn't come during the assigned hours because of her work schedule.

Marcus D. back at Twilight

Visited Marcus on Sunday afternoon -- he is now back at Twilight Gardens in Norwalk.

WiFi installation still needs some work

We thought ACC was done with the installation, but we noticed a few things that need to be changed including conduit from the balcony to the hallway (wire is hanging down) and a repositioning of the upstairs access point -- it was installed in the hallway instead of in the Fellowship Hall. Shaun is on it.

Small Groups begin Wednesday evening

At the Council meeting, council members signed up for a meeting to attend, so we're sure to have at least a few at each meeting. If you weren't at the meeting, no need to sign up, just be sure to attend one of the meetings. Once again, the meetings will be

• Wednesday, July 17, 7:00 pm
• Sunday, July 21, 11:30 am
• Wednesday, July 27, 7:00 pm
• Sunday, July 28, 11:30 am

A light lunch will be served at the Sunday meetings, and root beer floats will be served at the Wednesday evening meetings.

Transition Team meets Sunday

The Transition Team will meet Sunday after worship to complete the planning for the small group meetings this month. We're a bit banged up, kinda like the baseball teams at the All Star break. But we'll git'er done.

Bishop Daniel's message

You can read it here.

Interim Update for July 5, 2019

Senior Summer Social

Plans for our Senior Summer Social continue in earnest. Pat have communicated with care centers, at least two of which (Orchard Grove and Bellevue Care) are planning to send residents. I created a personalized mail merge invitation letter which was sent to most St. John's members who are 65+ years old. The planning team hand addressed the envelopes. A second letter was sent to shut-ins and care center residents, inviting and encouraging their attendance as honored guests.

Keys for bank bags

We've been having problems with lost or missing keys for both the bank drop and the bags. Kristen has taken the bags to Betschmann's Security in Monroeville, and Ron will make some new keys for us.

ACC finishes up

This week ACC finished the wifi installation, so we now have a uniform, strong wifi signal throughout the main public areas of building. Some exceptions might be the far end of the chapel, or restrooms. Keep in mind that there are now two different wifi signals -- one for the office, and a public one for everyone else. The public signal is still secured. The password is Jesus209 and Kristen is printing it as one of the announcements in the weekly bulletins.

Website Down

For whatever reason, the St. John's website is down. Typing in the URL to a browser now yields this messsage: stjohnsbellevue.com’s server IP address could not be found. I have emailed Andrew Drown, who manages the site and maintains the domain name from his location in Michigan. As of this writing, I have not received a reply. Hopefully, he'll get back to us soon.

Prayer list

Add Dale W. He spent a couple days at Firelands getting some specialized treatment for his foot, which he'll continue from home and with home health. It's going to be a long uphill battle, but he's hopeful he can get things healed up. I visited at Firelands on Monday, and he went home Wednesday.

Bishop's messages

I neglected to link Bishop Daniel's message from last week, so am linking both last week's and this week's message below

• Last week's message
• This week's message

Council Meeting next Thursday

Don't forget that Council meets this coming Thursday, July 11, 7 pm.

Small Group Meetings in July (repeating from last week)

The quest for input from congregational members continues in July with four Small Group Meetings. Here is the info that will also appear in the July Newsletter:

During July, the Transition Team will host four Small Group Meetings. The purpose of these meetings is for members to share their thoughts and feelings about St. John’s, and your hopes for future ministry at St. John’s.

Why this is important: As St. John’s looks ahead to calling a new pastor, it will be helpful to create a composite evaluation of ministry together, and for us to begin to establish priorities for the future. Discussion in small groups (12 or less) is likely to be more open than discussion in larger groups.

The team has structured our small group meetings for members to provide their perspectives and input. Four meetings have been scheduled. You are encouraged to choose the meeting time that best fits your schedule and plan to attend that meeting. There is no need to pre-register -- just come to the meeting at one of the days and times listed below:

• Wednesday, July 17, 7:00 pm
• Sunday, July 21, 11:30 am
• Wednesday, July 27, 7:00 pm
• Sunday, July 28, 11:30 am

A light lunch will be served at the Sunday meetings, and root beer floats will be served at the Wednesday evening meetings.

Remember, your input is crucial in helping the Transition Team create an accurate and comprehensive description of the ministry of St. John’s in the Ministry Site Profile and will help in the selection of your next pastor.