Interim Update for August 2, 2019

A Bachelor Week for Me

Marcy departed Sunday afternoon for a week of continuing education at UNC inCharlotte, attending The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) 6th Annual National Summer Teacher Institute (NSTI) on Innovation, STEM, and Intellectual Property July 28-August 2. Marcy is representing Ohio at this event. If you want to learn more about what she's been up to this week, you can go here. It looks pretty interesting.

Corey Henning death

Corey Henning, a member of the St. John's 2000 confirmation class, died in his sleep last Friday at the age of 33. His mother, Ann-Marie Kerr, is married to Alan Kerr, who is a son of Don (LInda) Kerr, active members at St. John's. The funeral will be today (Friday) at 6pm at the Eastman Funeral Home on West Main Street in Norwalk. You can read the obituary here.

Willows update

I visited at the Willows on Wednesday, primarily to check on Ellen D., who was admitted to the rehab department there after a brief stay at the Bellevue Hospital. Hopeful that her Willows stay will also be brief. While there checked in on our other members there, and discovered that Bob W. recently moved there from his Nancy Way home in Bellevue. Bob is 92, I think -- his Breeze record doesn't indicate his DOB.

Tasks and Gifts Survey

I reported last week, and through newsletter and bulletin announcements, that there is one more survey for congregation members to complete. Repeating from last week's post: 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.)

The survey also provides an opportunity to respond to questions that were asked at the small group meetings for those who did not attend one of those meetings. Haven't taken the survey yet? You can find it here. It should take you about five minutes to complete.

This afternoon I sent an email via Breeze, our church management software program, with a request to complete the survey, so most of you will likely receive that email. We only have emails in the system for about 82 persons.

Congregational Photo Directory Update

The last congregational photo directory at St. John's was produced in 2012, now seven years ago. We have made arrangements with Doug and Cindy Klein for their photography studio to produce the next photo directory this fall, which will primarily be online. I received the following message from Cindy, which was posted in the August newsletter:

Firelands Photography of Bellevue will be photographing and producing St. John's Lutheran Church's new on-line church directory. The Directory Committee will be contacting you to schedule your family's portrait session. Convenient times will be available on weekdays, weekend days and evenings. Photography dates will be October 19th to October 27th.

There will be no charge to participants or the church. All photographed members and families will receive a free 8x10 portrait. Special pricing will be available at the time of the session for additional portraits. Portraits will be delivered in time to make for personal Christmas presents.

Committee Meetings

Thursday was Committee Meetings Day. A quick summary:

• Worship - Primary item of business was to wish Jan L. a very happy birthday. Other items of discussion included plans regarding a 5th Sunday Outreach project for September 29 - a fund raiser for an iPad for one of the Preschool kids with special needs, perhaps a noisy offering during and a hot dog roast after worship that day. Also made plans for which settings to use for coming liturgical year. Dennis B. was going to present his plan for the Ruth George Memorial items, but will wait until full committee present
• Stewardship -- did some date coordinating concerning fall Stewardship drive. Likely will coordinate it with November annual meeting as we did last year. November 10th and 17th were two suggested days.
• Education -- discussion about Sunday School, including grade breakdown, Rally Day (September 8), Adult Class (yes for both Sunday and Thursday mornings), Confirmation program, and youth activities. Possible compensated youth activities coordinator to add to 2020 budget

Small Group Meetings conclude

Last Sunday was the fourth and final of the small group meetings to gather input that will aid the Transition Team in completing the Ministry Site Profile. I haven't done the final analysis and summary of the meetings, but overall, I think the meetings went well. We had a total of about 40 different members attend.

Call Committee Suggestions

Quite a few forms have been returned to the church office with members' suggestions for Call Committee. This will be one of the agenda items for the August Council Meeting on the 15th. Hope you can all make it to this very important meeting.

August Newsletter in the mail

Mine came today. Hope yours did, too. Thanks to Rebecca F. who helped with processing (sealing, labeling, sorting, etc.)

Diakonia update

For the last couple updates I have included info about Diakonia, the new program of adult biblical/theological education that is now available in our area, at Grace in Fremont on Wednesday evenings during the academic year of September through May. I've heard interest from two persons from St. John's in this program, and I would recommend it to anyone. You can commit to the full two years of the program, or you can choose the 5-week courses cafeteria style. I'm wondering if there are some designated funds somewhere that could be used to help defray the registration costs. I know that First in Galion did that for the four from that congregation that attended the Southeastern Conference version of Diakonia. For more info, I'll direct you to last week's update, which you can view here.