Interim Update for September 13, 2019

Adult Bible Class "See Through the Scriptures" Begins Sunday

Beginning this Sunday, September 15, 9am, our adult class will begin the Crossways course "See Through the Scriptures." Dr. Harry Wendt, the author of all the Crossways Bible Courses, will lead us through an eight session overview of the Bible's message, using full color illustrations. As the sessions are designed to be 90 minutes in length, we will likely cover about a half a lesson for each time that we meet. The class will also be offered on Thursday morning, 10 am.

Transition Team MSP Progress

The Transition Team met on Tuesday afternoon to continue their assigned task of completing the Ministry Site Profile. We made some very good progress, with individual members doing "homework" of assigned areas, and then sharing with the Team for discussion and editing. We will meet again next Tuesday at 4pm, and there is the possibility that we will have a completed Profile for Council to review and approve.

First Confirmation session held Wednesday evening

The first Confirmation session of the 2019-2020 program year was held Wednesday evening. Our sessions run from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. We had a total of 9 youth in attendance -- 1 8th grader, 6 7th graders, and 2 6th graders. Sherri Doster was the second adult in attendance -- we have a sign-up sheet for at least one parent to be present with me and the class for class sessions. Thanks Sherri! We did not do a "lesson," as this will begin in earnest next session. This session was devoted to "get to know each other" activities, a group game of Pit (card based trading game), and a pizza snack. Next week we'll begin our study of the Ten Commandments with a look at the First Commandment.

Will the ELCA Will be Gone in 30 Years?

This sobering question is asked by a blog entitled "faith+lead" hosted by Luther Seminary (one of our ELCA seminaries in St. Paul, my alma mater). The reasons? The author suggests three:

1. We live in a culture that makes it hard for people to imagine and be led by God.
2. We aren’t clear about what’s distinctive about being Christian.
3. For these reasons, church isn’t helping many people make meaning of their lives.

The author then offers six suggestions of what we can do about this. You can read the blog post, along with the six suggestions here.

First session of Diakonia in the books

"In the books" describes well the experience of our Diakonia participants. They are diving into the New Testament books of Mark and Matthew, and their textbook (it's big and it's heavy) written by Rev. Dr. Mark Allen Powell, long time former New Testament professor at Trinity Seminary in Columbus. The class leader is Pr. Jim Lehmann, St. John Port Clinton. Of the the twelve who registered for the program, five are from St. John's Bellevue, so that's an excellent representation. One thing that the participants have learned quickly is that the expenses are a bit more than what was expected. Dr. Powell's textbook retails for $40 from Amazon. Some have ordered the book, and at least one got a library copy to use. I think we should discuss at Council if a bit more financial aid can be made available for our participants to help cover the cost of books.

Transfer Brittany Weller

I have received a letter of transfer to St. John's for Brittany Weller from Fireside United Church of Christ. Brittany is the fiance of Nick Erf. Nick and Brittany plan to marry in 2020. We will approve the letter of transfer at the Council Meeting, and then notify her and her pastor that the transfer has been completed.

CCLI License

CCLI is the church music licensing service that many congregations use to reproduce and project copyrighted songs during worship and other congregational activities. St. John's has an existing account, although it has not been active since 2005, the customer service rep told me. Now that confirmation sessions have resumed, I'll be projecting copyrighted songs for the youth to sing. Of course we could also legally reproduce any covered songs for any of our worship services. The cost for a year's license is $133, and is based on average weekly worship attendance.

Marlene update

Marlene came home from the hospital on Tuesday, and I stopped to visit on Thursday. She is getting daily intravenous antibiotics to treat an infection, which will last at least 30 days. Jan and Paul are covering for her again for this Sunday. Of course she's eager to get back to the bench, but we'll cover for her for as long as she needs. Keep her in your prayers -- We love you Marlene!!

Hallway flooring and AC estimates

A representative from York carpet came this week to measure the hallways for new flooring. Now that the preschool rooms all have new flooring, it only makes sense to expand the upgrade to the hallways. Lenny will bring estimates for council to consider. Also to consider is the proposal from Hartland for AC units for the sanctuary, balcony and narthex.

Willows visits

Went to Willows on Thursday and visited most of our members who are there. There's a couple that I didn't get to, but hope to visit them, also, soon.