Interim Update for November 29, 2019

Short week for office

It was a short work week for the office with lots to get done -- the usual Monday schedule of recording offering, and then to get three bulletins produced -- Thanksgiving, Saturday and Sunday. New order of service (ELW Setting 4) and Advent Candle lighting prayer to add. Kudos to Kristen who got it all done.

Clara R. Life-flighted

Clara R., one of our distinguished senior members, was life-flighted to Toledo on Tuesday following a very serious stroke. Clara underwent several hours of surgery to treat the stroke, and is doing reasonable well. Keep her and her family, especially son and daughter-in-law, Gary and Evelyn W. in your prayers. Clara had a birthday on November 12 -- she turned 96.

Get your Poinsettia orders in

If you had planned to order a Poinsettia for Christmas Eve, don't forget to get your order form in. Get a head start -- download and print the order form here.

Visit to Firelands ICU

Received word on Tuesday that Sherri and Terri's dad's (Jack) long-time partner Julie was in critical condition at Firelands, and had requested a pastoral visit. By the time I arrived on Tuesday aftnoon, her condition had deteriorated. Learned from Sherri that she died on Wednesday. Keep Jack and Julie's family in your prayers.

Care Center Communion

Tuesday was the monthly visit to Orchard Grove and Bellevue Care Center for a brief service of Holy Communion. MIss not seeing Vera at OG, but did see Dianne B. (and husband Ernie) at BC. Dianne recently moved to BC, as Ernie was no longer able to provide the care she needed at their Rotary Commons apartment.

Thanksgiving service

Thanksgiving worship was held Wednesday evening, with about 25 persons in attendance.

Advent Services

Just a reminder that Advent midweek worship will begin this Wednesday, December 4, and continue for two more weeks on December 11 and 18. We will use Holden Evening Prayer as our order of worship.

Bishop Daniel's weekly message

You can read it here.

Ruth George Memorial dedication on Sunday

On December 1, we will be dedicate new worship furnishings -- a cross, candle holders, and vases, purchased to honor Ruth George for her 2018 gift of her entire estate to St. John's. They will be brought forward along with the offering, along with a dedication prayer. Shaun will will provide a temple talk to speak about Ruth and her marvelous gift to the congregation. Many thanks to Dennis B. for his hard word in shopping for and ordering the new furnishings. I have seen them, and they are very beautiful. We will need to find a home for the items we will be retiring.

Interim Update for November 22, 2019

Successful Middle School Youth event

Last Sunday, about 13 youth and 7 adults gathered for a few hours of games, fellowship and food. A scavenger hunt sending youth out (with adults in tow) to various locations on and around main street to find various items and photograph them. More games were played back at the church and the group enjoyed a pizza and other goodies. Thanks to Confirmation youth parents who planned and carried out the event. Several of the youth brought friends with them. Well done, everyone!

New Mailchimp account

This past week I opened a Mailchimp account to help us manage our email list and to send out future mass or targeted emails. I entered all the email addresses that are currently in our Breeze (our current church management software) account (a total of 94 addresses), and then drafted and sent a "Welcome" email, which you all should have received. The advantages of using an email service as opposed to "group addressed" emails using your email client/program are as follows:

• Provides for easy management of your email list
• Links with Breeze -- any changes in email addresses entered into Breeze are automatically uploaded to Mailchimp, eliminating the need to update them in both databases
• Mailchimp will indicate which addresses are bounced (undeliverable -- 8 addresses from first email bounced)
• Mailchimp will indicate how many have opened the emails sent from your account. So far, 45% have opened the first email sent

We will certainly need more St. John's members to provide us with their email addresses. Our plan is to end the distribution of the newsletter by bulk mail through the USPS, saving copying and postage expenses, and move to posting a PDF of the Newsletter online, make a limited number of hard copies available for pick-up at church, and a mail hard copies to shut-ins.

Lunch with St.Nick and Mad River Holiday Train

The Bellevue Ministerial Association is once again sponsoring the Lunch with St. Nick event at the Bellevue Recreation Center from 11am - 1pm on Saturday, December 6. Another community holiday event is the Mad River Holiday Train. You can view flyers with more info, linked below:

• Lunch with St. Nick
• Mad River Holiday Train

Ministry Site Profile

Review of the Ministry Site Profile made a long Council meeting Tuesday evening a bit longer, but Council approved the profile as presented. The financial numbers that I received from Shaun back in September had not been added yet, but I was able to locate those, forward them to James, who will insert the numbers. Then all he has to do is hit the "submit" button, and St. John's and the Call Committee are off and running.

Confirmation lesson

We spent a second session on the 8th commandment, as there is much in this commandment to learn and discuss. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor is the commandment. Luther's explanation reminds us that it means that we should explain our neighbors actions in the kindest way.

Bishop Daniel's weekly email

You can read it here.

Delivered audit info to Jacob at synod

After Mark and Lindsey presented the audit info at Council, it was noted that they need info from synod regarding the format of the audit. I took Mark's contact info and gave it to Jacob, synod administrator. Jacob will call Mark to answer Mark's question.

Interim Pastors Meeting

On Thursday I traveled to Findlay to attend the monthly synod pastors meeting. There were just six of us this time, including former Bishop Marcus Lohrmann, who is coming to the end of his interim at Memorial Lutheran in Toledo, who will soon be voting to call the candidate the call committee has settled on.

Thanksgiving worship

Just a reminder that St. John's offers a Thanksgiving Eve service, Wednesday, November 27, 7:00 pm. What better way to observe Thanksgiving than with worship of the one who has given it all to us.

Ruth George Memorial dedication

On December 1, we will dedicate new worship furnishings -- a cross, candleholders, and vases. They will be brought forward along with the offering, along with a dedication prayer. Shaun will will provide a temple talk to speak about Ruth and her marvelous gift to the congregation. Many thanks to Dennis B. for his hard word in shopping for and ordering the new furnishings. I have seen them, and they are very beautiful. We will need to find a home for the items we will be retiring.

Narthex Announcements Screen

The new 50" LCD announcements screen seems to be working out well -- only little problem is that the android box which displays the image goes to screen saver after two hours (which has happened just before service ends) -- all it takes is a click from the remote to turn it back on again, and Heather says she'll keep an eye and keep it running. If you have an announcement you'd like to put up, let me, Kristen, or Heather know and we'll type it in.

Interim Update for November 15, 2019

Stewardship Stew and Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting will be this Sunday, November 17, following worship. Before the meeting, the Fellowship Committee will be serving "Stewardship Stew," a simple but tasty lunch, with the meeting to follow. Important agenda items will include elections, 2020 budget, and the proposals for flooring in education wing and AC in the sanctuary.

Funeral for Marabelle

On Saturday I met with Marabelle's familyl to plan the service for their mom. The service, (family only) was at Auxter on Monday morning. Special thanks to Roger and Ann P. for their faithful visits to Marabelle (and her husband Bruce) in recents years, bringing a ministry of presence and the sacrament of Holy Communion.

More Holy Communion visitation?

One thing that I have done in previous interims was to begin (or revitalize) what is sometimes referred to as Communion Ministry or Eucharistic Ministry, the bringing of Holy Communion to the home-bound, as Ann and Roger did for Marabelle. Ideally, this ministry has several individuals or couples who do this on a regular basis for congregation members who are unable to participate in worship on Saturday or Sunday.

Another ideal is to have home communion kits on the altar, and before the final Blessing, for Eucharistic Ministers come forward to receive the kits, and remain while the following prayer is prayed:

Gracious God, loving all your family with a mother’s tender care: As you sent the angel to feed Elijah with heavenly bread, assist those who set forth to share your word and sacrament with those who are sick, homebound, and imprisoned. In your love and care, nourish and strengthen those who will receive this sacrament, and give us all the comfort of your abiding presence through the body and blood of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

This is a strong reminder that the Distribution of Holy Communion during this service now continues for those unable to physically attend, and is a reminder that these saints are still a part of our worship and celebration of Holy Communion.

I have sometimes offered a brief training for those who participate in this ministry. Might anyone be interested in participating in such a more structured Communion Ministry?

Stewardship Emphasis continues

Our Stewardship theme, "How Much is Enough?" will continue to guide us in the coming weeks. Packets with Plan for Giving cards were distributed last Sunday, and mailed out this week. Members are encouraged to complete and return their cards this weekend, at earliest convenience, or by mail using the addressed envelope. The fourth and final bulletin insert this weekend reminds us that "Giving is a spiritual discipline." From the insert"

The value of planned and regular giving is in claiming it as a freely chosen spiritual discipline to assist the steward in worshiping God above all things. I choose to make my giving decision first, and arrange my life from there. In this way planned giving is not imposed from without but rather elected from within. And that makes all the difference.

Submitted photos needed for new picture directory

I learned this week from Doug Klein that he and Cindy will not be doing a make-up day, but will plan to do a day next fall, and following years, for new members and anyone else who wants to be included. Hopefully, this will keep the directory much more up-to-date that it has in the past. In the meantime, we will put out the request for submitted photos to be posted in the directory. Kristen has been doing research on printing cost -- looks like it will cost between $6.00-8.00 to print the books. The plan will be to receive submitted photos through the end of the year, and then put it all together in January. Members with email addresses will be sent an invitation to access the directory online through Breeze, our church management software.

Confirmation youth learn 8th Commandment

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

What does this mean for us?

We are to fear and love God so that we do not betray, slander, or lie about our neighbor, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain his actions in the kindest way.

We have one more class session before Thanksgiving, and for the first three weeks of December we will do mentor meetings and attend Advent worship at 7:00 pm. We'll finish up the Ten Commandments when we resume in January.

Quick Links

• Bishop Daniel's weekly message
• Synod E-News

Interim Update for November 8, 2019

Stewardship Packets ready for distribution

The Stewardship Team has been been working hard to prepare the Stewardship packets for distribution beginning this wekend. The packets will include a letter outlining this years theme and guidelines for participation, a Plan for Giving Card, and a 2019 to-date giving statement. Members are asked to complete the cards and bring them with them to worship next weekend, November 16-17. To refresh your memory, here's the info from the October 18 update regarding our theme:

Our Stewardship theme this year is "How Much is Enough." We are spending the four weeks of our emphasis focusing on four stewardship principles to guide and direct our lives as Christian stewards. Those principles and the accompanying events are as follows:

• October 27 -- Gratitude as one’s basic approach to life: All stewardship begins in gratitude to God as the Giver of life, salvation and health. Bulletin insert
• November 3 -- Stewardship is counter-cultural: Our culture tries to convince us to measure our worth by the impressiveness of our possessions. We are blessed to be part of a community of faith that helps us resist the lure of measuring our lives according to material riches. Bulletin Insert
• November 10 -- Stewardship entails a life of care for the neighbor: The Gospel sets us free for sharing God’s love with others. Bulletin insert. Stewardship packets will be distributed and mailed
• November 17 --Giving as a spiritual discipline: The value of giving for us is that it is a freely chosen spiritual discipline to help us worship God above everything else. Bulletin insert. Congregational luncheon after worship, with annual meeting to follow.

Narthex LCD Announcement Screen Operational

I spent some time this week getting the new LCD announcement screen operational. This included connecting an Android TV box, which connects to the internet. We will create an announcement presentation using Google Slides (the Google Drive equivalent of PowerPoint) and publish it to the web, which is received by the TV. I created an initial slide program that you will see this weekend. If you'd like to see a preview, you can do so here. If you click on this link, it might take a few seconds to load. I have it set to advance automatically every ten seconds. So just wait, and it should do that.

Picture Directory Progress Report

The first draft of the photograph part of our new congregational picture directory is ready. Keep in mind it's still a first draft. I'm hoping that we can get a few more families photographed, either by the Kleins or by family submissions. Right now we've got about 65 pictures. Doug emailed the digital files, and I uploaded them to Breeze, our online church management software. Breeze has directory creating capabilities, so that is the plan, at least for the printed version of the directory. As has been the practice with past directories, the printed version will include both the photographs with names, and a more complete list of names, addresses and contact info (phone, email) after the photograph section.

Then there will be the online aspect of the directory. Once we receive a more complete listing of emails, we will send email "invitations" to create an account in Breeze, (the name of our church management software program), which will enable users to view and edit their own information, check their giving record, and set up online giving (one time or continous). And members can view pictures and contact info form other members. Keep in mind that only those logging into the St. John's Breeze account will have access to this information. You can view the draft copy of the picture portion of the directory here.

Pastoral care update

Alwalys enjoy my visits with Clara Rectenburg, who will be 96 on Tuesday. It's been hard to find a time that she's home and I'm available, but we made a connection this past week. Ernie Blank's wife, Dianne has moved to The Willows, so will see here when visit out there.

Deaths and Funerals

On Tuesday morning I did a graveside service in Milan for the grandmother of one of former St. Peter youth. The family didn't have a pastor that was available to the service, so I agreed to be the one. Long time St. John's member Marabelle Smith died on Wednesday. Private family services will be Monday at Auxter. Keep the family in your prayers.

Confirmation Lesson

We covered the 7th Commandment this week in Confirmation.

You shall not kill.

What does this mean for us?

We are to fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor's money or property, but help him to improve and protect his property and means of making a living.

Call Committee Update

The Call Committee met Sunday during the Sunday School hour and completed the edits to the Ministry Site Profile. It will be presented to Council for approval at the November meeting. Next steps will be to schedule a mock interview, and another meeting with Mary Boals to review questions and interview protocol.

Bishop Daniel's email

You can read the latest word from Bp. Daniel here.

Interim Update for November 1, 2019

Beth Long death

Word was received of the death of Beth long on October 25th. Beth was a lifelong member of St John's. Private graveside services will be held at a later date. Best name will be added to those who will be remembered during worship this weekend for All Saints Sunday. You can read the obituary here.

All Saints Sunday candle lighting

We will again use the final petition of The Intercessory Prayers to remember those St. John's saints who have joined the Church Triumphant since last year. We normally print in the bulletin the names of St. John's members, whether or not the funeral was held at St. John's, as well as any non-members for whom the St. John's pastor officiated. The persons we will remember this year are:

• Denise Stape
• Norma VanDemark
• Marlene Schwartz
• Frank Osborn
• Ruth Paul
• William Cramer
• Ray Beier
• Alohoea Lowery
• Kenneth Fox
• Corey Henning
• Robert Sour
• Beverly DeBlase
• Tom McConnell
• Markus Doss
• Beth Long

Family members who are present will be invited forward to light a candle in memory of their loved ones as they are named. Following the list that is printed in the bulletin, the assembly will be invited to come forward and name a loved one who has died and light a candle.

Preschool Sings

Twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring, preschoolers and their parents are invited to come to worship, and the preschoolers sing some of their favorite preschool songs. The fall event has been at the Saturday service, and the spring event at the Sunday Service. The fall event will be this Saturday, so we are planning for about 250 to attend. There will be refreshments in the narthex after the service.

Visits

Visited two of our care center members, Marabelle S. and Sandy W. this week. Both are doing about the same. Marabelle is still under hospice care. Keep them and all our shut-ins in your prayers.

Preschool Temple Talk

It was my turn to do Temple Talk this month -- Linda and I do every other month -- so I'll do December (Birthday Party for Jesus), February, and April. It's good to do this time with the little ones. We had to reschedule a couple of times -- was supposed to be last week, but the Doss funeral made it necessary to do this week instead. Then, on Thursday there was a fog delay, which also delays preschool, so had to switch from 9:30 to 11:10.

Flat Screen TV Mounting work continues

Lenny has been working on getting the flat screen announcement monitor mounted on the wall in the narthex, and is waiting for some help from his son. Thanks to both of them for their work on this installation. I'm hoping that this will be a positive addition to the bulletin and newsletter in getting the word out there on what's happening at St. John's.

Hallway painting continues

Zarek Lilly has been doing much of the painting in some of the preschool rooms, and in the hallway. The yellowish walls are giving way to light gray. Hopefully joining the walls soon will be the floor. Congregation will vote on that project at the Annual Meeting. As Zarek has been painting, he has removed the signage, which really should be replaced and updated. The signage still uses the term "Nursery School." There are certainly other upgrades and perhaps remodeling that could be done to make the building more attractive, functional, and welcoming. (e.g. paint the rest of the brown wood trim, as done in the preschool board room? Rework the coatroom space to be more functional? ) A task force, perhaps, commissioned by the annual meeting to review the situation and make some recommendations?

Confirmation Class takes a look at the 6th Commandment

Our lesson this week was the 6th Commandment:

You shall not commit adultery.

What does this mean for us?

We are to fear and love God so that in matters of sex, our words and conduct are pure and honorable, and that husbands and wives love and honor each other.

You can view a PowerPoint of the lesson here.

Call Committee Update

The Call Committee has taken a break for a couple of weeks, but will meet again on Sunday morning. Their goal is to complete the Ministry Site Profile. Council will then approve the Profile and it will be submitted to the Synod and the ELCA website. Another task to be planned and completed is a mock interview. A local pastor is engaged to do this with the committee.

November newsletter mailed

Rebecca came in this week and helped Kristen complete the preparation of the November newsletter for mailing.

Stewardship program continues

The Stewardship Team came in this week to complete the assembly of the Stewardship packets, which includes Plan for Giving cards. These will be distributed and mailed next weekend, for return on the November 17. This weekend will the second of four bulletin inserts on the theme: How Much is Enough? This week's emphasis is "Stewardship is Counter-Cultural".

Bishop Daniel's weekly message

You can view it here.