Zoom meeting with Bishop Daniel
Synod Rostered Leaders met on Tuesday afternoon, April 21, at 4pm on Zoom with Bishop Daniel leading us. Each of these meetings has a main theme -- last week's focus was on congregational finances and stewardship. This week's meeting focused on planning for returning to our church buildings for worship. Bishop Daniel stressed that the Governor's timetable will be our timetable. That timetable includes the following elements and details:
- Schools closed for remainder of academic year
- Stay at home order in effect until May 1
- An extension of this order is expected
- Friday mornings conference call of religious leaders with governor
- Recommends Planning Virtual Worship for whole month of May
Bishop Daniel announced that a synod team has been formed, whose task will be to create a "Parish Return Plan, which would outline a number of decisions make and actions to take before the congregation can be invited back into the building. Bishop wants Congregational Presidents to attend next week's meeting, Tuesday, April 28 at 4 pm. Synod office called for contact info for Mike just a moment ago, so I provided that. Mike, expect an email invitation to the meeting sometime on Monday. In the meantime, Bishop Daniel encouraged us to asses our congregation's strengths and vulnerabilities. He cited Numbers 13, where Moses sent out 12 men called to assess situation. Caleb and Joshua gave a positive assessment, but the other ten said "no way is this going to work."
Daniel encouraged us to use a SWOT analysis, delineating our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Possible questions might include:
- Strengths: What is one thing we're doing well, and what does community see as our primary strength
- Weaknesses: What needs to improve, and what does community see as our primary weakness
- Opportunities: What opportunities might God be opening up for you
- Threats: How is your community and culture changing
Wednesday Night Live!
We have resumed meeting by Zoom on Wednesday evenings, which we're calling Wednesday Night Live! During our Wednesday night Lenten series our focus was on the Lord's Prayer, so the plan is to continue and finish this series. This week we took a look at the 4th Petition -- Give us this day our daily bread. Since it is possible to join a Zoom meeting by phone, there is an opportunity to include those who have a phone, but not internet. So we had one attend by phone this week, and greatly appreciated connecting with the other 11 in attendance. If you're not busy Wednesday at 6:30, consider joing us!
Check from BWC
A check for $773 arrived in today's mail from Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, with the following explanation:
Dear Employer,
On behalf of Gov. Mike DeWine and the onio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC), I am pleased to share with you the enclosed check as part of our agency's dividend of up to $1.6 billion to Ohio's private and public employers, a move on our part to ease the financial pressures your organization may be experiencing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
This dividend is possible because of strong investment returns, prudent fiscal management and the good work of employers who pay their premiums and care about workplace safety. Please deposit your check as soon as possible, as it is only valid for 90 days. It is yours to spend as you wish, but we share Gov. DeWine's hope you use this money to invest in the health and safety of your employees.
I let Shaun know about this, and he said that these rebate checks have come before, but this one was unexpected, and greatly appreciated. And I would an an amen to that.
Amanda's Ideas
One of our synod pastors is Amanda Ghaffarian, who is the pastor at Faith Metamora. I've worked with Amanda before in leading Confirmation Camp, and she is overflowing with creativity. She offered the following in a post in the Northwestern Ohio Synod Rostered Ministers Facebook group:
Has anyone tried applying for a Thrivent Grant since this stuff started? I was thinking of service projects/fundraisers that would benefit the community that could have the materials shipped to predesignated volunteers and then returned before distributed. For example:
- Cloth masks- use the money to buy material
- Care packages for College students/those in nursing homes- You could have families write encouraging notes and cards and have one family collect them all and use the money to buy things they they assemble into the care kits to mail out
- Care for creation Boxes- Have the person applying for the grand purchase kits to make birdhouses or such and ship them to each family to assemble then donate to a wildlife area (or to their neighbors with trees)
- Build a little free food pantry- Maybe get a grant for a few people in the same family to build one in your community then invite invite the community to take or give what they need/have.
- Party in a box- Buy supplies and create celebration boxes for those who are missing major milestones- graduation, birthday, etc. Invite congregation members to create cards to include
- If you have bored young people at home, perhaps using the grant to purchase yard supplies then taking care of an elderly neighbor's yard for them (while socially distanced from them)- on the same note you could purchase gas and mow first responders and nurses grass since they are working long days. Or the money could be used towards a fundraiser
- Maybe identify something that people want and host a virtual fundraiser- such as: A virtual talent show- where people donate towards their favorite acts. The money could be used to buy props for things that the participants need- like puppets or what not. Maybe to send out invitations to watch If you have the license for it- a virtual gift basket raffle: Volunteers could all create gift baskets, as well as facilitate advertising, and building the page, then the baskets could be either mailed (or dropped off on doorsteps). Money could be used to purchase items for gift baskets if you wanted to limit exposure to one family instead of several.
- Online Trivia night: Gather people through Zoom or another platform and use the money to offer prizes for the winners of trivia. The money could be used towards paying for a months subscription of the platform so that there can be unlimited people. You could either charge a donation to play, or have special things pop up in the middle of that people would be invited to sponsor.
- Best Quarantine Pet Photo contest- people use money to vote on their favorite pic, winners get prizes (created or assembled by volunteers) volunteer monitors website, volunteers advertise.
Just a few thoughts. Any thoughts, ideas, or wish to share if you have been doing something already? Thanks in advance. — feeling creative.
Sympathy and Prayers
We extend our sympathy to Linda Lilly and Liana Miller on the death of their father, Lenny LaRose. Please keep all the family in your prayers including their mom Karen and brother Kevin. This is the second recent loss for them - Linda and Liana's grandmother (on their mom's side) died less than three weeks ago. Also, keep in your prayers Cathy Owens brother John and his family (wife is MaryLynn), who had a serious stroke, and has been in ICU at Riverside in Columbus. This continues to be very difficult time at hospitals, as family contact is still not allowed because of Covid-19 concerns.
Rocky's Deere
Nothing runs like a Deere, especially when it's Rocky's big green machine with a 5 foot swatch cutting the church grass. He was on duty today, so went out and touched base to chat a bit, and thank him for this excellent service that he donates to the congregation. He says it takes him about 90 minutes.
Offerings trickling in
Some members are sending their offerings in the mail, and when they arrive I place them in the small safe until Kristen and Ron can count and deposit. I'm sending an email or text message to those who contribute, to acknowledge and thank for their gift, and assure them that it is being safely stored until deposited.
