December 2004
The Incarnation
C.S. Lewis has this really helpful
illustration. He says that in the incarnation, Jesus was like a diver. He is
God in heaven looking down into this dark, slimy, murky water. That's our
sinful, polluted world. God dives in, He gets Himself wet. And then God came up
again, dripping, but holding the precious thing He went down to recover. That
precious thing was you and me. That's how we get off the slime of cheating, or
lusting, or hating, or whatever other self-destructive sin we are buried in.
God in Christ descended down into the
slime and rescued us. Resolutions and vows to be better won't help by
themselves. We don't have the power to keep them. We are stuck on the sea
bottom. We have no power of our own to get up or out. All we can do is cry out
for God's grace to lift us up, to rescue us.
Don’t Focus On The Warts
Upon his retirement as CEO of the
Coca-cola Company Donald R. Keough spoke to the graduating class of Emory
(1993). To those young men and women who would soon be facing a very tough and
critical world, he said, "I have an architect friend who says, 'I can take
the newest building, built by the finest builders anywhere in the world, and if
you give me a camera and the ability to focus various lenses, I can make that
building look like it's about to fall down because I will find five or six
minor imperfections, focus on them and convince you that the entire structure
is about to topple.'"
In a society where a handful of
people focus the camera of life on the events of the day, if you and I allow
them to use their camera to focus on our lives, then we will be often
disappointed, frequently fearful and generally miserable. Be wary of those who
want to focus the camera forever on the warts and blemishes and shortcomings of
our existence.
When Giving Got Difficult
Leighton Farrell was the minister of
He telephoned the minister, long
since having moved to another church, and asked to see him. Walking into the
pastor’s office the man begged to be let out of the covenant, saying,
"This tithing business has to stop. It was fine when my tithe was one
thousand dollars, but I just cannot afford six hundred thousand dollars. You’ve
got to do something, Reverend!" The pastor knelt on the floor and prayed
silently for a long time. Eventually the man said, "What are you doing?
Are you praying that God will let me out of the covenant to tithe?"
"No," said the minister. "I am praying for God to reduce your
income back to the level where one thousand dollars will be your tithe!"
The Parable Of The Woman Who Had Nothing To Give
“I am hungry,” said the young stranger to the older
woman who had opened the door in response to his knock. “Could you please give
me something to eat?”
“I’m sorry,” said the woman.
“I have nothing to give you.”
“Well, then,” said the young
traveler, “could you at least give me a stone?” “A stone?” said the woman.
“There are plenty here. Take one from the ground. What will you do with that?”
“I will make some soup,” said the young man.
“Soup?”
said the woman. “How will
you do that?”
“First I need some boiling
water, and then I will make soup from the stone.” Intrigued, the woman allowed
the man into her house and she furnished him with a pot of water, which was
then set to boil. “It would taste a little better,” said the young man, “if
there were a carrot in there.” So the woman put a carrot in the pot.
“An onion would add a lot to
the flavor,” said the young man. And the woman dropped an onion into the pot.
“It smells delicious,” said the woman approvingly. “Come to think of it,
though,” said the young man, “it would smell even better if we had a rutabaga
in it.” So the woman found a rutabaga in her larder and added it to the concoction.
And thus it went, with the
woman, who supposedly had nothing to give, adding more and more things to the
soup. When the soup was done they both sat down to eat it. They finished it too
and including the last drop, except for the stone. When the young man prepared
to leave, he took the stone. “What will you do with that?’ asked the woman.
“It is not boiled enough yet,”
said the young man, “so I will take it along for my next bowl of soup.”
Our first thought on reading
the story may be that we think we have nothing to give. But if we say that we
have nothing to give, we are lying. We have ourselves to give. An onion, a
rutabaga, some meat, some spices - we are a variety of things that can become our gifts for the nourishment
of others.
God endows each human being
with certain time, talents and material posses-sions. The Bible reminds us that
these gifts are not our own. Our Lord appeals to us to share our gifts with
others.
The Little Things
It is folly to think that because I am only one and can do very
little, and that what I do counts for little, I need not do anything. As if a
soldier should say that, since he is only one man, he might as well knock off
and go to the movies. It would mean that the battle would be lost.
All of us are ready to do some big spectacular thing--to go into
the spotlight. But it is the tireless doing of obscure, unknown things, the
endless hidden fidelities and good-nesses, that really count. That things are
as well with us as they are is due to quiet, anonymous loyalties.
Joseph Fort
How Will The Church Be Lighted?
Several centuries ago in a mountain village in
At its grand opening, the people gathered and marveled at the
beauty of the new church. Everything had been thought of and included. It was a masterpiece.
But then someone said, "Wait a minute! Where are the
lamps? It is really quite dark in
here. How will the church be
lighted?"
The nobleman pointed to some brackets in the walls, and then he
gave each family a lamp, which they were to bring with them each time they came
to worship. "Each time you are here'" the nobleman said, "the
place where you are seated will be lighted.
Each time you are not here, that place will be dark. This is to remind you that whenever you fail
to come to worship, some part of God's house will be dark."
That's a poignant story, isn't it? And it makes a very
significant point about the importance of our commitment and loyalty to the
church. The poet Edward Everett Hale put it like this:
I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do the something I can do.
What if every member of your church supported the church just as
you do? What kind of church would you have?
What if every single member served the church, attended the church,
loved the church, shared the church, and gave to the church exactly as you
do? What kind of church would you be?
James W. Moore
Beginning Every Day
The pastor opened the worship service
saying, “We begin this service and we begin every day, in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.” It was my time to attend this church.
Maybe they begin every day this way, but I have NEVER done that. So I thought,
why not try it? And I have.
Here is what I’ve found. Beginning each day in the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit makes me realize anew that this day is a
gift from God. Although I continue on my regular schedule, my stewardship
awareness is now increased. I notice opportunities to serve others by being
more courteous, thoughtful, or kind. Opportunities for giving are more
meaningful, whether they are financial gifts, serving food at a homeless
shelter, or sharing a talent that I have been given by God.
At the end of the day, my prayers include those people
and issues that have high-lighted the day. Now, I offer back to God this whole
day and its numerous activities. With genuine appreciation for God’s guidance
and grace that directed my stewardship, I can say, “thank you, God.”
At dawn, I greet another completely new day. It too is
begun in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As this continues day
after day, I remember the psalmist who prayed to God, “You are great and do
wondrous things; you alone are God!” (Ps 86:10)
This Will Make You Smile
A little girl walked to and from
school daily. Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds
were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school. As the
afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with thunder and lightning.
The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her
daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she herself
feared that the electrical storm might harm her child. Following the roar of
thunder, lightning, like a flaming sword, would cut through the sky.
Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and
drove along the route to her child's school. As she did so, she saw her little
girl walking along, but at each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look
up and smile. Another and another were to follow quickly and with each the
little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.
When the mother's car drew up beside the child she
lowered the window and called to her, "What are you doing? Why do you keep
stopping?" The child answered, "I am trying to look pretty. God keeps
taking my picture."
May God bless you today as you face the storms that come
your way.
received via email
Another Smile!
A little girl was sitting on her grandfather's lap as he read her
a bedtime story. From time to time, she would take her eyes off the book and
reach up to touch his wrinkled cheek. She was alternately stroking her own
cheek, then his again. Finally she spoke up, "Grandpa, did God make
you?"
"Yes, sweetheart," he answered, "God made me a
long time ago."
"Oh," she paused, "Grandpa, did God make me
too?"
"Yes, indeed, honey," he said, "God made you just
a little while ago."
Feeling their respective
faces again, she observed, "God's getting better at it, isn't He?"
received via email
Missionary Terry Schultz,
Rarely has a Jungle Journal story
elicited such a huge response as the one I wrote a couple years back about the
little Chayahuita native girl named Gloria. As you may recall, Gloria is from
the Amazon jungle
The details of Gloria’s experiences in the city easily
come to mind. She arrived at Ronal’s
house and immediately went to build a campfire in the corner of their yard so
she could help
Gloria always got up at 4:00 in the morning, just like
back in her village. At breakfast the first day she ate over twice as
much a Ronal, thinking it was the only meal of the day just like the
Chayahuitas do. She couldn’t believe it when food was served again around
1:00, and yet another big plateful showed up at night!
Gloria was totally intrigued by the TV. Then, she became
frightened half to death at the sight of a giant purple animal that appeared
every day at 3:30 in the afternoon. The huge animal danced, sang, and
charmed little children to run around with him. – Until 4:00 when, Gloria
concluded, he apparently went away and ate them. Convinced that the huge
animal lived in Tarapoto, (as she had never seen such an animal in the jungle)
Gloria was afraid to leave the house at night. (An exasperated
And finally, who could forget that story of Gloria
getting into
After a couple months in Tarapoto, Gloria became
terribly homesick. When Ronal went to visit the jungle congregations, he would
bring back huge clusters of Gloria’s favorite fruits for her, but that didn’t
help much. Then one day, Gloria dramatically announced that she could
sense that her mother was dying, - dying because she missed her daughter so
much. Gloria said she must immediately go back home before it was too
late. A few days later, I was relieved to hear that Ronal had taken
Gloria back to her native village.
It is now two whole years later. So what has
happened to Gloria? Little Gloria got married.
Now, I suspect you are immediately calculating Gloria’s
age in your head. Yes, Gloria got married at the very young age of 17.
Fact is, in the Chayahuita culture, that’s considered waiting a while! Recall
that among the natives, a girl’s first menstrual cycle indicates to the
community that she is now ready to marry and begin having children. It is
not uncommon in the remote communities for Chayahuita girls at 14, 13,
sometimes even 12 years of age to marry. Amazingly, there is virtually no
concept of divorce in the communities. Couples stay together for
life. (However, there appear to be huge problems regarding domestic abuse
and extramarital affairs.)
Gloria had decided to marry a non-native boy she met on
a rare visit to the river-town of Yurimaguas. He was selling fruits in
the market. Needless to say, Mom and especially Dad (Maravid, our congregational
leader in Parinari) were not at all pleased when the engagement was announced.
However, their concerns were soon dispelled when the 22 year old boy, Nelo,
agreed to move to Parinari and adopt the Chayahuita culture! Even more
importantly, Nelo agreed to become involved with our Christian congregation
that had formed under the leadership of Maravid.
Less than a year after the marriage, Maravid gave Ronal
and me the exciting news that Gloria and Nelo were having a baby! We all
immediately began praying that little (less-than-90 pounds) Gloria and her baby
would be healthy and the delivery would go well. After all, delivering a
baby in a rustic thatch roof dwelling in the middle of the Amazon jungle with
no one to assist but Mom and Dad can be a difficult experience!
Now don’t get me wrong, the natives certainly know how
to deliver babies. Ronal and I have often heard stories told by proud
Chayahuita husbands about their wives. Their women have on occasion given
birth unassisted, alone, just off to the side of some jungle path they were
traversing when the special moment arrived. These women are tough,
indepen-dent, resourceful survivors! Nevertheless, what 17 year-old gal like
Gloria, giving birth for the first time, wouldn’t want her Mom there to help!
And so it was with Gloria and Nelo. The momentous day
came at their recently completed thatch-roof home out in the jungle where
Maravid and Nelo keep small cornfields. Only Maravid and his wife Lucha live
nearby. Otherwise, the two homes are completely isolated. As Gloria
went into labor, Nelo made a mad dash for Maravid and Lucha. Nelo’s
brother Denis, who was visiting from Yurimaguas, stayed with Gloria.
Imagine Gloria, on a bed of wooden boards as hard as a
table, no mattress, only a small, dirty, ragged blanket to lie on, scared,
unsure, sweating profusely in the sweltering jungle heat. Dennis can only
pace around outside the dwelling. What a relief when Maravid and Lucha
come racing into the room.
Yes, both Mom and Dad are now there to help with the
delivery. Gloria smiles at Dad, as he takes his place behind her. The
contractions are now coming sooner and sooner. Lucha instructs Gloria to push
hard, while Dad goes into action. With Gloria slightly sitting up, Dad
wraps his strong arms completely around Gloria’s torso and, with each
contraction squeezes her tighter “like a boa”!!! The combination of Mom
pulling, Gloria pushing and screaming, and Dad strangling finally has the desired
effect. Soon a healthy little boy comes right out!
Lucha hands the baby to Maravid who races right out the
door! According to Chayahuita custom, neither the mom nor dad nor the
grandparents should cut the umbilical cord. Someone else is supposed
to. The responsibility falls to Nelo’s brother Denis. Denis is all
ready for the critical procedure with a dirty, rusty scissors. He cuts
the cord, Maravid and Nelo thank him, and Maravid rushes back into the bedroom
to hand Gloria her baby. After a little bit of cleaning up, Nelo enters
the room to greet his wife and newborn son.
Fast forward in time about four months.
Ronal and I arrive in Parinari with our evangelism team
/ security team (things have been heating up in the drug trade) on a Saturday afternoon.
That way we will be in the village for the Sunday morning church service that
Maravid holds every week. We have come for the baptism of Gloria and
Nelo’s baby boy Denis!
Maravid suggests we set up camp on a large
raised-on-stilts porch of an abandoned thatch-roof house in the
community. He shoves open the wooden door to the one enclosed room of the
house, saying one or two could sleep in there. However, it was all a bit
too bizarre: A colossal jungle plant outside the house had sent countless vines
through the many cracks of the wooden back wall. The entire room is awash in
green, literally engulfed in giant leaves and curling vines. The floor
has all but disappeared. It would be like sleeping in an indoor pumpkin patch.
Meanwhile, all kinds of critters from mice to tarantulas have come scurrying
out from under a small wooden-box bed. Everyone peered into the room,
then politely turned to Maravid and said they would take their chances on the
porch.
To me, it is still a thrill to sleep on a raised porch
in a native community with nothing between you and the outdoors but a thin
mosquito net. Nelo had climbed up into the low rafters directly over the
porch area, carrying a handful of candles. He dripped a little wax, then
secured the candles to the lashed-together, horizontal poles. He told
Jose to be sure to blow the many candles out before he fell asleep, or the
thatch roof might catch on fire. We told Jose if the roof caught on fire
and we all died, when we got to heaven the first thing we would say is: “yup,
Jose forgot to blow the candles out!”
The next morning would be special indeed. Three
native babies were to be baptized! Gloria with her baby and her mom Lucha
arrived early at the dirt-floor pole-and-thatch church the natives had constructed.
Maravid and Nelo could be seen coming down the jungle path a few minutes
later. (Now back in the States, it’s not an uncommon sight Sunday morning
to see a car come screeching into the church parking lot at the very last
minute. But here was something a bit different: Maravid and Nelo (who would be
hitching a ride with us back to Yurimaguas after church) came down the hill
carrying a 12 ft. pole between them on their shoulders. Hanging upside down
from the pole were twenty live chickens ready for market. The birds on a
stick were unceremoniously dropped outside the church and the two men joined
their spouses.
The Service began with the singing of many songs.
Ronal and I were thrilled to see how well Maravid had taught his people the
songs he had learned at our Bible Institute classes. Soon the three sets
of moms and dads approached the front of the group with their beautiful,
dark-haired babies. I took the well-worn plastic pitcher Maravid had
fetched, containing dirt-brown river water and went from baby to baby: Ermeli
Lancha Pizango, Moises Lancha Pizango, and Denis Amacifuen Lancha, and God’s
amazing, gracious work, whereby children who enter this world sons of Adam
become sons of God through the power of the Holy Spirit was completed.
For the sermon on this exciting occasion, once again I
pulled out that favorite Bible story of the natives: Adam and Eve and the
Devil in the jungle garden. The natives nodded their understanding that
although we enter this world as sinners, God sent a serpent / devil-crushing
Savior to save us!
After church, we stood around and chatted with our
extremely timid native brothers and sisters. The families of the 3 babies
were very happy. And nobody at the Baptism service was beaming with joy
quite like Nelo! He was obviously bursting with pride at his new baby boy
and his beautiful wife. Perhaps Nelo was thinking back to the
extraordinary turn of events that had brought him to this moment. You see
for years, Nelo’s life had been the furthest thing from a picture of Christian
uprightness. But then, he met Gloria. Not much later, he found himself
living in a native village deep in the Amazon. Who would have imagined that
through these shy, reclusive natives, Nelo would encounter the most important
thing in his life! For through the words of Gloria and her family the Holy
Spirit would come upon Nelo and bring him to saving faith!! But that as I
like to say, is another story. Next month, the journal entry I call:
“Finding Nelo.”
Until then amigos en Cristo,
Terry
Church and Change
(Where
When you log onto our
- and we hope you do so often because it is updated weekly
by our webmaster, Kevin Henkel, - you’ll see “An old church with a New Vision”
on the homepage. If you click on “old
church”, you’ll be able to listen to and enjoy all the hymns from our old
TLH hymnal. If you click on “New
Vision”, you’ll be linked to the Church and Change website.
So, just what is Church and Change?
Church and Change is a grassroots movement within the
Wisconsin Synod that seeks to encourage and make full use of fresh ideas and
current technology to share the good news of God’s grace. Church and Change
also seeks to hold as tightly to the treasure of God’s Word and sacraments as
true Lutherans always have. This is their mission statement: Church and
Change, in partnership with the
We will provide opportunities for God’s people to encourage
and help one another grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
We will provide an environment in which God’s people can,
in Christian freedom, discover and embrace a variety of methods for carrying
out gospel ministry.
We will provide opportunities for God’s people to explore
and appreciate contemporary culture with the goal of reaching more people with
the good news of Jesus Christ.
We will provide God’s people with practical ministry
models that utilize relevant and innovative ministry models.
We will provide a communication network to connect God’s
people with those who are using a variety of ministry approaches.
Church and Change has resources to help make a difference
in your ministry.
Ideas – Stop by our web site for
ministry ideas that others have developed. Share descriptions of your own
innovations for others to try. Click on “Idea Exchange.”
Personal Support – Church and Change
provides a listserv to help link
Resources – Our website
also provides a growing treasury of online resources. We have catalogued scores
of thought-provoking and informative articles and web sites. More are added
regularly.
Conferences – Church and
Change is planning its next national conference. As past conferences, this
gathering will provide top-flight speakers, workshops, idea-sharing, worship
and lots of time to know others with a similar view of ministry. The dates and
place for the conference are still in process.
National Ministries – Church
and Change will also assist groups which have a regional or national focus through
their initial organization. For example, Jars of Clay Ministries (JoCM) has
spun from Church and Change. JoCM is dedicated to identifying, equipping,
encouraging and linking spiritually mature
Church and Change is in a transition period – a time of
change. A steering committee is working to sharpen the organization’s
plan for the future. One important component is to provide Church and Change
with adequate funding. Pursuing non-profit, tax-exempt status is part of that
component. The committee is developing a business plan which will ensure
financial viability as well as a ministry direction which will encourage
innovation in the
Your pastor has been
pleased to be involved with Church and Change since its beginning, and has had
the privilege of preaching for the past two national conferences.
In order to continue to enhance our worship experience
here at
Organization of
The
Minnesota District OWLS Rally was held October 30 at
Lester
Ring – New Ulm, welcomed the group to the meeting and explained the schedule
for the day.
The
group was divided to attend the two workshops:
(1)
‘Ask Your Pastor’ was presented by retired professor Arnold Koelpin of
Martin Luther College. The group was encouraged to write questions on a slip of
paper for Professor Koelpin to answer. These were to be questions that we have
always wanted to ask our pastor, but never have. Several questions were asked on “proper
behavior” when attending churches outside the
(2)
‘Fur Trading in the Mid-west’ was presented by Arn Kind, a teacher in
Following
a delicious lunch of mashed potatoes, Salisbury steak, Cole slaw and rolls, the
workshops were repeated.
Prior
to the closing service conducted by Pastor Jeffrey Bovee,
We
were reminded of the up-coming OWLS National Convention in July 13-15 in
Accompanying
Dean, Harold and Jean to New Ulm was Glover Dohman.
LWMS
Fall Rally
On Saturday, October 9, 2004,
Jean Brown, Linda Henkel, Mae Schmidt, Marlene Struwe, and Marcella Voss
attended the LWMS St. Croix Circuit Fall Rally at
Pastor
Michael Borgwardt and his Japanese wife Mika of Living Hope Lutheran Church in
Savage spoke on Reaching Out to the Japanese at Home! Their talk was
about cross-cultural ministry. They talked about seeking out people’s needs
(look for opportunities, they are there.) They started with volleyball for the
youth and it has grown from there. Mika talked about “What does the
The LWMS
St. Croix Fall Rally Business Meeting was called to order. The secretary’s
minutes and treasurer’s report were approved and the auditing committee found
the books to be in good order. Discussion centered on the upcoming 2005
Convention at the Sheraton Hotel in
The Spring
Rally for LWMS St. Croix Circuit will be at
Christmas at MLC
December 12, 2004 2:00pm (LSC Gymnasium)
Traditional and
contemporary settings of Christmas favorites such as “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”,
“Sing We Now of Christmas”, and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” will be performed
by the College, Male, and Treble Choirs. The MLC Wind Symphony and Handbell
Choir will also emphasize the concert theme, “Gloria” as they
perform during this stirring showcase event. Join us on the
Christmas at
The choirs of Bethany Lutheran
College, Mankato, MN, will present the message of Christmas in song on December
9, 10, 11, and 12, 2004, (Thursday – Sunday), each concert beginning at
4:00pm. Tickets are free, but they are
required. Visit www.blc.edu
for further information. Kory will be
happy to give you a personal tour of the beautiful
Alexandra Liza Janosek
and
Edwin John Fredrich
invite you to share in their joy
as they exchange marriage vows
saturday, the first of january
two thousand and five
two o'clock in the afternoon
cake reception following
Welcome
Ed & Elaine
This month
we have the pleasure of introducing a couple of the newer members of our Mt.
Olive Family. Ed & Elaine Jerde
joined our congregation in August of this year, transferring from the former
Trinity Lutheran in
Ed and Elaine were married in July of
1978.
Elaine was raised on a farm near
Elaine has worked as a private
secretary and a personal care attendant, and her main interests are country
music, sewing, and cats. Her current
pet’s name is, Henry.
Ed was raised in
Ed worked as an electrical engineer
and is now enjoying retirement. His
interests are bowling, chess, and reading.
Welcome, Elaine and Ed, to our
Women’s
Guild Christmas Party
Make your plans and mark your calendars! We invite all members and friends of the
congregation to attend our Women’s Guild Christmas Party.
Begin your Christmas Season
on Thursday, December 2nd. We
will begin at 6:00pm with a supper followed by a Christmas devotion by Pastor
Henkel and the singing of Christmas carols.
Our special program will be
dulcimer music played by Jane Hauser, daughter of John and Short Fuller. The
Christmas donation taken will be sent to the
All men and women are invited
to join us as we share Christmas together complete with Christmas tree and
candle glow. There is a sign up sheet in the narthex. Please join us!
Sunday School
News & Notes
The Sunday School children have a
busy schedule for December. They will
give the Children's Christmas service on Sunday, December 19th at 9:00am.
To prepare for their service, there
will be 3 Saturday practices for the children.
We will meet December 4th, 11th and 18th
from 9:30-11:30am. We will continue
memory work for recitations and the songs from the service entitled, "O
Christmas Tree". There will be
a snack break each Saturday provided by the Sunday School staff.
There will be no Sunday School on
December 26th. Sunday School
will resume on January 2nd, 2005.
On behalf of the children and the
Sunday School staff, I pray that you all have a blessed Christmas and New Year.
Linda Henkel, superintendent
Christmas Cookie Exchange
Our annual
Christmas cookie exchange will take place on December 9th, beginning
at 6:30pm. We will meet in the Fireside
Room. All ladies of the congregation are
invited to participate. Please bring 3
1/2 dozen cookies to exchange and share.
There will be coffee and hot cider to go with the cookies. We hope that many of you will come for an
evening of fellowship and fun.
sponsored by Caring
& Sharing
Congregational Christmas Caroling
You are
cordially invited to come and participate in the congregational Christmas
caroling that will take place on Tuesday, December 14th, at
6:30pm. There will be a caroling party
following. Please bring an appetizer and
cookies or sweets to share.
We acknowledge with thanks the
following memorials to the congregation:
…In memory of Leland Lindholm:
from Art & Maxine Schmugge (General Fund)
from John & Short Fuller (Altar Guild)
The 2005 budget was presented and
discussed during the congregational assembly in November. Here’s a quick recap of the proposed changes
for next year –
·
The proposed budget for 2005 totals
$179,275.90, an increase of $6,480 or
3.8% over the 2004 budget.
·
Envelope contributions are budgeted
at $154,476, an increase of 4.8%.
·
New Year’s and Sunday School
offerings have been removed from the general budget as these contributions are
designated for specific purposes.
·
Synod Support remains at 19% of total
contributions but is reduced by the net cost of
·
Grade school tuition has an
anticipated increase of $1,500.
·
Support for St. Croix Lutheran was
raised $300 (3.7%)
·
Evangelism Training and Materials was
raised from $200 to $1,000.
·
Personnel increases of 2.7% - plus an
additional $1,000 were added to Pastor’s salary as has been done in prior years
to approach synod’s compensation guidelines.
·
Janitorial services are computed at a
monthly rate of $400.
·
We have retained the $1,000 monthly
special fund debt retirement payment to repay the building maintenance
improvements of the past couple of years.
If you would like a copy of the complete budget, you may
either contact the church office or myself.
The budget will come up for approval at the December coordinating
council meeting. Feel free to contact me or any member of the council with
questions or concerns regarding the proposed budget.
Jerry Holen, treasurer