Other LCR Communications
 

From the Pastor, October 2019

We look forward to starting our series on “Cheerful Giving” Sunday, September 29th with weekly reflections on God’s Word, hearing stories from members of LCR and exploring our new mission for the future. 

This will be a great time to incorporate our new mission: We share the Resurrection by: Loving Jesus, Changing Lives and Reaching out to Serve into our sermon series, so we can explore what God has in store for LCR. The one thing we do know is that the mission cannot happen without all of us…as the hands and feet of Christ, cheerfully giving and being faithful stewards of what God has first given to us.

 

Don’t forget to join us for our One Service Sunday at 9:30am on October 20, 2019 as we share our financial commitments during worship. Bishop Paul Erickson will be joining us for the day and sharing the message with LCR. After worship we will enjoy a potluck meal  in our fellowship hall for a time of conversation and fellowship together.

 

Let’s join along in prayerfully exploring this series and commit ourselves to moving forward and giving thanks for our life, LCR family, ministry and mission.

 


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Council President Letter to the Congregation

Greetings LCR Members,

The council announced to all of you in October 2019 that we were forming an Exploratory Team to prayerfully take time to review various pieces of information. This information is what we have gathered about our current Mission at LCR, the prior ministry site profile, and the roles and responsibilities of our current staffing. This will help us to understand what our options are to replace Dori after she retires in the Spring and incorporate the pastoral intern responsibilities as well. These transitions in staffing give us an opportunity to re-evaluate what our needs are as we vision for the future at LCR.

 

Since this announcement, I have heard some questions and thought it would be beneficial to share some the current information about the steps we are working through, the status of the process, and timing of the next steps.

 

What are the steps we are taking to determine the staffing needs?

  1. Form an Exploratory Team – a mix of our members and they will:
    1. Review Staffing needs – aligning to our mission and vision
    2. Refresh the Ministry Site Profile
    3. Recommend a staffing position to Council, including a job description and how this will assist us in fulfilling the mission of the church.
  2. Gain approval from the congregation during the Annual Meeting.

 

What is an Exploratory Team?

A small team of current members to manage the process. Members of the team to include members from the following groups/committees: Current Council – Dave Backmann, Representative from Pastor Karen’s Call Committee – Luanne Riedel, Parish Ed – Kathy Ramke, Youth Ministry – Carrie Black, (2) at large members – Aaron Kozlik & Sarah Brusky, and a Youth – Emily Schinkowitch.

 

What is the role of the Exploratory Team?

Work to understand the staffing needs/wants and align them with the Mission and Vision of the church. Plus make a recommendation to the Council on a pathway forward.

 

When will we hear the outcome of the review?

Once the recommendation has been approved by the Council we will share that outcome, the budgetary impact, and the next steps during the Annual Meeting on January 26, 2020.

 

How do we get candidates?

In order to gather candidates for an Associate Pastor/Deacon and interview, the ELCA and the Greater Milwaukee Synod use a process – “The Call Process.” This process starts with gaining a full understanding of what a congregation is working to achieve and what skills will be required to obtain the mission of the church. We are using the Exploratory Committee to work on this part of the process and assist the council in determining the type of position needed to achieve our Mission and Vision. Once we have all of this documented and approved by the Congregation, we will submit the requirements to the Greater Milwaukee Synod, from this point we will work with the Synod Office to arrange discussions with qualified candidates.

 

Can we just hire Intern John?

No, we cannot just hire Intern John. He still have many steps to complete over the next 6 months or so to work towards is official ordination in the ELCA as a pastor.

  1. He has to complete his internship at LCR in early January.
  2. He has to graduate from Luther Seminary in early 2020.
  3. He has to be approved by the Greater Milwaukee Synod Candidacy Committee for Ordination in early December.
  4. He has to go through the Churchwide AssignmentProcess – This is where he is assigned to a particular region of the country (He does not know where this will be at this time – although be does have preferences)

*Note: this is a very stressful time for Intern John and his family. Please keep them in your thoughts & Prayers. They have many decisions ahead that they need to prayerfully make for their family and future.

 

What if you have additional questions?

Please feel free to call or email me.

Email: abaumga08@yahoo.com

Mobile Phone: (262) 770-7107

 

Grace and Peace to you,

Tony Baumgardt,

Congregational President

 

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2019 Fall Kick Off

Hello LCR Families!!! This Sunday kicks off Sunday School and 7th – 10th grade Confirmation at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection! We look forward to having you join us and we thank you for being a part of our faith formation ministry. We are so blessed with energetic, joyful children, wonderful teaching staff and a gracious dedicated church. Together we plan to provide your children with an abundance of opportunities for learning, nurturing, and growing as disciples of Jesus.   Our time together is from 9:00-9:50am each Sunday morning. Parents are invited to join in the Fellowship Hall before the kids go to their assigned rooms for the day. Pre-3 & Pre-4 will meet in their classroom in the library area and then come to join our large group gathering each Sunday. Kindergarten – 6th Grade will rotate through classrooms on a weekly basis and Confirmation Youth will go to their assigned rooms directly each week.  Please see the Welcome board for your weekly classroom assignment as you come downstairs.   We will see you Sunday!!! Love and Peace!   Pastor Karen Pahl and Pastoral Intern John Anderson Reminder: Sunday School at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection is open to all children ages 3 through 6th grade. Confirmation education is open to youth in grades 7 through 10. Chris Campbell coordinates our Sunday School program with Pastoral Intern John Anderson and Kim Andersen coordinates the Confirmation program with Pastor Karen  

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September 2019 Holman’s Update

September 14, 2019 The Waja team has had some setbacks in the last month. The internet connection with Nigeria was not good, and the main translator had some health issues. They have completed their team check of 1 Corinthians, so I’m preparing notes for checking the last seven chapters. It’s a difficult book to translate! Pray that I would be able to finish before we leave for Nigeria on October 3. The L team now has five chapters in Matthew left to team-check. Pray for them to finish soon so that Tom can check it while we’re in Nigeria. We will have a young woman named Angela with us on this trip. She’s interested in becoming involved in the ministry of Bible translation. Pray for a special time for her. And please pray for all of us, for safe travels, good health, and a productive time of working together. Thank you for your prayer and financial support! Warmly in Christ, Mary and Tom Holman


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Cheerful Giving

We look forward to starting our series on “Cheerful Giving” Sunday, September 29th with weekly reflections on God’s Word, hearing stories from members of LCR and exploring our new mission for the future. Below is our schedule for the weeks ahead:
Date Scripture Topic Stewardship Emphasis Communications
9/29/2019 Luke 16:19-31 The Rich Man & Lazarus Wk 1: Mission / Story / Cheerful Giving  
10/6/2019 2 Tim 1:1-14 Luke 17: 5-10 Thanksgiving, Encouragement & Faith Wk 2: Story of Financial Giving Giving Chart
10/13/2019 Luke 17:11-19 Jesus Cleanses 10 Lepers Wk3: Story of Time & Talents Time & Talent Sheet
10/20/2019 9:30am Gen 32:22-31 Luke 18:1-8 Jacob Wrestles & The Widow & Unjust Judge Wk4: Story of Fiath/Greater Church Commitment Sunday / Congregational Meal Financial Commtment Sunday / Bishop Paul Erikson
 

This will be a great time to incorporate our new mission: We share the Resurrection by: Loving Jesus, Changing Lives and Reaching out to Serve into our sermon series, so we can explore what God has in store for LCR. The one thing we do know is that the mission cannot happen without all of us…as the hands and feet of Christ, cheerfully giving and being faithful stewards of what God has first given to us. Don’t forget to join us for our One Service Sunday at 9:30am on October 20, 2019 as we share our financial commitments during worship. Bishop Paul Erickson will be joining us for the day and sharing the message with LCR. After worship we will enjoy a potluck meal  in our fellowship hall for a time of conversation and fellowship together. Let’s join along in prayerfully exploring this series and commit ourselves to moving forward and giving thanks for our life, LCR family, ministry and mission.


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From the Pastor, September

Welcome People of God! It is a gift and blessing to gather at LCR for conversation, worship, to grow in our faith, change lives, to be fed and nourished with grace, lift one another up in prayer and be sent back into our community and the world to serve in Jesus’ name. Intern John and I know that this summer was busy for all of us with vacations, life, and fun. We were blessed at LCR to host our first neighborhood camp with up to 50 campers, 12 staff, plus many volunteers. It certainly could not have happened without the many generous gifts that were given by the congregation in many ways and we want to thank you.  It was also a gift to share with the Siebert Foundation a verbal report of our camp at a luncheon last week. I thanked them for sharing their gifts with us and the blessing this camp is to our Racine community. We are also excited to start up all our fall programming for Sunday School, Confirmation, Youth Group, Adult Bible Studies, Adult Forums on Sunday Morning and so much more. Please keep up with the information in THE CROSS about all the faith learning opportunities that can help you grow in your relationship with Jesus and with one another. It’s amazing how it can transform your life, and prepare you to transform other people’s lives with ways you never can imagine with the gift of love, grace and forgiveness. In the next few weeks LCR looks forward to hearing ministry moments from a handful of our congregation members who will be telling their stories of faith and how they have shared or experienced the Resurrection of Jesus recently in their lives. This will be part of our stewardship series as we celebrate the incredible ministry LCR has committed to, plus reaching out to the Racine community and beyond. We will also explore how God continues to call us to be cheerful gives of our time, talents and financial gifts. Grace & Peace – Pastor Karen & Intern John


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Greetings LCR

Greetings LCR! What an incredible summer of ministry it has been!  We have been blessed with outdoor worship, although we have only been outside a few times because of our wet summer.  We were also blessed to join in with the Racine ELCA Neighborhood Camp with three other churches and have 50 kids 5th grade and younger along with the SALT middle school youth serving around our community. Many of these kids went home every day with new relationships, smiles on their faces, excitement for the next day and a full stomach. It was amazing to see all of our staff and volunteers step up to make this camp come to life and happen for the last 5 weeks.  This would not have happened without them and without the generous financial and resources gifts of supplies that were given by you the congregation and it’s friends.  We cannot thank you enough!!!   Over the next few weeks we are asking you to give us your input on which mission statement you best think reflects the life and ministry of LCR moving forward.  You have shared your thoughts, comments and input of what you value as a congregation which includes; preaching, teaching, community, prayer, fellowship and worship. You also lift up the importance of our children and youth along with the importance of reaching out to serve in our Racine community and beyond.  The Congregational Council has kept your thoughts, comments and the life and faith of this congregation at heart as we pulled together the three mission statement options for LCR. We want this mission statement to be an anchor for our ministry as we have been called to unfold amazing ministry in Jesus’ name each and every day.  Please take time to fill out the mission statement survey and rank the options so we can make a final selection for this fall!


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August 2019 Holman’s Update

August 10, 2019 The one-volume publication of the first five books of the Old Testament in Anufo has been completed, and the team has taken delivery of the books! Praise God. Thank you for praying! We hope to have our own copy for you to see when we come to visit. Pray that the stories of God’s chosen people and his dealings with them in these books will touch the hearts of the Anufo, including those who still follow their traditional religion and those who follow the other majority religion in the area. Tom is helping the Anufo team with exegetical issues in 1 Samuel. Second Samuel is also ready for checking. He is also helping the L team in Nigeria make 1-2 Timothy and James ready for printing as well as making preparations to check the rest of Matthew with them in October. The Waja team and I are making progress on 1 Corinthians because the internet connection has been good lately. Pray for good health and strength for them as they work on 1 Corinthians and other books in preparation for our visit there from October 3-26. Warmly in Christ, Mary Mary and Tom Holman


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Barb’s time with Neighborhood Camp

A Special Thank You—from Barb Tuttle My time with Neighborhood Camp: what a group of faithful people at our church along with a group of neat kids! Thank you for the joyful notes, pictures, gifts and kind words. I’ll never forget my fun and joyful time. Blessings to Pastor Karen, Intern John, and each and ever one of you!


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Outreach for Hope Bike Ride

Around the Corner with John the Intern
 

Biker rides (walks) in… Congratulations on a successful neighborhood camp this summer!  Isn’t it wonderful that Outreach for Hope sponsors such a great activity for so many kids…not only at our church but around the area.Did you know that there is an Outreach for Hope activity coming up – can you guess what it is? John – I’m guessing a bike ride??

The Outreach for Hope bike ride is coming up on Saturday, September 7.  This ride accounts for nearly half of the annual revenue needed to fund over 20 ministries.  And this year, there is a Racine/Kenosha area ride in Petrified Springs park. You can ride the entire 12 mile course or a portion of the course, enjoy a picnic lunch and fellowship with other participants.
John – sounds like fun, but what if I’m not able to ride?
Volunteers are needed to help with registration, distributing lunch and guiding riders along the trail.  Or you can sign up as a virtual rider.  Generous sponsors will be donating funds for everyone who registers as a volunteer or a virtual rider.
John – I’d love to help, but I have other plans that day.
No worries, we have an answer for that too!  You can make a donation or sponsor a rider or donate to their fundraising page.  Thanks to matching funds, each dollar donated is doubled and additional funds are donated for everyone who sets up a fundraising page and for each pledge to donate.
John – it sounds like fun, but does a bike ride really make that much difference?
The fundraising goal for this year’s bike ride is $110,000.  That may seem like a lot, but over the last 11 years, the bike ride has raised over $850,000.
All the specific information can be found on the Outreach for Hope website or just ask Pastor Karen or Intern John!

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