Block Party Moves Inside
Many of you already know this, so this is for those who haven't heard yet. Maureen's email is copied below.
Hi Everyone, As most of you know, we have moved the Block Party inside. The weather forecast is for 100% chance of rain which is to begin at 2:00. Yes, it might seem early to make this decision but there is a lot of set up that has to be taken care of ahead of time and with the percentage and time expected, what they are we feel this is the right decision.
The Block Party will still go on! Please emphasize this when you talk to people and to your congregations. There will be window tours, games for the kids, free food, trick or treat and costume judging for the children. It will be a fun family event!
I wanted to also let you know that we have taken care of much of the set up. For this reason no one needs to be here before 1:00.
Thanks so much and I will see you Sunday!
Peace, Maureen Pump
Thanks, Maureen, for everything you and your committee have done these last months to make this happen, come summer storms, variant outbreaks, or fall rains. Indeed, it will be a fun family event!
Stewardship Program Continues
Our Stewardship Team (Tanya, Henry, Kathy, Kent, Maureen) met again on Tuesday for the fourth of our six Zoom meetings with Jennie Wolf Smith from GSB Fundraising in the Building a Culture of Generosity program that we are participating in. Our Zoom meeting this week focused on how to conduct a response to our campaign and how to report results. Henry will provide a generosity temple talk at the beginning of our services. You can view Week 2 Bulletin Insert HERE.
Transition Team Update
The Transition Team met on Thursday afternoon. We briefly debriefed the Small Group gatherings, noting that a total of about 80 members attended a small group. Many other comments from those unable or choosing not to attend a meeting were gathered from the paper and online survey that asked members to identify the five most critical TASKS that your new pastor will need to address, the five gifts for ministry that your next pastor MUST bring to the congregation, and five more gifts that would be HELPFUL for your next pastor to have. Team members received copies of all the responses, and we noted the obvious highlights and main concerns ("This is taking too long" and "We need to attract new members, especially families")
We reviewed a time line of what happens which includes the following items:
- Transition team completes Ministry Site Profile (MSP)
- MSP is shared with our Call Process Facilitator (one for each conference in the Synod) with possible suggestions for changes or clarifications.
- When final version of MSP is determined by Transition Team, it is submitted electronicallly to our Synod Office.
- Bishop Daniel will review the profile, and if all is well, will sign off on it and forward it to ELCA Churchwide office. When the Churchwide Office receives the written reference (for Grace it will be Pr. Matt), the profile will go live with the following information
- Congregation name, location, region and synod
- 75 word ministry site description
- Any candidate that wants to be considered for the call to Grace can contact the synod office for more information
- Our synod Call Process Facilitators meet weekly to interview candidates and review MSP's. Pastor Henry, one of the facilitators, has indicated that there have been no candidates for the Facilitators to interview for the past three weeks. When there are new candidates, Facilitators try to match, as much as possible, ministry sites with candidates. When possible "good fits" are found, Facilitators will send MSP's to candidates for review. Candidate then decides whether or not his or her profile should be sent to that congregation's call committee
- Call Committee reviews all candidate profiles, and decides whether or not to request an interview
- Interview may result in second interview, and eventual vote to call by congregation, or notifying candidate that call committee is continuing its search and discernment
In our meeting we then reviewed significant elements of the MSP, and assigned specific elements to individual Team members, who will work on those elements during the coming week and bring to next meeting on Thursday, October 28 at 4:30 pm.
Nominations for Call Committee
The November issue of Grace and Truth arrived in your email inbox this morning, and will arrive soon, if not already in your USPS box. On page 5 is a Call Committee Nomination Form which you can use to nominate Grace members for the Call Committee. The form will be a bulletin insert for the weekends of October 31, November 7, and November 14. I'm asking that forms be returned or submitted by Monday, November 15. Council will appoint the Call Committee from the nominee list at their December 13 meeting. You are encouraged to submit your nominations - the easiest way to do so is using the oneline version, which you can view and submit HERE.
Bridge of Hope 21 Days of Giving
I received this email from Ashley Wynn, Bridge of Hope Coordinator:
Hello LIFT Pastors,
I wanted to let you know about this 21 Days of Thanksgiving that I put together for Bridge of Hope. Attached you will find a calendar for November, with a suggested donation to Bridge of Hope for each of the first 21 days in November, as well as a Psalm reading and short prayer of thanksgiving for each day. This will be included in the November LIFT newsletter. If you choose to have your congregation participate feel free to let me know when you have items that need to be picked up, or if you would rather, you can also drop them off at Hayes Memorial UMC during office hours, Monday-Friday 10AM-4PM. Thank you for all of the support you provide for Bridge of Hope.
Grace and peace,
Ashley
You can view and/or download the calendar HERE.
Latest Osterholm Podcast
Dr. Michael Osterholm, founder and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, continues to deliver solid scientific analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic in his weekly podcasts. In this episode, posted on October 21 and entitled "Implement, Study, Learn," Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss the state of the pandemic in the UK, Russia, and Japan, and what this could mean for the US, as well as the rise in cases in Northern US states, the new recommendations on booster doses, and communication surrounding vaccine mandates. You can listen to or download this episode HERE.
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