Call to Serve: Service Needs

May 19, 2009

Contact Pastor Wendy or Matthew Cleaver to explore an interest!

All of these tasks can be adapted according to the amount of time you would like to give and other desires you might have.

• Taste of Hope Equipment, Donations and Volunteers Needed: Music and a free barbeque will be served on our front lawn to launch Vacation Bible School on June 14. Sign-up to donate or assist on the Narthex (lobby) bulletin board. Contact Janie Marjonen
• Vacation Bible School– (June 14-18) Many volunteers are needed for small or larger roles—some of them behind the scenes and some working with the children. Contact Deb Burleson
• Sunday Morning Worship Team: Ushers, readers, communion assistants, coffee, greeters, nursery assistants, prayer leaders, anointing with oil. Orientation or training provided. Contact Kathy Longstreet
• Adopt a Room: You may adopt the kitchen, attic, nursery, or one of the Sunday School rooms, keeping it clean and neat on an ongoing basis.
• Adopt a Small Section of Gutters: Periodically clean a small section
• Assemble Music 15 Binders —for blended worship
• Funeral Coordinator– We have one person and could use a couple of others.
• Church Directory– John Johnson has offered to assemble and print a pictoral directory. This will not be possible unless a few others assist with coordination.
• Altar Guild– Contact Hazel Linder if you would like to prepare the Lord’s Supper and the altar for one month out of the year.
• Day Intercessors– Pray for our church on assigned day each week.
• Food Pantry Liaison– Communicate the needs (financial and volunteers).
• Set-up Christmas Tree– Next year!
• Adopt the Playground– Weed control and other basic upkeep
• Church Scrapbook–Assemble the church’s history
• Be a substitute for our regular mowers. We have regular mowers for all four sections of the yard. Someone maintains the equipment and provides the gas.
• Do you have a new idea for something that you personally would like to make happen?

Lutheran Marriage Encounter

May 16, 2009

A Weekend Of Discovery… A Life Time Of Love!

October 16-18, 2009

Lutheran Marriage Encounter Weekends are for husbands & wives who are in love and want to make that love even stronger.  The Weekend is an opportunity for husbands & wives to get away from the every day hassles.  It is a time to focus on their lives together.  The Weekend improves communication between husbands and wives.  Three Lutheran lay couples and a Lutheran clergy couple lead the Weekend.  They help the husbands & wives become more sensitive to the needs of each other.  The Weekend is a rich experience that touches those married 5 years or long enough to be grandparents.  It is a very private experience.  Husbands & wives practice the communication skills in the privacy of their own rooms.  The Weekend is not group oriented.  There are no group discussions.  It is for any couple that is in love and wants to continue living together in the vows they made on their wedding day.

Marriage Encounter is the world’s largest pro-marriage organization.  Over 2 million couples have attended weekends in over 65 countries.  Over 80,000 couples have attended Lutheran Marriage Encounter Weekends.  Over 2000 Lutheran clergy couples have attended.

The Weekend is not just an educational event.  Couples will hear about the life experiences of the couples leading the weekend.  After each presentation couples will reflect on how the topic has been part of their lives.  After individual reflection, couples return to the privacy of their hotel rooms to communicate together.   What makes the weekend a powerful experience is the openness of the presentations and the universality of the topics.  This environment encourages couples to be lovingly open with each other.  During the course of the weekend the husbands & wives practice using techniques for individual reflection and couple communications.  Because there are no group discussions, each couple starts communicating at the level they are currently comfortable and works to become more open.   The weekend is a very personal and private experience.

The Weekend begins on Friday at 7:30 pm and ends on Sunday evening at about 5 pm.  The application fee is $45.  During the Weekend there is an opportunity to make an anonymous contribution to cover the Weekend expenses.   Applications after 30 days prior to the weekend are as space is available.  For more information talk to Pastor, call Herb & Betty Doller (972-780-0920, HerbDoller {at} sbcglobal(.)net, info {at} LME-dfw(.)org) or Allen & Jeannine Gray (817-913-3615), allenandjeanninegray {at} yahoo(.)com.  To apply call Chris & Roger Williams (972-530-1218), Application {at} lme-dfw(.)org). More info at: http://www.LME-dfw.org.

Congregational Letter

May 12, 2009

The following is a letter that was mailed out to all members of our congregation. We should receive it in the mail any day now.

Dear Friends,

This letter will update you on changes regarding the mailing of our Heralds newsletter, and serve as notice to all voting members of the May semi-annual meeting. The semi-annual meeting will be held on May 17, following 10:30AM worship. A light lunch will be served. The agenda will include elections and the redefinition of Wendy’s call at Hope. Pastor Wendy will be redirecting her hours to serve the non-profit teaching mission, Call Inc. Attached is the proposal for redefinition that has been approved and recommended by the Council to the congregation (you may view this by clicking here). It has also been reviewed and received the blessing of the NTNL bishop. Matthew Cleaver desires to assume Wendy’s Ministry Development responsibilities in addition to devoting half of his time to directing the youth ministry. The Council has already approved an opportunity to obtain a youth ministry intern through John Brown University, Zach Poulter (pursuing a youth ministry degree), to assist Matt with the youth ministry. Zach will serve with Hope from May to December. Read more in the April and May Heralds newsletters.

The nominations from the Nominating Committee for the May 17 elections are:

President Elect:

• Candy Moltz (she is already serving by appointment)

Council Members-at-large:

• Barbara York (she is already serving by appointment)
• Carrie Hamilton
• Bryan Pender

Nominating Committee Voting Members:

• Margaret Bengtson
• Steve Harr
• Carol Newman
• Janice Wessa

Additional nominations may be submitted to Wayne Wooley.

This letter will also serve as notice that we will no longer be bulk mailing our congregation’s monthly newsletter, Heralds of Hope. We are doing this both to be prudent in tough economic times, and to be more “green,” not contributing to the paper deluge that each of you receives by mail. If you would like to continue to receive it, here are your options. The newsletter as well as other information is available on our newly redesigned website, www.hopelutheran.net under the resources tab. Our secretary, Karine Samer (hopesecretary {at} sbcglobal(.)net), will provide you with email notification when the latest version is available. Many in our congregation have requested to receive it in this manner. It is also available in printed form in the Narthex (lobby) of our building. Notification of the latest version is put in members’ mailboxes. If these options are unavailable or challenging for you, we will still mail it to you. Please consider making a donation to cover the added cost of regular postage ($10-12/year). Please make your request to Karine.

Sincerely in Christ,

Pastor Joel Berthelsen
Pastor Wendy Berthelsen
Wayne Wooley, Council President

Redefinition of Wendy’s Call to Hope Lutheran

May 12, 2009

The following was sent out as an attachment to a congregational letter recently, which should arrive in your mailbox any day now. You may read the content of the letter by clicking here. The redefinition of Wendy’s call will be a topic during our May 17 congregational meeting.

Redefinition of Wendy’s Call to Hope Lutheran

Proposed Job Description for Word and Sacrament Ministry

Title: Associate Pastor of Ministry in Daily Life

• She will continue to preach at least once per quarter – perhaps more around significant seasons – Lent, Holy Week, Advent and Christmas. She also will continue to preside at worship and over the Lord’s Supper as needed, particularly on Wednesday evenings.
• She will continue to teach weekly the Timothy Project Bible Study (The Timothy Project Bible Study seeks to teach and study the entire Bible over a three-year period of time with attention given to the practice of spiritual disciplines. This is a significant equipping/training function of the congregation. Here at Hope, we are now on our second time of going through the entire Bible).
• She will continue to teach regular (1-2 times/year) “call seminars” – teaching all people about God’s unique call for all of life: “ministry in daily life.”
• Because of her experience and training, she will serve in an advisory role to ministry development (lay ministry development, launch of new ministries and missions, spiritual growth, training, and stewardship development) and the supervision of youth ministry interns. These previous functions of Wendy’s will be overseen and assumed by Matthew Cleaver.
• All pastoral care requests will be referred to Pastor Joel. She will be available for pastoral emergencies when Pastor Joel is unavailable.
• She will be sent by Hope, serving as “missionary” with Call inc. – non-profit Christian teaching mission organization, approved under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Call inc. is overseen and directed by a Board of Directors and Board of Advisors. Wendy’s ministry with Call inc. will be an extension of Hope’s mission and ministry. As with other missionaries and missional organizations, the Call inc. Board of Directors and Board of Advisors will oversee and direct all of her activities with Call inc. She will set-up and work from a home office with Call inc. For more info, see www.callinc.org.

Accountability: She will report her Call inc. activities to Hope’s congregation in a manner similar to Hope’s other missionaries. She will make reports to the congregation at both semi-annual meetings. She will provide the Call Inc. newsletters (issued 2-3 times/year) to the Council and congregation. She will make oral reports to the Council when requested. If desired, the Council may request a formal evaluation of Wendy’s responsibilities directly related to Hope from the Mutual Ministries Committee’s pastoral review team.

Office: She will maintain an office at Hope for the above responsibilities, but she will require no secretarial support from Hope’s secretary.

Hours: She will not keep regular office hours. Wendy’s hours devoted directly related to Hope’s ministry will be irregular. Hope hours (average/week over the course of a year): 2.5 hours. Call Inc. hours: 25 hours

Compensation: Call inc. is self-supporting and financially independent from Hope. Call inc. will assume responsibility for providing the resources for Wendy’s present compensation (salary, FICA offset, pension, disability) though Hope will administer and issue her compensation. Over and above Wendy’s present compensation, Hope will reimburse her for activities that are directly related to Hope’s ministry on a stipend basis for these tasks: $150 per Sun AM sermon (NTNL Synod recommends $200), $200/short class (4-8 sessions), $300 for Timothy Project (33 sessions/year, $150 payable in Dec/May). 2009 Cost: $450