September 2017

(Continued next page)

Our Redeemer Staff

Intentional Interim Pastor: Pastor Butch Olsen olsenb1@msn.com 503.407.6869

School Director / Teacher: Darlene Thauland school@orlc.net

Ministry Coordinator: Laurie O’Brien laurieo@orlc.net

Ministry Assistant: Susan Stubblefield susans@orlc.net

Now that Pastor Olsen is in place as our Intentional Interim Pastor, members are encouraged to contact him if you should have an emergency or other need for spiritual support. (Contact info above.)

However, you are still free to contact your Elder to share concerns or ideas.

Ken Harms 503.579.5667 Gary Bickford 503.620.4814 Pete Eberlein 503.524.2190 Andy Johnson 503.521.8051 Chris Reid 503.624.8159

Our Redeemer’s Ministry Leaders Worship Team Leader: Amy Gehrke

Organist: Sandee Waide

Congregational President: Todd Reitmeier

Congregational VP: David Hardman

Congregational Secretary: Colleen Elings

Congregational Treasurer: Bob Peters

Assistant Treasurer: Brian Thauland

Finance Director: Brian Thauland

BOD Members-at-Large:

Rita Tornblad

Erin Eberlein

Ken Gullberg

Financial Secretary: Tom Moeller

Contributions Secretary: Susan Stubblefield

Board of Elders’ Chair: Ken Harms

Board of Properties Chair: Bob Peters, acting

Children’s Ministry Chair: Andrea Johnson

Youth Ministry Chair: Patrick Hendrix

School Board Chair: TBD

Sunday School Superintendents: Kimberlee Reitmeier

Assimilation & Stewardship Chair: Open

Altar Guild Chair: Waverly Peterson

Church Leadership & Board News Our Redeemer Lutheran Church

Board of Directors’ Meeting

August 8, 2017

Attending: Colleen Elings, Bob Peters, Pastor Butch, Rita Tornblad, Laurie O’Brien, Dave Hardman, Andy Johnson (Subbing for Ken Harms), Darlene Thauland, Brian Thauland, Todd Reitmeier, Erin Eberlein

Absent: Ken Gullberg, Ken Harms

Visitor: Susan Stubblefield

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm and Pastor Butch opened with prayer.

MINUTES

The minutes from the last meeting were approved as corrected.

REPORTS

1. Pastor’s Report: Pastor Butch shared that we have had many new members join our congregation and it is important we follow up with them to make them welcome. Pastor noted we have had a lot of visitors in the last several months and hopes they will join Our Redeemer. Confirmation will take place on September 17, with nine individuals currently in his class.

2. Elder’s Report: As Ken Harms was absent, Andy Johnson joined us and relayed that the BOE is short one Elder and the search to fill this spot continues. Filling the worship assistants’ calendar has been a bit of a challenge this summer. Starting this fall, the BOE will proactively fill in the gaps with those individuals who have served before. The BOE has been discussing the time and number of Sunday worship

services, with feedback received from many members of the congregation. Decisions will be made this month regarding our schedule for after Labor Day.

3. Treasurer’s Report: Bob Peters’ report showed that July finances reflect a surplus of $695. General Fund expenses for July were $21,218. General Fund offerings/income for the month were $21,913. Building Fund offerings/interest for the month were $520.

The General Fund balance at the end of the month was $55,033 of which $10,000 is earmarked for the Network Improvements Project and the Accounts Payable balance is $0. Borrowing from the Gift Fund is unchanged at $43,000. The total balance in the Building Fund accounts is $317,610 of which $263,406 is

dedicated toward new construction. Bob will begin an orderly redemption of Rein Fund CD balances to have cash on hand to pay for the new construction as the bills come due.

4. Board of Properties: Bob Peters shared that new floors were installed in our upstairs bathrooms and in the downstairs bathroom off the commons area. New toilets were also installed. On August 19, the parking lot will be re-striped, weather permitting. The refinishing and repair of the garbage enclosures is a proposed project for an Eagle Scout.

5. Board of Ministries: Dave Hardman reported that summer is a slow time for ministry activities. Upcoming activities will be the Church Picnic on Sept. 10, the

September 2017 Church Leadership & Board News

Hops baseball game on August 26 and Splash on August 18.

6. School Report: Darlene Thauland shared that Splash will run from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm on August 18. At the last Splash event, we had over 200 people in attendance. Members of our youth will set up and take down awnings, tables, and chairs. There are 71 children signed up for preschool and kindergarten, which starts in September. The 2017/2018 school year is the 10-year anniversary of our school. Alumni and celebration events are currently being planned.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

a. Approval of minutes via email will occur moving forward.

NEW BUSINESS

a. Worship Service Committee – The first committee meeting is being planned for August 24 to discuss how we might ‘spice up’ our worship services, especially the music portion and use of the projection system.

b. Rally Day Sunday – Rally Day is set for September 10. Todd will look for a volunteer to coordinate and plan food, decorations, and activities for the picnic.

c. Sanctuary Chairs – Laurie is working with a manufacturer to get an estimate on updating our chairs. A decision still needs to be made as to whether we outsource the replacement of the fabric and cushions, or whether members of the congregation take on the project. Holding a fundraiser to pay for this effort was discussed, as was using building/property funds.

d. ORLC.net website – We were informed that our website was hacked. There was no compromise of information or risk to our members from the event; worst case, someone may have attempted to co-opt the bandwidth from our site for their purposes. Corrective action has been taken by the company that hosts our site. Mark Christenson and Pete Eberlein are reviewing our site and will recommend appropriate action to put further safeguards in place.

NEXT MEETING

The next BOD meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 12, 2017.

Andy Johnson closed the meeting with prayer at 8:52 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Colleen Elings

Secretary, Board of Directors

Board of Directors’ Meeting

August 8, 2017 (Cont’d)

Our national Synod office, working hand-in-glove with officials in the Texas District, is going all out to help in any and every way possible those affected by Hurricane Harvey and the unprecedented flooding in southeastern Texas. Owing to the nature of massive disasters, no one yet knows the full picture of the situation or the exact plan for effective Lutheran responses.

We do know it will require a lot of physical support and aid over the long haul, along with prayers, Word and Sacrament ministry and pastoral counseling. A truly effective response demands that the people of the

Church walk and work in a coordinated way, because no one entity can handle something like this apart from the capacity others can bring to bear.

LCMS World Relief & Human Care and LCMS Disaster Response are already hard at work. There are more than 160 LCMS congregations in the affected areas. LCMS response groups are making it a priority to learn about the greatest and immediate needs of these congregations, with the goal that, after their needs are met, LCMS congregations will be able to serve as hubs of outreach in their communities.

What you can do :

STAY INFORMED

News and updates about LCMS response can be found at: lcms.org/harvey and facebook.com/thelcms.

PRAY

Lord of heaven and earth, we know that You hold all things in Your hands. In Your mercy, provide for the needs of those who have been affected by Hurricane Harvey and the rain that continues to fall, work through those who bring relief and aid, and protect all from any further harm. Draw all to the cross of Christ, who is our salvation now and always. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

GIVE

Your financial gifts will make a difference as we bear Christ’s mercy in word and deed to Hurricane Harvey victims. Call: 888-930-4438 Text: 41444, and type LCMSHARVEY in the

message field. You’ll receive a response with a link to a phone-friendly, secure donation form. Online, visit: https://www.lcms.org/givenow/

hurricane

Synod at Work with Texas Distr ict toward Hurricane Harvey Rel ief