THE SHEPHERD’S VOICE

Scott Ingmanson calling a round of bingo

In This Issue

Hispanic Ministry

Presentation

“Getting to Know

You”

RMLHS Gala

Easter Outreach

Preschool Pizza

Outing

Game Night featured some “competitive” rounds of Bingo.

Game Night On Friday, February 13th our Fellowship Committee hosted a

game night. Over 40 people came and enjoyed free pizza

and some games.

Some of the highlights of the night included rounds of bingo

with prizes for the winners and a Bible Jeopardy tournament.

Others enjoyed board games, Twister, and putting together a

puzzle. Some wouldn’t leave until the puzzle was completed.

If you have any other ideas for future events please contact

one of the members our Fellowship Committee: Dan Hohen-

stein, Arlys Debban, Joan Ingmanson, and Trish Recknor.

Look in upcoming E-News and Notes for information on our

Easter Breakfast that will be served on Easter Sunday (April

5) at 8:00 am.

A Newsletter from Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church and Preschool March 2015

Getting to Know You… The Paul Soda Family

Where did you grow up (and how did you end up in the Greeley area)?

Paul grew up in Princeton, WI. He saw a photo of Colorado and wanted to move here someday. He moved to Greeley after his divorce.

Tell us a little about your kids?

Sean is 15. He is quiet, does well in school and wants to be an architect.

Callista is 13. She does well in school and plays the drums (like her dad!)

Sydney is 11. She’s quiet, does well in school. She loves animals and want to be a Vet.

Where do you work, and how long have you been there? What other jobs have you had?

Paul currently works as Vestas and has been there for over 3 years. Before that he was an Installation Technician for Comcast. He has also worked in Housing Maintenance for Edwards AFB in California.

What are your hobbies?

Hiking, biking, and photography.

Has your family gone on any trips recently?

This past summer we enjoyed hiking to Fern Falls in RMNP. We also went to Elitch’s Amusement Park.

Do you have a favorite sports team?

Being from Wisconsin, being a Green Bay Packers fan is sort of required.

RMLHS Gala: Shoot for the Stars

Rocky Mountain Lutheran High

School invites you to their Fifth

Annual Gala and Dinner

Auction.

The event will be held on

March 27, 2015, at the Church

Ranch Event Center in

Westminster (102nd & Old

Wadsworth).

Tickets for the event can be

purchased by returning the

RSVP found on the invitation in

your church mailbox or by

visiting the high school’s

website, www.rmlhs.org, and

selecting “Gala Tickets” in the

upper right corner.

The cost for the evening is $35/

person. The evening begins at

6:00pm and will include a silent

auction, dinner, live auction

and entertainment. Items to be

sold include: vacation geta-

ways, tickets, hand-crafted

items, specialized services,

and much more!

Babysitting will be provided

free of charge at Shepherd of

the Valley.

Please contact the office at 303

-346-1947 or email

kathy.kieselhorst@rmlhs.net

with questions or to make your

babysitting arrangements.

Sean, Callista, Paul, Sydney, and JoAnne (Troedel)

SOTH to Explore Phase 2 of “Pathway to Hispanic Outreach”

With Pastor Holtz, the lead-ers of the congregation and many church members real-izing an opportunity to reach out to the Hispanic commu-nity in Greeley, we asked WELS Hispanic Consultant, Tim Flunker to help us explore some options.

After meeting with Pastor Holtz in December of 2014, Pastor Flunker came up with a “Pathway to Hispanic Out-reach” for us. It is Three Phases that can help us explore the possibility of what Hispanic Outreach might look like for us in Greeley.

Phase 1

Community Profile

Pastor Flunker came to Greeley on February 6 & 7, walked around Greeley and asked questions in order to come up with a community profile. He shared his an-swers with us at his presen-tation. Those answers are being put together into a booklet for all members to study.

Phase 2 - Part I Awareness Session

This 4 hour opportunity will address three topics:

1) How Jesus conducted multicultural outreach?

2) Understanding our culture and the target culture

3) Determining which methodology works best in this situation

The Awareness Session is meant for everyone in the congregation. It is not a commitment to do

Pastor Tim Flunker gives his presentation on Hispanic Ministry Opportunities in Greeley

Hispanic Ministry Opportunities On Sunday, February 8th, Shepherd of the Hills had a special

Guest Preacher. It was Pastor Tim Flunker. He our WELS

Hispanic Ministry Consultant.

After the worship service he gave a presentation on the

possibilities for Hispanic Outreach in Greeley.

He shared with us information that he discovered while he

was walking around and asking questions on February 7th.

He did note that the Hispanic population in Greeley has

grown by 50% from 2000 – 2010 (22,600 to 33,500).

He talked about the religious reality with Hispanics in Greeley

right now and how we might reach out to them. He

encourages most congregations to Gather, teach and serve

in the English language. One of the ways he recommends

we could do that is by offering weekly English Improvement

Opportunities (EIO classes).

His preaching at a Sunday service and the presentation were

Phase I of a “Pathway to Hispanic Ministry” that Pastor

Flunker designed for us. Plans are underway for Phase II

(see sidebar article on the left).

Easter 2015 at SOTH

Our Easter Sunday this year will include a Sunrise Meditation

Service at 7:00 am and an Easter Festival Worship at 9:00am.

In between those two worship services we will be hosting an Easter

Breakfast which will begin at 8:00am. The Fellowship Committee

will be getting out information about that event soon.

After our Easter Festival worship the Outreach Committee will be

sponsoring an Easter Egg Hunt. It will begin at about 10:15am. If

you would like to help organize this event please contact Teresa

Hinz (970-301-7894, firewoman57@netzero.com).

On three separate days you’ll have the opportunity to hand out

Easter invitation postcards. Those days are Sunday, March 22nd

from Noon - 2:00pm (contact Kim Bollmeier), Friday, March 27th

from 9:00 - 11:00am (contact Phil Prellwitz), and Saturday, March

28th from 1:00—3:00pm (contact Pastor Holtz). We will just be

placing the invitations on the doors; no previous experience neces-

sary).

Maundy Thursday and Good Friday worship will be at 7:00pm.

Financial Report

Current account balances Checking Account $6,507.67 Savings Account $7,350.35 Unpaid bills $2,000.20 (all current-none past due) Payroll due on 03/01/2015 $4,293.21 We are now back on the full loan payment (principal & Interest). We are currently at 15.3% of the year (as of 02/25/2015). Our current spendable income is 15.4% of the proposed budget at this time. Our year to date expenses are at 15.6% of the budget as of 02/19/2015. Year to date income $26,685.98 (as of 02/25/2015) Year to date expenses $26,934.08 (as of 02/25/2015) See detailed financial reports posted in the Fellowship Hall. Thrivent members can designate their “Choice Dollars” to be giving to SOTH. You must now designate them every quarter, so plan on doing that the first week of March. Financial Elder Ken Debban

LWMS spring rally Saturday April 25,

Peace Lutheran in Boulder

Reporters meeting at 8:30 a.m.

General meeting starts at 9:00 a.m.

LWMS 52nd Annual Convention

June 25-28, 2015 Rapid City, SD

Registration available on line at

www.lwms.org

early registration must be postmarked by April 1

(continued on page 5)

multicultural outreach, but is meant to provide as much information as possible so that when decisions need to be made, they will be made on knowledge, not guessing.

Phase 2 - Part II

Planning Session

This session allows the congregation to investigate the methodologies, determine what works in the congregation and plan when to begin/implement the multicultural outreach.

Phase 3

Training / Orientation

Session

This 2 hour session happens when the congregation determines what methodology they are going to use to reach out in the multicultural setting. This gives the volunteers materials, practice time and the confidence to begin the outreach. At this time questions that deal specifi-cally with the outreach efforts will be addressed and answered.

Our Outreach Committee has decided to go ahead with Phase 2. They are waiting to hear back from Pastor Flunker to see if Saturday, April 18 is an acceptable date for him to come out to Greeley and join us for Phase 2.

Please mark your calendars and plan to join your fellow church members to explore this important ministry opportunity at SOTH.

Ninety-seven percent of all WELS congregations submitted Congre-gation Mission Offering (CMO) subscriptions for 2015. This is the highest percentage of congregations to submit subscriptions in sev-eral years. We are grateful for the prayerful commitments made by our congregations to support the work of the synod in the coming year and are confident that those congregations that did not submit subscriptions will also share in supporting our common mission, as they have in the past.

The total dollar amount of subscriptions, however, showed a 1.8% decline from actual offerings received in 2014. Total CMO subscrip-tions for 2015 are $20,617,656 compared to $21,264,681 in actual gifts received in 2014. Subscriptions from more than half of the con-gregations were higher or the same as their actual gifts in 2014, but a significant number of subscriptions were lower than the previous year’s totals.

Later this month, the Synodical Council (SC) will be putting the finish-ing touches on the Ministry Financial Plan (budget) it will present to the synod convention this summer. As the SC carries out that task, it will need to consider the challenges posed by this decline in CMO subscriptions and how it will affect the overall mission and ministry of the synod.

Last year, in response to lower-than-planned CMO commitments in 2014, the SC made reductions in the Ministry Financial Plan totaling $825,000 through program cuts, underspending, or other cost sav-ings. This action, along with the “CMO revisit” and the resulting actu-al offerings in 2014 that slightly exceeded the new commitments, should help to lessen the impact of lower 2015 CMO subscriptions. In addition, World Missions, Ministerial Education schools, and other areas of ministry have benefited from significant gifts from individuals and bequests.

It’s anticipated that the Synodical Council will present a Ministry Fi-nancial Plan to the convention that features no increase in planned synodical support for both years of the biennium. If offerings do ex-ceed what is anticipated (and we pray that is the case), the SC will recommend a list of unfunded priorities that could be implemented when funding becomes available.

God continues to bless our synod with the generous support of our congregations. Since he continues to place many opportunities to spread the gospel, we pray that he would continue to move our peo-ple to generous and joyful giving, motivated by the good news of what Christ has done for us and for a world of sinners.

Serving in Christ, President Mark Schroeder

News from the

WELS

Contact Us

Give us a call for more

information about our

ministries

Shepherd of the Hills

Lutheran Church &

Preschool

950 43rd Ave.

Greeley, CO 80634

(970) 353-6582

pastor@sothgreeley.org

Visit us on the web at

www.sothgreeley.org

Preschool and Pizza Mrs. Schott’s Pre-

school classes en-

joyed going on a field

trip to Old Chicago’s

on January 29th. The

students and their

parents/grandparents

went on a tour of the

kitchen and saw how

pizzas were made.

They also got a

chance to make their own personal pizza - putting on the sauce, cheese,

and toppings. Finally, they all got to taste their wonderful creations.

Enrollment for our Preschool class is now open to the public. If you know

of anyone who might be interested please pick up an Enrollment Packet

from the Preschool Office or have them call the Office during morning

hours.

950 43rd Ave.

Greeley, CO 80634

PLACE STAMP HERE

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