First Lutheran’s capital campaign, Our Church ☩ Our Time, launched October 15th with a kickoff event that included great food, time to talk with friends and time to listen to our keynote speaker, John McHugh. John shared four stories about what it means to love, what it means to live with gratitude and what it means to be hospitable. We say we want to become more grateful, loving, hospitable people so John’s stories were very welcome. While he spoke, our kids played in the Pertzsch gymnasium, which I heard (from my kids anyway) was great fun! “We should do that more often” was what my 10-year-old son told me. Maybe he’s right.

What if First Lutheran no longer had a mortgage payment? What if we had a Foundation (endowment) that is able to generate $50,000 per year rather than $12,000 to $15,000? What if we gathered enough financial resources to address all the deferred maintenance issues that have accumulated in the last ten years?

I love watching our coffee hour, seeing people interacting with one another, talking, laughing, joking. There’s a table where one group always gathers, with the group members fluctuating throughout the year. We have others who float from table to table talking to almost everyone. We have some who sit quietly by themselves over in the couch area, and, of course, there are our coffee hosts going to each table filling coffee cups and enjoying getting to know those they serve. Our coffee hour is a wonderful time to talk to those you know and to get to know others you don’t know.

Leading the young youth of our congregation has been an amazing experience and a continuous string of blessings since I started. Thus, it is with a very sad heart and mixed feelings that I am leaving this ministry.