Good day siblings in Christ,
Thank you to all who helped put last Sunday’s Christmas in July together. It was just a little bit of fun during a very hot month.
We are getting ready to start our 90th anniversary celebration on October 14th and 15th in 2023 (notice the year). While it seems far away, we will need to start planning and creating special events leading up to that weekend. We have a small oversight planning team who are coming up with ideas who met this week. Here is what we will be looking for:
- A dinner team of 2-3 people: This team will decide a dinner for Saturday or Sunday, catered or un catered, in a restaurant or not in a restaurant, pot luck or 9 course meal, and the program for that evening. This may involve feeding a large number of people anywhere from 50-150. This team should be in place by December/January
- A promotion team of 3-5 people: This team will look at creating flyers, ads, invites, and a special booklet around the history of the congregation. This is a bigger team because it may involve a bit more work, especially if we create a booklet or giveaway (a commemorative plate or ornament or other idea). This team, we will want to get into place by September/October of this year.
- A Worship Team: More than likely, this will be the usual worship team, but if there are others who would like to get involved to create special music, get people in place, and ensure we have speakers, we would love your help.
- A Special Gifts Team of 2-3 people: This may be the finance team or another team who are not afraid of asking for donations, keeping the books for our fundraising, and helping keep track of income and expenses related to this anniversary. For example, we have already received some special gifts as we get ready. Keeping track of who has donated for this event is important so we can acknowledge them.
This is a big event and we want to treat it that way. It should be a great weekend. It seems so far away, but it will be here in no time.
Throughout the year, I get questions from members that I think a larger group would like to hear answered. I am doing a small video series on some of those questions on our Facebook and YouTube channels. The first two have gone up: “Are we Evangelicals?” and “Why don’t Lutheran Churches Have Crucifixes?”. Thursday, “What Would Happen if Churches Got Taxed?” goes up. The answer to this one is more speculative than I would like, but I gave it a go.
If you have a question you would like addressed in one of these videos, feel free to email me or text or ask me in person. Learning about who we are as a church and as disciples is so important.
Please pray for our National Assembly happening the second week of August. This is the place where big church changing decisions get made. It is in Columbus, OH this year and I am a voting member representing Metro NY Synod. If you would like to watch it, the whole thing is streamed.
Pastor Johnson