Bay View Lutheran Church 340 W Maple St Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 Phone: 920-743-4705 Fax: 920-743-4079 E-mail: bayview@bvlc.org Web site: www.bvlc.org Faith Seeking Understanding A Time of Plenty, a Time of Want It doesn t seem that long ago when the Door County area was in extreme want of rain. Lawns were brown, crops were meager, and gardens were unproductive. This year we struggle with an excess of rain, though not to the extent of other folks further south. We have little control over the climate but there are other areas of our life that we can control. Here at Bay View Lutheran we seem to be experiencing a greater fluctuation in worship attendance and financial giving than we normally see with the change in seasons. It is true that our nation and this community are still dealing with financial uncertainty, yet I don t think this fully explains our current situation. Despite real challenges many of you continue to attend church weekly, many of you continue to place financial support of Christ s mission as a top priority in your life. What about the rest of us? How can we increase our faithful response to the One who freely redeemed us? How might we inspire one another to greater acts of service, more frequent worship attendance and greater generosity in the giving of our financial blessings? When the waves of crisis rise high and threaten to swamp your life remember to cling to the rock of our salvation, the sure and constant source of all life and healing, Jesus. Remember that we are not on this journey alone, the body of Christ needs you and you need the body of Christ. Together with Christ as our head we can remain faithful and survive all times and all challenges. I pray for all of you and I hope to see each of you in church, Pastor Tim The Visitor August 2010 How Are You Serving Your Church? Last fall, Pastor Groth approached me at a church function and asked me in what capacity I was currently serving the church. I was embarrassed to admit that I really was not serving in any capacity other than substituting for the Sunday School program periodically. He then asked me to consider serving on the Evangelism Committee with him, which I gladly accepted. Pastor Groth s question really got me thinking about my commitment to our church. Why is it that so many of us (myself included) base our attendance and service on our own personal convenience? Is it because our lives are so busy that we don t make time for church? Are we simply unaware of programs that may be in need of help? Perhaps we need to take a look at reprioritizing our lives, and making sure we are putting the things that truly matter ahead of the trivial things that too often get in the way. Let s take a look at our own commitment to church and ask ourselves, What more could I do? For some of us that could mean increasing our attendance or offerings. Others among us may be able to join a program or find a committee to serve on. If you feel you are already doing what you can, how could you reach out and encourage other members of our congregation to become more active, or even encourage members of our community to make Bay View their church home? Bay View is a wonderful church. Let s be proud of it! Travis Grooters Board of Evangelism & Media Confirmation class for all students entering 7th or 8 th grade begins Wednesday September 15 th. Classes will be held weekly from 630-8pm. Registration is available on Bay View s website at www.bvlc.org. Registration forms may be filled out online and submitted electronically or printed and then mailed or dropped off at church. A complete schedule of classes and events will be available soon. Stay tuned! 1
Hi, it s Church Mouse! I hear that our kids had a good week in the great outdoors at Confirmation Camp. It s a great summer tradition... The grounds around church looked neat and inviting, thanks to a slew of volunteers mowing on a regular basis. They included Jeff and Justin Farley and Bill and Nancy Ruff. Trenton Phillips was here every other week - Go teenagers!! John and Kathy Campbell are the landscape gurus. Everybody even left my nest intact so considerate... Delane Jome was vigilantly on the lookout for dessert makers for Loaves and Fishes meals. I am well aware that those Friday night dinners have a reputation for good food and fine service. Way to contribute! Love you! Church Mouse Have you checked out the church s website lately? Do it as soon as you can! We have been updating and adding features to the website. If you access the church calendar and click on any of the scheduled events you can email an invitation to someone to have them attend with you; have it send a reminder to you via email so you don t forget the time and date. It really is a cool feature. You can now also give on line if you choose. You can set it up to make regular payments or just a one time deal. You can fill out a building use request as well as download the kitchen rules, food safety guidelines and the kitchen checklist. (these are under ministries, outreach) You can still download the applications for the scholarship and grants like before. You can find out what confirmation includes and more about WATT Kids and the HS Youth as well. We are still working on different aspects of the site but check us out and see how we are doing. Any suggestions please call the church office. 920-743- 4705 we would love to talk to you about them. 2 Lutheran World Relief Collections August to October, 2010 A Bay View Outreach Project LWR press releases through email have indicated great needs for health and school kits in Haiti, Africa and other disaster ridden and war torn areas of the world. They also have stayed right here in USA. The lists of things we need to form a health and school kit are in the narthex and you can take a copy with you for shopping days. One item from every family represented at Bay View would be a great example of Our Hands, God s Work. A box will be available for the collections. If a Christ Care or Youth/Confirmation group needs a project to work for, this one is it! Contact person..delane Jome, dcjome@charter.net 743-4764 REMINDER: Bay View has three opportunities for publically praying for ourselves and others. First, the long standing Prayer Hour at 9:00 every Wednesday morning. Please come and pray aloud or silently. Second, the Prayer Chains where a prayer of need or praise can be put on a phone tree. We treat this time with great sincerity and privacy. Lastly, when the call is given during the altar prayers, we have an opportunity to be with God in a very personal way. Please take advantage of these privileges. (Prayer Chain.call Bertha Anderson, 743-2785) Thank You! The celebration of my 50 th year of ordination into the ministry of the Lutheran Church which took place last Sunday was above and beyond anything I could have imagined. And, to all those who made it possible, thank you! And, God bless you! Pastor Jerry Groth The Parish Nurse/ Health and Wellness Ministry Team will host an End of Life Issues presentation on Thursday September 23 & 30, 2010 at 4:00 PM at Bay View Church. These discussions will include a doctor, a social worker, a chaplain and a mortician. There will be time for questions and discussion. A light dinner will be served at 6:00 PM. Hope you can join us.
If you can help please bring the items to Bay View by August 8 th. Thank You! 3
BAY VIEW LUTHERAN CHURCH COUNCIL MEETING Unapproved Minutes June 14, 2010 Members Present: Jim Downey, Jon Gast, Barb Gosser, Amanda Hatton, Ann Marie Heinz, Jeff Jacobson, Delane Jome, Bob Kellerman, Doris Loss, Carol Schubert, Excused: Steve Kase, Pastor Tim Malek (came late due to hospital visit) 1. Call to order: 6:30 p.m 2. Open Forum: Pastor Norman Peterson from Rhinelander was at church staying over with several youth from his church on a bike trip. He thanked council for allowing his group to stay at Bay View and told about the success of their bike trips over the years and raising funds for charity. Dan, Amanda, & Sydney Hatton gave verbal report on Synod Assembly. Written report provided and attached. 3. Devotions: Delane Jome 4. Approval of Agenda: Gast/Kellerman motion to approve agenda with addition of appointing new member to finance committee under the finance report. MC 5. Minutes: May 10, 2010, May 23, 2010 Kellerman/Jome motion to approve minutes of both meetings as written. MC 6. Bookkeeper's report: Treasurer: Gosser/Jome motion to instruct bookkeeper to use funds from Account 9000 at Bank Mutual to pay interest on building fund as needed.mc Schubert/Heinz motion to approve treasurer s report as presented. MC 7. Pastoral reports: See written reports 8. Old business: a. Bay View Lutheran Church Endowment: Downey/Kellerman motion to fund the BVLC Endowment with $50,000 from the Cermak gift. MC Finance committee will come back to council with recommendation for remaining amount of Cermak Gift. 9. New Business a. Building Use Requests: Hatton/Gosser motion to approve building use request for Sons of Norway MC b. Gast/Jome motion to appoint Bob Kellerman, Jeff Jacobson, and Steve Kase to research mortgage options for building addition. MC 10. Reports of Committees, and Task Forces: See written reports Administration: Continuing work on developing policy and guidelines book Personnel: Jome/Schubert motion to approve job description for Director of Christian Education MC Finance: Jome/Gast motion to appoint Ruth Scholz to Finance Committee in Lois Hanson s place. MC Bob gave update on requests of Audit Committee Evangelism: Continuing to sell cookbooks Fellowship: Participated in Pastor Jerry s Anniversary celebration. Have been working on a calendar of fellowship events. Learning: no meeting Property: report provided Service/Hunger Response/Health & Wellness Ministry: Highway cleanup went well good turnout. No Health/Wellness meeting until July Sharing: Beginning discussion on stewardship program. Report included. Worship: Youth: Wrapped up activities for school year and on hiatus until Fall Endowment - reports quarterly in January, April, July, October 11. Announcements a. Articles on MB activities and projects for Visitor due July 15, 2010 b. Coffee with Council June 20, 2010 Delane Jome, Coordinator c. There will be no July Council Meeting unless something comes up. 12. Adjourn: Gast/Schubert motion to adjourn 8:20 p.m. MC The Lord s Prayer Respectfully submitted, Barb Gosser 4
Treasurer's Report by Bob Kellerman May 2010 Our receipts for May ($26,130.51) exceeded our expenses ($24,981.21) by $1,149.30. This puts our general operating fund in the black by $9,547.53 an increase of $1,161.54 over last month. This is good news! The concern is that overall we are running a deficit of $4,278.36. Our revenue for 2010 is down by $6,436.22 compared to 2009. Also, we are $25,217.77 behind our projected budget. I encourage everyone to review their commitments and in those situations where we are not caught up to recommit to catching up. May 2010 Receipts $26,130.51 Expenses $24,981.21 Interest $12.24 Net $1,161.54 Treasurer's Report by Bob Kellerman June 2010 Our receipts for June were $23,387.86, while our expenses for June were $25,832.69 resulting in a deficit of $2,444.83 for the month. For the year 2010 we are running a deficit of $6,832.76. The concern is that the trend for the year is this deficit continues to increase. June 2010 Receipts $23,387.86 Expenses $25,832.69 Interest $124.74 Net ($2, 320.09) Last month Confirmation students, Pastor Tim and Shannon attended Confirmation Camp at Imago Dei Village near Clintonville. They enjoyed a week of faith formation through worship, workshops, play, fellowship, quest (bible study) and Initiatives (group building). Together the group explored their faith in a variety of ways while surrounded by God's creation. Each night the entire camp gathered for an inspirational campfire filled with stories, music and song. The group enjoyed a beautiful canoe trip down the Wolf River. They experienced God's creation the old fashioned way with a wilderness submersion. After hiking out to the "120", the group pitched tents and started a fire to cook their meals over. They spent the night and came back to camp exhausted early the next morning. All this was led by very talented camp counselors, support staff, youth workers and Pastors.. 5
Bay View Lutheran Church 340 W Maple St Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID STURGEON BAY WI PERMIT NO 211 Return Service Requested Address Label LIFE: A Precious Thing Delane Jome The number fifty in the years of life seems to be a pivotal point. Birthday people get black balloons and over the hill jokes. Others are looked up to and advice is freely given. The years approach fifty very quickly, if you re lucky. When you get there, it could be the beginning of the best part of your life. We celebrated with Pastor Jerry on his 50 th anniversary of ordination. We thank him for giving us part of those years. It s a great accomplishment; a precious thing, this business of life. I will go to a dinner soon with people that went out to be teachers fifty years ago. We graduated from a small county two-year college located in Algoma. It was a unique experience because you knew right away if teaching was something that you d like well enough to spend the long days and nights into the future. It turned out it was for me. We ll find out about others. This life, short or long, is so precious. As I write this I think about the news of a very young man, so distraught about life, that he closed it before he could fully realize the worth of himself and the precious gift of life. I pray for what that action leaves behind. I pray God will send all of us out to be mentors and eye witnesses to His Truth to everyone who needs their self worth lifted up. That s what teaching has been for me and I pray for those who enter the profession. 6