This is a quick reminder of what is happening at Grace this week in Worship and in ways to connect and serve in the next seven days.
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A Message from Pastor Joanna Mitchell
Dear Grace Friends,
This Sunday we will celebrate Pentecost, which is often called the birthday of the church. Acts 2 begins the people gathered in one place, when the Holy Spirit comes upon them in rush of violent wind. By the end of the passage, all the people have received the power of the Holy Spirit, and they go out into the world to share the good news of God’s love and forgiveness with everyone they encounter. As I read this story again, I find myself drawn to the words, “together in one place.” It has been a long time, since we have all been “together in one place,” and yet, the work of God’s Spirit is
not
contingent on people gathering in one place. In fact, the exact opposite is true. It is the sending of people out into the world that the good news is spread, that the church grows, and that God’s love is poured into the world. Grace Lutheran Church is alive and well, out in the world, sharing our faith, caring for our neighbor and following God’s Spirit.
Now that restrictions are being lifted on faith communities in our state, the question arises “when will we gather together in one place for worship?” It is an important question and one that I take very seriously. As much as I want to fling the doors of our church building back open and welcome you all, it is not the responsible thing to do. We need to take into consideration what are the best practices to have in place for the health and well-being of our people. We are following the guidelines put together by our insurance company, as well as our synod. We have formed a task-force to work on putting together policies and procedures for various stages of opening. We will be meeting for the first time tonight (Thursday May 28
th
). This task-force will create a document that will lay out our plans for the weeks and months ahead as we figure out how to slowly reopen. I will share with you this plan once it is completed.
In the meantime, the staff has set a target date for June 28
th
to have “Drive-in Worship.” This worship experience will allow us to come together from the safety of our cars. We are excited about this possibility and will keep you updated on how to participate. Please know we will continue to offer virtual worship as well. We are hopeful that we will find unique and safe ways to worship together like this throughout the summer.
Finally, I am excited to welcome to our Grace Staff, Frances Fernandez. Frances will be our new church administrator. Frances is a member of Grace Lutheran, an assistant minister at our 8:45am worship and a member of our SALT team. Frances has exceptional experience in administration through the health-care system. I feel so blessed to have her on our staff.
Grace Lutheran, please remember that God’s Holy Spirit lives in YOU! It is present in your homes, in your neighborhoods, and in our communities as we speak up on behalf of the oppressed, as we serve those in need, when we proclaim life in the face of death and when we act as people of forgiveness. Live today, empowered by God’s Spirit to live your faith and know that no matter where you are, God is with you.
Blessings,
Pastor Joanna Mitchell
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Bible Study
Join us for Thursday Morning Zoom Bible Study at 10 am with Pastor Joanna (or the Sunday preacher).
Join us on Thursday mornings at 10 am for a bible study. Bring your bibles, yourselves and your questions. If you don’t have a bible, bring your phone or your computer and we will navigate through bible gateway to help you find the scripture.
The Sunday scriptures that we will be studying over the next couple of weeks:
May 28th: Acts 2:1-21
June 4th: Matthew 28:16-20 and Psalm 8
June 11th: Acts 1:1-14
Join Zoom Meeting by clicking the link below.
Meeting ID: 824 9070 8973
Password: 981662
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Mental Health Connect Virtual “Breakfast of Hope”
Tuesday, June 2
7:30 am to 8:30 am
Dr. Michael Maddaus will speak on the topic of resiliency and the critical habits that lead to optimal physical, mental, and emotional performance. For more information about the speaker, please visit:
https://michaelmaddaus.com/
Mental Health Connect will also discuss its work with people with mental health concerns and offer resources to help you and your loved ones. Funds raised from this event will support the mission of Mental Health Connect. For more information about this event and to register, please visit the Mental Health Connect website:
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Grace Lutheran's Annual Ministries Report
May 2020
The May 2020 Annual Ministries Report is available online. Click the button below.
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Meet the Candidates for Vision Board
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We want to give thanks to Johnna Rohmer-Hirt and Alden Riley who have served on the Vision Board for the past three years, and also to Vickie Meade, who has served this past year after she was appointed to the board to complete a vacancy. The Nominating Committee approached nine members of Grace and the following three candidates agreed to run at this time.
The following candidates are presented by the Grace Lutheran Church Nominating Committee to be elected for the open Vision Board positions to serve 3 year terms. The 2020 Vision Board Elections will be held during the 2020 May Congregational Meeting, which will be held on May 31st at 9:00 am via Zoom.
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Hello, my name is Lori Ackerson and I have been going to Grace since 2005. I live in Oak Grove with my husband Greg, my daughter Sara (17) and our dog Sacha. I am a Patient Care Supervisor and Registered Nurse at Mercy Hospital for both of our campuses in Coon Rapids and Fridley (Unity campus). I serve on the World Wide Village Board of Directors and Walker Methodist Board of Directors. I love serving in a variety of ways at our church. I currently serve on the Grace2Haiti team leading trips to Haiti and the Abandoned Children’s Ministry. I have served on Vision Board in the past and also the Call Committee and Transition Team. Thank you for your consideration. I’d be honored to serve Grace in this capacity!
Lori Ackerson
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I have been a member of Grace Lutheran since 2007. I have been happily married to my wife Becky for 45 years and we have three adult children. Along with our children come three grandchildren and soon to be a fourth! I have been very blessed with my family. Becky and I have lived in Andover since 2002 and I recently retired last June 2019.
I am a regular usher at Grace, and frequently participate in FMSC and OK@Play events. We have sponsored two children through African Children Today; Ester, until she left the school when she was 17, and now we sponsor Rosette. In early 2012 Greg Ackerson asked me to go on the first Grace to Haiti trip in July 2012. I said yes, and that really affected me in a positive way. I also worked with the Free 2B Grace Stewardship Drive; and worked on Grace’s 50
th
Anniversary committee. Recently, I started helping out as an overnight attendant with Family Promise.
One of my greater passions is being active with the Coon Rapids Lions Club. The Lions motto is “We Serve.” Through that I am still involved with Boy Scouts through a troop and Cub Scout Pack that our club sponsors. I am also a trustee and co-treasurer with the Minnesota Lions Diabetes Foundation.
One of the great things I have always loved about Grace Lutheran Church is the staff! I have always felt connected to our leadership with our pastors and interim pastors as well. And of course, we have the friendliest congregation too!
If I am elected to serve on the Vision Board, I will do my best to help as needed.
Joel Anderson
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My wife Amy and I have been members of Grace for seven years now. We have two children, Maya (15) and Alex (13).
I came to Grace through the Cub Scout program where I served in many leadership roles. Finishing my time with them as the Cubmaster for the last two years. In my professional career I’ve been in the service department for GEPHART ELECTRIC for the past 15 years.
In my church life, for the last 5 years we have been sponsoring a girl in Uganda through the Grace 4 Rakai program. I have co-taught Sunday School to the 4-5 graders. I was also a mentor for Own Your Faith. Currently I am looking forward to becoming more involved with Family Promise. As well as other opportunities as they become available.
Thank you for your consideration.
Brook Vanderleest
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Annual Congregation Meeting
May 31st at 9:00 am
Our Annual Meeting will take place at 9 am on May 31
st
over Zoom to vote on our future Vision Board. Candidate write-ups are available in our Program Annual Report, which is available in this Grace at a Glance (see above). We recognize that not everyone is comfortable using Zoom, so Pastor Joanna will be hosting another Zoom Open House at 9 am on May 30th. Zoom does give the option of calling into the meeting, so you do not have to use Zoom to participate in the meeting. If you have any questions about this process, please call the church office and speak to Pastor Joanna Mitchell. We will have printed copies of the annual report available at the church office for those of you who need them.
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Link for Zoom
Open House for May 30th at 9:00 am:
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Link for Zoom
Annual Congregational Meeting on May 3
1
st
at 9:00 am:
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New Church Administrator
We are excited to welcome to the Grace Staff, Frances Fernandez. Frances will be our new church administrator. Frances is a member of Grace Lutheran, an assistant minister at our 8:45 am worship and a member of our SALT team. Frances has exceptional experience in administration in non-profit and health-care systems. Frances, husband Carlos and daughters Samantha (15) and Stephanie (14) reside in Andover. They also have an adult son, Alek, and daughter-in-law, Sierra, who reside in Florida. Frances enjoys gardening, photography, hiking, sightseeing and scrapbooking. We are blessed to have her as a part of the Grace team.
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The Darkest Night of Your Life Virtual 4K Walk/Run
Sponsored by HOPE 4 Youth
Friday, June 5, 2020
7:00 - 9:00 PM
In your own home or neighborhood!
On any given night, there are more than 6,000 youth experiencing homelessness in Minnesota. When darkness sets in, these youth are staying in their cars, couch-hopping or sleeping on the streets. HOPE 4 Youth, a nonprofit that provides pathways to end youth homelessness, is hosting
The Darkest Night of Your Life VIRTUAL 4K
to raise awareness of what these youth experience and to raise funds so they never have to experience it again.
Whether you run on a treadmill, jog around the neighborhood or walk around the block, you’re invited to participate in this year’s virtual event for all ages! Register online at
https://www.hope4youthmn.org/4k/
and invite others to join you! This is a great way to stay connected with family and friends (while social distancing) and to make a positive impact together! Once registered, you are ready to help HOPE 4 Youth raise additional funds to end youth homelessness.
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Send Us Your Photos
Send us your photos. We would love to have new and updated photos of you all. While we would love to see photos of you in red, like Pastor Hahn here in this picture, we really don't care what color you wear. Please email in your family photos to
grace@graceandover.org
so that we can update your photos in our system. We still don't have 10 photos submitted, so if you are in the first 10 you can receive a prize.
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Worship
Worship will be posted by 5:00 pm on Saturday. Please join us for worship on our webpage, Youtube channel, or on our Facebook page. We invite you to take pictures of your family worshipping together and posting them in the comments, so that we can see you and imagine being together.
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Devotions
The staff at Grace Lutheran are providing daily devotions through our website and Facebook page.
If you would like to write a devotion to share with the community at Grace please contact Pastor Joanna Mitchell at
joannam@graceandover.org
Thank you!
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Zoom Connect Time and
Prayer Gathering
New Zoom Page on our website:
We have created a new page on our website with all the Zoom opportunities that are happening regularly at Grace. This site is your go-to website to join the Sunday Prayer Gathering, Thursday Morning Bible study, and much more. Click below to check it out
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Consider electronic giving on GraceLink. It’s a convenient way to give consistently throughout the year. If you have any questions, contact Kate or Marie in the Church Office or Click on the GraceLink logo below.
If you are wondering where your giving is for the year, please log in to GraceLink. Find Giving on the tool bar. Then select My Giving History.
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To minimize the spread of COVID-19 and out of love and concern for our church family and community, all worship services, program organizations and activities are cancelled until further notice.
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Links to Grace Lutheran's YouTube Channel
and Daily Devotion Posts
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Virtual Worship will be posted online at:
www.graceandover.org
and on our Facebook page at
Grace Lutheran Church@graceandover by 5:00 pm on Saturday.
We hope that you will join us at a time that works best for you.
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