The Parables

March CALENDAR

2 Prime Time

6 Garden Day at Peace

8 CLEO

Council Meeting

13 Men's Meeting (a.m.)

Women's Tea (p.m.)

APRIL BIRTHDAYS

FORMING We are formed in the Gospel of God's grace.

CHURCH COUNCIL

Peace Lutheran Church Council Meeting

November 20th, 2023

Present: Lyle Walters, Phil Coghill, Pastor Orrey McFarland, Madelynn Ratke, and Gregg Hostetler (Online - Microsoft Teams)

Guests: Joe Palmer, Alyssa Hostetler, Carole Beranek, Crum Family (Online - Microsoft Teams), and Mel Stensrud (Online - Microsoft Teams)

The meeting opened at 7:04 P.M. McFarland opened with prayer.

Approval of Minutes (October): Minutes stand approved by consent

Guest Comments:

● Carol Beranek asked about the HSA for Julia and equity in staff treatment. She also would like the organ to be played more, and commented on song selection in worship.

○ Pastor will talk with Catherine Jaroszewski and Steve Wackerly since Steve is on the forming team. ○ Joe Palmer explained how HSAs work and that Julia’s state teacher retirement plan will not qualify for a HSA.

Reports:

Facilities Report:

● Front portico finished on budget ● Wiring in the disaster warehouse is 85% done ● Alex Pflaum is busy with his other job ● Worker’s comp certificate is needed for anyone who comes on the property to do work, audit in January will attach worker’s comp certificate ● Wiring in the disaster warehouse is just for lights not heating and cooling

Report:

● Brief discussion occurred. ● Motion by McFarland to approve the August and September financial reports, seconded by Walters. Motion carries.

Pastor’s Report:

● Preparing for Advent and Christmas ● Advent midweek suppers and Holden Evening Prayer ● Children’s Ministry event

○ December 17th meal after service

● Getting ready for Christmas ● Gingerbread event will be during Sunday School on December 3rd ● Christmas Program will be on December 17th during Sunday School

Items for Discussion and Possible Action:

Approval of August & September 2023 Financial Reports: ● See above

Policy for Contributions to Pastor’s HDHP:

● Renewal in March ● $7700 currently but increase next year to $8400 ● The church would add the amount to replenish on a monthly basis Joe Palmer will write it out officially after receiving more info in January

Recommendation for Health Savings Account for Julia:

● HSA is a no-go (see Guest Comments above)

Facilities Director position opening:

● The person who is considering it wants to help shape the position ● Need to officially meet with person who is considering it, McFarland to get the ball rolling ● We would need to use proceeds from the parsonage property sale to supplement ● We can hopefully have someone in January ● Alex Pflaum will remain through the end of the year

Additional discussion from Joe Palmer regarding the handicap signs, visitor parking spots, and preschool visitor spaces in the parking lot.

Action on proceeds from parsonage property sale:

● Parsonage Property Proceeds to be divided as such:

○ Future staffing: $73,326 ○ Sending: $73,348 ○ Asset Preservation Fund: $462,226

● Motion by McFarland to distribute funds accordingly, dedicated fund for future staffing, and allow Kevin Clarke to open a high yield savings account. Seconded by Walters. Motion carries.

● Additional discussion occurred:

○ No time frame for the proceeds distributed to future staffing and sending to be spent as they will both be in dedicated funds. ○ Future councils will need to be aware of interest being swept out of account on a quarterly basis.

2024 Council Retreat:

● February 9th - 11th, 2024 ● To be determined if it will include other staff ● Coghill to sign contract

New Business:

● Coghill received a phone call from the developer who purchased the parsonage property. He requested a 10 ft easement on the south side of our property to tie into the sewer system. Council was in favor of granting the easement. Coghill will confirm requirements for access and paperwork. ● Suggested to carve out an hour to talk about bylaws during the church council retreat as they need some work throughout to be consistent. ○ Bylaws and constitution should be updated to reflect council ○ Staff policies and procedures need to be updated ● Christmas Party tentatively on December 16th for staff and council and will serve as the December meeting.

Next Church Council meeting date and time: Monday, January 15th, 2024 at 7:00 P.M. Council Installation will be on January 14th, 2024.

A comment was made to include an agenda item about Asset Preservation discussion in the January council meeting.

The meeting closed with the Lord’s Prayer. The meeting adjourned at 8:00 P.M.



INSTANT CHURCH DIRECTORY



Peace has an online directory at members.InstantChurchDirectory.com. Follow the prompts under "Sign In" and "Create a login now". You must confirm your email address before you can sign in.

There is a free mobile app available for download on the Apple app store in iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon Fire app. Simply search for "Instant Church Directory" to get the download.

You will need to use your email address as listed in the directory to create a log in the first time you use the directory online or via the mobile app.

ANCHORING We are anchored in Christ-centered relationships.

PEACE PRESCHOOL

Last month was incredibly busy for the children at Peace Preschool! Not only did we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and Easter, but the children also enjoyed two Intergenerational Exchanges with Veraden. The preschool has always had a wonderful relationship with our neighbor across the street as they usually host two holiday parties a year for the preschoolers. In return, the children delight the residents with their favorite songs and finger plays. However this year, three of their Seniors came over for the first time to read to our classes. The sweet Veraden ladies entertained the children with their stories and talked about their families and how they enjoyed reading. We hope to host a repeat performance next year as a great time was had by all.

Another celebration at Peace Preschool is our St. Patrick’s Day traditions. Each year some friendly (but mischievous) leprechauns visit the preschool leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. In music, our “lads and lassies” enjoyed singing some silly songs and dancing the Irish “jig” to celebrate the holiday. Every day the children would find one more trick the leprechauns had played on them in their classroom. Traps were created by the preschoolers and set each day. The leprechauns always left “clues” of green confetti and even some little foot prints but the tricksters were too quick for the students to catch. At the end of the week, a penny trail was found that led to a “pot of gold” (candy) and the students were delighted to take home their treasure. The leprechauns left a note that they needed to return home to Ireland. However, we are sure they will return to play more tricks at Peace Preschool next year. You can see all the teachers love to dress up in silly green attire for this fun week too.☘️

With Easter landing on the last Sunday in March, Peace Preschool came back from Spring Break to celebrate this Holy Day. All week the teachers had art activities, read books and talked about the true meaning of Easter. Pastor Orrey also shared this special Bible story with all the children at Chapel Time. Then on Maundy Thursday, each class was treated to their own Easter Egg Hunt. You can see that little Benjamin and Lydia brought their baskets to school and were ready to gather some Easter Eggs. It was also a treat to see many of our Preschool Families at the Easter party that the church hosted last Saturday. What a wonderful way to share Jesus’ love with others. We hope you had a blessed Easter too!

In Christ’s Love, Miss Sonya

CHILDREN

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who helped with our Easter Party! Whether it was volunteering to set up, clean up, cook pretzels, supervise the games, or just donating eggs, YOU ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

Join us for an adventure at Camp Firelight VBS this summer, June 24-27. Registration is open for participants at www.peace-lutheran.net/vbs and volunteers can sign up in the Narthex. 

MEMORY WORK

We are continuing with memory work. This month we will be memorizing 1 John 4:19. . We started to learn a song and some sign language. I have attached both videos for you to have access to at home. We will work on this verse each Sunday, learning the song and sign language, over the next month. I have a special small surprise for each child when they have learned this verse .

 We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

SUNDAY SCHOOL OFFERING

Our offering this spring will be going to Project 66 again, but this time we will put together both Birthday bags and Hygiene bags. We will plan to put these together during Sunday school in the beginning of May.

PARENT RESOURCES FOR FAMILY DEVOTIONS

Please know that if you have any questions, or ever would like more resources to use at home with your family for family reading, devotions, hands on activities, please reach out to me.

NURSERY UPDATE

If you are ever cleaning the house and have gently used toys or books, we would love them for our church nursery! Unsure if what you have might work or want to stop by Walmart and pick something up for the nursery, talk to Julia for more info!

CAMP Opportunities for children and families:

Camp Lutherhoma Summer 2024 https://www.lutherhoma.com/summer-camp

Find more information about all the camp options for youth camps for ages7-9, ages 9-12 and for family camps being offered this summer where you can have your family enjoy camp for the whole week or 1, 2, 3 days. Flyers are in the narthex, check out the website or ask Julia for more information.

YOUTH

LOFT - Letting Our Faith Thrive

All 6th grade - 12th grade students are invited to gather on Wednesday nights at 6:00 p.m.

The Lent season has blessed our youth group with a switch-up in our usual Wednesday night routine. It has been nice to have dinner & mid-week service to share with the church congregation. Beginning April 3^rd LOFT will spend 6 weeks studying Philippians. This is a new publisher that we will be trying out. Rooted Ministries has a lot of youth-level, Gospel-centered curriculums for churches to use. I am excited to see how these resources go over with the students.

         In March the youth group spent an afternoon bowling, eating, and playing arcades at Bowlero. We got to spend a couple of hours with teams of boys and girls trying to outscore one another in bowling. In April we will have a movie night at the church. This is a more low-key, relaxing evening of hanging out, with food and fellowship.

So I commend the enjoyment of life because there is nothing better

for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun. Ecclesiastes 8:15

Many blessings to you,

Christy Jackson

Your trusty youth director

"I think Nexus would be a great opportunity for some of our high school youth at Peace Lutheran Church! I will be working at Nexus this summer as a Nexus mentor if anyone has questions about Nexus." - Luke Ratke

For more information, please click on the button below.

ADULT

WEB - Women Exploring the Bible - This study is led by Jane Ratke and meets every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. in the Parish Hall.  The next 6 week lesson will be on The Book of Ruth and starts on April 9. Nursery help is needed for two hours on Tuesday mornings. Contact Jane Ratke (ratke1@cox.net) for more information. 

CLEO - Christian Ladies Eating Out - Next meeting on Monday, April 8 at The Lookout at Kickingbird Golf Course inEdmond. We will begin at 11:30 a.m. All are welcome!

SENDING We are sent out in Spirit-empowered mission.

Parsonage Sale Allocation. God is good all the time!! In March, the Sending Team received the wonderful news that the Church Council allocated $73,348 from the sale of the parsonage to support the Sending ministry. We praised God for his goodness and how he has blessed Peace. In grateful response, we discussed how and where to send out these funds sooner than later.

Pr. Orrey asked what would it take to pay-off San Miguel Lutheran Church’s remaining obligation to the ELCA? We estimated $51,000. The Sending Team reached an immediate consensus that this would lift a tremendous financial burden on the ministry of San Miguel and Pr. Juan and be a proper way to use these funds. “Pr. Juan was so grateful and thanked us at least 4 times when I talked to him!” Pr. Orrey reported.

San Miguel has been our mission partner since 2020. Located in Ft. Worth, Texas, San Miguel is a thriving Spanish-speaking congregation that joined the North American Lutheran Church in 2015. Their former church body, the ELCA, told them that if they left, they would have to pay for their church property. In 2020 a negotiated settlement was reached to pay the ELCA just $80,000 over the next ten years. This was a daunting amount for San Miguel during the COVID years especially when attendance plummeted. Peace played a role in helping to make monthly payments and encouraging several other Texas congregations to join them for the first couple of years

Pr. Juan told us that last year, San Miguel’s two Sunday services and various special services reached around 350 people. These include: 95 baptisms, 54 first communions, 18 confirmations, 8 weddings, 6 funerals, 45 Quinceaneras, and two 3-day presentations. In addition they hold: Tuesday youth meetings; Thursday bible classes; and Saturday immigration services.

It was also decided to use the funds to support the following:

• To join Pastor John Conrad and First Lutheran Church, Floresville, Texas to complete the funding needed to build three more classrooms for the Kararo Christian School in Ethiopia by adding approximately $8,600 to t he $2417 contributed from Lenten offerings.
• Provide $3,500 for ten partial summer camping scholarships at Camp Lutherhoma near Tahlequah (funds not spent this year would roll over into next year).
• The remaining funds would support a variety of missions and missional activities.

From our Global Missionary Pr. Didi Panzo. Our global mission partner, Pr. Didi Panzo, who is serving in western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had the opportunity to meet with Bishop Dan Selbo and other Lutheran Bishops and ecumenical mission partners from Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya in Nairobi in March. Pr. Didi accompanied the Bishop of the confessional Lutheran church in the Congo. Their hope is that a more formalized relationship can be established between the Congo Church and the NALC.

Disaster Warehouse News. Look for upcoming announcements about restocking our Disaster Warehouse. The wildfires in Texas depleted our supply. PLC volunteers drove 200+ miles west of Edmond to the Texas panhandle with supplies from northern Texas warehouses and our own. They included 500 flood buckets, 420 health kits, 300 Quilts, diapers, and towels. More of everything is needed including quilts.



Prayer Requests from Hope House Guthrie. Please keep praying for the Hope House medical clinic which is currently dealing with all the paperwork and legalities that come with a startup. The Clinic is a collaboration with the OU School of Nursing. Pray for God’s hand to be in the situation and that it comes together in a timely manner.

--Submitted by Lynn Kickingbird

Sending Financials

*Special Gifts - This is a dedicated account that includes restricted gifts and year-end surpluses from Giving.