Happenings and Messages from Grace Lutheran Church! | |
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This is a quick weekly reminder of what is happening at Grace
in worship and in ways to connect and serve.
Sunday Worship
8:45am (Traditional) and 10:30am (Contemporary)
Wednesday Night Programing
begins at 5:30pm with Worship at 7pm
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Continuing the Healthy Screens Conversation | |
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TONIGHT Wednesday, January 31 5:15-6:50 pm
Merri Guggisberg will be back again this week to continue the conversation with parents.
Mental Health Team is providing pizza again free of cost to all families on Wednesday night. Pizza served starting at 5:15 pm while supplies last.
Parents
conversation will begin at 5:45 in Portable 1B. Note the change in location. If you were unable to join us last week, know that you are welcome to attend this week's conversation.
Kids Night Out and Catechism
will meet at their regularly scheduled time 6:00PM.
KNO will meet in the preschool classroom
Catechism will begin in 105/107 for large group.
Adult Bible Study will also begin at 6:00 in Classroom 106
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Friends of Grace,
Transitions continue to happen at Grace especially because of our building project. We are so thankful for all the support people have given and the flexibility as spaces change.
I wanted to ask for your prayers for our communication specialist/bookkeeper Marie Kolar, who fell last week on the ice. Unfortunately, Marie had a bone in her back burst. We are praying for her pain relief, fast and effective recovery, for her husband Dave and whole family as they navigate physical therapy and everything else that goes along with a back injury. Because of the injury Marie will also be out of the office for a while. We are anticipating 4-6 weeks, but still not certain and it will all depend on how her recovery goes. In the meantime, any financial questions should go to Tracie Russell, our church administrator.
| You will also notice below that we are posting for two positions, a bookkeeper, and an administrative assistant. Even before Marie was hurt, we had planned to post the bookkeeper position. This is because the rumors are true, our beloved Kris Miller will be retiring at the end of May. In an effort to fill Kris’s position and start training, we have been reorganizing our team and Marie will be taking over some of Kris’s job, including volunteer coordination and organization and stepping down from her bookkeeper job. However, while we had planned to wait a little longer for an administrative assistant, given everything going on we decided to post both jobs at this time. We recognize this will give us time to find the right person as well as have adequate time for Kris to share her wisdom. | |
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Kris Miller will have worked at Grace for 28 years in June. She is beloved by our staff and our congregation. She is also ready to enjoy more time at the cabin and with her grandkids and husband. We will miss her greatly; however she assures me she’s not going to disappear. Thanks be to God. We will be celebrating Kris the last Sunday in April, and our currently organizing a team to plan this event. Nancy Jenkins has volunteered to head up this extravaganza. If you are willing or wanting to be a part of this team, please contact Nancy at dnjenkins@comcast.net
Please hold our staff in prayer during this time of transition and especially pray for the healing of Marie. If you have any questions, please reach out.
Blessings,
Pastor Joanna Mitchell
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Hiring New Positions at Grace
Come join our team!
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Annual Congregational Meeting
Sunday, February 4, 2024
10:00am in the Sanctuary
The Annual Congregational Meeting will be on Feb. 4th at 10:00am in the Sanctuary. There will be two votes cast. The first vote is on the 2024 budget and the second vote is for whom to send as Voting Members to the Synod Assembly. In order to be able to vote on these items, you must be a Confirmed or Official Member of Grace Lutheran Church.
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While our construction crew is enjoying the amazing weather and getting a lot of work done outside, there are also projects being prepared for inside.
Our infant room will be moving down to 105/107 (our largest classroom) sometime next week. Our kitchen is also being cleaned out. The construction crew is planning on starting renovations immediately following Ash Wednesday. This has some big effects on our life at Grace. First, we will not be having Lenten Suppers. You are welcome to bring your own dinner and sit with each other in one of the classrooms during Lent if you want to eat here. We also will not have our traditional coffee maker. So we are inquiring to see if we can pick coffee up from a local store and exploring various options. We don't know quite what this looks like, but it gives us a great chance to connect with our neighbors and share our construction story. If you want to help either with coffee pick up, or being a part of this exploration contact Pastor Joanna Mitchell.
Our new speakers are also schedule to be installed in our sanctuary this week! We are very excited about this and also want to remind you that our sound transformation won't be complete until our walls have been furred out and we have installed sound panels.
Thank you to all who have adjusted their space and also helped move and rearrange furniture. Thank you for your patience as we make adjustments and try to get our space and our sounds working best!
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Droolin' Moose Fundraiser
THANK YOU to all who helped support our youth by purchasing Droolin' Moose chocolate! Chocolate will be available for pickup and distribution on Sunday, February 11th (just in time for Valentine’s Day).
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Wild Mountain Youth/Family Ski Day!
Please join us for an outing to Wild Mountain! Anoka-Hennepin is on break Monday, February 19th for President’s Day. Let’s have a ski/snowboard day! We are inviting all adults, families, children, youth and friends. New skiers/boarders and old pros are invited to sign up. Students under 6th grade must have an adult join them. We will carpool from church at 9:00am. Youth without adult supervision will be supervised and driven by an adult leader. Cost is: $31 and anyone needing ski or snowboard rental will be additional $25. You can bring additional money for food/snacks if you desire or bring a lunch. Grace will be providing some small snacks for this event. Please sign up by February 5th.
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Administrator's Corner:
2024 Marks a new year of giving towards the various ministries of Grace. If you've changed or updated your pledges for 2024 this does not automatically update your giving. Please review your giving setup in realm or reach out to tracier@graceandover.org for any help adjusting or setting up automated giving. We are so thankful for your continued support of Grace and our ministries!!!
Financial Giving Statements were sent out via email last Thursday. Please utilize the second statement that was sent, not the first as the first was missing some of our giving categories. Those that don't have an email setup in Realm will be receiving statements in the mail this week. If there are any issues with your statement or you did not receive one and feel you should have please reach out to tracier@graceandover.org or call the church office at 763-421-6520.
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Girls Night Out
The next "Girls Night Out" will be held on Monday, February 5th. We will meet at Acapulco restaurant in Andover at 6:00pm. Hope you can join us!
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Voting Members For
The Synod Assembly
Grace has spots for 3 voting members and 1 youth member to go to the Synod Assembly. Rochelle Poore, Deb Corey and Jan Anderson have generously stepped forward. We will be voting on those members at the Congregational Meeting. Important dates to note: Conference Assembly is on Saturday, February 10th from 9:00am to 12:30pm and Cross of Hope in Ramsey. The Synod Assembly is at Lord of Life in Ramsey on Thursday, May 2nd from 6:30pm to 8:30pm, Friday, May 3rd from 9:00am to 8:00pm and Saturday, May 4th from 9:00am to 11:30am.
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Parent Date Night!
Feb. 16th
5:00-7:30pm
Kids will be having a movie night. This event is for kids of all ages. Kids will be signed in and out. If your child has food allergies let us know so we can have food for them other than pizza. The specific movie has not yet been chosen. No registration required just come! Four adults will be there as well as Middle School and High School volunteers.
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Empty Nesters / Parents of Independent Children
Empty Nester's will be having a gathering on Monday, February 19th at Chanticlear Pizza in Coon Rapids. We will be starting at 6 pm but feel free to arrive later as needed. Their address is: 11706 Crooked Lake Blvd NW, Coon Rapids 55433. All are Welcome!
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Giving Opportunities At Grace | |
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Women's 2024 Retreat
An inventory was done on the current donations we've received for our 2 service projects. We now only need the following items by Sunday, February 11, 2024.
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*Dove Brand, full size, neutral fragrance
(57 sets) Shampoo/Conditioner
43 Body Washes
79 Body Lotions
50 Shower Puffs
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Sand Creek Elementary Appreciation bags
Mechanical Pencils
Regular Pencils
Variety of Color Ink Pens
Thin Dry Erase Markers
82 small note pads/sticky notes
43 apple cider packets
84 cozy socks for women and men
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Prayers of the Church
Please pray especially for: Marie Kolar, Bob Powell, Jan Summers, Diana Heyer, Ruth Hildebrandt, Dave O’Brien, Vernitta Pahl, Kenny Zupon, Sherli & Ray, Bill Zimet, Curtis Breyette, Rick & Linda Breyette, John Malecha, Dan Doss, Jodi Montavon, Jerry Slater, Wayne Welle, Jan Summers, Bev Scott, Lois Vadner, Tara Swedberg, Dan Husak, Teri Beckers, Judy Herring, and Ann Lange. And all those in need of long term prayers: Leah Hadler, Rick & Linda Breyette, Clint Trousil, Diane Rosky, Shannan Gautschi, Juleen Klawiter, Stephanie and Samantha Fernandez, Linda Christiansen, Judi Wold, and Ralph & Colleen Wernimont.
Pray for those who are mourning: Jan and Wayne Margotto and family mourning the death of their nephew Patrick Roers; the Zepeda family grieving the tragic death of Gena Zepeda.
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