Deerfield Lutheran Church

COMMITTEES

(reports from last year’s annual meeting)

Education:

Superintendent: Brad Schenkel
Teachers: Dani Bonifunt, Jane Holland, Patti Knapp,
Karen Saemann, Michelle Schmidt,
Kevin Shelley, Elizabeth Tebon

In May, the 4th grade class of 2006, received their 1st Holy Communion preceded by classes and projects which included making their own banners and communion cups.

This past summer, we found the Treasure which was The Holy Bible during VBS. Eighteen children participated and had a fun-filled week learning about Jesus’ love.

This fall our Sunday school began with a “hands-on” curriculum. We cook, experiment with science, do crafts, listen to stories, sing songs, and play games all around a theme. The fall theme was Peer Pressure, good and bad, and how to “stay strong”.

32 children are enrolled in Sunday school and six third-graders received their bibles on Reformation Sunday.

Our Christmas program was “Santa’s Favorite Story” telling the Santa’s favorite story about Jesus’ birth. The middle schoolers sang and took the part of the kings.

Fellowship:

The Fellowship Committee’s first task this year was to begin a meaningful fellowship time between services. Our success so far has been due to the support of many members who provided treats, often in honor of a special occasion in the life of a member. Mugs, collected in February to eliminate the use of styrofoam cups for the coffee, tea, or punch, continue to be used. A heartfelt thanks to all who have hosted a Coffee Fellowship and an invitation for everyone to consider volunteering to continue offering treats for this fellowship time by signing up on the OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE BOARD.
The Committee has also been in charge of the Lenten Supper organization, Name Tag Sundays, honoring of various volunteer groups, organizing the Joint Service Potluck, the Renewal of Wedding Vows Service, coordinating the decoration of the church for Christmas, and organizing the Epiphany soup/service held in January. We are also involved in the Midweek Communion-Potluck Services with the Outreach and Youth Committees. The Deep Fried Turkey Dinner held in October was a success; it raised funds to be used for new tables, supplies for improving our coffee/tea service, purchasing large print hymnals (when available), and supplies to use for decorating the church windows during Christmas.
The work of our members, Susan Jones, Jodell and Jeff Quamme is very much appreciated. A special thank you to Marge Peters who saw that the coffee pot was ready to be plugged in on many Sundays.
Public Relations is also a very important part of this committee’s responsibilities. The Independent has been very helpful in publishing the various articles and pictures about the activities we have happening at Deerfield Lutheran Church. The website for the church has been updated. Thanks to Steven Moerke and Kenny Connor who were able to update the site in the Spring. A Special Thank You to Rhonda Perry who set the website up so it can be easily updated by novices. If you have not done so, check out the website: http://www.deerfieldelca.org. Weekly and Special events, devotions, articles of interests, and also links to send messages to Pastor Sexe, Kathy Miles, or Laura Connor and yes, Gilbert and Stephanas are available! The slide show Deerfield Lutheran Church – 2006, which was shown prior to this year’s annual meeting, was also provided by the Fellowship Committee.

Respectfully Submitted,

Debra Holder-Sexe, Chairperson

Finance

Music & Worship:

Deerfield Lutheran Church continues to offer three weekly services to meet the needs of our congregation:

• Sunday 8:30 am offers a traditional worship setting.
• Sunday 10:45 am offers a contemporary worship setting.
o Summer Worship was one service only at 9:00 am from Memorial weekend through Labor Day weekend.
• Monday 7:00 pm offers a spoken communion service.

Two new worship opportunities were added in 2006. There is a monthly Communion Worship Service followed by a noon potluck organized by Stacey Brandenburg and Debbie Sexe, and the midweek Advent Family Night was organized by Becca Ziety.

Worship Committee members included Pastor Larry Sexe, Lois Anderson, Sharon Berge, Jennifer Frickelton, David Lemke, Jeff Quamme and Michael Rehak. Thank you for your faithful service!

Thank you to all who share their varied talents to enhance our worship services. We especially thank Lois Anderson, organist, and Jane Holland, guitarist, for leading our services through the entire year. Also, Jane continues to lead the Sunday School children in song and drama and their talents are very appreciated. Jennifer Frickelton is great help in scheduling the music used at the 10:45 am Service and her choices are very uplifting. Visits from Gilbert and Stephanas are enjoyed by all ages at Deerfield Lutheran. Thank you to Pira Mueller and Michael Rehak for the Liturgical Arts which beautifully enhances our worship space during the year. Appreciation also goes out to students, adults and visitors who have provided special music through the year.

I continue to lead the Senior Choir with the aid of Lois Anderson as accompanist. This group makes it a joyful task! Our schedule is to sing at the 8:30 am service Sept. through May and at the 10:45 am service on the 2nd Sunday of each of those months. We also have combined choir with St. Paul Liberty Lutheran once a month during the Summer. Jeff Quamme does a wonderful job with the Handbell Choir and as always, new or returning members are always welcome to either of these groups.

Kathy Miles is appreciated for providing monthly schedules for Worship Assistants. A workshop was held in October as a refresher course or for new prospects to learn the details of the various Worship Assistant volunteer opportunities. This will be scheduled again as the need arises.

Several Deerfield Lutheran members attended workshops introducing the Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) hymnal, to help provide for a smooth transition. The Worship Committee covered the $20.00 for worship leaders to attend. We anxiously await the arrival of our order!

During Lent we again had Soup Suppers. Our Lenten services each followed different styles of worship, such as African, South American, Taize, Contemporary, Tactile Symbols of Lent, and Healing.

Our Summer schedule included three enjoyable combined outdoor Sunday services with St. Paul Liberty Lutheran. What a wonderful opportunity for fellowship! We also hosted three Summer Music Celebrations on Monday evenings. We experienced the musical praise of Cambridge/Deerfield Women’s and Men’s Choirs and The Promised Band. July 30 was a very special service to Renew Wedding Vows.

Appreciation goes out to all who enhanced Thanksgiving Eve, Advent and Christmas Services with their talents and donations.

In closing I would like to thank Pastor Larry Sexe. We are inspired by his ability to teach us to apply God’s word to our day to day lives as we are “Called in worship to care for others by sharing Christ’s love.”

Respectfully submitted,

Laura Connor, Worship & Music Committee Chair

Outreach:

Outreach Committee had a good year. We started out by joining with Fellowship Committee and hosting soup lunch with a short worship during the Lent. The lunch was a great success and the attendees asked if we could continue the lunch with service. We provide a potluck lunch along with Pastor Sexe providing a worship service once a month on Wednesday.

A member of the Outreach Committee volunteered services over the summer at Lutherdale Bible Camp. For the service provided, Lutherdale will grant an amount of $300.00 to any member/members of DLC to attend camp for 2007.

I would like to thank all my committee members for a great year. They all do so much for the church and still find time to help on the Outreach Committee. Thanks also, to the Fellowship Committee for making our once a month potluck such a great success.

Always in Christ,

Stacey Brandenburg
Outreach Committee Chair

Personnel: Receives information regarding the performance of any salaried personnel and deal with them effectively, conduct an annual review of salaries and employment policies concerning salaried personnel and report its recommendations to the Finance Committee so that they may be considered in preparing the annual budget.

Property:

This past year has been a busy one for the Property Committee. This fall we replaced the roof of the church building. In December, new lighting was installed in the men’s restroom and the outside door locks were replaced, including a combination lock on the back door of the education wing.

Projects needing completion in 2007 include: remodeling of the men’s bathroom and replacement of the carpeting and ceiling tile downstairs.

It has been my pleasure serving as the Property Committee Chairperson over the past two years. The members of the Property Committee have many accomplishments of which we can be proud: new furnaces, air conditioning, remodeling of the women’s bathroom, new lighting in the sanctuary and education wing, new ceiling in the education wing, and lighting in the basement.

I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to all the members of the Property Committee and all project volunteers. We could not have accomplished this work without your help!

Russ Peacock

Stewardship:

This year’s committee members were Pira Mueller (Chair), Jeff Verink, Ron Knapwurst, Tom Miles, Michael Rehak, Mark Ziety (who joined us in November) and Larry Sexe, Pastor. Thank You for your time and efforts in evaluating our current giving patterns and bringing new awareness to the congregation about opportunities for giving and serving. You used your own experiences as examples to illustrate your passion about living out your faith with the hope of encouraging others to be bold in their involvement in the work of Jesus Christ.

Some of the activities of 2006 include:
- promotion of Automatic Funds Transfer for regular offerings; so far 10 families
- meeting with Connie Kilmark, financial counselor and vice president of our synod
- development of protocol for 5th Sunday offerings
- hosting of guest speakers for special missions:
Rev. Jim Koza for Skaalen Home
Rev. Martha Nack for Lutheran Social Services
Huldah Ellestad for ELCA World Hunger Relief
- presenting a series of temple talks in Oct. & Nov. focusing on different aspects of stewardship
- purchase of stewardship material (“New Beginnings”) to be implemented in 2007
- scheduling a series of workshops on personal finance for Jan./ Feb. 2007
- changing distribution of offering envelopes to membership; envelopes will now be included in the monthly newsletter; new envelope numbers were assigned!!

Fifth Sunday Offerings were as follows:
    2006      2005    2004
Jan. Lutherdale $505.00   $380.00 $335.00
Apr. Skaalen Home $511.00      N/A       N/A
Jul. Lutheran Social Services $605.00   $250.00 $540.00
Oct. MALC Jail Ministry $534.00   $401.00 $541.00
Dec. ELCA World Hunger Appeal           $1346.77 $2510.00 $953.00

The members of the Environmental Stewardship Committee (aka “Bag Ladies”) did not officially meet this year. However, they were approached by Mc Farland Lutheran Church about providing some small tote bags for children. Forty small book bags were sewn to be sent to a congregation in New York. Jodell Quamme, Debbie Sexe, Donna Schultz and Pira Mueller sewed the bags for this project. Thank You! In addition, Pira represented Deerfield Lutheran at the Mini Global Mission Event at Mc Farland Lutheran Church in October. Total bags sewn this year: 54, a total of 97 were sold; total sales: $243.50, total expenses for the year: $63.69, total net deposits; $179.81. The current balance in the Environmental Stewardship Fund: $1273.89. (This does not reflect a $400.00 gift to the property committee for an energy conservation project.)

Respectfully submitted

Pira Mueller (Chair)

Youth:

In 2006 numerous hours were put in by youth, parents & members of the congregation to help move our youth ministry to incredible heights. We started the year with 26 High School Youth committed to serving those in need on the Virginia Shore. They worked together as a team & succeeded in raising over $19,000 towards their trip! It was a great team building experience for teens & parents alike. When all was said & done, they were also able to pay down the Youth & Family debt by $10,000+ with $5000 in matching donations from the congregation.

The continuing program highlights of this past year are: JAVA Jive, “Seasoned Saints” interviews, Sunday morning KAIR & High School group, Confirmation mentoring program, acolyting, Mission trip & College Care Packages (See Kathy Miles report for more detail).

The new program highlights for this year are: Teen Lead Bible Study at the Cuda Cafe, Birthday Bags for the Community Center & Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald house serving of dinners, Auction Fundraiser, New “Club Nights” held monthly at a teens homes, this fall High School Youth helped with the Elementary Program and also assisted with the Crop Walk. Again, I’m sure Kathy will list more in her report!

It’s not possible to name each and every person as there are so many “silent” helpers including those who donate food, money, time & those that attend the different fundraisers put on by the youth, baking food, giving rides, helping to plan and just doing day to day activities at the church along with all parents who get their kids to all the activities. Thank you “silent helpers”!

The following are those I want to thank by name, please forgive me if I miss anyone!

Committee Members: Kathy Miles, Kay Verink, Todd Matheson, Trish Borgrud, Brittany Storms, Charlie Steen & Megan Quamme.

High School Youth who lead & gave input: Brittany Storms, Charlie Steen, Shannon Connor, Kenny Connor, Stephen Moerke and Matt Sebastian.

Confirmation mentors & all who volunteered to teach KAIR & the High School Group.

Adult Mission team leaders who donated LOADS of time working with the High School Mission Team before, during & after the trip: Kathy & Tom Miles, Jeff Moerke, Paul Brandenburg & Jenny Frickelton. With special mention to Jeff Moerke for his many hours given in leading up & keeping the Auction on track.

Last & definitely NOT least, my thanks to Kathy Miles who really covers everything wonderfully & keeps ideas moving in order to makes them happen. She is the main motor behind all of these programs. We are blessed to have her working with our youth - please thank her!

Our goals for 2007 are to build on what’s already been done & to improve on and organize the newer programs we started this year to make them additional solid programs for our youth.

Tracy Lamphere, Youth Committee Chair

Nominating: Provides a slate of nominees at the Annual Meeting for the Church Council positions that will be vacant at that time and for three Nominating Committee members.

Audit: Reviews the financial records of this congregation and provides a written report of their finding to the Church Council by the congregation’s Annual Meeting.

Constitution: Will review the constitution of Deerfield Lutheran Church and suggest changes that are necessary. (See Home page: President’s notes)