Pondering from the Pastor

As I write this, August is well on its way to coming to an end, where did the summer go? All the chicks that were hatched in the spring are all grown up and ready to go south for the winter. We have had a plethora of orioles eating a jar of jelly a day from our jelly-feeders, it is so much fun to watch them! We know that soon they will migrate south and we won’t see them anymore till next spring. I have noticed that some of the trees have begun to turn colors, ugh!

We have lots of things to celebrate about this summer as we look forward to fall. First of all, we celebrated our 125^th Anniversary as a church, and what a blessed weekend that turned out to be with the dinner at Cormorant Town Hall where we hosted 150 people, and the concert by Beyond Blue on Saturday, and the Anniversary program here at church on Sunday where we had over 200 attend. Out of that came the new history book, and the write ups and pamphlet in the Lakes Area Connection and the Detroit Lakes Newspapers. Secondly, we can celebrate Julie Olsen coming on board as our new part-time secretary, and she has taken over producing the bulletins, newsletters, the new church brochure, and helping to produce the directories, thanks to Shawna Bahls for taking so many of the pictures for the directory. We are so grateful for their involvement. Third, we celebrated another great VBS with Jessica Skogen at the helm as our Sunday School Supt. and over 39 volunteers helping out with decorating, leading groups, kitchen help, pre-school and so much more. Thanks to Zion Lutheran for allowing us to use their shipwreck outside during our VBS. We are grateful for the 3 children who came to faith during VBS and the 7 children who rededicated themselves, they were very serious about their relationship with the Lord.

We have so much to look forward to in September, there will be Muffin Fellowship Sunday on September 2^nd after Church sponsored by our Missions team, a trap shoot at the Becker County Sportsman’s club on September 8^th, our fall Sunday School Kickoff on September 9^th, Encore Senior Celebration at Camp Shamineau on September 10^th and 11^th for those 55 and older, the fall startup of the Ladies Bible Study on the 14^th, the startup of our fall Sunday School on Sept. 16^th , the startup of Men’s Suppers again on the 21^st, plus all of our normal monthly activities. The Lord has given us a very special ministry to the community and we look forward to how the Lord is going to use us this year at Lake Eunice. Be praying about someone to lead the Parenting 101 class this fall, this is a vital ministry for our church, is the Lord calling you to lead? Remember, the Lord doesn’t always call the qualified, he always qualifies the called, that eliminates the excuse, “I don’t feel qualified,” yes you are with the Lord’s help!                 Pastor Dale