LEADERSHIP
Church Council
Executive Committee
Pastor: Rev. Paul Christian
President: Gregory Bergeret
Vice President: Mark McLain
Treasurer: Brian Barnes
Committee Chairs
Outreach Team: Dee Christian
Property: Bruce Smith
Stewardship: Kelly Sharpe
Congregational Life: Martina Smith
MINISTRIES
Congregational Life – Chair: Martina Smith
Congregational Life encompasses worship and education. We are a community of people which gathers in the name of Christ to hear God ’s Word, celebrate the Sacraments, ask His forgiveness, and respond in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. We invite you to also come worship Him. Services are held at 10:15 a.m. Sundays in the Main Sanctuary (Glass Doors). We celebrate communion on the first and third Sundays and provide Service of the Word on the second, fourth and fifth Sundays each month.
Congregational Life consists of several subcommittees which work together to educate and provide a meaningful worship experience for all who attend:
Music. Music is an integral part of our worship services. Praising God through music is an experience we all enjoy. Whether your musical gifts are vocal or instrumental, contemporary or traditional, we invite you to come and be part of our musical family, and maybe even consider joining our choir or LCOR Band!
Soundboard. The behind-the-scenes crew provides “sound” technical assistance with keeping the microphones on and the tones and volumes stable for optimum hearing for those experiencing worship in the pews.
Ushers. A group of dedicated members who greet people as they come in, make sure they have a bulletin for ease of following along, tidy up after service and even herald the beginning of the service with the ringing of the church bell!
Altar Guild. Another behind the scenes group that ensures the worship area is set for each Sunday’s service. They set up communion, ensure the paraments, or decorative hangings, are the right color and placed correctly, and they keep the linens clean.
Education. Because knowledge of God ’s Word is essential, Sunday school is encouraged for everyone. In addition to our Adult Sunday School class where we are currently studying Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God, Pastor provides classes to our young people for 1st communion and confirmation on an as-needed basis. Our youth are very important to us. They participate in worship as acolytes, lay readers, and communion assistants. Participation in Synod and church wide youth events are encouraged.
Outreach Team – (Social Ministry and Evangelism) Committee Chair: Dee Christian
Part of our mission as Christians is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins. The Outreach Team takes that mission to heart as they seek to get out into the community and embody our mission statement of reflecting the love of Jesus Christ in thought, word and deed. Some of the activities the team leads is feeding the hungry at the Hope Center on a quarterly basis, collecting hats, gloves, mittens, scarves, socks and other warm items on our annual Warming Tree, supporting the Downtown Churches United annual Walk Against Hunger, and supporting the local food pantry, Martha for the Homeless.
Stewardship Committee – Committee Chair: Kelly Sharpe
What do you think of when you hear the word “stewardship”? Money? Pledge cards? Stewardship encompasses so much more than money. It is a way of life. It calls for integration between our faith and the way that we live our lives — we are a church that is energized by lively engagement in our faith and life. Stewardship is a mindset, a culture and a discipline that can never be contained in an annual three-week financial response. According to Clarence Stoughton, former president of Wittenberg University, stewardship is everything we do after we say “I believe.” It is the way in which we use all of the resources that God has entrusted to our care so that we can love God and our neighbor. Stewardship is about love.
The practice of stewardship invites us to look in three different directions: DOWN, IN and OUT. We begin by looking at how God has come down to us. We then look in to discover all that God has entrusted to our care. We end by looking out to understand the needs of our neighbors. While these three actions may not always happen in this order, the practice of stewardship always invites all three. When we practice stewardship in this way we are making the sign of the cross. God makes the first vertical line DOWN; we follow by moving IN to the center and then OUT to our neighbors on either side both near and far. We form a cross with our lives and through our faith, we are marked with the cross of Christ forever.
At Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, we practice Stewardship year-round with quarterly dedicated Stewardship Sundays to provoke thought and prayer about how we can use our time, talents, and treasures to live out God’s call to love God and our neighbors.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ~ Matthew 22:37-39
Property Committee – Committee Chair: Bruce Smith
Keeping the church in good repair is the business of the property committee. From replacing the roof, to painting to fixing the toilet, the property committee provides oversight for all things maintenance and repair.
