Congratulations and best wishes to Randy and Stephanie! He has accepted a new call to be a pastor at New Creation Lutheran Church in Perham, MN. Pastor Randy’s last Sunday at Faith Lutheran will be May 19, 2013. Click here to read some of Randy’s reflections on his 16 years of ministry at Faith Lutheran.

Pastor Randy and Stephanie Freund

Bring your family, bring a friend, or come and meet someone new at this birthday celebration of our church and all this church does locally and globally.

Estate gifts like hers can significantly reduce the term and cost of the mortgage on our new building. This frees up thousands of dollars for our ministry, which would have gone to interest payments.

Your Challenge: give a special offering on Sun. May 19 to the Pentecost Paydown.

This is the second High-5 special offering for this year, and the only High-5 offering designated to support our mortgage. Ask yourself:

• Could you help our church match all or most of Maureen’s $31,000 gift to Legacy of Faith… Moving Forward with extra or accelerated gifts to the capital campaign?
• Would you remember Faith Lutheran in your estate plans, so you can keep supporting this ministry far into the future?

Thank you for all of your support of Faith Lutheran Church and the ministry God has given to us here! We are so grateful for Maureen’s faithful generosity! God has richly blessed us to be a blessing.

Learn about online giving to Faith Lutheran.

This Bible Study/luncheon meets at Faith twice per month on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays from 12-1pm (first meeting is May 21). We will meet to develop Christian leadership skills for work, home, and in relationships. We will start with a study on the book Visioneering by Andy Stanley, which is focused on the book of Nehemiah in the Bible.

This is about building female leaders in the community of Hutchinson to make our community better, strong, more gracious. Please speak with Jessi Wendland (320-223-0187 or jessiwendland@gmail.com) with questions! Weekly commitment isn’t mandatory; this is an open forum.

What to bring: your lunch, Visioneering (book)

Photo by hspray, Creative Commons

1.  What and who do you rely on for your standards, convictions, and truth?

2. What does it tel us that Jesus’ first word of the Great Commission is “stay,” and not “go”?

• What other congregation would attempt a two-site ministry in a town of 13,000 people?
• What other congregation would hear a missionary from India speak and form its own 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (New Hope Mission Society) to support it?
• What other congregation would call and deploy a pastor to the WordAlone Network?
• Leave it to Faith Lutheran to call a 3rd full time pastor and have her (unwittingly) cause a firestorm by having a pastor (rather than a bishop) ordain her.
• What other congregation would receive the gift of a 6,000 square foot building and turn it into a Hope Center that serves our whole community, despite our church’s need for space?
• What church dedicates a major building addition and votes to withdraw from its denomination at about the same time?
• What other congregation launches an inter-generational FaithLife Camp, which had 90 participants in its first year?
• What other youth group has so many going on a mission trip that YouthWorks must ask the local Fire Marshal to authorize more space?

I could go on, but I think you get my point about the kind of ministry I’ve experienced in these past years. When you hang around “edgy” and “out there” ministry like that, it starts to work on a person. Pretty soon you find yourself pulling up stakes and taking a part-time call to a mission start congregation.

In the April Pastor’s Page and in much of what I have said since, I’ve tried to be clear about one aspect of the call that I have accepted. This decision has nothing to do with Faith Lutheran or the way I feel about it. But upon further reflection, I have come to conclude that this decision has EVERYTHING to do with Faith Lutheran and the way I feel about it.

This congregation does not ask “Why us?” Rather, it asks, “Why NOT us?” This congregation does not think that the call of God is for someone else or for some other time. I am confident that this is a “personality trait” of this congregation that will go on. But more than a personality trait, it is the call of the living God.

Faith Lutheran has left a deep imprint on Stephanie and me. We will always treasure this place. We leave with deep gratitude and thankfulness to you and to God. We will continue to pray for this congregation, especially leaders and staff in a time of transition. I have the same confidence about this congregation that St. Paul did about a congregation he knew well. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6).

To God Be the Glory,
Pastor Randy Freund

Pastor Randy Freund

Following the 10am Outdoor Worship Service on June 23, there will be a light lunch, then teams will go out to work on their projects. These teams of adults, families, and students will work from 12-4pm.

Projects for these teams might include: painting, garbage/yard waste pick-up, raking, garden cleanup, garden tilling, moving, gutter cleaning, washing windows, house cleaning, landscaping, or anything else you might need help with. Just think of how much work you could get done with some extra helping hands!

Have a project you want completed? Willing to volunteer? Call the church office at 320-587-2093, or email julieg@faithlc.com.

To have your offerings transferred electronically to the church on a regular basis, Click the link below to set up a one-time or recurring gift to Faith Lutheran online:

Simply Giving Online

Or click the link below to view and print a paper form to sign up for a 3-month trial of Simply Giving. Return the form to the church office.

Print 3-Month Special Simply Giving Form

Benefits for you:

• The satisfaction of giving to God first
• Easier to fulfill stewardship commitments
• Easier to contribute when you are away
• More secure than bringing cash or checks to church

Benefits for our church:

• Cultivates consistent giving
• More predictable cash flow for better planning
• Less work for office staff
• Secure and easy cash maintenance

Participants in this program will continue to receive offering envelopes, including envelopes for special offerings for a variety of needs. You may continue to participate in the offering during church by marking the envelopes as “Simply Giving” (SG) and placing them in the offering plates.

View the video below to learn how Simply Giving is an easy way to give intentionally via electronic transfer.

1. Why does God encourage us to ask Him?

2. What makes us truly joyful?

3. How can we be sure God is listening to our asking?

1. What deep questions about the Christian faith do you wish God would answer more clearly?

2. Why did Jesus not give his disciples a clearer answer to their questions? Why doesn’t he answer our questions more clearly?

3. What is God’s final answer to the questions we have? How can that one answer be sufficient for all our questions?