Fellowship Committee

Next Meeting Date: January 4th

General Agenda Items (discussion points, action items, follow-up items, etc.)

Recap of Past Events – What went well; what can we improve on

Fellowship Hour: Schedule went out through the 2^nd week in April. Mike will send reminders the week before

Potluck before Annual Meeting: We need to remember to schedule someone to set-up

Thanksgiving Pie Fellowship: Need more variety – too many pumpkin pies. Possibly separate sign-up next year for pumpkin and other. Not so much ice cream

Upcoming Events- What do we need to plan??

Caroling?: Too hard to schedule – Possibly something in January or February

Family Retreat at GEV: January 27-29 – What did we use for sign-up and pricing? Check with Becky or Dave Herder

Game Night: Saturday, January 14^th – After 5:30 service. Pizza and Games. Check with Mark to see if any youth could run some children’s games

Sledding at Ironwood Springs: Paul will call to see if there is any room during Christmas break

Potluck in February: Ethnic? Plan more next month

Items to Publicize: Winter Retreat

Game Night Later in Month

Agenda Items Requiring Assistance from Council

None

Status Report on GSLC Visioning Implementation Plan (use this space to share with council current status, accomplishments, new developments, or outstanding issues relevant to the goals your committee is tasked with as one of the champions)

N/A

Does your committee need assistance from the Long Range Planning Committee at this time to proceed with implementation of the GSLC Visioning Plan?

Date submitted: December 9, 2005 Council Liaison: Paul Evers

Volunteer Coordinator’s Report to GSC Council

December 14, 2005

Activities Completed:

1) Attend congregational meeting in Nov.

2) Arrange for volunteers to fix worship robes

Activities in Progress:

1) Arrange volunteers for Christmas Eve worship services

2) Research Equipping church Guidebook

3) Confirmation students – gather sheets with interests

Vicky Mulvihill

Volunteer Coordinator

Good Shepherd Church

Technology Committee Report

Next Meeting:

Date: 01.??.05 Time: 7pm

General Agenda Items (discussion points, action items, follow-up items, etc.)

Members able to attend – Manges … snow day

1) Meet with Mark Hagen. Mark runs/manages the Zumbro Lutheran sound system and

is willing to comment on GSC setup.

2) Anti-virus software … machines current (individual) licenses are expiring and needs to be renewed. A 5 package license would save some money … which product?

3) Next years meeting night … some members have Wed night conflicts

4) Mark Hannan’s monitor stopped working … Lori Gartner was able to get it replaced/repaired under warranty!

5) Mark Hannan mentioned a need for an additional DVD player.

6) Tech committee discussion forum has been established by Eric Winter … thanks Eric!

7) New ‘teller’ machine has been purchased and initial setup by Eric Winter … thanks Eric. Thanks to The Schlicht’s for getting the machine ordered/delivered. Need to work with Grant Christiansen to complete its setup.

8) General discussion

Agenda Items Requiring Assistance from Council

1) none

Does your committee need assistance from the Long Range Planning Committee at this time to proceed with implementation of the GSLC Visioning Plan?

Date submitted: 12.14.05

Council Liaison: Mark Manges

Finance Committee

Next Meeting:

Date: 1/9/06

Time: 7 pm

Present: Grant Christiansen, Joleen Mainz, Tim Olson, Molly Schmidt, Pastor Tom Hanson

General Agenda Items (discussion points, action items, follow-up items, etc.)

1) November financial summary - Expenses exceeded income by $10,248 for the month and by $26,259 for the year to date. This is attributable to decreased income for the month and year. If the current trend persists, we will be facing a significant year-end shortfall. A brief financial summary will continue to be placed in the newsletter, to keep members of the congregation informed about our financial status. Pastor Tom will also put together a congregational mailing to highlight the importance of giving for the ongoing mission of our church.

2) Envelopes – The 2006 offering envelopes were labeled and arranged on tables in the old library room for congregational members to pick up.

Agenda Items Requiring Assistance from Council

None.

Date submitted: 12/15/05 (meeting held on 12/12/05 at 7 p.m.)

Council Liaison: Tim Olson

Report to Church Council

Youth Director – Mark Hannan

December 16, 2005

Up-Coming Events:

Mission Trip Meeting – December 18

X-Box Day (Middle School) – December 18

HS Ski Trip to Lutsen – January 21-23

MS Ski Trip to Spirit Mountain – February 18-21

Appalachia Mission Trip – July 15-22

Boundary Waters Canoe Trip – August

When we think of the Christmas story we have a tendency to wrap it in warm images and cute thoughts. Tinsle, eggnog, wrapped presents... a yard full of snow, a stomach full of Christmas cookies... and the holy family in their nativity poses surrounded by calm, furry, barn animals.

We fail to remember that the swaddling clothes Jesus was wrapped in were the baby clothes of a poor family living under the power of a foreign government and pushed to the edge of their community by an unexpected and unexplainable child. What would be the equivalent of Mary & Joseph in today's world? A young unemployed couple in some harsh urban downtown? Newlyweds in warn torn Iraq?

There is no more important time for us to remember the downtrodden, the cast-asides, and the down and out among us than during Christmas. Christmas is a celebration of God's incarnation. God coming to dwell with his creatures, as a man, in the poverty that people live amongst.

And let us not forget that even the ‘well-off’ are often downtrodden. Holidays can hurt. Heightened expectations can bring frustration - even guilt. Wishes can strain budgets. Family expectations can stretch emotions. Memories, good and bad, can haunt us as well as bless us.

Battlefields do not go silent for our religious observances; the hungry are not all fed, the homeless are not all housed, the sick do not all become well. Presents exchanged and sentiments shared do not always meet our gift-wrapped expectations. Sometimes the let down of a season that is promised to us as a ‘perfect’ time of year is too much. Depression runs rampant in the urban and intercity and the as well as the suburbs and gated communities of the first world.

And yet, in Christmas, we find the birth of hope in darkest of places.

All of God’s good gifts to us can be found in Jesus’ birth to Mary and Joseph in a crude stable in Bethlehem. It was a birth that had been expected for centuries and yet it came very unexpectedly. The birth of God as man, quietly celebrated by shepherds, farms animals, and a handful of foreign astronomers. This Christmas, may you quietly celebrate Emmanuel, God with us, in your heart with the unwavering hope of the wise men, the uncontainable joy of the angels, and the fearless simplicity of the shepherds.

Mark J. Hannan

CHURCH IN SOCIETY

December 12, 2005 Meeting Notes

1. Giving Tree: The items were sorted and packed after the Sunday School program potluck on Sunday, 12/11. Paul delivered the Crisis Nursery items on 12/12. He will deliver the Circle Center items on 12/14.

2. Cookbook Update: Paul contacted the Salvation Army, who said Cookbooks sell well and they would be happy to take 150 books. The committee agreed that this was a good use for the books, since they funds would go to one of the intended organizations. Paul will deliver the books to the Salvation Army. We will still have a few books left over.

3. IHN: Our next host week will be January 8-15. Paul is going to contact the organizers of the pot luck scheduled for that day and see if it’s okay to bring the IHN group to the pot luck. Amahl and the Night Visitors will be performed on Sunday night, 1/8 in the Sanctuary. The IHN guests will be welcome to attend. Paul will check with Paul Mainz to make sure there are not any room conflicts for that evening. Paul will start recruiting volunteers earlier than normal (sign up out on 12/18) because of the holidays.

4. Global outreach – Betty presented a flier about fundraising for solar ovens for impoverished nations, which is a project that Church Women United is involved in. We decided to do a mini hunger awareness campaign during Lent – two weeks of hunger education (possibilities to include Happynings blurbs, bulletin inserts) and then on the third week do a small fund drive to collect money to purchase solar ovens. Each oven costs less than $100, and aids in food preparation and pasteurization of drinking water. The week we do the fundraising and we could give away or have people purchase cookies. We could even bake some cookies in the solar oven.

5. Change for Change Update – Funds from December go to Crisis Nursery. We decided against getting individual boxes for congregation members to collect their spare change at home. However we do want to continue to think about alternative collection methods (rather than the flower) for the future. We also talked about the need to promote the program more.

6. Church in Society Committee – We need more members. The possibility of all the committees doing a “recruitment fair” was brought up. Jen will talk to Vicky Mulvihill.

7. Upcoming activities – Valentine’s Day supply drive for Ronald McDonald House. Paul will get list of needed items, and make tags. We will set the final details at our January committee meeting.

Submitted: Val Jorgensen, in Christ