“Doing for the
community, not simply for the church and the church’s survival; rather,
witnessing for the community itself.”
Attendees: Pastor Lee Brumback (speaker phone), Hank Jud, Melinda Jud, Pastor Jim
Kniseley, Pastor Lucille Mills (speaker phone), Bill Smith, and Pastor Tim
Waltonen.
Opening
Tim Waltonen
opened with prayer. Pastor Brumback
shared the happy news that he and Tori expect a second son this coming October.
Old/Continuing Business
Report
on Synod Assembly Workshop
·
Forty-nine people attended our lunchtime workshop with Dr. Buba; a high
turnout.
·
We have presented a thank you gift to Myra Koch, of Our Saviour in
Warrenton, for creating our team’s banner that stood in the assembly hall. (Myra refused to take any payment for her
work.) Additionally, we have submitted a
photograph and article about the banner, our team, and Myra’s contribution to The Virginia Lutheran. Melinda Jud will submit a similar
photograph and article to The Lutheran.
·
We are checking with Pastor
Gunsten about the theme for the 2011 assembly, in order to plan for our next
lunchtime workshop.
Revival Planning Team Update
·
Several meetings have taken place, with planning team members from Rejoice,
St. Timothy’s, and Good Shepherd in VA Beach in attendance. (St. Andrews in Portsmouth has also promised
to be on board, along with the members of its praise band.) Melinda and Hank Jud have participated in
planning, on behalf of our African American Outreach Team.
·
A conference call with Dr. Everett Flanigan and Dr. Kathryn Love from
the church-wide office took place in early July. We have identified the task groups needed,
and are on track to turn in a grant application soon. Task groups will be identified by our next
meeting, along with workshop topics.
Dr. Love will determine which speakers to send based on the Biblical
text and theme stated on our grant application.
Team Letter to Bishop Mauney
We have received an especially complimentary letter
dated June 3, 2010 from Charles Poston, Vice President, VA Synod, ELCA,
thanking us as a team for our mission and ministry. However, we have not as yet received an
answer to our April 25, 2010 letter to the Bishop, in which we requested that
our team’s mission be highlighted at the Ministerium. Melinda Jud will check on the status of our
letter with Pastor Gunsten when he returns from sabbatical in August.
Team Input to the Synod’s 20/20 Vision
·
The 20/20 Vision Goals currently include no mention of diversity or the
intent to extend invitation and hospitality to those of diverse culture,
ethnicity, and race. While we believe that
this is an oversight, we find it something that needs to be remedied in order
for our synod to faithfully carry out its mission.
·
Melinda Jud will draft a letter requesting the following addition to
the 20/20 Vision Goals:
“20% growth in minority membership in the
churches of the synod.”
Team Blog
Our blog has not received many comments. Possibly, this is a generational thing. The audience we target may not be familiar
with/enthusiastic about blogs. We will
leave the blog in place for now.
Rejoice Report
·
Pastor Mills leads the Revival Planning Team.
·
Rejoice has looked into signage for the new space; however, permanent
neon signs are quoted at $2400-3500.00, which is prohibitive. For the present, the large canvas sign on the
building and a sign on the office park marquee will have to do.
·
Rejoice has been working with Trey Smith, a mission developer with
“outside the box” ideas for conducting outreach via connections with community
organizations. Pastor Mills learned
about Trey as a resource through Project Connect, a group funded by the Lilly
Foundation which (among other goals) seeks to assist young Black candidates for
the ministry.
New Business
Our future direction will
emphasize Synod Assembly workshops, as well as Lutheran Revivals in areas of
diverse population within our synod. We
will check with the church-wide office for assistance in identifying our Targeted
Missional Territory (Dr. Buba’s “TMT”).
Dates
Hampton Lutheran Revival –
Oct. 1-2, 2010. Rejoice’s Ministry
Review – Oct. 9-10, 2010.
Closing
We closed with prayer.