Dear Friends in Christ at Peace Lutheran,

As we begin the month of March, our thoughts focus on all that Jesus has done for us for the forgiveness of our sins and for eternal salvation. By the beginning of next month our thoughts will on Jesus gift of Holy Communion, His suffering and death on the cross for our sins, and His glorious resurrection which means He won the victory over Satan, sin, and death, and offers the victory to us. What great blessings are ours through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

 This is such great news, all need to hear it. But, how will they hear? Who will go and tell them? Where might they encounter the love of Christ? What can we do to accomplish these tasks for our Lord and those whom He loves?

 We, as a congregation, are organized not merely that we might hear of God’s love, but that we might be built up for service to our Lord through the sharing of His love. Certainly it is a task we are to be about every day wherever we might be: at home or work, in the classroom or the playing field, at our neighbor’s or a community group. We are also called to care for those who are in need. We seek to help those who may be hungry with our gifts to the food pantry. But there are many other needs. Can we help meet them? Will we?

 Eleven plus years ago, when I received the Divine Call to become Pastor of Peace Lutheran, I asked the question: What are the needs and goals of this congregation? After some silence, the response came back in this way: Well, our older people are getting older and eventually will die. We are not attracting new families to replace them. If we don’t change, eventually this congregation will roll up and die. We do not want that to happen. That was a very insightful statement. It is still true today. We have made some changes, but to seek to continue to meet the needs, more must take place.

 Ten years ago our long range planning conclusions were that we wanted to focus upon Christian Education, youth, and the facilities to enable those ministries to thrive. Since that time, Peaceful Hearts Christian Preschool was started. Mark Novacek was called as our DCE to work with youth.

 We have yet to adequately address the issue of facilities. Adding ministries has forced us to share space more frequently. Sometimes that inhibits both ministries having to share the space. Sometimes it prevents events from taking place because there is no useable space in the building. Storage is at a premium. Finding parking is frequently difficult.

 What will we do? We have plans drawn up by an architect that are being discussed, but their viability is questionable. Currently there is a manufacturing building available that may meet our needs with some retrofitting. It has been suggested we buy land and build a new facility. A committee has been formed to investigate these options. If you have expertise or interest and would like to be a part of this committee, contact Chairman Ed Switalski or myself.

       Pastor Sollie