September 2021 The Vine— New Life Lutheran Church Newsletter

Dear Siblings in Christ,

I am very excited to be your new full-time pastor. Thank you for the call! I know that much time, effort, and prayer has gone into the call process over the past year-plus. I pray that we will be blessings to each other, and that God will work good things through us. You all have already blessed Logan and me by your warm welcome and tre-mendous help moving us in. We are grateful!

A little bit about me: though I am from Iowa, have spent a few recent years on the East Coast and most recently resided in Duluth, Minnesota, I am not a stranger to the Ore-gon Coast. My pastoral internship took place in 2019 down at Gloria Dei, Coos Bay. I come to the coast this time with my spouse, Logan McLean Strike, who is also trained to be an ELCA pastor. We are relative newly-weds, as we married in June of 2020. I enjoy running, reading, playing trombone (decently) and ukulele (poorly), making ice cream, visiting breweries, and competing in board games.

In the coming months, I look forward to planning great worship, visiting you all, and making connections in the community. I also hope to create good learning and growing opportunities in the church. And, through all of this, I hope to learn about how this congregation works and where the Spirit is leading it. In all of this work, my simple desire is to serve you all, and in doing so, serve Christ. (Does that sentiment ring a bell? Serving Christ by serving others? J)

I will be hosting office hours, generally, during Char’s office hours (Tuesday through Thursday, 9am-2pm). I am also happy to meet by appointment outside of those hours. My weekday off will be Monday, and Satur-day will be a flexible off-day. During office hours, you can reach me by phone via the office phone number. You may also email me at: newlifelutheranpastor2100@gmail.com. In cases of pastoral emergency, you may call my cell phone: 319-830-4530.

I look forward to getting you know you all and continuing the good work being done here at New Life!

Peace of Christ,

Pastor Paul

Next Council Meeting is

September 16, 2021 at

4:00 p.m.

Offerings Year To Date

Amount Budgeted for offerings (Jan Thru July) $81.336.00

Amount of Offerings Actually Received (thru July 18) $71,506.00

May 9th

Thought for Today:

"The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and preserve change amid order."

Alfred North Whitehead, English philosopher and mathematician (1861-1947)

We are saddened at the loss of three Church

members in August.

Bob Forsberg

Chuck Lockhart

Edna Noyes

Fall is

nearly here.

Thank You

Pastor Dave Brauer-Rieke.

We truly enjoyed your

time here.

NEWS FROM YOUR CHURCH COUNCIL

This September edition of The Vine marks both the beginning of the fall season and a new beginning at New Life as

we welcome Pastor Paul Strike and his wife Logan. We are very excited about this outstanding young couple. They

arrived in Florence Saturday, August 28 after an arduous 2,200 mile trip from Iowa driving a U-Haul truck. Nearly a

dozen members and friends of New Life met them at their new residence and made short order of unloading the U-

Haul. We are blessed to have such a fine permanent pastor and are looking forward to working with Pastor Paul to

grow our ministry in Florence.

The Council held their regular monthly meeting with Interim Pastor Dave Brauer-Rieke on August 26th. Councilors

expressed their appreciation to Pastor Dave for living in Florence for a month and providing us with wise counsel and

pastoral care during August. Highlights from the Council meeting and information available in the days following are

summarized below.

Pastor Paul's Ordination and Installation: Oregon Synod Bishop Laurie Swanson Caesar will be at New Life on Sun-

day, November 7th to ordain and install Pastor Paul. This is a very special and important event for not only our pas-

tor but our entire congregation. Please plan to attend.

Annual Congregation Meeting: Our congregation's Annual Meeting will be on November 21 following the worship

service. Voting members will be asked to make important decisions including electing four members to our seven

member Church Council, electing four members to the 2022 nominating committee, approving the 2022 annual

budget, and voting on proposed bylaw changes. To facilitate all this, the Council activated the budget and nomi-

nating committees to begin their work. Please be willing to serve as a candidate for Council and/or for nominating

committee.

Facility Improvements: Goodman's Flooring completed the first phase of their contract when they removed the old

worn carpet and installed new carpet in the church office on August 26th. The remaining work is expected to be

completed in October. This includes carpet in the fellowship room and planking in the hallways and kitchen. Hyak

has completed undergrounding high speed fiber to the building and will complete contract work inside the building

in the next couple weeks. Both of these improvements are funded by a very generous gift Dr. A.J. Brauer left for fa-

cility repairs and improvements. Work is also planned to repair and maintain the parking lot but this needed work

has not yet been contracted.

Hazard Reduction: The increasing safety, sanitation, and wildfire hazards resulting from illegal camping on church

land are real and must be mitigated. The dense undergrowth beneath the trees in proximity to the church building

and the Food Share facilities are of greatest concern. Preschool staff and parents, Food Share staff and clients, and

church staff and members are all concerned. Both Food Share and the church have experienced occasions of signifi-

cant vandalism and almost constant gross littering of all kinds. City staff have told us this problem is rampant city-

wide and many churches and businesses are having excess wild brush removed to remove hiding cover from law en-

forcement and others. A firm specializing in this work has been consulted to learn of treatments and costs. Any

funding for this would need to be earned facility funds or designated donations. No tithes or offerings will be

used. We are working closely with Food Share as a partner. Stay tuned for updates.

Tithes and Offerings: The Council reviewed the tithes and offerings received through mid August and noted that

from January 1 they totaled only 88% of the amount expected for that period in the congregation-approved 2021

budget. The ministry and missions of our congregation are dependent on all our tithes and offerings. That ministry

work continues even when congregants aren't in church on a regular basis. Thank you to the many congregants

who continue to faithfully support our church. For those who may have fallen behind, please consider renewing

your commitment.

Pastor Paul & Logan Strike

Thank you to all who came to

help Pastor Paul & Logan un-

load their U-Haul truck. It was

greatly appreciated.