Thanks to all of you for being here today!  I’m so glad to see you.  I love these meetings…I love them because they are an opportunity for us to talk together about our mission, and our ministry…and there are very few things that I get more excited about than talking about the work that God has called us to do here.  Thank you for your time today, your energy, your faithfulness, and your commitment to the work that we do together.

I want to spend a bit of time with you today reflecting on this past year; and then I want to spend some time looking at the upcoming year.

Before we jump into the specifics though, there are two words of gratitude that I need to share with you.  The first is to Trinity’s leadership.  Our congregational council, our commission members, and the members of our various leadership teams are quite simply the best.  They are wonderful, forward-thinking leaders who work and collaborate well.  As much as I hate to say it, this is not always the case in churches.  I hear stories from my colleagues about when things don’t go well.  Every day I come to work, I feel blessed to work with all of these amazing leaders.  I’d like to invite any members of Trinity’s council and commissions to please stand.  I think we as a community need to thank these leaders.

The second group of people I want to thank are our staff.  This group of people are committed and faithful.  They have created a culture of openness and welcome that runs throughout the whole congregation.  They are mission-minded and focused on what God is calling them to do.  And they are a whole lot of fun to work with.  I appreciate every single one of them.  I’d like to ask any members of the Trinity staff who are here today to stand.

Thanks to all of you.

2023 was a good year, and Trinity is in a great position.  God has been good, and we are thankful.

A few things I want to highlight for you:

It is normal in a church staff our size that there are changes that happen every year, and this year was no exception.  We had a few goodbyes, and a few hellos.

We welcome Jolene Fuehring to our staff as our kitchen coordinator.  This is just a part-time gig for Jolene, she works in nutrition services at Washington Elementary full time.  But she has a great spirit, she has reinvigorated our kitchen volunteer crew, and she is a wonderful cook.  We are blessed to have her.

Matt Stitzmeyer, who has served as our properties manager for a number of years, left us for new opportunities.  He will be missed.  Long-time member and newly retired from Federated Mark Knutson stepped in as an interim property manager.  We are very grateful to him for helping keep us on track through a very busy Advent and Christmas season. He was fantastic. 

We reconfigured the position into a part time role that focuses more on project management, bigger picture thinking about our property and team leadership.  Just a few weeks ago, Tom Brage took over the position.  He recently retired as property manager of the Owatonna Hospital.  He is very well qualified to take lead on our property.  If he can handle a hospital…he can handle us.  I actually could not get his photo…he doesn’t sit still long enough to have a picture taken.

Amy Baker left us just this past week, having served as our Director of Communications for 9 years.  Grace Hannover, who grew up, and was confirmed here at Trinity and is wonderfully qualified for this role, with a background in marketing, communications and development, has stepped into that position.  We are very grateful to have Grace with us.  She is a great strategic thinker and will help us move forward thoughtfully, and intentionally.

Sheri Berg retired at the end of 2022 as our Director of Children’s Ministry, and Laura Jensen filled that role, just a year ago.  Laura has ideas and energy coming out of her ears.  She is great to have on our team and I’m thankful to her for saying “yes” to this position.

And Peggy Moran is in her first year as the Director of the Trinity Preschool.  She has done a great job, she has assembled a fantastic staff, and we are grateful to have her in her role, leading this important ministry.

And then there’s Pastor Chris.  While some of the staff were out of town about 10 days ago for a conference, Pastor Chris filled all of our coffee cups with jell-o.  I’ll say these two things:  First, he fits right in.  And second, Pastor Chris, watch your back.  The most common comment I get about Pastor Chris is that “he just fits.  It feels like he’s always been here.”  And they are right.  He is a great fit for us.  Thanks to God for leading Pastor Chris and Trinity to find each other. 

Now you may remember that Pastor Chris has technically been a pastor in the Reformed Church of America, the RCA, and was serving with us because the ELCA is in partnership with the RCA and can share pastors.  However it was Pastor Chris’ desire to become a pastor in the ELCA.  For new pastors, that is a process that runs the length of your seminary education…about four years.  Pastor Chris did all that work over the course of just the last year.  And he has been enthusiastically and unanimously approved by our synod to be a pastor in the ELCA.  And so today, we will vote to extend him a formal call.  Last year we gave him a contract…because that’s how the system works when you’re not in the ELCA.  But today we get to vote to call him as one of our pastors.  And we couldn’t be more excited and grateful.

A quick word on Trinity’s finances.  Barb will go into detail in just a bit here.  But I just want to say again that God is good, and that the people of Trinity are generous.  We finished 2023 in a strong position, with cash forward to invest in ministry for the 2024 year, and our debt continues to decrease.  Years ago, we set three primary, big goals:  To bring meaning to the lives of those disconnected from the faith, to care for those broken by life’s circumstances, and to provide direct care to those on the margins.  Because of your giving, we have been able to make impact on each of these three areas.  Thank you.

You might remember that in 2022, we did a bit of a “refresh” here in Fellowship Hall, with new paint on the walls, the wood background, the band backdrop, the lettering over the kitchen….

…in 2023, we did a similar, but smaller, refresh in the back of the sanctuary.  We repaired some water damage in the ceiling and repainted the entry area, we put in new lighting, new shelving and we commissioned the new prayer/candle sculpture in the back, which people have just loved.  We did this with some budget funds, but mostly with funds from the Trinity Foundation, who are great partners, and we are thankful to them. There are a few more things to complete the project…so watch for those things.

In terms of programming, we had a great year.  Our Children, Youth and Family ministry, under the leadership of Deacon Kris, has done great work.  Throughout the Christian church, children and youth ministries are struggling to find their footing following COVID.  We too are finding new ways forward.  But our team and their volunteers are doing good work, and their ministries and programs are growing again.

Our adult faith formation has grown this past year as well.  With the Trinity Foundation, we started a new series called “The Story of Your Life,” which has been really well-received.  Our other Bible studies and other learning events have grown in new and exciting ways.  We are excited for Lent, when we will do a congregational book study on a great book called “The Walk.”  You can read it…or you can read it and be a part of a small group.  Our Sunday and Wednesday worships will reflect the themes found in the book. Either way, we encourage you to participate.  It is a lot of fun when we can all learn together.

This past fall we took an emphasis on spiritual gifts and connecting the gifts of our people to the needs of the church and the world.  It was fun…and so far, 155 people took the spiritual gifts assessment and have been connected to ways to serve.  If you haven’t taken it yet, I really encourage you to do so.  It is a great way to learn about how God wired you…and what your gifts are. You can find it at tlcowatonna.org/spiritualgifts.

We have experienced growth in worship this past year.  We continue both in person and online expressions of worship.  And our homebound folks, our snowbirds, and our families who are running all over the state on weekends with kid’s tournaments and events, all tell us how grateful they are that this option remains for them.  Overall, our worship participation has increased from 783 in 2022 to 899 in 2023.  Thanks be to God!

And our outreach has grown in new ways.  We reorganized our outreach team into two different groups.  One that focuses on local outreach, and another that focuses on global outreach.  Because we want to grow in both areas and it will take more people, who are more focused on these areas to make them happen.

That is actually a great segue in to talking about our hopes, dreams and plans for this next year, and what we believe God is calling us to become as we look ahead.

Let’s continue thinking about our outreach, since we are already thinking about it:

We are excited about Trinity’s outreach ministries in 2024, and are looking forward to some exciting growth.

We are entering into a new partnership with Kimpangua Lutheran Church, and Kititimo Secondary School, both of the Central Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania.  Trinity has a long history of working with global partners.  We have had relationships in Ethiopia, with EPES in Chile, with Jamaica, and domestically with Pine Ridge.  

Relationships begin, and sometimes relationships end.  Our relationship with Ethiopia has faded over time.  The folks we were connected with are no longer there, and they have not responded to a couple of years trying to connect.  So we are moving in a new direction.

We are going to build relationships with and help a new mission church called Kimpangua complete their church building.  We are excited to get to know them, to learn from them, and maybe for them to learn from us.  

And there is a new Lutheran school going up in that community as well.  We are looking forward to developing partnerships with them.  

Next Sunday, is going to be a really fun weekend in worship.  In worship next weekend, we will sign a covenant, a sign of this new relationship.  Our new friends in Tanzania will do the same.  And our music on that day will be from that part of the world.  It’s going to be great worship, and a powerfull beginning to a new relationship of accompaniment.

Locally, we have been very busy.  We continue to do all the things we have done in the past. We have supported Hospitality House, Rachel’s Light, Community Pathways, Transitional Housing and the list goes on and on.  In addition, we have been an integral part of the development of the new, Oak Hills Connection Center in the old Mayo Clinic Building.  We helped to start a new, separate non-profit organization, and are working towards opening this building in 14 to 15 months.  

In that building, among other things, will be a new shelter program for families who have no place to live or to stay.  The program is going to be called “Mary and Martha’s Place.”  There is nothing like this in Owatonna.  And we are working with other churches, with Rachel’s Light and with Hospitality House to make this space a reality.  It is going to take a ton of heavy lifting, and we are going to need you to help us do that.  Watch for more information.  

The other project we are very excited about is our outdoor worship space.  I’m sure you have seen the images on display in thre narthex.  This has been in the works as a part of our strategic plan for six or seven years now.  COVID put it on the back burner.  Our hope is to create a really functional, usable space that allows us to expand the ways we do our work.  

During the summer months, we will move the 10:45am service outdoors.  In addition, we could envision:

• Small concerts in the evenings
• Family movie nights out there
• Vacation Bible School using the space
• The preschool using the space
• Community events
• Weddings
• At Christmas, maybe doing a nativity, or maybe even a “living nativity” out there.
• And like any time you add something new, we will probably find a hundred other uses for the space.

If all goes well, we hope to break ground in May.  It will probably take 8 weeks to build it.  So we may even be able to dedicate the space in late summer or early fall.  

We received two significant estate gifts that have been designated to support this project.  In addition, we have received a wonderful 3 to 1 commitment from the Trinity Foundation.  That means that if we as a congregation, during the months of March and April, can rase $50,000 for this project in a special fundraiser, the Foundation will contribute $150,000.  That will put us over the top.  We are very grateful for the Foundation’s participation in this project.  We will keep you in the loop!

All of these things…they are the result of an intentional strategic planning process that we undertook five years ago, plus or minus. 

We continue to look over the horizon and wonder what God has in store for us next.  So we are in the very preliminary stages of developing our next strategic plan for the church.  We are thinking ahead to 2030…what’s next for Trinity?  What are God’s hopes, dreams and visions for us?

We just started collecting input this fall with some smaller groups, and we will continue to gather data and have conversations throughout this year, so we can begin planning this fall.  

I hope that you will be a part of that process.  Watch for more information.

As I look back, and I look ahead, the one word that describes my feelings is grateful.  

I am grateful to God, for having blessed this church now, for 104 years.  This place and this community stands as a living testament to the love and grace of a God who cares so much about Owatonna and its people that he sent his Son to us and for us.  

And I am grateful to the people of this congregation.  I am thankful for your time, your energy, your commitment, your faithfulness and your trust.  Every Sunday when I go home after worship, and I prepare for my nap, I say to myself “I get to be a pastor here.  I get to.”  What a gift…and what a ride…Thank you for being who God created you to be.

Let’s close my time with a word of prayer.  

God of love, your Holy Spirit has been at work here.  Your Spirit moves.  And we know what whenever your Spirit moves, amazing things happen.  Thank you for being a part of our congregation….Thank you for being a part of our lives.  Please continue to bless this community with love and grace, that we can continue to grow, and to find ways to meet the needs around us…to bring meaning…to care for the broken…and to serve those on the margins.

In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.