On Sunday, Lori and I drove down to Mason City, Iowa to worship at Trinity Lutheran Church. The senior pastor there, Rev. Dan Gerrietts, and his wife, Molly, are good friends of Lori’s and mine. So in addition to worshiping there, we got to spend a little time with them. Trinity Mason City is a … More Worshiping at Trinity: Mason City
On Wednesday of this week, I had the opportunity to spend time and draw wisdom from two different ELCA congregations in the Los Angeles area. Both congregations were suggested to me as sites to visit because they are known for thinking creatively about how these churches connect with their community. Salem Lutheran Church in Glendale … More Meeting the Community Where It’s At
Trinity has hired Christy Hanson to serve as the new Director of the Trinity Preschool. Christy Hanson is married to Scott and they have four children: Whitney, Max, Faith, and Bella along with their fur baby, Mia. Whitney, Max, and Faith are in college and Bella is a 6th grader at Owatonna Middle School. Their … More Christy Hanson to Serve as the new Trinity Preschool Director
Hello friends, Beginning tomorrow, January 12, 2022, Trinity is instituting a mask mandate for people within our building. This mandate will last for two weeks. Unfortunately, we have all watched the number of COVID cases in our community spike in recent days. (Influenza cases are on the uptick as well.) We have all heard of friends … More 2 Week Mask Mandate at Trinity
When I think of Christmas, I often think of car trips. I think of packing up suitcases and sleeping bags. I think of laundry baskets full of Christmas presents for the cousins, that go into the station wagon. I think of my brothers and I, loading into the back, rear-facing seat of the Ford Country Squire (complete with … More Where Heaven Meets Earth
Dear friends, Brenda Jensen, who has served faithfully as the Director of the Trinity Preschool will be stepping down from her position at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. “For 24 years, Brenda has been an important part of the lives, the development and the faith of literally thousands of children in our community” … More Brenda Jensen Stepping Down as Preschool Director
A question I wonder about a lot is: “When God imagines Trinity in the days to come, what does God see?” Our leadership has spent a lot of time thinking…and praying about this question. We are confident in our mission, (Remember the mission? “Through Jesus’ love we welcome, connect, learn and serve.”) But what does it look like to be … More God’s Vision for Trinity
Hello friends! This past weekend, we promised you that we would let you know as soon as possible how the new (and unexpected) COVID and mask guidelines would affect our life together as a congregation. Our leadership teams have met and formulated new plans for Trinity and a timeline moving forward. Of course, if we’ve … More Trinity’s Updated Mask and COVID Policies
We do it without even thinking about it. Somewhere between 12 and 16 times a minute, our chest contracts and then expands, and our lungs fill with air. The lungs extract oxygen, which our body uses to pump our blood, move our limbs, and power our thoughts. We do this over and over, from birth, … More Breath of Life
And God said, “it is good.” It is good. It is amazingly, astonishingly, good. And we are the beneficiaries of this goodness. The scripture tells us that there is an author, a creator, and that the creator is good. The creator is the source of all things good. The Hebrew word for God is Elohim…Elohim … More Created Fresh
Test Driving Theology 