Dear St John friends and family,
What an incredible weekend this has been. It has only been two days since our initial letter went out regarding the property purchase next door and your responses have been incredible.
As of Saturday morning I had received pledges from a family for a gift of stock in the amount of $5,000, and another gift of $30,000 to be used to generate matching donations.
A number of you pledged to participate in loaning funds to St John totaling $200,000!
On Saturday afternoon, Kenny Gerondale called me to make a gift (not a loan) with two caveats: 1) that we not borrow any money (from anyone) so as to not incur debt, and 2) that we would increase the amount we are raising so that we can set aside some money for drainage permitting or other expenses that will be necessary to actually use the land. Kenny has offered a gift of $250,000. He is allowing me to use his name to inspire others to give generously as well.
When I informed a few folks of these gifts, another St John member gave $30K, another gave $25K, and just this morning another family pledged $20K. To date, we have received commitments for $435,000 in gifts! This is yet another example of how we dream so small compared to the God-sized plans the Lord has in store for St John!
Therefore, our campaign has shifted focus and we are now intent on purchasing the land with cash and paying off our current debt.
We are no longer seeking funds to borrow from members. Thank you to all of you who were so willing to lend us the money. We are now seeking cash gifts to purchase the land, put aside money for its use, and pay off our debt.
Our new total to raise (property purchase, plus money set aside, plus paying off debt) is $900,000 and I am excited to say that after only two days we are rapidly approaching the half-way mark!
I fully recognize that not all of us are in the position to give gifts in the 6-figure, 5-figure, or even 4-range. Whether you are able to give a gift of $5 or $50,000 to purchasing the property and retiring our debt, please know, your gift matters and your gift is important, for we can only accomplish this goal by the grace of God and combining all of our gifts together.
I wanted to ask you to please prayerfully consider a cash gift in the amount you see fit to help us complete this goal.
Thank you to each of you who have already contributed, and thank you all for your faithful generosity to the ministries of St John!
Your fellow disciple,
Pastor Andy
Our Call To End Gun Violence
On Ash Wednesday each year, we are invited into a season of self-examination and repentance. This is meant to be a season of turning, from the meaning of the word repent. Turning away from sin and turning back towards the path which God wills us to walk. Turning away from death, and towards the life God invites us into.
We mark this season with a stark, visible reminder: an ash cross rubbed onto our foreheads, often with the words: “From dust you come, to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19b).
I cannot hear this reminder of our mortality apart from the creation story from which they come. The story which reminds us that God lovingly and carefully shaped us, molded us, and breathed into us the Spirit of Life.
I hear the words of the African American poet James Weldon Johnson, in his poem “The Creation” (1927), a favorite of my grandfather’s. The conclusion of Weldon’s poem speaks to the creation of humanity:
“Up from the bed of the river
God scooped the clay;
And by the bank of the river
He kneeled him down;
And there the great God Almighty
Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,
Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night,
Who rounded the earth in the middle of his hand;
This great God,
Like a mammy bending over her baby,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
Till he shaped it in is his own image;
Then into it he blew the breath of life,
And man became a living soul.
And God said, That’s Good!
Amen. Amen.”
With these words of life and death on my heart this past Ash Wednesday I received the news we all received that day. 17 people were killed. Fifteen were students, one a coach, another an athletic director. Parkland Florida has joined a list none of us want to exist. Our nation is mourning a school shooting.
And here is the hardest word for me: Again. Our nation, the people of Parkland are mourning because there has been a school shooting - again.
As Christians, we are all created by the God who calls us to stop the violence that kills and maims God’s precious children.
The prophet Isaiah speaks of a vision of God’s Kingdom, where all peoples of all nations are coming to God’s house. In this vision of the future, Isaiah tells us that the people will transform their weapons of death into tools for sustaining life. “They shall beat their swords into plows, and their spears into pruning hooks.” (Isaiah 2:4).
We know that God’s vision is for life abundant. It is not for 30,000 people a year to die in the United States from gun violence. It is not for children to wonder if their school will be next.
United Methodists, as a global church, affirm “Our Call to End Gun Violence” (2016 Book of Resolutions, #3428). The Church calls upon us as United Methodists:
To make the prevention of gun violence a regular part of our life as a Christian community;
To support those who have been victims of such violence;
To support those who own guns to safely and securely store their guns and teach about the importance of practicing gun safety;
To lead or join with other people of faith in efforts to reduce gun violence;
To advocate for laws that will reduce gun violence.
I urge you, in the name of God and for the sake of our children, to call or write our state and national leaders about the urgency of ending this epidemic of violence in our nation. Contact our civic leaders even if you have no solutions to offer - urge them to open new avenues of exploring solutions.
And I urge you to carve out time to listen to one another. I have great faith in the people of God, and the people of St. John specifically, to use our diversity of experience and perspectives to think not in terms of partisan affiliation but in terms of Christian compassion.
Our Sunday morning Women’s Discipleship group is doing just this, and inviting all people from St. John to join them this Lent. You can find them on Sundays at 10:30 in the conference room (#112).
I have great faith in the people of God to advocate for the God’s vision for the future, where all of God’s children can experience the fullness of life.
May it be so.
Pastor Nico
An Open Window
As you may have heard, our neighbor Mrs. Foster has rescinded her offer to sell us her 2 acres of property to our east so that she might build a small home and live there. She wanted to be sure I expressed her thankfulness and apologies to the congregation. While this is a disappointing development for us, there is a silver lining.
First, we’ve built a good and positive relationship with Mrs. Foster and we will gain an excellent neighbor. It also opens the possibility for a potential future purchase in the years ahead if she is so inclined.
Second, many of the donors have agreed to convert their gifts from property purchase to mortgage debt retirement, or helping to pay for the new sanctuary rooftop furnace that failed (approximately $75K cost).
With $350,000 gifts in hand, that means between the furnace and the mortgage payoff, we are now less than $90,000 away from being completely debt free, which is miraculous considering we had somewhere north of $825,000 of debt when I arrived three years ago.
So while disappointing, there is some Good News in it all. Thank you to each of you who have given generously to the property purchase, mortgage retirement, or sanctuary furnace.
If you have have not yet made a special gift to these projects, please prayerfully consider doing so. I am confident that St John can be debt free (and warm in the sancatuary!) this fall as a result of your generosity.
A special thank you to Clint Lentfer, Jon Dawson, Hugh Miller, Craig Floerchinger, Kenny Gerondale, David Nicolai, Aimie Chase, Rick Clark and so many others who worked hard to make this possible. I am so blessed and honored and humbled to be your pastor. God bless you all.
Pastor Andy
Extravagant Giving
My dear and generous friends,
I cannot even begin to express my joy and gratitude for the amazing work you have done in such a short amount of time.
Back in 2003, you recognized the need for new and different space for St John, and you stepped out in faith to build the All Saints Wing, housing our gym, commercial kitchen, fellowship hall, youth rooms, and classroom space. (Its hard to imagine ministry at St John without the use of those spaces today!)
To make this dream happen, you pledged millions in gifts to support the project, and borrowed $1.75 million. Nine years later, in 2012, St John refinanced $1.1 million. When I came to be your pastor in 2015, just three years ago, we still owed over $825,000.
A year ago, our neighbor Mrs. Foster approached us about purchase her land. After many months of conversations and negotiations, Mrs. Foster rescinded the offer for now, choosing to keep her land and potentially move back in. So many of you gave generously in support of this effort, and then allowed your gifts to be redirected toward debt reduction.
A few months ago, when the trustees learned the rooftop furnace for the sanctuary had failed, you didn't flinch at the $61,000 replacement cost and many of you gave generously.
As of today, St John is debt free. The mortgage is paid. We are awaiting the final invoice on the furnace, but the money is in the bank, all because of YOU and your extravagant generosity.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for your faithfulness. Dave Ramsey is famous for quoting Proverbs 22:7 The borrower is slave to the lender. Friends, we are slaves no more! I am so excited to see what God has in store for us in this next chapter of life in being debt free.
Truly I tell you, I am humbled and honored to be your pastor and I thank God for each and every one of you. May God bless you and yours as richly as you have been a blessing.
Your fellow disciple,
Pastor Andy
Eating a Wrath Sandwich
It can be very tasty if you think about it. But it requires a shift in our definitions of "wrath". When the bread is made of love, it can be quite a satisfying sandwich. Here's an example of a blog post, although yours may be much longer.
