March 2009 Newsletter

Pioneer Lutheran Church Publisher: Julie Petersen [email protected] Volume Number 11 Issue Number 27 Date: MARCH 2009 PASTOR TYLER HEPNER 802 2nd ST BROOKINGS, SD 57006 [email protected] Pioneer Lutheran Church Council Minutes- February CELL PHONE: 695-2907 Officer Elections: Dana Crooks asked for nominations for president. Dana

2009

President Lew Weeks called the Pioneer Lutheran Church Council meeting to order on Wednesday, February 4, 2009. Present were Lew Weeks, Dana Crooks, Larry Holler, Tiffany Petersen, Glen Thompson, Aimee Lutz, Kevin Quail, Arlene Madsen, and Pastor Tyler Hepner. Pastor Hepner led devotions on the Paul’s letter to the Galatians and God’s chosen people. He closed in prayer, and the meeting proceeded. Secretary’s Report: Minutes from the January, 2009 meeting were presented to the council. Dana Crooks moved to accept the minutes as presented. Glen Thompson seconded the motion, and the motion passed. Treasurer’s Report: Arlene Madsen presented the monthly treasurer’s report. The general fund was negative $78.00 at the end of January; as we recover from the 2 missed Sunday services in December. Larry Holler moved to accept the Treasurer’s report and pay bills. Kevin Quail seconded the motion, and the motion passed. Old Business: There remain 3 bags of brats from the cancelled Oktober fest to be sold. Arlene Madsen will take 2 and Kevin Quail will take 1. The meeting was adjourned and reconvened with the newly present members. Dana Crooks, the previous vice president call the meeting to order and held officer elections.

Crooks was nominated and the nomination seconded by Kevin Quail. Glen Thompson moved to cease nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Dana. Larry Holler seconded the motion, and the motion passed. Dana Crooks asked for nominations for vice president. Larry Holler was nominated and Aimee Lutz seconded the nomination. Kevin Quail moved to cease nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Larry. Glen Thompson seconded the motion, and the motion passed. Dana Crooks asked for nominations for secretary. Glen Thompson nominated Aimee Lutz was nominated. Larry Holler seconded the nomination, and moved to cease nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Aimee. Dana Crooks asked for appointees to the treasurer’s position. Tiffany Peterson nominated Arlene Madsen. Kevin Quail seconded the motion, and the council appointed Arlene as treasurer. NEW BUSINESS: Pastor’s Report: Pastor Hepner reported he conducted 3 visitations, prepared 4 Sunday services and 4 bulletins. Adult forum this month was lead by Bill Powers. Pastor Hepner discussed the Book study on the Hammer of God. Pastor Hepner discussed the 2009 LCMC Youth Rally that will be held in Salt Lake City, UT July 12 -15, 2009. He would like the youth group to attend and is going to get the information to Julie Petersen. Air vs. ground travel was discussed. Aimee suggested checking with the Sioux Falls because she heard that Sioux Falls Airport was adding Salt Lake as a flight destination. Pastor Hepner also was going to get information on the Lutheran Youth Encounter in Chicago.

Miscellaneous Announcements: - Pioneer Lutheran Church received an annual giving request from the White fire department. Tiffany Peterson moved to contribute $25 to the White fire Department. Aimee Lutz seconded the motion, and the motion passed. -

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Arlene Madsen mentioned that the Earl Michaelsen CD will mature in February and wanted the council to decide to renew the CD or find an alternate use for the money. The council decided to renew the CD for 6 months. Arlene Madsen and Pastor Hepner discussed the upcoming 125th anniversary celebration. They are planning a special service with the choir singing hymns in Danish as well as children’s hymns. Previous Pioneer Lutheran Church pastors. A Danish meal will be served. Lacey Quail is working on a history book and Melissa Thompson is going to plan to take pictures of families after church service. As a result of the vote at the annual meeting to call pastor Tom Walker, a letter of call is being drafted.

Adjournment: Kevin Quail moved to adjourn the meeting, and the Lord’s Prayer was said in closing. The March meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 4, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Aimee Lutz

Pioneer Lutheran Church Financial Report February 4, 2009

General Account Social Ministry Memorial Fund Insurance Fund Funds in Checking

$ (78.85) $ 7.67 $1,952.85 $ 560.25 $2,441.92

ITC-phone & internet Sioux Valley Energy Postmaster-stamps Minn-Kota Pest Control Anderson Oil-268 gal fuel @$2.00 UPS Store-2000 prepaid copies Tyler Hepner-salary

$ 85.36 $ 58.19 $ 16.80 $ 54.91 $ 549.40 $ 74.20 $2,250.00 $3,088.86

Sunday Offerings Jan. 4 Jan. 11 Jan. 18 Jan. 25 Misc. Income Brats sold

$ 995.00 $ 625.00 $ 945.00 $ 682.00 $3,247.00 $ $

84.00 84.00

125th Anniversary Perhaps, while sitting in the pews in a moment of distraction or meditation, you've glanced upward toward the altar, there seeing a statue of Jesus, His eyes looking down upon us all. This statue is a copy of a statue now sitting in Vor Frue Kirke (Church of our Lady, and now known as Copenhagen Cathedral) in Copenhagen. It has a rich and interesting history. In 1807, under British bombardment, the church was seriously damaged. It was during its reconstruction that the famous Danish sculptor Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen was commissioned to create a colossal series of statues of Christ and the twelve Apostles. Given that it was the church itself that was being raised from the ashes, how appropriate that amongst those creations was his statue of the Resurrected Christ, commonly referred to as Christus. How more appropriate is the story told of its creation in a 1961 edition of Guideposts. Having worked for weeks on the massive statue, Thorvaldsen finally stood back, surveyed the results of his hard work, satisfied at last. At this point in the process, the statue was modeled in clay. Yet still it was impressive, just as he had imagined it: Christ with strong arms outstretched, raised (Yes, I did say raised) high in a gesturing command, the fine-shaped head thrown back in triumph. "This is He," Thorvaldsen said, "the powerful, majestic Christ." Then he closed the door to his studio for several days, waiting for the clay to set. However, when he returned and opened the door, he stared up at the statue in horror. His work was ruined.

During his absence there had been a storm, causing the room to become overly damp and damaging the statue. No longer were the arms outstretched, now they fell low. The moisture had caused the once proud head to bend. Gone was the triumph of Christ's resurrection. The body was drooped, looking more defeated than proud. In despair, he grabbed a hammer, raised it above his head, determined to strike it down, but he could not. With pain still in his heart, he turned and fled the room, his majestic work destroyed. Time passed, but still Thorvaldsen had no heart for his work. Finally he resolved to put an end to it. With a friend he went back for the first time to the studio with the intention of destroying the statue, removing its remains, and starting all over again. Entering the studio, they suddenly stopped and gazed with awe upon the broken work they had intended to scrap. Bathed in light, the lowered arms no longer depicted defeat. Instead, they revealed the depth of God's Compassion, His Sympathetic Arms encircling the sorrowing and needy. The head was now bowed low with contrite countenance as if to say, "I understand your trials and your sorrows." Instead of the majestic and triumphant Christ of the Resurrection, a greater Power had breathed into Thorvaldsen's discarded work, not a defeated Christ, but the Compassionate Savior.

VACATION BIBLE CAMP Vacation Bible Camp is scheduled for July 5-9th with Shetek Lutheran Ministries. Please mark your calendars and plan on inviting friends. Camp has been a good way for potential new members to get to know Pioneer so keep that in mind when thinking of kids to invite.

NEWSLETTER Do you have an email address that you would like to have me send you the Newsletter to? We have started sending through email to save the church some money. Send me your address and I will send the newsletter to you. [email protected] Thanks, Julie THANKS TO ALL WHO CAME TO THE YOUTH VALENTINE SUPPER PUT JUNE 14, 2009 ON YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE 125TH PIONEER LUTHERAN CHURCH CELEBRATION SIGN UP FOR COFFEE FELLOWSHIP SIGN UP FOR SOUPS FOR LENTEN SERVICES

Rules from God for 2009

1. Wake Up!! Decide to have a good day. "Today is the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" Psalms 118:24 2. Dress Up!! The best way to dress up is to put on a smile. A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance; but the Lord looks at the heart." I Samuel 16:7 3. Shut Up!! Say nice things and learn to listen. God gave us two ears and one mouth, so He must have meant for us to do twice as much listening as talking. "He who guards his lips guards his soul." Proverbs 13:3 4. Stand Up!!... For what you believe in. Stand for something or you will fall for anything. "Let us not be weary in doing good; for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good..." Galatians 6:9-10 5. Look Up!!... To the Lord. "I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13 6. Reach Up!!.... For something higher. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path." Proverbs 3:5-6 7. Lift Up!!... Your Prayers. "Do not worry about anything; Instead PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING." Philippians 4:6

Some of you may know that last Sunday, a Dell Rapids senior took his life on the football field at the school. He was a popular kid and his death has deeply affected the entire community, including students at both the public and the Catholic school. Casey Michel, a recent graduate of Dell Rapids St. Mary School, wrote the following piece about his friend's death. It's long but well worth the read - trust me, you'll be glad you took the TIME to read it. Quite the perspective from a 20-year-old, and a great reminder to treasure the time we have with the ones we love.

The Gift of Time Written By: Casey Michel Some people like to talk about the “best gift they’ve ever been given.” People talk about something like a car or jewelry, and they usually cover everything in between. However, the best gift ever given to mankind is not given to us on this earth. When God creates a human He gives them the best gift anyone could ask for: the gift of time. Along with the gift of time, God gives us a side gift: the gift of free will – the ability to decide what we wish to do with our time, either good or bad. It took me nearly 20 years and one tragic event to realize what a precious gift the gift of time really is. You see, I always used to be like everybody in this world; I would always wonder how I was going to get everything done that needed to be done, wondering why there were never enough hours in the day. You look around and see the world moving at such a fast pace that you wonder how anybody could get by, and I felt like I was in the same boat with everyone else. “Hey Casey, can you help me with my math homework?” --- “Sorry, not right now man, I’m busy.” “Hey Casey, got a minute to talk?”

--- “Hey I’d love to, but I gotta get somewhere quick.” I didn’t always have enough time to help out a friend. After all I had my own stuff to take care of, just like everyone else. And if I couldn’t make time for a friend or a loved one, how could I make time for anybody else? When I saw a stranger on crutches struggling with their books, I just kept walking. I couldn’t help them; I was in too big of a rush. A rush to where? I don’t know, but I had places to be and things to do, and I didn’t have nearly enough hours in the day to do it. And so I went about my life day by day by day. I was always in a hurry, always in a rush; I didn’t have time to do anything. That was up until that February Sunday changed everything. Suddenly, I wasn’t in such a rush; suddenly, I had time. I had time to help a friend with homework, or to talk to them about something. I had time to help carry books for the stranger on crutches. Not only did I now have time, but I somehow made time, too. I made time to ask a friend “Hey, how you holding up?” “Hey, how’s everything going for you?” I made time to tell my family and friends that I love them. I made time to let everyone know that I’m here for them whenever they need me; that I will always answer if they call. And I know I would answer if they called. You can bet on it. After all – now I had the time to. It’s almost as if God granted me more hours in the day. It’s almost as if He not only gave me more time to do what had to get done, but also more time to do what needed to be done. But this isn’t at all the case. The amount of time God gave me on this earth did not change one second from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon. I will not live one second longer or shorter because of what happened on a football field in Dell Rapids in the morning hours of February 22, 2009. Neither will anybody who reads this or who was affected by that tragic event. No,

rather, God granted me the ability to realize what a precious gift time really is; and to use that time to seize every second, every moment that I am on this earth. It was through this tragic event that I learned probably the most important lesson of my life: You don’t realize how much time you have, until you realize that time is all you’ve got I mean think about it: what do we have in life besides time? If a fire burns down our house, we will still have time. If a loved one passes away, we still have time. Things happen on a personal level: cars break down, jewelry loses its shine, we grow out of clothes, relationships break up…. Things happen on a wide-scale level, too: wars are being fought, poverty strikes nations, natural disasters devastate areas…. Yet through it all what we still have is the gift of time. There’s also the other side of the coin that we must see. While I now realize how much time I have during the day, I have no way of knowing how much time I have left on this earth. I could live to be 100, or I could die tomorrow. And once my time is up, I am completely out of it. I only get one chance to use this gift that God has given me. And that’s the key to it all; the use of the gift. God did not give us the gift of time so that everyone could follow the same path – the easy path, the straight and narrow one – to arrive safely at death. No, He gave it to us so that we could use it as we choose; that free will aspect. While we can never know how much time God has given us on this earth, we will always have the ability to do with it as we please. In the end, that’s how we will be judged. When we get to the Gates of Heaven, there will be God waiting to punch our time card that He gave us when he created us. And then God will look at us and judge

us. The thing is, He won’t judge us on the number of hours we put in. He won’t look and say “You lived to be 100, come on in” or “You only lived to be 22? Sorry, you didn’t put in enough time….” No, God won’t do that because the number of hours we put in are not up to us, but to Him. Rather, God will look at what we did while on earth. He will judge us by the way we used the gift; He will judge us by what we did with the time He allotted us. That is why I am writing this. It is my way of using the time that has been given to me. I am not writing this to try to tug on people’s emotions, or to make people regret anything that has happened in their past. I am writing this to make a difference; to change the way people view those hours of the day from here out. I used to sit around and watch the seconds of my life tick away, but not anymore. Now those seconds don’t drag on or fly by like they used to. Now those seconds don’t seem so insignificant.. You see, this is the way I am choosing to use my gift of time. I have 3 goals in life, and I know that if I can fulfill them, I will have successfully used the time given to me on earth. These are 3 goals that I think everyone in the world could live by. They are 3 goals that everyone could strive to achieve with their gift of time. 1. Make a difference in the lives of others. Whether I make a difference in the lives of just my family, or just my friends; whether I make a difference in the life of one, or the lives of 10,000 people – I want to make a difference for the better. 2. Be the change you wish to see in the world. I see and hear so many people these days wishing for things to be better, but yet doing nothing to make them better. I want the

world to be a better place, and I want the world to change – and I will do everything I can while on this earth to be that change I wish to see in the world. 3. Leave the world a better place than you found it. This is the tie in to everything. This is the way to bring it all together. No matter how much time I have on this earth, I can always make a difference. One way or another, I can leave this place a little better than when I found it. And really – that’s all that can be asked of anyone. So here we are today, slowly coming around to coping with a tragedy that shook a town and a community to its very core.. We wish we could go back in time and change something to make it different. We wish time would just stand still until we are able to deal with this and move on. But the fact of the matter is that time goes on. Our time on this earth is still ticking. Nothing we do can change the past, but everything we do can change the future We can’t change what happened on that Sunday morning. But we can change what might happen this Sunday morning, or next Sunday morning, or the Sunday after that. We can do this by using the gift of time that God has given us, and using it to the fullest. I encourage everyone to realize what a precious gift time really is, and I encourage everyone to use their gift to the fullest. Reach out to loved ones and strangers alike. Let people know that you’re always there for them. Do everything you can to make a difference in this world. But above all and most importantly: PRAY. Pray that God bless everyone you love and everyone in this world. Pray that God helps everyone

involved through this tragic and tough time. The easiest way to make a difference in someone’s life is to send a prayer their way. It is not going to be easy to continue on with our time. For many people this is going to be the toughest thing they ever have or ever will have had to deal with. It’s going to take an unbelievable amount of strength to press onward. That strength will not only come from ourselves, but from the people around us. Everybody is going to question if they are strong enough to get past this. But that’s the amazing thing with the way God created us: He doesn’t just put everything on the surface; He doesn’t let everyone know who they are and what gifts they have when He creates them. No, because that would be the easy path – the straight and narrow one. Instead, God makes us fight for what we truly believe in, for what we truly want. The strength that comes from within each of us won’t be evident; it won’t just be on the surface. It’s something that we have to delve deep within ourselves to find; it’s something that we have to fight for with all our hearts. After all, You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have Personally, I don’t want God to question me when he punches my time card at the Gates of Heaven. I don’t want there to be any doubt in his mind about whether I should come in – any doubt whether I used my gift of time the way He intended it to be used. I want to use every second I have on this earth, and I want to live every moment to the fullest. You must dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die tomorrow; and live every moment like it’s your last Do everything you can to use every second that God has given you on this earth.

After all, this time on earth is the only time we’ve got.