Days of Grace . . . .

Marriage: Chelsa Tinkham and Jason Skinner were united in marriage on March 24^th. God’s blessings!

Summer Reading . . . .

Do you have any suggestions for book discussions over the summer – children, youth, and/or adults? Please contact Lesley McDougal, Library Team Leader at 881-4391.

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Regular/Semi-Annual Meeting of

The Congregation of

Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church

June 3, 2007 at 9:30am

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Dear Resurrection People,

    It was wonderful to journey through Holy Week again with all of you. I am so thankful to be a part of a place where so many people share with this community of faith their many talents and gifts. It is always a challenge to try to actually worship when one is also involved in leading that worship experience. It is great to be part of a team here where we get to share those responsibilities and therefore I can find myself as a participant in Holy Week much more so than when I served as a solo pastor. So, thank you to everyone who helped make Holy Week such a great experience this year.

    I am also thankful to the people of Resurrection for an opportunity that is quickly approaching. Pastor Dave announced at the December semi-annual congregation meeting that I had just received word that I am one of the recipients of a Sabbatical Grant for Pastoral Leaders from the Louisville Institute. Over 300 people applied and thirty proposals were funded. The $15,000 grant will enable me and my family to experience some things this summer that we could not do otherwise. I want to share with you what I’m going to be doing during this sabbatical.

    The title of my sabbatical proposal was “Leadership and Ministry through Teams.” These are topics that are of great interest to me, and I hope that my sabbatical activities will provide a benefit to RLC. In the proposal, I stated: “It would be quite wrong to say that my well is dry. I know that the well of God’s grace never runs dry. I have been to that well repeatedly, drawing from God’s grace to sustain me and the people to and with whom I have been in ministry. However, my “pumping mechanism” for drawing from that well is showing increasing signs of inefficiency after sixteen years of busy, creative, and fruitful ministry. I am looking forward to a time of sabbatical away from the day to day responsibilities of ministry so that I can tear that pump down, overhaul worn parts, and see if new components can be added. This will not only benefit me, but as a more grace-full person, it will also benefit everyone around me.”

    I am making a running start on my sabbatical by having already met several times with a spiritual director. I want to tap his wisdom and expertise to explore some renewed faith disciplines that I can use during the time of sabbatical to ingrain as habits that will keep me “pumping along” well after the sabbatical. The sabbatical itself will begin on June 18 and extend for twelve weeks – I will return to the office on September 10. By the end of that first week, our family will have arrived at Holden Village in the Cascade Mountains of Washington for a two-week stay. We visited Holden two summers ago and could not think of a better place for our family to reconnect and be removed from all of our other roles and responsibilities. On the way to Holden, we will visit with my sister and her family in Lodi, California.

    In mid-July, we will head to Orlando, Florida, where I will participate in a three-and-a-half day program at the Disney Institute titled, “The Disney Approach to Leadership Excellence.” As a participant in the Institute, we can extend our stay at reduced rates on either side of the event, so we will be on the Disney World property for nine nights. Hayley has never been to Disney (she is in second grade) and we think this is a wonderful age for her first visit. While in Florida, we will also visit my grandmother whom I have not seen in several years.

    Another aspect of the sabbatical will be to visit some living laboratories. I am working to arrange site visits with two or three congregations about our size who are committed to ministry through teams. I would like to have conversation with and shadow the pastor or other leaders for a day or two, hopefully getting to observe staff, council, or other leadership meetings. I want to see how leadership development is done in those congregations and how they are implementing a ministry team structure.

    There’s one other thing that your “techno-pastor” is really excited about. In my sabbatical proposal I noted that with my personality type and background in science, I like to see concrete accomplishments. That doesn’t happen often in ministry. This need has been fulfilled at times with major projects like totally gutting and remodeling the kitchen in our first two houses, and building a deck and play set for Hayley at our home here in Greenwood. I don’t have such a major project, nor the time for something like that, during sabbatical. What I really want to do is build a computer from scratch that will have video editing capabilities. Yeah, it’s a real geek thing - and the folks at the Louisville Institute said that they had never seen anything quite like that in a sabbatical proposal, but that it obviously fits who I am.

    Of course, there is also a list of books that I want to read or revisit on the themes of leadership and ministry. One other aspect of the proposal initially hit a dead-end, but through an unexpected connection, it might be revived. Last August we visited the Children’s Museum and again saw the “Fireworks of Glass,” an amazing sculpture by Dale Chihuly. While we were in a side gallery with other works from Chihuly displayed, I was struck by a quote from him on the wall: “It is just a way of life for me to work with teams.” Due to a couple of injuries, Chihuly had to give up the role of the gaffer in glass blowing a number of years ago. To create, he has to work with a team. As I reflected on how insights from his experience might inform our ministry team efforts, it struck me that he is located in the Seattle area, which is where we fly to on the way to Holden Village. My first inquiry into interviewing Chihuly or his team was met with a polite refusal as his studio “is a working hot-shop and not open to the public.” A chance conversation a couple of months ago turned up the fact that John Moe’s brother is a very close friend of the Chihulys. Dick is now trying to intercede directly on my behalf for an interview, and hopefully some video (that can be edited on my new computer!) about working in teams.

    Our family is very much looking forward to this sabbatical. This summer will mark the seventeenth anniversary of my ordination and this will be my first sabbatical experience. Drawing upon his own experience, Pastor Dave has been very helpful with advice on how to structure the sabbatical – as well as in coaching me on the drafting of the proposal. The one thing I am not looking forward to is being absent from the people of RLC for twelve weeks – that will be very odd. However, I anticipate returning to you with my “pumping mechanism” overhauled and ready to tap into that deep well of God’s grace for our collective benefit. I look forward to sharing my learning about leadership and ministry through teams, so that together we can become more fully the people God has called and gifted us to be.

Resurrection’s participation in the Life Together: Thinking and Acting Strategically grant initiative from the Indianapolis Center for Congregations formally got under way on April 12 with the first of the class sessions. This grant initiative is separated into two components, thinking strategically and acting strategically. Our goal for our participation in this program is for us as a congregation to develop skills in strategic thinking and acting so that they become a part of our culture.

    During the first component, Project Coordinator Eric Schilling and Pastor Mitch will attend three day-long class sessions covering the three phases of Thinking Strategically:

    •   Recall the Past – in which the congregation recalls its own history as well as that of the denomination

    •   Assess the Present – in which the congregation undertakes activities to get a clearer picture of who is in the congregation and in the surrounding community, and what their characteristics are

    •   Discover the Vision – in which the congregation seeks to discern a vision for where God is calling them

Each of the three class sessions will focus on one of these phases, as well as talk about the disciplines of spirituality, communication, and team building. After the classes are complete, the Life Together team will prepare a $5,000 matching grant proposal (due June 21) outlining the activities we want to engage in to think strategically, what resources we will use, how long we expect it to take, and how much it will cost.

    Early in 2008, a group of five will attend a one-and-a-half day class session on the second component, Acting Strategically. The focus there will be on the fourth phase, Create the Future. The Life Together team will then prepare another matching grant proposal, this time for $30,000, that will outline the strategic actions we want to undertake as a result of our strategic thinking. A final grant report will be due a year later. It is not expected that we will accomplish all of what we set out in our strategic plan in that one year, they just need to end the grant program at some point. The hope is that we will continue to think and act strategically long after the grant program is complete.

    We anticipate many sub-teams, including the Future Facilities Ministry Team, working with the Life Together team. There will also be a number of opportunities for the congregation as a whole to provide data, ideas, and feedback into the process.