All Saints Lutheran Church Committees

Outreach Committee

When visitors attend our worship service, the Outreach Committee is notified by Pastor, Church Support Staff, or by checking the Visitor Book and/or Friendship Pad information. Welcoming letters are sent inviting them to return and to call for a visit from the pastor or for more information. During the year of 2007, approximately 25 letters were sent. Most of these were in the Byron and Stillman Valley area. It has been gratifying to see several names on the mailing list become regulars in our congregation, in Sunday School classes, and even members during 2007. As always, everyone in the congregation is encouraged to participate in the outreach effort. We want visitors to feel welcome and encouraged to return, but we are sensitive to the risk of making our visitors feel pressured. Often the most effective way to turn visitors into new members of our church is a warm greeting, pleasant conversation, and sharing of the Good News.

Christian Education Committee

All Saints’ Christian Education Program provides opportunities for individuals (age 3 – adult) to learn more about God and to grow in faith to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Christian Education opportunities include Sunday Church School, First Communion, LOMC Summer Camps, Vacation Bible School, and the Faith-INKubators Confirmation Program.

Sunday Church School

The traditional Whole-Family Education Hour continued every Sunday from 9:15-10:15 A.M., January - May and September - December. Bill Runnion leads the Adult Sunday School class which has a consistent attendance of 7.

Margie Bergmark leads the Confirmation Class. They continue to use the 2-year program called Faith-INKubators developed by Rich Melheim. The program offers a variety of hands-on learning experiences including: Bible study, skits, music, sermon reports, games, food, Bible study, and small group discussions led by parent guides

The elementary grades always begin the hour meeting as a group in the sanctuary for music and a brief introduction to the day’s lesson by Dan Anderson. It has been difficult to secure music leadership, but the goal is to use part of this time to practice music which they perform in the late worship service on the fourth Sunday of each month. By 10:00 am, they go to the following classes with their respective teachers: Preschool-Kindergarten with Theresa Fitzsimmons and Julie Christian. 1st-2nd Grade with Carolyn Mandy Schlagel and Jodi Miles. 3rd-4th Grade with Dan Anderson. 5th-6th Grade with Pete Raum.

The new curriculum used in all the elementary classes is called Seasons of the Spirit and is published by Augsburg Fortress specifically for use in Lutheran and Episcopal churches. The weekly lessons are linked to the Gospel and bible lessons that are read in worship, but they are tailored to the age groups in each class. The teacher manuals provide teaching suggestions, craft ideas, links to other resources, and classroom posters. This package is new this year because the program used in previous years was discontinued. It was selected because it offers the same whole-family link to each week’s message and continuity across all the classes. However, the teaching instruction is a little more complicated and diverse than necessary. We are researching bible-based alternatives for next year.

First Communion

On May 20th we welcomed ten young people to partake of the Lord’s Supper for the first time. Parents and students participated in a four week preparation class which was designed to help students explore and appreciate this sacrament.

LOMC Summer Camps

We had several of our youth attend summer camp at LOMC (Lutheran Outdoor Ministries Center) located just south of Oregon, IL. Various programs themed "Oak Trees & Acorns" were offered from June 9th through the week of August 12th. Audrey Adams has served as an "LOMC apostle" getting the word out to our congregation about this marvelous opportunity to actively grow in faith and love at our church camp. Programs are for all ages including adults and seniors. The church provided $60 camperships to help with costs for our youth who attended camp. Scholarships are also available at LOMC.

Vacation Bible School

Last year’s Vacation Bible School program was held July 9th-13th. The program from Group’s Publishing “Avalanche Ranch: A Wild Ride through God's Word” provided an exciting way for kids to learn about God's word. Plus, kids prepared special prayer bears and bible books for a mission project. We were privileged to have 28 adult and young adult volunteers who helped host Avalanche Ranch for the 58 kids who joined in the fun. Thanks to all who shared their time and talents and offered donations to contribute to the success of this program.

Faith-INKubators Confirmation Program

On May 27th, thirteen young people Affirmed their Baptism and were confirmed. This fall we continued the exciting confirmation program based on a process developed by Rich Melheim called Faith-INKubators (FINK). The program, with Margie Bergmark now serving as presenter, offers a variety of hands-on learning experiences including: Bible study, skits, music, sermon reports, games, food, Bible study, and small group discussions led by parent guides. Sessions are held on Sunday mornings during the Whole Family Education Hour. Praise and gratitude are due to each person who has enriched the lives of others by participating or volunteering in our Christian education programs in 2007. Special thanks is extended to Dan and Melanie Anderson for commendable leadership of our Sunday Church School program.

We continue to welcome your support and feedback regarding All Saints’ Christian Education Program.

Social Ministry Committee

Meals on Wheels and a Planned Family church wide dinner were continued in 2007 A Habitat for Humanity house was not part of the 2007 activities; however, one is planned for the summer of 2008. Meals On Wheels is a program that provides hot lunch meals to individuals in our community who are unable to provide for themselves. Volunteers pick up hot meals provided by Lifescape Community Services at Neighbors Nursing Home and deliver them in and around Byron. This program continues to serve our community because of caring individuals who dedicate a portion of their time to serving their neighbors. I wish to thank the following people who volunteered their time: Gary & Shirley Asher, Jan Ball, George Krebs, Lois & Ken Lapp, Al & Gloria Olsen, Tom & Mary Raney, Marlene Roberts. The generosity of these members is greatly appreciated by the individuals whose lives were touched each time a meal was delivered. Anyone interested in participating in this program should contact Gary Asher at Church. On Saturday October 27, a family dinner at Manor Restaurant was planned to which all church members were welcome. A grand time and togetherness was had by all participants. Much thanks goes to Kay Johnson, Gloria Olson and Marlene Roberts who volunteered their time and effort to insure everyone had a pleasant evening together. On Saturday November 10 Life Line Screening utilized the church to conduct a series of critical health screening tests. Forty nine (49) church and Byron area residence alike participated. Volunteer efforts, helping others whether it is providing meals to those in need or planning a family dinner is always rewarding to participants and recipients alike. Thanks to all who have helped with the Social Ministry Committee activities in 2007.

Stewardship Committee

The Stewardship committee picked “Walk with Jesus” for the 2008 stewardship campaign. I would like to give special thanks to Melissa Morrison, Randy Mastricola and all the others who helped make it a success. Our Stewardship campaign was communicated by four different mailings to the congregation and a Temple Talk by Randy Mastricola and myself. I presented the Pledges and Time & Talent sheets for dedication at the 8:00 am service on December 16, 2007. As of January 2008, 99 Estimates of Giving have been received, pledging a total of $122,380.00. (General Fund: $85,286.00 and Facilities Maintenance: $37,094.00.) 128 Time and Talent Sheets have been received. The Expansion Fund is still going and we hope to keep paying on our mortgage loan. Deposits to the fund are approximately $36,500.00 as of December 2007. Our new Expansion fund drive is on its way. If you would like to help pay our mortgage loan, we have forms and envelopes at the church.

Worship Committee

All Saints is blessed to have two excellent keyboardists in Caryn Huber and Neysa McCammond. We are fortunate to have a new substitute keyboardist with the addition of Chase Sanders. Thanks to all that have shared their talents in the past, and in the future. Our Praise Team Members continue to share their talents with a contemporary service on the second and fifth Sunday every month. Unfortunately, the All Saints Adult Choir is not currently active due to the lack of a Choir Director and Accompanists. Anyone with the talent and desire to fill these positions is welcome to speak to one of the council members or Pastor Stees. We also welcome anyone with other musical talents to play during one of our services. Once again thanks to all that have blessed us with your God given gifts this past year.

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee creates the annual budget each year, tracks income versus expenditures, schedules offering counters, works on financial matters and dutifully reports on the balances in the Church savings accounts each year in this booklet. This report will cover the financial matters that were handled in 2007. The 2008 budget proposal is included in the latter portions of this report. The Finance Committee prepared and reviewed our budget, income and spending for the last few years. The Staff Support Committee made payroll recommendations. I also asked for and received budget requests from the different ministries and committees here at All Saints. We looked closely recent spending and at what expenses we might be faced with in the coming year. Taking all this into account, we came up with the 2008 budget proposal that was approved by the Congregation Council at their December meeting. Overall, the budget for General and Building Fund spending for 2008 is recommended at $205,263. This represents an increase of $778 over the 2007 budget, or an increase of 0.38 %. We tried to keep our obligations at about the same level as prior years. Our biggest increase was a 2% pay increase for the Pastor and all staff positions as approved by Council. We did a good job projecting changes in energy costs last year and have tried to get those projections even closer for 2008. We have tweaked a few budget items, but there are no real major changes from 2007. The mortgage payment is a concern and the Council has approved extending the Zoom Towards Zero Drive with a new, three year pledge drive. We need this to help pay the mortgage down and to balance our budget. The regular 2008 stewardship drive pledges are just a bit down from the past few years and even at prior year levels could not cover our capital expenses. We ask that you pray and find it in your hearts to continue to support this. With the departure of Pastor Bill, the Council has had to take on more responsibility in reviewing and understanding how we spend our money so we can be smarter in our approach to running the Church. Pastor Bill had taken care of a lot of matters because of his longevity with All Saints and now we have had to learn how to manage our finances as a Council. The Finance Committee and Council believe that the 2008 budget proposal is sound and our capital fund drive, stewardship pledges and faith giving are reasonable to support the proposal. We are on the look out for a few new offering counters. The more counters we have, the less often each team has to count. Please let me know if you would like to volunteer your time. It is not any more difficult than balancing your checkbook, and we need to add a few new counters to our rolls. I am looking forward to 2008. We managed to replace the roof on the older portions of our facilities via our capital reserves. We need to build those reserves back up, and the Council has taken action to do that. As we hire a new Pastor we will have to potentially look at replacing the aging church vehicle (or alternately paying mileage to the new Pastor), so another large capital expense may be in the future for 2008. We also want to look at building a garage/large storage shed to help store outdoor items.