John Louk

We are making a big transition in one of our communication practices. This week we are mailing a paper copy of the monthly newsletter for the last time. We will no longer print and mail in bulk The Forecaster . Rather, we will email it to as many people as possible. We will still print and mail a paper copy to our shut ins, of course, and to those who do not have electronic access, and we will still print and have some paper copies available at the church. We are transitioning to a new way of communicating. This is good stewardship as it is cost effective (the new postage rate just about doubles our cost of mailing), saves paper, and utilizes the technology that many if not most people already have in their homes or access to elsewhere. We are certainly not the first congregation to make this change. Many churches have already begun this practice. The Iowa Annual Conference also continues working to have good stewardship practices. The Bishop announced that the Sessions Committee (...

Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who will transform the world. So how are we doing? I want to tell you about Deb Black and Ed Foss. Deb, our staff person for care ministries, brought Ed onto the Care Team. It started when Ed was in the hospital having major surgery. He was touched by the care he received from the visitation team who came to him and prayed with him each day. During that time, God touched Ed and opened his heart to be a part of that ministry. Deb did a wonderful job. She invited him to shadow her when she made visits in the hospital. She did the ministry and Ed watched her. Then she invited Ed to do the ministry with her. Then she went with Ed while he did the ministry. Finally, she turned him loose and now Ed (and Diane!) are ministering as part of the Care Team. And they are caring for people beyond the hospital! In assessing the state of Salem, besides the anecdotal evidence there are some benchmark statistics to which we want to pay attention. The...