It’s not hard to imagine Jim Lieberknecht’s expression when he opened up this month’s Edison bill. Like all of us, rising electricity prices effects Holy Trinity the same way. Running the church office is very expensive with computers, copiers and other office equipment operating throughout the day fueling that electric bill.

With the sudden surge in our expenses it’s often difficult on fixed budgets to keep our commitments to Christ’s ministry. Sadly, we sometimes have to resort to cutting back our tithes just to make ends meet.

We often overlook ways to save money to offset increased expenses. Turning off lights, carpooling to work, and clipping coupons sure help the bottom line.

But did you know that by simply signing up to receive an online copy of the Tempo instead of a printed copy, you could help reduce Holy Trinity’s monthly expenses?

Every month, it costs $125 to print, address and mail out a copy of the Tempo to each family on the mailing list. Signing up for the online copy and removing your name from the list lowers the cost and expense of producing and mailing the Tempo.

To signup for online Tempo delivery, supply your email address in the signup form located at http://www.htlcto.org/newsletter. You will get a confirmation email back from Holy Trinity to confirm your subscription. Once a month you will get a new email notice when a new version of the Tempo is available.

After trying the online Tempo for 90 days, we’ll send you an opt-out email where you can take your name off the printed copy mailing list if you decide the online version is for you.

We’re all trying to meet our monthly budgets — at home and at Church — making our dollar stretch a little further. Turn off those lights your not using and sign up for the Tempo at http://www.htlcto.org/newsletter.

Surely these are ways in which we each minister to others week in and week out. Like a river in our life, flowing with God’s grace. Well, I am happy to inform you that your river ran with a good flow through our HTLC Jar this past year. Many a fellow child of God received a lift from Lutheran Social Services because of your generosity.

Yes, YOU MADE IT! We topped our $1,000.00 goal and then some: $1,036.84. I want to personally thank each of you who contributed to this meaningful ministry during the year 2005. Last year may be safely tucked away, but God’s grace keeps pace, and your generosity helps with that. What could be better? Blessings to you in 2006 IlaJean Kragthorpe, Stewardship Ministries

stewardship ministries | lutheran social services

Our Helping Through Loose Change Jar almost looked like it was on a brief diet. Then, I dumped it out. Wow! Was I in for a super surprise. First, two $10 bills slid out; then came two fives, and seven $1’s. Thinking about your generosity, and how much difference that generosity would soon be making in the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves, I continued dumping: quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies happily jingled their way out of the jar.

And one toothpick.

A toothpick? Really? Not quite! Rolled up as slender and hard as a little toothpick, came the last bill to emerge from the jar’s mouth. I unrolled it, and right before me was the pensive image of dear ol’ Ben Franklin himself. Hmm, I had to look at the number of dollars inscribed—and nearly lost my breath as I read $100. That is, I would have lost my breath except it was caught up in giggles at the heartwarming and super abundant generosity of one of you out there.

To say “God bless you all” would actually be redundant. For surely, having given so generously, you have known what it is to be blessed. But never having been known for being short on words — redundant or not: God bless you, every one!

Since the last “jar count” — which I believe was in August, you have given $177.50 for the important ministries carried out by our Lutheran Social Services, This brings our 2005 total to $876.09, so far, by mid-October as this goes to press. This means,if we all pitch in, we can easily reach our $1000 goal for this year.

Again, thanks to each one of you for your blessings of others. May God give you joy in all aspects of your stewardship of life. —IlaJean Kragthorpe, Stewardship

Your $5 ‘s & $1 ‘s. your quarters, nickels, dimes and pennies this past month have added up to another $77 making the total for this year of $254.

Please look around for the Jar. Some days it is just inside the nave of the church — where the baptism font used to stand. And remember, if you should forget your loose change at home, we love seeing those dollar bills! Hopefully, we’ll reach $1,000 or more this year for LSSVC. May God bless our participation in this ministry, and you!

It was the siesta hour and some Senegalese women resting on the sidewalk in the shade of a building had pulled down the tie of their headkerchiefs to cover their eyes against the brightness of the equatorial sun. But they heard us speaking in English, raised their sunshields briefly, nodded, and smiled. I felt very welcomed. I am sure that Pastor Janet and Stacey Wise can relate to this feeling; that sense of welcome never diminishes.

It was not until the early 1970’s that our ELCA began mission work in Senegal, mostly among the Pulaar-speaking people. Currently our Division of Global Missions (DGM) personnel number eleven although as always the Africans take much responsibility for evangelism, preaching points, teaching others, and working with the youth. To say nothing of their willingness to sacrifice financially for the Gospel.

Today, most work is carried on in essentially two places. In Linguere and the surrounding area, the focus is on evangelism, animal husbandry, primary health care, and an active youth center. In Dakar, the capital of Senegal, evangelism is also a primary labor, along with the Dakar Youth Center, and a Bible correspondence program.

Our Global Mission partners for April are hard at work in the Dakar Yoff area. They are Rev. Clifford and Mitesaida Lewis. Pastor Lewis, the Regional Representative for West Africa, has the task of coordinating the mission work of a wide area, much of which is still in the throes of civil strife. It is not an easy task. And I can assure you that his contribution and those of Mitesaida to the local ministries of the church are many, varied, and complex.

They work on our behalf to carry out Christ’s mandate to us. We are privileged to help bear the financial responsibility of their difficult work along with that of all who work in the Vineyard in faraway lands. And we need to remember that this is our obedience as well as our privilege. It is one of the ways we express our gratitude for our salvation.

As we contemplate our church’s budget for the year ahead, let us think consciously — and conscientiously — of our monetary obligation to our Synod through which most of our support to Global Missions is channeled. Let us dedicate ourselves financially to a truly thankful response for all we have in blessings, especially the Gospel. Surely, one of our richest blessings is in supporting those who serve in Christ’s name for us.

Thank you. IlaJean Kragthorpe, Stewardship Ministries

As we mark Christ’s journey to the cross, we also give thanks for the Holy Spirit’s sustaining of the Church, here and around the globe, and pray that those in mission in far away lands will be blessed. Yet, as any “missionary” past or present will tell you, his/her desire is not only for the rest of us to pray for missionary families, but also for the work of the indigenous church and its national leaders and workers.

We encourage you to attend each Wednesday night supper and/or worship. Read your bulletins carefully; take them home to be able to pray more intimately for these missionary families.

We also need to remember that this same Spirit abides with us here, at Holy Trinity, enabling us to be at mission in our own families and communities. Let us pray that we will respond to the call and that our efforts, too, will be blessed.
God bless our Lenten journey together.

– IlaJean Kragthorpe

This year, we will be giving these funds to Lutheran Social Services of Southern California, Ventura County. In our April column, we will inform you of some of the services you are providing with this extra measure of love. Meanwhile, thanks to all of you who participate. And special thanks to those little angels (or big?) who deposited already wrapped quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. What a help that was! God bless all of you. IlaJean Kragthorpe, Stewardship Ministries

I have a wonderful 80-pound, 11-year-old golden retriever named Cobber, whom I love dearly. Many of you know him. I take him everywhere I can, and I even used him in a children’s sermon one time with Pastor Janet. The kids loved him! I now have him in a program called “Love on a Leash” where I take him to retirement and nursing homes. There are four of us who take our dogs once or twice a week. It is a wonderful program and is great therapy for the residents, who hug and pet and sometimes kiss the dogs. It’s great therapy for us, too, to see how much love our dogs can bring into an elderly life. Many of the people tell us about the dogs they once had when they were younger and how much they miss them. I’ve met some fine people, and we share stories about our dogs.

Cobber is so good in this program. He seems to know just what to do, and I am so proud of him. He loves all the attention, of course, and can’t wait to “go for a ride to see his pals.” He plunks his head down in their laps and is in doggy heaven. Me, too; this is stewardship that is not about money. It’s all about unleashing our love, Christ’s love, in the world. Stewardship is how we choose to use any of our gifts to show God our gratitude. Maybe even Cobber knows that! — Fred Bowman

With the recent devastation in Asia from the tsunami, we saw how quickly personal possessions could literally be washed away in an instant. Everything people had worked for and enjoyed, gone—with no chance of recovery. In thousands of tragic instances, whole families were swept away. It was a disaster of such a magnitude that the agony of it was hard to fathom.

Listen. There were those who heard their Father calling them to service in this catastrophe. They were called to be their Father’s eyes and ears and hands in this hurting world. They came by the hundreds, from all walks of life, from many countries near and far to help. To give aid and solace and food and clothing and medicine to those that had been injured in this tragedy.

Not all of us can travel to the far side of the world to help. This is not the only way we are called to do our father’s work in this world.

Listen. Do you hear our heavenly Father? He is calling you, to service in his church. Calling you to be his eyes and ears and hands in this world in which we live. How will you respond? Will you gladly put down what you are doing and come and help? Will you seek to use the gifts your heavenly Father has given you as he intended?

Our church has need of many talents: typing, painting, baby-sitting, counting, praying, preparing the altar, singing, reading, gardening, organizing, acolyting, teaching.

Listen. Our Father is calling you. How will you respond to his voice when you hear your name called?

Margaret Dove

Universally, humankind has referred to light and darkness in basic terms of safety and fear, love and hatred, liberty and oppression. Our loving God who knows us each, knows everything about us, and loves us with a steadfast love, knew that only Salvation’s Light could save us from ourselves for God’s kingdom of light and love. And so, God not only gave us light but became our Light — and charged us to be stewards of it, for it cannot be a static thing.

Our stewardship of that Light begins with our own life, and extends to the family we share that life with, at home, at school, at work, at worship, or at play. But we dare not let it be limited to these spheres which, after all, provide a certain amount of security and love for ourselves. Christ has commanded us to go “into all the world” to share His love and to care for God’s human family and the creation of Gods hands.

Soon we will be discussing and voting on our budget for ministries in 2005. We know about the needs “at home” here at Holy Trinity. They are many, important, and good. But, as we look at our needs — and at our abundance — we must be conscious of taking Christ’s command seriously. just as he was the healer and welcomer of the outcast, the speaker for those whose voice was never heard, the giver of bread and the Bread itself, it is incumbent upon us as individuals and as a congregation to consciously choose to be his presence in the world, bearers of his loving Light.

Let us make sure that our budget expenses for the year 2005, reflect the outpouring of Christ’s love for all in the amount we set aside to send to our Synod, for the church nationally and worldwide, for this is our major instrument in going “into all the world” in our Savior’s name. This is a major part of what moves us beyond our serving of only our own needs as a congregation.

“And there will be no more night; they will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light…” Rev. 22:5 is the final promise that we shall never be in darkness again. In thankful response to this promise, “let [our own] light shine, let it shine, let it shine!” Working with you in the Vineyard.

Stewardship Ministries. — IlaJean Kragthorpe