August 2020 Council Corner
I hope this letter finds everybody within our congregation happy and healthy as we traverse through these unprecedented times. The HLC council met on July 19 to discuss various issues that affect our church.
First and foremost on the docket was a review of our reopening plan. We decided to keep September 6 as our first Sunday of returning to worship. Talking with medical experts and looking at the numbers for St. Louis County, we feel that the data easily led us to this decision. The number of positive COVID-19 cases is slowly starting to creep upward in our area. The council will keep tabs on this number and will adjust the reopening date for better or worse based upon what we find.
In preparation for our reopening, supplies were ordered and thankfully have arrived. We now have disposable face masks, plastic face shields, sanitizer, an infrared thermometer, and individual Communion packets at the ready. In addition, an order has been placed to purchase the Liberty ULV Electric Backpack Fogger. This will be used to disinfect the church after each service and/or use by various groups. I want to give a big “thank you” to Stan, Aliisa, and Liisa for their efforts to make our reopening happen. They went above and beyond.
HLC finally has its new computer!!! We now have a new Dell processor, wireless keyboard, and wireless mouse ready for use. Enough money was also left over to purchase the Microsoft operating system. In addition, the old computer will now be available for public use by our congregation members. Thank you to everybody whose donations made this happen.
Babbitt Evangelical Lutheran Church (BELC) and HLC have restarted negotiations with an interested party for the position of interim pastor. We presently find ourselves in the process of devising a proposal for this person. This will hopefully come to a fruitful conclusion sooner than later and will allow us to have someone in place instead of relying on the dwindling roster of pulpit supply. Once completed, BELC and HLC can then begin working with the interim pastor to start the process of looking for a permanent pastor. The HLC council will keep you updated.
In closing, the council would like to recognize Sonja Hartline for her outreach efforts this summer. For the first time in a very long time, HLC did not hold its annual vacation bible school for area youth. This represented one of the many unfortunate casualties of COVID-19. Nonetheless, Sonja did not let this keep her down for very long. She put together individual vacation bible school packets and sent them out to our local youth. The response, in short, has been amazing. We want to thank Sonja for giving her time and energy in this process.
May God grant you peace until we meet again next month…….
In God’s Name,
Lance Kupka
Council President
Hope Lutheran Church of Embarrass