March 2020 Council Corner
The council met on February 16 for our reorganizational meeting after our annual meeting. We elected the following members to leadership positions: Lance Kupka, president; Sharon Rantala, vice president; and Liisa Lamppa, secretary. In addition, Bill Krueth was welcomed back to the council after a two-year absence. I want to thank Bill for serving our congregation once again and look forward to another year of working with a great group of people to make decisions that affect our church.
Our new computer will be purchased this week. It finally got the point where Stan went to update one of the programs, and the computer operating system did not allow Stan to open the programs needed to complete his work. The new computer will be ordered this week and hopefully will be operational by this Saturday.
No new information exists on our current negotiations with a potential interim pastor. Sharon Rantala and Liisa Lamppa met with the members of the Babbitt Evangelical Lutheran Church (BELC) executive council in late January. Proposals for the interim pastor were presented by each church, discussed, and then modified. They were then forwarded to the potential interim candidate. We are currently awaiting a response.
Stan discussed an issue with St. Louis County regarding our church well. Apparently, we have a small amount of bacteria present in the water. It represents no worries whatsoever to our consumption and use of water for the church. We will need to “shock” our well with bleach to rid ourselves of the bacteria, and all should quickly be back to normal.
The big issue discussed by the council centered around our use of pulpit supply and communion. A communication was made to the Northeast Minnesota Synod about this issue. It turns out that only an ordained Lutheran minister can provide communion long-term in a Lutheran church. Apparently, the language for this topic was misinterpreted originally back in September leading up to the departure of Pastor Weston. This represents a problem for Hope Lutheran as the person scheduled to minister our congregation for the entire month of March is not ordained within the Lutheran church. The council is currently working to get more clarification on this issue and will hopefully provide a solution sooner than later. We will keep you up to date.
May God grant you peace until we meet again next month…….
In God’s Name,
Lance Kupka
Council President
Hope Lutheran Church of Embarrass