Sept 6 -- 9:30 Worship only

Sept 13 -- Beginning of Sunday School classroom time 8:30 – Worship 9:40 – Sunday School 10:45 – Worship Sept 20 and 27 8:30 – Worship 9:40 – Sunday School 10:45 – Worship

Hand Bell

rehearsals begins Sept 9th at the back of the sanctuary. Hand Bells practice on Wednesdays at 6:15 p.m.

Senior Choir rehearsals begin Sept 9th in the front pews of the sanctuary.

Rehearsals are Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.

If you are interested in joining either of these choirs, contact Mike or Sue Ellingsen 526-5808, ellingsen@bevcomm.net or just come to the rehearsal!

The Trinity Lutheran Church Women will meet on Thursday, September 3 at 1:30 p.m. in the Gathering Place. All women are welcome and invited to attend!

We need YOU to make our Directory complete! We are partnering with Lifetouch for this important project. Photo sessions will be Tuesday through Saturday, Sept 22-26 and Sept 29 – Oct 3. Hours of photography are 2:00-9:00 week days and 9:00 – 4:00 Saturdays. Each family unit will receive a free 8x10 portrait. Contact Jeanette Hanson at 526-2041 to schedule your photo session -- or choose your own schedule on line at Betrinity.com under the What’s Happening dropdown box. Click on the words TRINITY PHOTO DIRECTORY to go directly to the Lifetouch link.

The Trumpet September, 2015 Trinity Lutheran Church, ELCA 235 East 7th Street, Blue Earth, MN

The mission of Trinity Lutheran Church, as God’s chosen and baptized people, nurtured by word and sacrament, is to live for others boldly sharing the good news of Christ; using all the gifts we have been given.

ADULT EDUCATION: “EXPLORING THE BOOK OF ACTS”

- Sundays at 9:40 - 10:30 a.m. in Education Classrooms 201 – 203 on the

sanctuary level

- Led by Pastor Paul Meierding, who earned a PhD in Biblical Studies at Luther Seminary

The four gospels tell about the life of Jesus. The Book of Acts continues the story, showing how in the midst of great conflict the Holy Spirit empowered the first believers to successfully share the good news with thousands of unbelievers under the leadership of Peter and Paul.

September 20 Conflict in Acts: Who is Fighting and What are the Issues? What do we know about the author and his audience? (Acts 1 – 5)

September 27 A Transfer of Leadership: from Peter to Paul - The Holy Spirit continues to act with power. (Acts 6-11)

October 4 Expanding the Mission: from Insiders to Outsiders (Acts 12-18) The challenge for us is to continue to reach outsiders.

Though not required, participants will benefit from reading the chapters of Acts in advance.

Please sign up for this Adult Education Class: “Exploring the Book of Acts” Name __________________________________________ Email address ___________________________________ Or email paulmeierding@gmail.com to register for this session.

Sunday, September 13 Sunday School starts in the classroom 9:40 – 10:30 a.m. Bibles given to 3 year olds and those in 3rd Grade Wednesday, September 16 Confirmation Orientation with students and parents 6:00 p.m. Sunday, September 20 Installation of Teachers during Worship at 8:30 and 10:45 Wednesday, October 7 After school program begins from 2:15 – 4:00 p.m. Sunday, October 11 Confirmation / Affirmation of Baptism for 9th Grade students during worship at 10:45

September

Sunday at 8:30 Geary Wells, Brian Wells, Craig Wells

Sunday at 10:45 Clair Nassen, Les Pearson

Chad Schonrock If you would like to change the month you serve or would like to be added to the schedule, please

contact the church office (526-3463).

What Does This Mean?

7Up, SALSA, SWAP, TLCW -- Huh?!?!

In the next column, there is a short definition of commonly used acronyms at Trinity Lutheran Church, Blue Earth.

7Up: Sunday morning class time for students in grades 7-12. SALSA: Junior High youth group SWAP: Senior High youth group TLCW: Trinity Lutheran Church Women The Gathering Place: the dining room area in the basement

The Transition Team is working on providing a summary of our work for the church council. We continue to analyze our data that we obtained from the surveys and interviews. We hope to wrap up the work of our team in early September, understanding that we will have a joint meeting with the call committee when it is formed. As always, if you have any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you! Julie Blagg

Gods Work.

Our Hands.

Sept 13, 2015

There had been conversation about September 13th being an intergenerational work day. This program has been put on hold until 2016. ‘Too many irons in the fire’ to line up projects and make this a successful event. If you have any ideas of projects or would like to be on the planning committee, please contact Kim Jacobson 525-0747.

Call Committee A Call Committee will be formed in September. The Church Constitution indicates that the Call Committee will have six members. Our SE Minnesota Call Committee Handbook makes recommendations: “The

composition of the call committee

intentionally reflects the makeup

of the congregation, assuring a

diversity of gender, diversity of

age, diversity of ethnic/racial

identity, representation from

various segments of the ministry of

the congregation, such as

Worship, Youth, WELCA,

Education, etc. The council

should consider qualities and gifts

of the members of the call

committee. They should be people

who regularly attend worship,

have good gifts of discernment,

are supportive of the work of the

church, able to keep information

confidential, good listeners,

people of prayer and people able

to lend considerable time to the

work of the call committee.”

We encourage any Trinity member interested in serving on the Call Committee to give his/her name to Clair Nassen, Council President no later than Sept. 6. The Church Council will select members of the Call Committee based on the above recommendations.

Clair’s email is cnassen@hotmail.com.

Sunday, Sept 6

Worship at 9:30 a.m. only. No Sunday School.

The Church Office will be CLOSED on Monday, September 7, 2015

LOOKING FORWARD

A Message from your Church Council By Steve Frederickson, Vice-Pres.

You are familiar with the Bible passage in which Jesus says, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I also.” These are comforting words whenever we face challenging times. As members of Trinity we have indeed faced some challenges recently, and there will certainly be more in our future. It is my hope that as we face the changes that will be coming to Trinity, we remember two things – that Christ will always be with us and that things we agree upon outnumber and outweigh the things we may differ on. It has been a busy and productive summer for our congregation. We paid off the last of our mortgage in July, we enjoyed the successful completion and operation of our new fairstand in July. As August comes to a close, so does the work of the Transition Task Force, which was a big step in the process of calling our next pastor. We celebrate each of these positive events and offer sincere gratitude to all those who helped make them possible. I think we can all agree that these three events give us confidence as we look to the future of Trinity. We also know that there are new challenges/needs awaiting us. And some of these topics may cause some disagreement among our members. For it is also probably true that wherever two or more Lutheran are gathered, there will be some discontent. (I don’t think that’s in the Bible, but it might be.) We need new lights in the sanctuary, an upgrade to our heating/cooling systems, and a “buffing up” of the church prior to our anniversary. These items are in addition to a parking lot and the possibility of screens in our sanctuary. Another possible change that has already been discussed is decreasing the size of our Church Council. Members will not always agree on which we should do first, or whether we actually need them or not. But as we face these decisions, we will need to ask for and rely on God to guide us and to remember that what unites us is greater than anything trying to divide us. Feedback from the Task Force surveys proved that Trinity is a congregation with many very loyal and committed members. I think we can agree that we are proud of what Trinity has been in the past, and we look forward to what Trinity will be in the future.

August, 2015

Trinity Council met on August 12, 2015. Balance in general checking as of July 31 was $-5552.41. The mortgage was paid in full on July 2, 2015. Current line of credit (borrowed from General Savings account) is $19,090. Waiting for final receipts from the Fair Stand to pay remaining construction invoices. Draft of a Mission Statement was presented. Tabled to September Council meeting. Transition Task Force is working on Ministry Site Profile. Council will address Strategic Plan, goals and top three mission priorities at September Council meeting. Pastor Paul has suggested to reduce the size of the church council. Asking for names of people interested in being on the Call Committee. Pastor Paul will be leading an adult education class during Sunday School time on the Book of Acts. Worship/Art/Music Committee searching for music leader(s) for Sunday and Wednesday. Education Committee updating responsibilities. Deacons watched video on hospitality. 125th Anniversary Main Dinner set for September 25, 2016. Invitation letters have been sent to former pastors. Hi Choir scheduled to sing Giant Days Weekend in July, 2016. Trustees discussed policy for use of new Trinity Stand. Will be getting bids for parking lot between Trinity and Wells Fargo Bank and for upgrade to LED lighting in the sanctuary. Need one more Sunday School teacher. Confirmation classes will

begin in September. Looking for helpers for JAM (Wednesday after school program that begins Oct 7th).

Complete copy of minutes is available

on the display rack outside the office.

General Church e-mail

Trinity@bevcomm.net Donna Perryman, Office Admin.

Interim Pastor Paul MeierdingInterim Pastor Paul MeierdingInterim Pastor Paul MeierdingInterim Pastor Paul Meierding paulmeierding@gmail.com Kim Jacobson, Kim Jacobson, Kim Jacobson, Kim Jacobson, Children/Children/Children/Children/Youth Youth Youth Youth and and and and Family MinistriesFamily MinistriesFamily MinistriesFamily Ministries Kimmykimmyj@gmail.com If you would like to receive your Trumpet newsletter electronically, send your request to Donna via email at trinity@bevcomm.net

Listed below are birthdays of members in the church active data base. If there is an addition or correction, please call the church office (526-3463). Sept 1 – Willard Amundson Mavrik Myers 2 – Devin Cory, Ron Smith 3 – Barb Backstrom Aubrey Skaden 4 – Robert Haugen Harold Toppin 5 – Liz Boettcher, Harper Teems 6 – Craig Johnson, Kayla Kimball, Bob Martig, Olivia Stewart

7 – Bernice Anderson, Tim Blagg 8 – Kay Bogan, Mike Johnson (Virginia) 9 – Marlene Hanson, Stephanie Wolff 10 – Alan Moore, Jared Smith 11 – Mary Bartels, Katie Hanson Jaxon Lee, Kathy Maloney 12 – ElRose Anderson, McKenna McGregor, Sharon Olson 13 – Sonia Monson 14 – Hailey Meyers, Whitney Pirsig, Terri Wells 15 – Waylen Douglas, Sheila Wickersham 16 – Derick Benz, John Hansen Courtney Mehrhof Alesha Wickersham 18 – Brett Nowak, Jason Olson Sonja Troll 20 – Mark Rauenhorst 22 – Pam Hunt 23 – Jay Hagedorn, Jean Hinrichsen 24 – Dustin Lane, Brianna Olson 25 – Marissa Benz 26 – Alex Dikken, Travis Keister, Jylessa Levenhagen, Ellen Sanders 27 – Laura Weness 28 – Lucas Determan, Kaylor Jacobs, Lindsey Jacobs, Dick Stindtman 29 – Cyla Nowak, Shar Stindtman 30 – Brady Olsen

Thrivent Action Teams Intro

Sunday, September 20, Jason Bonnema or Linda Steinhauer of Thrivent Financial will present information on the impact Thrivent Action Teams and $250 can have in our communities. A light lunch (Subway sandwich, etc.) will be served at 12:00 with the presentation at 12:30 in the Gathering Place. Thrivent members encouraged to attend, but anyone is welcome!

Office 526-3463 Open 8:30

to 5:00 p.m.

Children/Youth Children/Youth Children/Youth Children/Youth & & & & FamilyFamilyFamilyFamily MinMinMinMiniiiistriesstriesstriesstries –––– Sept Sept Sept Sept NewsNewsNewsNews

It’s almost time for Sunday school again!! Can you believe it? Where did the summer go? Even though we may be sad that summer is almost over, there is something to be said about getting back into a routine again... at least I have always thought so. And I hope that Sunday school is part of the routine for the children at Trinity! At a recent planning meeting with the Sunday School teachers, I asked them all to share memories of Sunday school. Everyone seemed to collectively smile when they were asked and they all had some great STORIES to share. I too have very fond memories of Sunday school: of teachers, songs we sang, games we played and lessons we learned. Giving children that foundation when they are young is vitally important to the longevity of their faith journey. I know that I am in ministry because my parents helped to lay out that foundation for me when I was young. I am so grateful that they did! You never know the impact the Lord can have on someone through teachers and His teachings and at what age. I know I felt the call in junior high to be in ministry. I also had a teacher in Bible school that made an impact on me, and he is now ironically a pastor. I loved to hear the stories then and I love to tell the stories now. This year’s theme for Sunday school is “STORY”. That is why you see Toy Story things around the church. Can you imagine being a child sitting on Jesus’ lap just intently listening to Him tell stories? The Bible is packed full of stories and our teachers are ready for the kids to come so that they can unpack them! The first day of Sunday school will be on September 13th at 9:40 a.m. and will be done at 10:30.

The nursery and 3rd grade students will be receiving their Bibles in worship on Sept 13th at either the 8:30 or the 10:45 service. What an exciting time in their lives!! What a privilege for parents to be able to place in their children/s hands...the best story book ever!!

Kimberly Jacobson 525-0747 Kimmykimmyj@gmail.com

Most children’s stories

start out like that don’t

they? Or at least they used

to. I guess I haven’t read

one in a while. Sometimes

the stories that we

experience in our lives

don’t start out that

cheery. As a matter of

fact, they can be rather

scary.

As part of the ongoing

“STORY” theme this year, I

have invited several people

within the congregation to

come to 7up on Sunday

mornings (Youth Room) to

share life “Stories” of how

God has used life-altering

circumstances to bring

them closer to Him. Watch

the newsletter and

calendar as this will be

open to anyone.

7up (Sunday school for 7th grade and up) will begin on Sept 13th @ 9:40 a.m. in

the Youth Room. If you are running late and didn’t have time to eat, we always have toast and juice!

SALSA (Junior High) Will begin on Sept 23rd at 4:00 p.m. and will always

include a meal (no charge).

Confirmation will begin Sept 23rd @ 6:00 p.m.

SWAP (Senior High) Will begin on Sept 23rd @ 7:30 p.m.

Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, "Let the little children

come to me, and do not hinder

them, for the kingdom of heaven

belongs to them.”