Praise God!

April 4, 2011

 “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord…’”

-- Isaiah 61:10
 
Praise God!
Once again, thanks to your faithful giving and careful stewardship, we have been able to meet all our financial obligations. Not only that, we are growing in worship with the addition of Ruby Agnir as our new choir director. I want to fill you in on a few more things that are going on in and around Atonement as we move towards Easter and the celebration of God’s promises fulfilled in the Risen Christ! –

• This is our third year without the extra income that Little Pioneers Daycare brought in, but income from offerings has grown almost to the point of replacing it. We are now heading into the summer months when our offering income takes a dip, but we still hope the offerings will take care of most of our regular expenditures.
• By Easter, you should see results of our next phase in improving audiovisual technology in the sanctuary. We will be installing screens that should result in better flow in worship and less expense printing bulletins.
• We have now established a building fund for the new construction that we have planned. This includes work redoing our parking and landscaping as a result of the road construction. It also includes putting up a new building, which will serve as multi-purpose gathering space (with full kitchen) along with much-needed additional food pantry storage. Special gifts may be directed to this fund at any time. 
• Our national church body has been hit much harder than expected by reductions in giving. Mission congregations throughout the country have seen their pastors’ salaries reduced by 30%. This includes our own mission partner, Peace Lutheran Church in Tampa and their pastor, Michael Birra. At our meeting yesterday, Tampa area churches voted to use some of our conference dollars to support Pastor Birra’s salary and another $1000 to develop a support team that would assist that church in reaching out and growing.
• Thanks to the local papers, tv stations and word-of-mouth, our Helping Hands food pantry has gotten great exposure lately. More people are calling the church and asking about it – both people needing help and people wanting to donate food.
• We will be hosting a short seminar with luncheon on Sunday, May 1 after the 10am service called Charitable Giving: How to Make a Difference by Giving Back. Deb Kretchman, our local Thrivent representative will be sharing information and leading discussion. You can sign up at church, or call the church office at 813-973-2211.

Take a moment and think of some of the blessings in your life. Thanks to our faith and awareness of God’s presence and love for us, we know who we are and what life is about. As we prepare to bring our Easter worship to God, we remember that He gave his Son Jesus for us and we want to give Him back our very best. As Atonement member Lilja Taylor reminds us in her poem “Easter Parable,” “He did what we could not”! Bring Him your best this Easter, your thanks, your praise, your heart!

Peace,
Pastor Scott