“You are no longer strangers and aliens, but
you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus
himself as the cornerstone. In him the
whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in
whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.”
--
Ephesians 2:19-21
She came into my
office with a bright smile on her face.
“Pastor, I’ve been living here for years and drove down this road almost
every day, but I never realized there was a church back here. And you know what? I’ve
been looking for a church like this one.”
She’s now a member, worshiping here almost every Sunday.
Between all the construction, the
sign being back up, and all the action happening here on Wednesdays, people are
taking notice of Atonement Lutheran Church.
I’ll never forget my visit here 8 years ago when I flew down for my
interview. The young lady at the rental
car agency down at TIA had lived in Wesley Chapel all her life. “Then you know about Atonement Lutheran
Church,” I said hopefully. She looked at
me funny: “Well… there are lots of churches in our area.” “But this one’s right on State Road 54,” I
said, trying to jolt something loose in her brain. No dice.
Back then it was par
for the course, but today I’d be shocked to run into a local resident who
doesn’t know we are here. People come in
through the week, bringing donations and telling me they appreciate how much we do for this community. I’ve even had a local business person promise
me Atonement will have a share of stock in their new business start-up because
of the good work we do.
Perhaps the
biggest change to our community visibility in 2013 has happened because of the new church front. I’ve honestly had more feedback from people
outside the congregation than from our own members on this one. “I finally see there’s a church there,”
people tell me. The complicated roof lines and corner angles have been smoothed
out. The stone facade and textured
stucco bring a warmer, more organic feel.
The rose color (not pink!) invites the eye, and the overhang reaches out
toward the road, beckoning people to pull in (even in a Florida downpour). As the construction began in
January, we had a feeling of déjà vu, remembering last years long wait to see
completion of the parking lot. We
continued to use our vinyl road signs, having new ones made and adapting old
ones to tie up to the pvc posts by the road.
It made the call to new construction all the more urgent as we
officially began our Capital Campaign in February. Jean Zabel and the Capital Campaign team
designed a wonderful event hosted at Holy Trinity Lutheran in Lutz to kick off
our Laying Foundations for the Children
of God campaign. With a 3-year goal
of $300,000, the campaign will raise funds for a new building which will
provide additional storage and multi-use space for our ministries. We already knew our present building has
inadequate storage. In fact, we became
so pressed for space that we added a new storage garage in the back last
year. But we also face difficulties holding
dinners in our small fellowship hall and preparing food in the present small
kitchen with no stove. The new building
should help relieve pressure in numerous areas.
Barb Turner and Joe Zummo helped
bring the Tree of Life back to life
this year. We have re-thought what it’s
about and decided that it will be used to commemorate all our deceased
members. Other people can be added to
the memorial tree for a donation of $50 or more. We also want to thank Ariel Esposito for
finishing the beautiful undersea mural
that lines the hallway in the Sunday School wing. She spent many hours putting meticulously
detailed work into the seascape. I’m
especially fond of my customized swordfish.
Special thanks to Matthew Aeppel,
who chose as his Eagle Scout project the construction of a prayer garden out behind the church. He created a wonderful environment in a
peaceful spot out by the hedge, complete with benches and a birdbath. In October we added a columbarium just to the north of the prayer garden. A granite cylinder rising up from a circle of
brick pavers, the columbarium has 80 compartments for sets of 1 or 2 urns. Church members will be given the first
opportunities to purchase the use of a niche.
MY SUMMER SABBATICAL:
TRAVELING THE WORLD;
DEVELOPING A BIBLE STUDY
I will always remember 2013 as the
year of my first sabbatical. Like the
“Sabbath” in the Bible (there are Sabbath years every seven years in addition
to the Sabbath day every week), a Sabbatical
is intended to be a time of rest, refocus and renewal. Many pastors are given Sabbaticals these days
in recognition of the need to step out of one’s normal ministry setting every
so often to gain perspective and “reload” one’s self spiritually. So every seven years, pastors are encouraged
to take some intentionally structured time (usually 3 months) to gain some new
experiences and work on projects that the normal routine of the parish would
make difficult.
For years, I’ve had people
encouraging me to go to Germany. My brother Paul, who went back in his college
days, is one of those people. When I
told him about my Sabbatical coming up, he suggested we go together and offered
to help pay if one of the boys wanted to come along. As it turned out, my son Brian was excited at
the prospect. Then last year, Rick Will
encouraged me as he shared pictures from his trip to “Luther country” at our
Reformation dinner.
Things fell into place and plans were made for an epic trip to
Wittenberg, Berlin and Bavaria this past June.
Thanks to the generosity of many Atonement members, enough money was
donated to my Sabbatical fund to cover my plane fare. We primarily stayed at youth hostels and
inexpensive (but nice) bed and breakfast type places, one of which was the
monastery where Martin Luther himself had studied in Erfurt. To
walk in Luther’s footsteps, see where he lived and worked, to hear ancient
music played in the Wittenberg castle church (where the words to “A Mighty
Fortress”
are inscribed on its own mighty tower) was an unforgettable
experience for all three of us.
On returning to the US, I was
blessed to have time to work on my records and files. The laptop I had been using for the past year
and a half died, and took much of my data with it. I had records of baptisms, funerals, calendar
items, indexes of various sorts all of
which had been lost to a faulty hard drive.
I spent weeks of my Sabbatical trying to recreate these as best as I
could. Then in July, we took a family trip out west to visit my birth
mother in California. We saw some other
relatives on the way, along with the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco, TX, Carlsbad
Caverns in NM, Yosemite National Park, the Grand Canyon, and, yes, Las Vegas. This was our first time seeing any of these
places, and quite possibly the last chance we’ll have to take a trip like this
as a family.
August was spent battling with a
bout of cluster headaches, which made it difficult to get anything done in the
first half of the month. Once that was
over, I spent the last couple weeks (and a week or so after I got back to work)
working on my major Sabbatical project – the OUT-WORD Bible study series.
For years I have been looking for a good small group curriculum that
would be easy enough to use that we could kick off a series of small group
studies meeting at different places, different times throughout the week. Atonement has not had a strong history of
consistent Bible study, and I want to see that change.
My goal was to create a Bible study
that would focus on practical application, rather than details of doctrine or esoteric
aspects of the text. Knowing that I
couldn’t be there to lead each one, I had Scott Giesking record me giving a
series of talks about specific scripture passages and their themes. We shot about 3 hours of me talking, which
Scott put together into a pair of DVDs. The idea was that all the hosts would have to
do is play the DVD lessons and give the guests time to discuss each one. Scott also gave me some valuable help making a
Participants Booklet, which Suzi Morgan also helped edit.
When I was done, I had all the
materials for a 6-session Bible study called “Your Spiritual Survival Kit,” based on themes suggested by our
October and November gospel readings. We
had three groups go through the material, and so far the feedback has been very
positive. Based on the feedback I
receive from those who have completed the study, I hope to prepare a second OUT-WORD
Bible study for the Spring. Maybe you
would consider hosting a group at your house?
WORKS IN PROGRESS
“And this is my
prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full
insight to help you determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you
may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that
comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.” --
Philippians 1:9-11
Going forward into 2014 and
beyond, it is clear there are plenty of projects before us, and much work to do
as we continue to spread God’s love into
our community. My deep-felt thanks
and appreciation go out to all our ministry leaders, to Kay and the office
staff, to Carla, Yvette and all the food pantry volunteers, to Ken and Ruby and
the choir, to our praise team, and all our ministry partners. You all help make Atonement much more than a
church – we are truly a family of faith.
We have been blessed through
continual
improvements to our property. We keep the Capital Campaign before us as
we look forward to 2016 and the new building.
Talks with members and various ministry teams need to happen at regular
intervals so they can give input and hear updates on the projected plans.
We also have a new capability to play audio
through speakers placed in the bell tower.
This could be music, or simply a bell sound played throughout the
day.
With the mural in the hallway done,
we have arrived at a point where we can replace the original stained and
splotchy
carpet with something that will be more inviting to new families whose children go down that hall to use the nursery, Sunday school or youth room. As we develop the columbarium,
prayer garden and other resources in the back of the property, we look forward
to the future installation of some kind of access drive to benefit the people
using these.
A new
year will also mean new council
leadership,
and big thanks are offered to Suzi Morgan and all our outgoing council
members.
Big thanks go to Joe Zummo, who
will be moving from the treasurer position to finance committee member.
Years ago, Joe tackled the tough job of
moving our financial books over to the “Revelations” online software, where our
records are now secure and privacy is assured.
We are looking forward to a more active finance committee this year, and
will be working to make all of our ministry teams as full and functional as
possible.
For instance, we expect to see
a revamped stewardship team become active, as well as a Caring Team renewed by the
Stephens Ministry program.
Our worship life will see some small changes
this year.
We have not forgotten the
goal of developing powerpoint slides for the 10am service.
We are still looking for people who can help
with this.
People have mentioned an
interest in volunteering to contact people we haven’t seen in worship for a
while, including families who had children baptized at Atonement.
We have also begun a search for a music
leader for the praise team, which will continue to play for the 8:30am service.
Our
Helping Hands ministry is feeding more people than ever before.
New people are joining us for worship.
More people are coming to know Jesus through
our services, Sunday school, youth work and one-on-one works of service and
friendship done on behalf of our Lord.
Wesley Chapel is growing, but Pasco County remains one of the most
unchurched counties in the country.
How
do we deal with the new challenges and changes in our church and community?
Four years ago, we developed a
Vision Team who studied, researched,
interviewed, prayed and worked out a document which helped us move forward as a
congregation.
This Vision 2009 document
included goals for particular ministries and long range plans for the whole congregation.
Our big focus next year will be
re-creating that process with a new Vision Team to
develop a Vision 2015 document.
This revised vision will help us keep on track with God and each other
as we continue to grow, reach out, serve, build, and worship.
What new possibilities will God open up to us
as we seek to be God’s people in this community?
Maybe you have some ideas or insights that
you could share with the new vision team, or perhaps you’d like to help us put
this new vision together.
Whatever
happens, we value your generosity, participation, and partnership in the work
of the gospel and we know that God goes with us to inspire us, enlighten us,
and empower us for a future of blessings!
Peace,
Pastor Scott
The parking lot behind my parents’ house in Columbus, Ohio used to get a heavy blanket of snow each year. When the trucks came and plowed it up in mini-mountains, my friend Mike and I would get busy. We’d build snowforts and igloos, and have all kinds of adventures in that newly white wonderland. One week, we brought shovels over everyday after school and began to dig tunnels through one particularly huge snow mountain. I started from one end, and he started from the other, and by the end of the week you could crawl all the way through.
I think of our fabulous snow tunnel when I read Job’s description of miners deep in the earth, searching for precious gems. Mike and I weren’t looking for anything we could keep or sell — we were just digging for the fun of it. We weren't exploring a new world so much as exploring ourselves, trying to discover what was possible and how much we could accomplish. We weren’t trying to make a living, just trying to kill a few afternoons.
We seek high and low, we read and study and explore, and we spend our lives looking for answers to things only God can explain. Much of what we seek in life is not hidden, but right in front of us. Much of what we’re after may be ours already. This is something I came to realize in college when I began to study different religions. Some of them seemed to have brilliant insights, but when you broke it down they didn’t fit the human condition. Some of them were elegantly simple, but really didn’t help my understanding of evil or sin. Some had all kinds of practical instructions for what to do and how to pray every hour of the day, but who can really keep that up?
Eventually, I came home. I saw that the faith of my fathers and mothers was my faith too. I realized that the stories and teachings of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were mine as well. I understood that the God who took on flesh and came to live with me here in this confusing and imperfect world — the God who sent His son Jesus to be my Savior and friend — was just the kind of God I needed. 
This season of Epiphany focuses on how this God reveals Himself in countless ways. We see him in the starry skies, and we know He’s there in those caverns beneath the earth, and in the seas with all their creatures. But the “epiphany” that Epiphany is about is the one that happens when we see Him in our own lives. We come to the lakeshore, and Jesus is there calling us to fish for people. We head down the road, and Jesus calls us to stop off and see a sick friend, or pull into the supermarket to buy some groceries for a poor shut-in. We come to worship and Jesus is calling us to welcome the new people and say a prayer for our recently widowed neighbor. 
