From the Pastor...

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Volume 4 Issue 5

May 2014

A Month to Remember and Support Our Youth

There are four confirmation pictures in my church office on West Street. Three of them were taken in the gymnasium (or, as we’ve come to call it, the “sanctunasium”) of Annapolis Area Christian School. Each of these has that royal blue background that we’ve come to identify with the place where we now worship. One of the pictures, the oldest of the four, has a different background. It was taken in another place, before the forming of our congregation. The young men and women in that photograph will soon be graduating from high school. There are twelve in that photo, seven of whom now worship and serve in our midst. All of our youth are important and precious, including those who’ve already graduated from high school. Some are away at college and looking forward to coming home for the summer. Others are already employed or newly hired and ready to begin a new job or a new profession. But the young men and women that many of us know best of all are the seven that will soon be wearing high school graduation caps and gowns. Why do many of us know these seven, perhaps, better than any others? It’s because they’re so present and so visible in our midst. Some of them serve every week by helping us with our audio system. They are some of the first to arrive on Sunday, and they immediately go to work. Some serve regularly as acolytes, crucifers, lectors and communion assistants. All of them have participated in youth activities and service projects. All of them worship regularly. Everyone in our congregation owes a great deal to these seven soon-to-be high school graduates. Along with many others, they faced the challenges of leaving a familiar place and beginning again in a new one. Some of them left close friends behind them, never an easy task, especially when you’re a teenager. But, most of all, we owe them a mountain of thanks for all that they’ve done and continue to do as willing and joyful servants in the life of our congregation. These seven young men and woman have set beautiful examples for their younger brothers and sisters (and, for that matter, for each and every one of us). As most of them move to various colleges in the months ahead, WE WILL DEFINITELY MISS THEM. We’ll also be eager to see them whenever we can, and to keep in touch with them as they continue to grow and to mature, as young men and women in Christ. So folks… now’s a good time to tell these seven young people how much they mean to us. When you see Jennifer Anderson, Alysson Dillner, Jackie Doerr, Ben Hayden, Kate Judd, Elise Pease Neugebauer or Ryan Smith… give them a hug, or a handshake. Sometimes our greatest gifts are right there in front of us, in each other. With much love and appreciation, Pr. Miller

Publication date:

May 1, 2014

Annapolis Evangelical Lutheran Church

Annapolis, Maryland

Inside this Edition

Church Council report

Easter Sunday Photos

Easter Egg Hunt

Announcements

Church Council...

Annapolis Evangelical Lutheran Church Congregation Council Update

Committee and Officer Reports

Property Committee Report:

Guest Jason Thoemke made a property committee report and proposal. They have been looking at many types of properties. Their recommended next step would be to develop an established plan for more efficient use of engineers when doing a feasibility study on any prospective properties.

Mission Committee Report:

Deb Dillner reported that the Lighthouse Shelter is looking for churches to volunteer to serve breakfast. AELC has been signed up to start on Friday, May 2nd at 7:30 am and continue each first Friday of the month. We are to bring, prepare and serve all the food for approximately 30 people. The shift will end around 8:15.

The committee is still looking at disaster relief efforts but they haven’t found any looking for weekend help. Both sister churches are doing well and have moved into more improved environments for Worship. A suggestion from Dr. Bubba during the recent NALC workshop was that church councils should be spending time in Bible study together in order to stay focused on the Word. A motion was made and approved that our Council will start meeting 15 minutes earlier and begin with Bible study prior to working on church business.

Christian Education Report:

Amy commented that the First Holy Communion service was wonderful, especially the children’s message by Pastor Miller. Faith goals are being finishing up and the last day of Sunday school is June 1st.

Worship and Music Report:

Beth reported that the committee will meet again after Easter season. Pastor will report more on our upcoming services.

Youth Committee Report:

Debbie Allen shared Randy’s report that 11 senior high youth watched The Passion of Christ followed by a short discussion at their home. Flower delivery will be on Saturday, May 10th. On April 26th the church wide yard sale will take place. The work camp group is planning to go to Hershey Park on their way home. A motion was made and voted approved that the cost of Hershey Park tickets be paid for by the church.

Fellowship Committee Report:

Tracy reported that June 14th is Star Wars Night and fireworks for the Bowie Baysocks. A motion was made a voted approved to purchase 101 tickets to be sold to congregation members at a discounted rate of $15 per person and kids 10 and under are free for June 14th.

Tracy spoke to Greg Wilkes at Camp Barrett and we are confirmed for 28th of September for our annual picnic. The Luther Link will be going out in the next day or so.

Publicity committee:

Steve Hopp was unable to attend tonight but forwarded his report via email:

We designed, had printed and mailed 4000+ oversized postcards to the mail routes surrounding AACS. Many thanks to Judy Donaldson and Pat Ogle for their work on the post card project. They counted and sorted the cards to be mailed to each postal route.

An ad was placed in the Capital to promote Holy Week. The ad runs 4/13, 4/16 and 4/17.

The committee is continuing to work with the Endowment Committee on their brochure. Kim Schultz is taking it to the next committee meeting for editing of proof.

Pastoral Call Committee Report:

Steve Wrobel shared that the committee has conducted interviews with two candidate’s references. One of the candidates is unavailable for an interview until after Easter. The committee plans to conduct both interviews on the same evening and report back next month. A pastoral coordinator has been selected in the LCMC now so Steve will contact them as well.

Pastors Report:

Pastor mentioned two convocations coming up. LCMC in Des Moines, Iowa on October 5-8th and NALC at the Citadel from July 24-25th. We will be looking for congregation representatives to attend each of these. Pat Ogle may be able to attend.

A motion was made and voted approved to add three new members to our roster. These include Roger Pruzinsky (Donna’s son), and Bill and Julie Kinkel. We welcome them to our church family.

Vacation time—Pastor will take a few days off after Easter. He and Lynn will travel to Wisconsin over the summer. Pastor Gilroy will cover pastoral duties June 27th, July 6th, 13th, and 20th.

President Report/Stewardship committee:

Pat shared the need to have someone take over overseeing the Step Up Committee. Doug Schrader may be able to take over but not until July.

Pat led a discussion about hiring an audio professional to run the audio system and oversee the volunteers currently doing that every Sunday. The volunteers have done a wonderful job but most will be leaving for college in the fall and Steve Hopp is having trouble recruiting replacements. It was suggested that it might be worth asking someone within our congregation to assist prior to hiring a professional.

Our next Council meeting will be Monday, May 12, 2014 at 6:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted by: Lesli Paola, secretary

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Easter Service

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Children’s Message “Easter Quiz”

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Thank you to all who helped make this a special celebration.

If you enjoy the children's message during worship and would like to be a part of our small group de-

livering the message please contemplate volunteering. We are making up the summer schedule this

week. Please contact Pastor Miller or Faith Smith.

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Easter Egg Hunt

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Flower Sale Pick-up & Car Wash

Light House Shelter – Mark Your Calendars

On Saturday May 10th from 8:00 am until 1:00 pm the youth will be holding a Car Wash in the lower parking lot at Annapolis Area Chris-tian School. All donations will go to help the youth attending Work Camp in Scranton, PA this July. Give your mom the gift of a clean car for Mother's Day!

For those that ordered flowers from the Flower sale, pick-up will be from 9:00 am until 12 noon on Saturday May 10th at the lower park-ing lot as well. Come pick up your flowers then get a car wash! If you ordered flowers and cannot be there on May 10th please make ar-rangements for someone to pick them up for you. Any questions on the flower sale please contact Judy Stroetzel at 410-268-1154 or judystroetzel@yahoo.com

BREAKFAST? At the ministry festival in the fall, a number of people indicated they’d like to help serve meals at the Light House Shelter. The Missions Committee has been following up on that but opportunities to serve dinner are rare and often only appear at the last moment. So, when we recently heard about a new program, serving breakfast on weekdays, we thought “Let’s do it.”

Starting on May 2, Annapolis Evangelical Lutheran Church will be serving breakfast at the Light

House Shelter on the first Friday of every month. The shelter has about thirty residents who need a

good breakfast before they head off for work for the day. For this first occasion, the Missions Commit-

tee is taking care of the breakfast and finding out what’s involved. Then, we’ll report back to the con-

gregation and ask for help, starting with June 6

Mission Ministry

Josh and Egan Thoemke were married on April 12 in Blue Ridge, VA. Our congregation supports Josh in his New Life ministry in Roanoke, VA. We pray God's blessings on Josh and Egan in their new life together and on their continuing ministry.

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Youth Yard Sale

The Youth are continuing their YARD SALE on Saturday, May 10, 8:00am till noon. Additional donations can be dropped off at the church office Anytime the office is open between now and Friday afternoon, May 9. Donations will be stored in the Youth Room and transported to the AACS parking lot for the morning of the sale. Thanks for supporting our youth! Any questions, please contact Jerry Judd (410-573-5126) or Su-zanne Smith (410-451-3787)

AELC will Observe Ascension Day

Annapolis Evangelical Lutheran Church will Observe Ascension Day Thursday, May 29 at Annapolis Area Christian School with A Potluck-Picnic outdoors @ 6:00 p.m. and A Service with Communion in the Library @ 7:00 p.m. Join us for fellowship and a celebration of this important Festival on the Calendar of the Christian Church!

Farewell to our Friend

It is with much missed emotions that I write this article; one of great sadness and one of great joy for Debbie Robinson. As most of you know, Altar Guild Co-Chair Debbie will be moving to Florida the middle of May. Debbie and I have shared the position of Co-Chair from the very beginning of AELC. She and I have been blessed with an incredibly dedicated Altar Guild team that have worked tireless to make sure everything came together and continues to work every week ensuring our altar is in place for Sunday morning worship. Deb-bie was always there to pitch in no matter what else was on her plate. I am grateful that she was with us for another Lenten season and East-er. I will personally miss talking with her weekly and sitting next to her on Sundays.

The joy in seeing her leave is that she will be able to live very close to her parents and sister and brother-in-law in Florida. She is blessed to have a very close family and will be able to spend time with them. She will always remain a part of AELC and continue her membership. It will be a pleasure when she comes back to visit her church family. Debbie a BIG thanks for all that you have done. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you. You will always be a part of the Altar Guild! Jen Morgan has graciously accepted the position as co-chair and Debbie has helped her with the transition.

We all wish you the best of luck and a wonderful and happy new jour-ney in life.

Love from your AELC family.

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Calendar...

9:00 a.m. Sundays: Worship with Holy Communion 10:15 a.m. Sundays: Coffee Fellowship 10:30 a.m. Sundays: Education Hour for all ages

May Monday, May 12th 6:15 p.m. Church Council Meeting Wednesdays in May 6:30 p.m. EveningSong Services Thursdays in May 6:15 p.m. Chime Choir Rehearsal, Suite B 7:00 p.m. Choir Rehearsal, Suite B Thursday May 29th 6:00 p.m. Ascension Day Picnic 7:00 p.m. Ascension Day Service

Winnie Wagon Food Basket Delivery: May 4, Donna Pruzinsky; May 11, Timothy and Catherine Vis; May 18, Arlene and Doug Oyler; May 25, Kathy and Pat Ogle.

Women’s Prayer Breakfast

ANNAPOLIS EVANGELICAL

LUTHERAN CHURCH

A NALC and LCMC Congregation

Worshipping at

Annapolis Area Christian School

716 Bestgate Road

Annapolis MD 21401

Church office

1203 West Street Suite F

Annapolis MD 21401

443-837-6436

www.annapolislutheran.org

email: church@annapolislutheran.org

Church Staff

Pastor: The Reverend Gerald A. Miller

Music Director: Janna Ryon

Church Secretary: Donna Pruzinsky

Bookkeeper: Cindy Miller

Youth Director: Dr. Michele Comer

Anchored in Scripture ...Sharing Life in Christ Bowie Bay Sox

Please join us in fellowship on June 7th from 9:00am

to 11:00am. We'll kick off the summer with the topic

Beautiful Feet. In our walk through life we wear dif-

ferent shoes as we carry out our mission to serve our

Lord. Bring along any shoes you no longer wear and

we will donate them to the Lutheran Mission Society.

A sign-up sheet will be placed on the "narthex" table.

Ladies in Prayer (LIP)

Join the Ladies in Prayers (LIPs) for lunch on Friday, May 16 at 1:00 p.m. We will meet at the Macaroni Grill outside of the Annapolis Mall. Contact Natasha Wrobel natasha@aupairannapolis.com or call 410.302.7010 for information, or you can also call the church office.

Join us for our next Fellowship Event on Satur-day, June 14th. It is Star Wars Night and fire-works for the Bowie Baysocks. We will have 101 tickets to be sold to congregation members at a discounted rate of $15 per person and kids 10 and under are free. Please e-mail Tracy Bathgate at tweetyrenee1@yahoo.com or call at 410-969-5901 to reserve your tickets, or sign up on Sun-days before or after church with Tracy or Bruce.