MEET OUR MINISTRY TEAM

Rob Cavanna
St. John's, St. Cloud
Called to be sacramentalist & preacher

I have been a member of St. John's, St. Cloud, where I have been active for 15 years. I have been on the Vestry, Senior Warden, and Co-Chair of the Building Committee. Presently, I am in charge of the acolytes, Chair of the Liturgy Committee, Lay reader/Chalice Bearer, lay homilist and coordinator of liturgical functions. I am also on the Spirit of The Heartland Ministry Team having been discerned as priest sacramentalist and preacher.

Everywhere else I have lived in Minnesota, my family and I have had a 30 to 35 mile trip one way to an Episcopal Church. I am keenly aware of the challenges facing small parishes in Greater Minnesota and am excited about this opportunity to be of service to the churches in the Spirit of the Heartland. I have a love of liturgy and of making it meaningful to people and of how our distinctive Anglican ethos can be a powerful means toward bringing people closer to Jesus Christ . I also believe that as a denomination we have a message of compassion and acceptance that people of all denominations need to hear from us. So few people know who we are and what we're about as a reformed branch of Christ's Church.

I live outside St. Cloud near Clear Lake with my wife, Gina. I am the Executive Director of a training organization in St. Cloud. I have two daughters. Alison, lives and works in Minneapolis and Megan, will be completing her senior year this December at the College Of St. Benedict/St. John's University. I look forward to meeting all the people in our Spirit Of The Heartland churches and to working closely with the Ministry team the remainder of this year and into the next year.

• Ann Beard, Good Samaritan
• Cedar Morrigan, Our Saviour's
• Cynthia Evans, Good Samaritan
• Harriette Burkhalter, St. Stephen's
• Johanna Morrigan, Our Saviour's
• Lu Tax, Our Saviour's
• Lucia Wilson, Good Samaritan
• Pete Wilson, Good Samaritan
• Randy Welsand, St. John's
• Rob Cavanna, St. John's

WHERE'S OUR TEAM?
We gathered together at Our Savior's in Little Falls on Sat. Nov. 3rd on a beautiful Fall day for a team formation meeting.

From 9 to 11am the preachers met. We started with prayer and then brain stormed ideas for a form which we and our congregations could use to provide feedback for our preachers as they preach in the member churches. We then got a chance to look at the sanctuary and get a feel for what it would be like to preach at another church. Sermons were then presented by 2 members of our team and had a chance to reflect and comment on them. Following was a discussion on Liturgical Preaching.

From 11 to 1 pm the whole team met. Once again the mtg. was started with prayer and a check in of each member followed with an emphasis on what each has experienced in the form of " Blossoms and Fruits" as a result of team ministry so far. We then took the Myers Briggs Temperament Inventory test and had a bite to eat.

From 1 to 3 pm was the formation part of the meeting. This was open to anyone interested in team formation. We centered ourselves with prayer and began a very interesting discussion on the results of the MBTI we took earlier. We had a chance to reflect on our own and the other team members types. We then paired up with our "opposite" and compared similarities and differences on how each of us looks at liturgical preferences, personal prayer preferences, gifts, callings and ministry. We had a great time exploring how we look at things differently and marveled at how important these differences are to team ministry.

All in all, it was a very fruitful and Spirit filled day. Our first team meeting ended with worship in song.

Randy Welsand

TREASURER'S COMMENTS
Musings of a church treasurer:

I wonder if a treasurer has ever shared some things with the rest of the people in the congregations:

• that pledges are designated for the general operating budget. They are the basis for the annual budget.
• that if someone gives a special gift to the church for flowers, youth programming, the organ, or the building it cannot be considered part of their pledge; but a generous special offering.
• If the cost of living continues to rise, but the pledges don't, we run out of money or spend down our endowments? If pledges don't match the budget bottom line, we are not self sufficient.
• that those with the least money are generally giving a greater percentage of their income to the church.
• our pledges are below the national and state average for churches with congregations of similar size, age & average income.
• that pledging of time and talents gives the church a list of who will do what, when; and makes scheduling easier. It also makes a clear statement that we value our time and talent as much as we value our money. Time and talent are what God has given us. The money is the fruit of those talents.

ACCESSIBILITY ASSESSMENT

Scott Anderson, an accessibility expert from Duluth, will be visiting our three older churches on Wednesday, December 8. He and Pat will be at Good Samaritan beginning at 10 am, at St. Stephen's at 12:30 pm, before Guild, and at Our Saviour's at 5:30 pm, staying through the 6:30 pm pot luck and following vestry meeting. All who are concerned about the accessibility of our churches are encouraged to come and meet with Scott.

SEASONAL EVENTS -- EVERYONE WELCOME

• December 15 – Caroling
  6:00 pm – Our Saviour's, Little Falls
• December 18 – Lessons & Carols
  7:00 & 8:30 pm – Good Samaritan, Sauk Centre
• December 19 – Lessons & Carols
  2:30 & 4:00 pm – Good Samaritan
• December 24 – Holy Eucharist
  2:00 pm – St. Stephen's, Paynesville
  4:00 pm – Good Samaritan, Sauk Centre
  6:30 pm – Our Saviour's, Little Falls
  8:00 pm -- St. John's, St. Cloud
• December 25 – Holy Eucharist
  10:30 am – St. John's, St. Cloud
  11:00 am – Good Samaritan, Sauk Centre
• December 26 – Sunday Worship
  9:00 am – St .Stephen's, Paynesville
  10:30 am – Our Saviour's, Little Falls
  10:30 am – St. John's, St. Cloud
  11:00 am – Good Samaritan, Sauk Centre

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Our Saviour's in Little Falls – Why do we?
9 am second Sundays

Why? "Because we've always done it that way." That's the unwritten rule in many churches. But did you ever wonder how "it" got started: church wardens or canons, advent wreaths or Santa Claus, vestments or processions? Here's a chance to come find out the stories behind why we do what we do. Bring your questions and play "Stump the Priest." It's easy to do, and fun too. But if you come back the next session, chances are she'll have dug up an answer to your "stump."

• Nov. 14 – Church Governance, ambiguity and authority
• Dec. 12 – Advent/Christmas Customs, sacred and secular
• Jan. 9 – Worship, our liturgy and the prayer book

Reflections on how we make difficult moral decisions in a church that doesn't tell us what to do.

• Nov. 9 – Neonatal intensive care staff must make vital choices between financing curative or preventative medicine.
• Nov. 30 & Dec. 14 – Parents must decide about withholding treatment of pneumonia in thier comatose and severely brain injured son.

Book Study. Kathleen Norris' experience of monasticism and our neighbor, St. John's Abbey.

• Nov. 4: pp 1-107
• Dec. 2: pp 108-279
• Dec. 16: pp 280-385

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