First Free Church 2000-2001 Annual Report

By the time this report is published, I will have been with you for almost three months. It is hard to give any real, meaningful report, except for some personal observations. These, of course, may not give a clear picture of the ministry but will give some idea of what is going on in my heart as it relates to the ministry.

Isaiah 40:30 comes to my mind, Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

I'm sure there have been times in this last year when even the young have been tired and weary. I know some of the "mature saints" have, too. But I think you have all felt a renewed spirit in your midst. You have had some very gifted speakers who have ministered the Word during the time you were without a Pastor. Their unique messages have been refreshing, I'm sure. But there comes a time when a consistent voice is needed, and your leaders have felt that very strongly. I was contacted late in the fall and agreed to come on as part-time interim. After some hesitation I felt led to accept the challenge following our time down south this winter.

During the winter I prayed and thought much about what would be appropriate to share with you each Sunday. The book of Hebrews came to mind because of the central message of Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, who ever lives to intercede for us. I felt if we ever needed intercession, we needed it now! If we could constantly exalt the Lord, He would honor us with His presence and intercession.

I have felt this personally, and some have indicated that they, too, have felt it. How important this is! When your leaders, staff included, feel God's presence and power, it will spread throughout the Body. We pray for a special outpouring in these next days.

These are exciting days. The Call Committee has been busy. God will not fail to have His choice to shepherd this flock.

My special thanks to Don Brueske and the Council, to Roger Olson for his music ministry, and to Cindy Sawyer for keeping the office in tact. Special thanks to Dr. Bob Chapman for his faithful, loving care of the church family. They all have been so helpful. Perhaps in a few weeks the future of First Free will be clearer.

It was Martin Luther who was quoted as saying, "Next to theology, I give music the highest place and honor. Music is the art of the prophets, the only art that can calm the agitation of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us."

The importance and relevance of that statement has continued impact today at First Free, and music continues to be an important tool to enhance the preaching of God's Word. But to be a "tool", worship needs our action, our input, and our hearts.

As your part-time Interim Minister of Music, I certainly would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the many people that have played such an integral role through the guidance of the Spirit to create an atmosphere for worship of our God. The Choir, which continues to grow in number and quality, serves as Worship Leaders Sunday by Sunday. They also presented a Christmas Concert and will be doing a "favorites" concert in June. Deborah Smith at the piano, Barb Olson at the organ, Kimberly Reeve - a willing and capable substitute, the Worship Teams, instrumentalists, vocalists, Kids Choir and directors, sound people and you, all come together to form one body, one unit, fit for the service of the King. May we continue to spur one another on to greater heights, deeper growth, and may our worship experiences continue to be led and blessed by the One who has given us life.

I offer special thanks to Cindy Sawyer and now Rev. Bob Fallt for their spirit of cooperation and input. Thanks for your continued encouragement and participation as we serve our Lord. . .together.

The Junior and Senior High Youth Group have had a great year. Many exciting events occurred and many are planned for the future. The group's size has remained fairly stable, and we've welcomed a few newcomers to the Junior High. The leaders are very dedicated and love working with the youth. The Wednesday night leaders are Jon Boyum, Scott Beckett, Vanessa Beckett, Doug Brown, Ginny Davis, and Carrie Oleson. Sunday School has been taught to the Senior High by Wayne and Julie Danielson and the Junior High by Ginny Davis and Debbie Smith.

The youth have been challenged and encouraged through many retreats, events, and conferences. These included The National Youth Conference at Purdue University, a summer retreat at Camp of the Master, Fall Fling at Camp Shamineau, a winter retreat at Wilderness Fellowship in Wisconsin, the 30-Hour Famine, and the Student Ministries Conference (Districts) in Duluth. A common theme through many of these events has been the importance of spending time in God's Word. Through these experiences the group has grown in their relationship with Jesus and with each other.

Two big events are planned for the summer, a retreat to Camp of the Master and an overseas missions trip to Slovakia and Budapest, Hungary. Six youth and four leaders will be going on July 5 through July 16. The group is busy training and raising support for it. We are looking forward to what God has in store for that trip! The Junior and Senior High Youth Group will continue to meet on Wednesday nights throughout the summer.

Please pray for the youth as they develop and deepen their relationship with God. The youth and leaders appreciate the support and encouragement they receive from you. We thank you!

During this last year it has been my privilege to serve the church as its Visitation Pastor. My duties have included visiting the sick, those with special needs, shut-ins and some of our elderly. This involves both actual visits and phone calls. I have been taking Communion to those who are unable to attend our morning worship services.

When it became apparent that no one was calling the new visitors to the church, I took up this responsibility, both calling on the telephone and also offering a pastoral call.

Then when our Ministry Coordinator resigned, I was assigned the responsibility of supervising the mechanics involved with having funerals at our church.

In the absence of a functioning Care Commission, I do a few things that they would ordinarily do, but there is no way that I can assume those responsibilities under the present circumstances.

In the area of TUTORING we continue to have a regular and growing presence at Hale Elementary school. We also have begun a regular partnership at Nokomis Heights Lutheran Church's Monday evening tutoring program.

MENTORING, especially through the Kinship program, is a very worthwhile way we can impact individual children, and we continue in this area in a limited respect. Mentoring of any type is a powerful way to impact the next generation.

Some of the NEEDS that our church has addressed in the past year are: Use of our church facility by our vibrant and growing Hispanic congregation, Living Love Church, pastored by Juan Aguayo. In my personal estimation a highly successful partnership.

Use of our church gym by the McCrae Park basketball team has been well received by them and some good relationships built to our church.

The use of our smaller house at 5147 Chicago by Rosemary Rassel-Quinn was a real example of reaching out in the name of Christ by our congregation. She and her family were very appreciative of the housing we provided up to the time of her passing.

Offsite we have attempted to help meet the NEEDS offered to us by the Minneapolis Children's Gospel Mission for some of their Sunday outreaches, and most recently, we gave them a field trip to our church which they loved. Special thanks to our Agape Class and others who so lovingly showed them hospitality.

One person through the McCrae Park connection has been working on ATHLETIC SKILL BUILDING. We also continue a limited connection offsite to the Hospitality House Boys and Girls Club and the Neighborhood Tutoring Project.

This whole area has seen slow but steady growth as we increase our presence in the community-primarily connecting with children's needs.

Come, let us tell of the Lord's greatness; let us exalt His name together - Psalm 34:3

The above scripture passage was quoted by Glenn Hultstrand in last year's Council Report.He wrote, "The coming year provides a great opportunity for God to display his amazing faithfulness. It is also a year for us to exercise an added measure of faith."

It is now one year later and we can see God's faithfulness to us at First Evangelical Free Church in the following ways:

He has provided numerous pulpit speakers through whom God has spoken words of edification and encouragement at just the right times.
He has brought Pastor Robert Fallt to minister God's word to us during the Christmas season as well as becoming our Interim Pastor on March 11^th, for which we give special thanks.
He has brought Roger Olson to us to direct our music ministry, in cooperation with the Worship Commission, thus enabling our choir and music personnel to enhance our worship services in a meaningful way.
He has provided us with dedicated church staff, such as Bob Chapman, Cindy Sawyer and Russ Anteronen, who so faithfully carried out their duties in respect to visitation, prayer ministry, office duties and special community involvement during this important time.
He provided Doug Brown as Youth Coordinator and our dedicated youth sponsors who are doing such a great job in the youth programs.
He has provided a dedicated Call Committee who is seeking out God's shepherd to lead our people at First Free.
He has encouraged us as a congregation to remain faithful to Him in our giving and in our attitudes during this year.

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man who trusts in Him." Psalm 34:8

I believe that we are standing on the brink of a "new era" in which God is going to begin "a new work of revitalization" among us. I believe that our current staff and our present congregation will be those who will become an effective part of a spiritual invigoration which we have desired for some time. I believe that the wholehearted commitment of each of us will make all the difference! Let us hope! Let us believe! Let us trust God for a new day and a bright future at First EFC! Let each of us be the ones to take hold of a new spiritual awakening among us.

". . . forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus". Philippians 3:13 b

Let me begin this report by repeating a couple of paragraphs from last year's report. We strongly feel these statements need to be continually before each of our church family.

Our over-all vision statement is: We seek to glorify God by fostering a growing dependence upon Him in our church, finding its expression in both individual and united prayer.

The goals are: 1) Our people will be convinced of the importance and urgency of prayer - (Educate and Motivate). 2) We will have emphases and programs that optimally facilitate prayer - (Facilitate).

We, as a committee, are concerned that by the way we tend to operate as a church, we can erroneously teach our people that programs, methods and talented people are key to building the church. Prayer is nice, probably even essential -- but can be done by a few, maybe those with this gift. We acknowledge that God uses men and their gifts and talents to accomplish His work. However, we are convinced that our approach, as a church, to prayer should teach our people the very basic truth that it is Christ Who is building His church, that the work of God IS the work of GOD. First and foremost we must look to Him in united prayer before we will see Him significantly at work in our midst changing lives and building them into a building of righteousness, His body -- something that a full compliment of talent, programs, and people's efforts can never do.

The meetings for corporate prayer included four regular meetings, and two concerts of prayer during the year.

A Prayer Projects program was started the end of September and about 65 people signed up to pray for specific ministries, or individuals in them, on a regular basis as a part of their personal prayer ministry. This meant that most ministries of the church, and many individuals, are now prayed for regularly by at least someone. Now in April five more people have signed up to join in for the last half of the year.

By satellite dish set-up, we were able to participate in a three day Fasting and Prayer exercise sponsored by Campus Crusade and Mission America which included some participants from nearby churches. Attendance ranged from 8 to 35 people during the five sessions.

As a Prayer Committee we are grateful for the many who pray together on a less official basis. We are aware of a number who pray together either with neighbors or over the phone. We are especially thankful for the small groups that meet so faithfully, and prayer is a part of their time together.

We are MOST thankful to God for the way He has so graciously answered so many of these prayers during this year. Truly God's Spirit is at work in our midst. Let us press on in this high calling -- Intercession!

As we look forward to next year and the prospect of a new pastor (said by faith), let us keep clearly in mind that prayer is the most easily neglected Christian discipline. There is a reason. We are at war, and the enemy of our souls knows where best to incapacitate us, the soldiers for Christ's Kingdom.

Our verse for this year has been from Mark 5:19, Go . . . and tell how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.

We have been carrying on throughout this past year with meetings for our own local women. There have been fewer meetings, but each one has had a special missionary emphasis.

We are continuing with the support of five EFC missionaries, plus others from our church who are serving with Wycliff Translators, Campus Crusade, China Outreach, Navigators, M.A.F., the Red Sea Mission and also the Gerhardts who are church planting in New Orleans.

Our White Cross ladies have spent many long, but enjoyable hours tearing, sewing and rolling bandages, and making other things to be sent to the Tandala Hospital in the Congo. Many lovely quilts and other gift items are made and sent to Lydia Homes for their fall sales. Visiting missionaries receive useful gift items, and some things are sent to the Marie Sandvik Mission.

Phyllis Brown is the only one of our White Cross trio who is still serving us. We want to thank her in a very special way for her faithfulness to the Lord and to us.

We wish to thank each board member and each committee member for her faithfulness in carrying out her duties during this past year. Also, thanks to everyone for your faithfulness in giving.

We want to pause to remember Myrtle Mattson who was taken to her eternal reward this past year. We thank God for her memory.

March was our project month. We had chosen to give toward the Youth Group mission trip. We more than doubled the amount given last year, and some of you haven't even had the privilege of contributing as yet. We will continue to accept donations through the middle of June.

We have had very interesting meetings this year. Gen Erickson has done a commendable job as program chairman. Each meeting has been a very special blessing to all of us.

The Caring Commission continues without a Chair or Vice-Chair. The ministries of the Caring Commission are operating with the dedication of many people in the church, most of these ministries require little input or oversight as a result.

The Benevolent Fund has been used to help many people connected with the church. We have purchased food and medication, helped with emergency expenses, bought a Bible and Christian books for someone lost and hurting, and the list goes on

An Easter gift has also been sent to Manna Lifeline. The gifts from the congregation at First Free are truly a blessing to many!

Spring is here again. That means it's time to look back over the past year and count our blessings in the many areas we, as a church, minister to children and their families. The dedication and enthusiasm of our workers this year has been remarkable and very encouraging.

We began the year last summer with the VBS theme "God's Plan For You." Scientific principles were used to explain God's plan of salvation to an average daily attendance of 68 kids, only 18 of whom were from our own congregation. About 25 adults worked daily in this evangelistic outreach and a great time was had by all. Plans for this coming summer's VBS are well under way by many of last year's dedicated leaders.

Throughout the year the Nursery, Sunday School, Children's Church, Wednesday night clubs, and Library have continued to provide their vital ministries. The commitment of the volunteers who serve weekly in these areas is amazing. Thank you for all you have done. A special thank you is in order to Carolyn Berg for hanging in there one more year as Director of the Girl's Adventure Club. You've been a big help for many years.

One year ago Doug Brown agreed to serve as our Youth Coordinator in the absence of a Youth Pastor. He, along with other very capable sponsors, has been able to maintain and grow a dynamic youth ministry this past year. This includes weekly Jr. and Sr. High Wednesday meetings, occasional retreats, and a District Rally in Duluth this April. A youth mission trip to Slovakia is being planned for July 5 - 16. Every four years our church provides our Sr. High youth with an opportunity to participate in an international mission trip. Training and preparations are well under way for our six youth and four sponsors heading to Slovakia. The Apostle Paul teaches us, in Philippians 4:6, to be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God...Please pray for this trip.

Looking back over the past year also reminds us of the needs we face, in terms of volunteer staff, for the coming year. Many will return but some new workers will be needed. Please pray that God will continue to bless us with willing people in His service.

Our Sunday School starts with cradle roll and offers a continuum of classes for all ages. Babies and toddlers begin in the Nursery under the care of Sarah Clinton and stay until they graduate to the preschool class taught by Patty Mellema and Sherie McClun. When the kids reach Kindergarten they move downstairs to join John Clinton, Jr. in the K-1 Class. Second and Third graders move on to Marie Mondy's class where she teaches Bible lessons as she has done for so many years. The fourth, fifth and sixth grade kids, taught by Janet Poston outgrew their smaller classroom and had to relocate. While the K-6 Grade Sunday School is small in numbers, we have wonderful teachers and terrific kids. They are memorizing verses and doing work projects to earn camp scholarships. We hope to help many of our kids go to Camp Shamineau or Nathanael this summer.

We also provide games, Legos, Lincoln Logs, books and puzzles for the kids to play with during the fellowship time between Worship Service and Sunday School. Most of the children finish their treats early and enjoy some playtime before settling down to an important time of learning.

The noise and excitement coming from the room behind the balcony is the Junior High School Class led by Ginny Davis and Debbie Smith. Our Senior High class has been taught faithfully for many years by Wayne Danielson; and in recent years, Julie Blair began teaching with him. Then last August this teaching duo decided to become a permanent team as Wayne & Julie Danielson. (Wayne reminds us that God does reward faithfulness in unexpected ways.)

Adult Classes for Spiritual Vitality and Learning is how the Sunday bulletin describes our adult program and indeed our Adult Sunday School is thriving. New classes this year for Career/Young Adults taught by Alan Peterson, and an Adult Class taught by Mark Poston join Maranatha, Fidelis, and Agape who have been meeting since they were the young adults in the congregation. Our Post High School is another recent addition to the choices available during the Sunday School hour. Seekers Class provides an opportunity for those new to the faith, and sometimes new to English, to have their questions answered as they learn the basics of the Christian faith.

We thank God for each of the children entrusted in our care and for the opportunities to join together as adults in studying Scripture and how it applies to our lives. God has supplied our needs by blessing us with dedicated, capable teachers for all ages, but we need your faithful prayers to under gird them. We also are looking for people willing to teach one or more Sundays this summer to give our staff a needed summer break. My request to the Congregation is that you pray for our Sunday School staff, and my continual prayer to the Lord this year has been "send us more kids."

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good…Psalm 100:4-5.

Looking back over this past year, we as a church have much for which to give thanks and praise to our God. Great is His faithfulness and goodness to us. One year ago at this time we not only were without a pastor, but we also were saying farewell to our Minister of Music and Worship, David Benson. God's faithfulness to us has been very evident, as we have seen how He has guided us through these trying times.

A special thanks goes to each member of the Worship Commission: Karin Olson, Karen Beckett, Julie Danielson along with Debbie Smith and Michelle Casper for all their help in planning and organizing the morning Worship Service during those summer months. It was truly a "team effort." We as a commission appreciated the understanding and positive comments we received from the church.

In the fall, Roger Olson joined us as our Interim Music and Worship Leader. There was no one happier to see Roger than the Worship Commission. Again, we saw God's hand in bringing Roger to us with the skills that he brings to our worship, and his willingness to help out in spite of the busy schedule he keeps. Roger has a very good understanding and experience in working with the needs of a church like ours. We all appreciate the sensitive, enthusiastic and joyful attitude he has in worship. It is not easy to put together a meaningful worship time when planning around guest speakers. Thank you Roger and Denise for being here with us!

We also give thanks to God for the Planters who have provided Sunday contemporary worship experiences and the Sunday evening Concerts of Prayer. Those of you who have not been with us at these services have missed out on special times with God! Thanks to Jerry McDonald for taking over for Dave Boeltl as leader of the Planters. We also want to recognize Cindy Sawyer and Bob Chapman for their help and encouragement in the prayer services.

Lastly, we want to give thanks to God for a person that has spent much time and energy this past year in making God's house look extra special at Christmas and Easter - Mary Beth Wehrman. It is a task that is not easy and few are willing to assume the responsibility. So it is with much gratefulness that we say thank you, Mary Beth!

There are many others who have helped this past year, and your contribution has been much appreciated.

First of all we want to give thanks to God for giving us a good year. Secondly, we want to give thanks to you all who have been faithful in your giving to Outreach ministries. Even though we have lost some giving units, giving for Outreach has remained steady. In fact, we have been able to pay out 99% of the Budget for last year. We thank the Lord for that.

At present we are supporting 34 missionary couples or singles, plus about 25 organizations and ministries. The Financial Report gives the details. Our purpose for the future is to increase the amount of support for the ones now on the list rather than take on new ones, unless the new one be a member of our church.

One of our projected Outreach Sundays did not materialize this past year. May 21, 2000 was intended to have an urban emphasis. Pastor Bourland was working on the details. Then came his resignation, and the plans stopped.

On Sunday, July 9, the Roy Haglunds and Jimmy Grosz were here and were very well received.

The latest Outreach Weekend was March 3-4, at which time the Gilberts, the Dahlins and Sherryl Erickson ministered to us very effectively.

There were two activities at Christmas time. The Christmas Card Fund was given to Manna Life Line. Also, there were many who participated in the Angel Tree program which gives gifts to children who have a parent in prison.

We are grateful to those who have been involved in mission construction trips. There were five who went to New Orleans in March to renovate an old house which will serve as office space, living quarters and an emergency shelter for the inner city ministry of John Gerhardt and others. We usually give assistance for travel, and also for building supplies.

We also supported Barb Hugo and Cindy Sawyer who participated in two short-term mission trips with Okontoe Ministires to Fort Hope, Ontario, Canada. The first trip was August 2-6, 2000, for the 3^rd Annual Living Waters Music Festival. The second trip was March 7-11, 2001, for the Gospel Music Jamboree.

Thanks must go first of all to our Father in Heaven for providing so faithfully for us this past year. Our church has never been in a better position financially than it is right now, and we can thank God for that. While many challenges face our church at the current time, we can be encouraged that God has seen fit to continue to allow us to prosper.

Secondly, I would like to thank the following people who served on the Finance & Property Board this past year: Scott Beckett, Bruce Brown, Rod Holman, Jerry McDonald, Charlie Sawyer, John Symington, and Rick Vatsaas. I would also like to thank our former chairman, Jerry Fisher, for staying on as an informal adjunct member of the Board. I appreciate all the work that they have done, and all the time and effort that they have put into overseeing the financial affairs of the church and exercising proper care of the church's properties. Each Board member was assigned one or more areas of responsibility around the church. This division of labor helped to spread the work around and ensure that no single person ended up overwhelmed with responsibility.

I would be remiss if I did not give a very special thanks to Mark Poston for all the work he has done this past year on the church heating system. We simply could not have made it through this past (very cold) winter without Mark, and I encourage everyone to personally thank Mark when you get the chance. He went far above and beyond the usual call of duty, coming in once or twice every day to check the boiler operation, week in and week out.

This year also brought us into the new position of sharing our facilities with another church. Iglesia Amor Viviente (Living Love Church) has been holding their worship services at First Free on Sunday nights for much of the past year. It has been an encouragement to all of us to be able to give assistance to this young ministry to the Hispanic community in the Twin Cities.

The Finance & Property Board also thanks the many members of the church body who give their time and effort to help us maintain the church property. We also thank the church body for their continued generous financial support of the church's ministries.

There are also some issues that still need to be resolved. One of these is the long-term plan for the use of our two houses at 5147 & 5151 Chicago Ave. Ultimately it will be up to the Council or congregation to decide what the purpose of owning these properties should be. Ideally, a vision would be developed for the houses and someone from the congregation would feel led by God to take ownership of this potential area of ministry.

Another issue is the need for a "Minister of Maintenance." The Board feels that the church should consider hiring a staff member to oversee all aspects of maintaining the church property.

Finally, as we move forward as a church in God's plan, let us remember to Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever [Psalm 107:1].

We have audited the financial statements of First Evangelical Free Church for the period of April 1, 2000, through March 31,2001. Bank account balances were verified and invoices were sampled to ensure that expenditures were properly authorized and that payments were made accurately and in a timely manner.

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above fairly represent the financial position of First Evangelical Free Church.

We would like to express our thanks to the Finance & Property Board for the professional manner in which the church's resources are managed and for their assistance to the Audit Committee during the audit.

	LOCAL MIN	OUTREACH
Estimated impact of lost giving units	$(32,000)	$(6,500)
Net estimated increases - current contributors	34,000	8,600
Estimated net impact of changes in giving patterns	$2,000	$2,100