First Free Church 2001-2002 Annual Report

Senior Pastor
Youth Ministries
Worship and Music Ministries
Visitation Pastor
Liaison to the Community
Church Council Report
Prayer Ministry
Women's Guild
Caring Commission
Nurture Commission
Worship Commission
Outreach Commission
Finance and Property Board
Audit Committee
Treasurer's Report/Financial Statements (contact church office)

What a privilege to serve a holy, loving God! I am overwhelmed and humbled with the privilege of serving Him here at First Free. As I begin my ministry I am looking forward to what God has ahead of us!

Ephesians 2:22 says, "And in Him you, too, are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." God is building us together to be the church He desires! I believe that He has something for us to do in this community of south Minneapolis for Him!

You, the church! God has brought you as a church through a difficult two-year period without a Senior Pastor. Yet, you have come through with flying colors, stronger, more dependent upon Him, and ready to do some great things for Him! God has blessed!

The church leadership is together and is doing God's work. The church council under the leadership of Don Brueske has flourished. They are committed to God, to each other and to the church body! How exciting that the leadership has a strong desire to follow God's lead. Let us follow their lead at First Free.

The number and variety of gifts that are being used! I have sat in on various meetings, a number of Sunday morning classes, and each of the Wednesday night activities. In each one I have watched all sorts of gifts and abilities being used. There are those using the gifts of serving, of hospitality, of teaching, of leadership, of helps, of administration, and the list goes on. God has given First Free an abundance of spiritual gifts, and I love seeing them being used for the building of His church!

Could I ask one request of each of you? Would you, as a member of this local church body, pray for my family and me? Becky and I have been profoundly moved by how many of you have already told us that you pray for us daily and weekly. Please continue. We need your prayers. As we move into this new place in our lives, we desire to serve God and you with an effectiveness that only God-dependency can make happen! May God get the glory!

This past year has been an exciting year for the First Free Youth. There have been many activities and opportunities for the youth to grow in their walk with Jesus. Besides Sunday School and Wednesday Night Youth Group, they included trips to Rochester for the Student Ministries Conference, Camp of the Master, Fall Fling at Camp Shamineau, Wilderness Fellowship, and were highlighted by a missions trip to Slovakia and Hungary. Through these experiences, the youth have been challenged to rely on God and to spend more time in His Word. They have grown closer as a group and with Christ.

A big focus of last spring was the mission trip. Six students and four leaders left for the twelve-day trip in July. The team worked at a church construction site and taught English to children and adults in Slovakia. In Hungary, the team provided service at Deaf Opportunity Outreach (D.O.O.R), a Christian training center for the deaf, by painting and participating in a deaf worship service.

The youth have a very dedicated staff of leaders, which has made the youth program a success. They include Scott and Vanessa Beckett, Jon and Carrie Boyum, Doug Brown, and Kelly Krueger on Wednesday nights. For Sunday school, Wayne and Julie Danielson teach the Senior High and Ginny Davis and Debbie Smith taught the Junior High. The youth and leaders want to express their thanks for the generosity shown to them. Your words, finances, and prayers are very encouraging.

As of May 1, Doug Brown stepped out of the position of Youth Coordinator and Jon and Carrie Boyum have taken over. Doug will continue to work with the youth as a sponsor. After many dedicated years of youth work, Ginny Davis moved to Montana in April because of her husband's job. Kelly Krueger will also leave for Montana at the end of the school year. We are thankful for their service and appreciate their hard work. The rest of the staff is intact and are looking forward to another year. Please continue to pray for our youth as they face challenges each and every day.

This year has been full of changes and even surprises. Roger Olson was with us through the middle of February. When he and his family moved on, the Worship Commission asked me to fill in with crafting the order of services (Sunday mornings and other special meetings as necessary) and continuing the Choir.

I am thankful for the encouragement and support of the Worship Commission: Wayne Danielson, Karen Beckett, Julie Danielson, Karin Olson and Mark McClun.

Karin Olson has brought us several dramas to bring across lessons in a unique and meaningful way. Mark McClun and Mark Mellema have been faithful in leading the worship services each Sunday.

For Advent, we sponsored "Christmas S.O.S. for Kids" with St Joseph's Home for Children. Thanks to Patty Mellema for coordinating this project and all the others who made this possible.

Thank you to Mary Beth Wehrman for adding the seasonal decorations to the Sanctuary. Thanks also to those who have helped decorate for special occasions.

This year, we received the approval of the Church Council to hire musicians to fill out the Planters. We had an excellent praise and worship service in January with the two hired musicians. With Shane and Ginny Davis' move to Bozeman, Montana in April, the Planters are presently inactive. It is my prayer, as well as the entire Worship Commission's, that we bring the Planters back into service when God provides the addition of several necessary instrumentalists.

Special thanks to Barb Olson for taking over the direction of the Sanctuary Choir for the remainder of this year. The Choir's last Sunday for this year was May 12. We hope to have a Music Minister in place to start the fall season of the Sanctuary Choir.

During this last year it has again been my privilege and pleasure 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.

In the absence of anyone else giving a call to the new visitors to our worship service, I have been contacting them, both calling on the telephone and also offering a pastoral call.

I supervise the mechanics involved with having funerals at our church. I have seen that prayer requests are submitted for the mid-week Prayer Guide.

As Visitation Pastor I am also a member of the Caring Commission. Pastor Sutton has requested that tapes of our morning services be provided to shut-ins on a routine basis, and this has been made possible with the good help of Geoff Wehrman who duplicates these (5) every Sunday morning. These tapes, along with the bulletin and prayer guide, are mailed from the church office every Monday morning.

During the church year of 2001-02 we have had the opportunity to help students with tutoring and just being friends: at Hale elementary, Nokomis Heights Lutheran Homework Club and King's Christian Academy. We gave gym access, some coaching and relationship building for the children and parents of the McCrae Park basketball team. They subsequently won two tournament championships and seemed very grateful for the use of our gym.

The Children's Gospel Mission has a few of their children attending our clubs, and I continue to assist them in their Sunday evening programs. We have a limited connection to a fine mentoring organization in Kinship. Some continued time has also been spent in athletic skill building through Hospitality House Boys and Girls Club track and with a few individuals. Every so often I get to talk with people who approach our church with needs. Much of this has been redirecting to other resources or prayer and counsel. We do see the possibility of becoming involved directly with a few of these cases from the community through our nurture and benevolent commissions.

I conclude with the thought - the needs in the world are many, but with Christ as our help and answer we can solve many of them with one moment to one hour of our time. Thanks for letting me serve you, the church, and the community this past year.

"I will extol you, my God, O King; and I will bless Your Name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your Name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable." Psalm 145:1-3

As we look back over the past year, we are indeed cognizant that we have had God himself as our Pastor and Shepherd. Many things could have gone wrong and what happened is that His work at First Free has been growing and vibrant. All of us have recognized God speaking to us through the many and varied speakers coming to preach this past year. God among us has been marvelous indeed. We have been thankful for the dedicated ministry of Rev. Bob Fallt and Roger Olson during that time as well. We are thankful also for the joining together with us of the Richfield Evangelical Free Church congregation. They have brought new depth and meaning to us as a people of God.

As we look to the present, we are rejoicing that Pastor Joel Sutton and his wife Becky, Hope and Jacob are now with us. Installation Sunday for our new Senior Pastor was an exciting and joyful Sunday! Pastor Sutton's messages from Haggai along with the theme "Whose House are We Building" are challenging to all of us in the congregation. We are thankful as well to our music ministry people, Deborah Smith, Barb Olson and the choir for presenting joyful and praise worthy worship services each Sunday morning.

As we look forward to the future at First Free, it is with expectancy and with great hope. We feel that surely God is among us in all of His Glory. We must look to Him and call on Him in prayer asking God to grant us the future blessings that He wants us to receive from Him. We must become a part of His plan for us as members of this congregation!

The Council would like to thank each one of you for your dedicated giving this past year, both in time and in faithful financial giving. And I would like to thank the Council members for their faithful service to God and this church body over the past year. It has made my work as Church Chairman joyful and rewarding. Thank you all very much!

Prayer ministries vision statement: We seek to glorify God by fostering a growing dependence upon Him in our church, finding its expression in both individual and corporate prayer.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - I Thessalonians 5:16-18

Thank you to everyone who has prayed so faithfully on behalf of our church over the past year. God heard us, provided for our needs, and in His timing brought us a new senior pastor. God answers prayer!

I would like to thank Bob Chapman for his guidance and support over the past year. He has graciously helped in so many ways as I continually sought (and still seek) his counsel. I would also like to thank Cindy Sawyer for faithfully producing our weekly prayer guide. It is a valuable tool for prayer within our church body.

My prayer for the upcoming year is that we will follow the example of the apostles in the book of Acts where the believers met individually and corporately to worship and pray - seeking God's leading in all areas.

Thank you for supporting the prayer ministry of our church! Any feedback and suggestions are welcome.

We will begin our report by telling you who we are. We are women from more than one thousand Evangelical Free Churches of America, with representation overseas and in the USA. We are part of a national organization called Free Church Women's Ministries (FCWM). We are divided into District, Area Chapters and Local Groups. It is our commitment to be God's Women for Life, for Ministry and for Missions.

We want to keep growing in Christ so that we can live effective spiritual lives and have unity among all of our women. We wish for each of us to enjoy fruitful and fulfilling service to our Lord and Savior. In the process we hope to inspire and develop new leadership. Our ministry is to support and promote missions and to be personally involved in all kinds of outreach both at home and overseas.

As more of our women have joined the work force outside the home, it has been more difficult to carry out our usual programs. Age is also a factor. We appreciate and encourage any group that seeks to meet the desires and needs of younger, busy women, as well as to help meet financial needs of these groups.

Three of our members have been called to their eternal reward this year. They are Helen Chryst, Millie Brueske and Irene Rosenquist. Helen and Irene had been very active in White Cross, and Millie had served on the Guild Board as Treasurer. May God bless their memory.

Since our last report we have had nine meetings, each of which has either had a missionary speaker or someone who has visited a field. Our Program Chair, Gen Erickson, has done an excellent job for us.

Our White Cross Chair, Phyllis Brown, and her faithful group have torn and rolled many boxes of bandages, surgical squares and baby blankets and sacques for the Tandala Hospital in Africa. When the Doctor/administrator of the hospital visited the Home Office, he thanked us and encouraged us to continue sending these supplies. White Cross has also made many quilts and blankets. Each year we make and send baby quilts and send some large quilts, hand towels, dishtowels and numerous other gifts to the Lydia Children's Home in Chicago for their fall sale. Each missionary who visits us at church receives a bag of hand towels, hot pads, dish towels, etc from White Cross.

We have a committee that visits Redeemer Residence to bring and serve birthday cake in the months of June and October. The Membership Committee Chair, Edythe Falck, together with her committee have called members each month to remind them of the coming meeting. The Visiting Committee has visited those who were hospitalized and have given them gifts.

Each of our Board and Committee members has faithfully carried out her part. Our ladies have been exceptionally generous in their giving, permitting us to contribute support to our missionaries and give Christmas gifts as well. We also had the privilege of sending shoeboxes with Christmas gifts as well as a monetary gift to the Marie Sanvik Mission.

Tuesday, April 30, we will meet to plan our next year. Please pray for us that we will be able to have a more vibrant ministry than ever during the coming years.

In scripture we are admonished to "love one another." The Caring Commission is charged with overseeing some of the ways we care for one another as the body of Christ. Some highlights from the past year include:

Benevolent Fund: Through your generous giving to the benevolent fund, we were able to give money to meet the needs of 11 families. Some excerpts from thank you notes include comments such as these: "I sincerely wish to convey my profound gratitude to all the members of this wonderful church for their kind gesture." " Words can not express how much this means to me at this time." "God continues to provide for our needs as we trust in Him." "The Lord is good and greatly to be praised!"

Potlucks/ Fellowship Dinners/Coffee & Donuts (and other low-calorie activities): We continue to enjoy food and fellowship with each other. The in-home fellowship dinners were well attended and will be continuing on a quarterly basis. Special thanks to Paulette Goodman and Mary Londborg for their hard work and leadership in the church kitchen.

Visitation: As our Visitation Pastor, Dr. Bob Chapman does a tremendous job of contacting and encouraging people in the hospital and other care facilities. He is uniquely gifted for this responsibility because of his medical expertise and his compassion for people in need. Pastor Bob has many helpers throughout the congregation in this important endeavor.

Funerals: Thanks to Margaret Jensen who continues to organize the volunteers who so lovingly prepare and serve lunch following funerals at our church.

Greeters: Thanks to Gen Erickson for coordinating volunteers who stand at the front door and greet people as they come to worship each Sunday. What a great way to start the morning!

Information Desk: Thanks to Mae Olson for her willingness to assume the responsibility for the Information Desk each Sunday. If you have a question, chances are Mae can help you -- whether you are a visitor or a regular attendee. Thanks to Ardese Barrett who will be covering for Mae over the summer.

Ushers: Thanks to Norbert Jensen who has recently agreed to coordinate the ushers for the worship service.

The people I mentioned by name certainly are not able to accomplish all of these things alone. They are in turn supported by the many, many volunteers in our church body. Let's continue to reflect Christ's love in tangible ways by caring for people in our church and in our community.

Spring is here again. With it comes the anticipation of preparing for next year's ministries as well as a reminder to look back over the past year and count our blessings. We, as a church, minister to children and their families in so many ways. This is only possible because God's love is poured out through about sixty volunteers each week in ministry to others. The dedication and enthusiasm of our workers this past year has been remarkable and very encouraging.

Plans for this coming summer's VBS are well under way by many of last year's dedicated leaders led by Marilyn Fisher. They will lead our kids, and many from the neighborhood, through a Son Canyon Adventure, learning principles of wisdom from God's word. Please pray for them. It takes about 25 adults on a daily basis to accomplish this evangelistic and exciting adventure. Pray, too, for the kids. Pray that the week of July 29 - August 2 will be a time of spiritual growth, safety, and fun for all.

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 to John Clinton, Jr. completing his first year as Sunday School superintendent, and to his wife Sarah who coordinates and oversees the nursery on a weekly basis. Your family's commitment to ministry is a blessing for us all.

Two years ago Doug Brown agreed to serve as our Youth Coordinator. He, along with other faithful sponsors, has been able to maintain and grow our healthy youth ministry including Wednesday night Jr. and Sr. High youth group, occasional retreats, district rallies, and a youth mission trip to Slovakia last July.

As of May 1, Jon and Carrie Boyum will assume the responsibilities of the Youth Coordinator position. Please pray for them and the rest of our sponsors as they minister to our youth through the coming year. Pray also that God will provide for us the Youth Pastor of His choosing in His own time. Looking back and ahead reminds us of the needs we face, in terms of volunteer staff, for the coming year. Many will return but new workers will also be needed. Please pray that God will continue to bless us with willing people in His service.

Respectfully Submitted,

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." Psalm 5:1-3

David's words so aptly describe what this past year has been to the Worship Commission and to all of us. God has listened to our sighing, our prayers, and our cries for help. He has made us wait patiently and expectantly for His perfect timing in answering our requests to Him. For this we give thanks for we know that His ways are the best ways for us!

We have been without a permanent Senior Pastor and Minister of Worship and Music for almost two years. The pastoral and worship/music positions are directly and essentially related to each other. Therefore, we could not in good judgment look for a permanent Minister of Worship and Music before we had found a Pastor. We give thanks to God for bringing Joel Sutton to us as our Pastor. Therefore, at the present time, we are seeking and pursuing all leads for potential candidates for our Minister of Worship and Music. We are expectantly looking to God for the one He has chosen for us.

The support and cooperation of all the members of the Worship Commission has been of great help. Their patience, contributions, and understanding have been appreciated during this unique and challenging period. Special thanks to Julie Danielson as she leaves the Worship Commission as the Church Council Representative. Her heart is truly in worship. Thanks to God for them all.

For most of the past year, our worship experiences on Sunday mornings were organized and conducted by Roger Olson, the interim Minister of Worship and Music and Pastor Bob Fallt, the Interim Pastor. Since February, when Roger Olson left us to go to another church, the worship crafting and choir responsibilities for Sunday worship have been assumed by Debbie Smith and Barb Olson, our pianist and organist. We give thanks to God for their hard work and time in giving us excellent music and meaningful worship experiences.

The faithful ministry of the choir during this past year has been greatly appreciated. Their part in Sunday Worship and in their special concerts have meant much to us all. We also express thanks to the Planters, our contemporary band, for their contributions this past year. With the loss of several members, they are presently inactive. We trust that it will be possible for them to be a part of our service again in the near future.

A special thanks goes to Mark McCClun and Mark Mellema for filling in as our Sunday morning worship leaders during our interim period. We are also very grateful to Karin Olson for heading up our drama department and for Mary Beth Wehrman for overseeing the church decorating, especially during the Christmas and Easter seasons.

Lastly, we wish to thank all of our church family for their patience and understanding during this interim period.

We give thanks to the Lord for what he has done during the past year. Through your faithful giving, the financial obligations of this Commission have been met. Praise God for two new members who recently joined the Outreach Commission, and for Lorna Gilbert as she leaves the Commission and heads for Japan.

During the past year we supported 33 missionary couples or singles and 12 organizations or ministries. We recently removed Robert and Mary Droullard from the budget, at their request, since they returned to the US and no longer need our support. The amount of support for Sheryll Erickson was increased last summer. Please see the financial report for details.

In the past year, the Outreach Commission has met monthly to do business and to pray for our missionaries. Our main goal has been to encourage the congregation to become more aware of and pray for missionaries supported by our church. This has been done through various ways. Folders were put together with biographical information from each missionary. People signed up to be prayer partners. Their names and addresses were sent to the missionaries so prayer requests could be communicated. Missionary prayer requests are included in the church bulletin and in the prayer bulletin.

A Missions Page on the church website has been developed this year. It has pictures of the missionaries and is maintained with up-to-date information about them. Some missionaries have chosen not to be on the website since their work is of a sensitive nature.

Bulletin boards with information about missionaries have been put up regularly in church. People going on short-term mission projects have also used this method to communicate to the congregation about their work. Bookmarks suggesting ways to pray for missionaries were distributed to the congregation.

At the end of 2001, missionaries we supported were asked to submit a short annual evaluation form so we could be more aware of their situations. At the beginning of 2002 the Commission was given an additional $10,000 to distribute among the missionaries. We distributed it among those who had completed the evaluation form and the retirees.

This year the following full-time missionaries are being re-commissioned by the church: Sheryll Erickson and Andy and Lorna Gilbert.

Three Missions Weekends were planned and carried out in the past year. Each weekend had a breakfast, a panel of short and long term missionaries, a missionary speaker on Sunday mornings, and missionaries in many of the Sunday school classes. Groups from the congregation took the missionaries out to lunch on Sunday noon. The following missionaries were involved:

Panel and/or Sunday school: Dave and Patsy Alfors, Katie Hucek, Linnea Londborg, John and Lyn Prins

Panel and/or Sunday school: Glenn and Heather Hultstrand, David and Karen Oldberg, Alisa Thomas, and Julie Turnquist

Panel and/or Sunday School: Jeff Stewart, Dick Harden, and Laura Smythe (from GMAE), Andy and Lorna Gilbert, Gary Mahoney, International Student and Family Center, Laura Snyder

The Outreach Commission has tried to provide opportunities for missionaries visiting in the area as well as short-term missionaries from the congregation to report to the church. We have assisted financially and in other ways with short-term mission projects for 6 individuals or organizations in the church over the past year.

For Christmas, Patty Mellema spearheaded a Christmas project for children at St. Joseph's home for children. The Christmas Card Fund was designated for two seminary students from Mexico City.

Local outreach activities supported by the Outreach Commission included representation at the neighborhood Picnic in the Park, Sunday morning presentation on the Persecuted Church, and distribution of evangelistic pamphlets related to the September 11^th tragedy.

Philippians 2:10 "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

"Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 'Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?'" Haggai 1:3-4

I am very thankful to God that our congregation has heeded the prophet Haggai's warning, and has, through God's Leading, and using our people and resources, kept our building fit and ready for ministry.

Up front, I would like to thank the following people who served on the Finance & Property Board this past year: Harold Engberg, Bruce Brown, Mark Holman, Don Erickson, Charlie Sawyer, John Symington, and Bob Goodman. Thanks also to our chairman of two years ago, Jerry Fisher, for staying on as an informal adjunct member of the Board, and volunteering for projects. 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.

I would also like to recognize Mark Poston for his yeoman's work maintaining our heating plant.

It has now been almost two years since Iglesia Amor Viviente (Living Love Church) has been holding their worship services at First Free. It has been a real blessing to aid a new ministry to our Hispanic community.

The Finance & Property Board also thanks the many members of the church body who gave 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.

We have several important property needs that we wish to complete in the next year:

A holdover from last year is the issue of a 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. Now that the uncertainty of not having a senior pastor is behind us, we feel confident that we can begin to explore this avenue fully, and have formed a committee to pursue this action.

As we look forward to the new year, we are excited to see what God has in store for us in the future.

We have audited the financial statements of First Evangelical Free Church for the period of April 1, 2001 through March 31 2002. Bank account balances were verified and the invoices were sampled to ensure that the expenditures were properly authorized and that payments were made accurately and in a timely manner.

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

We would like to express our thanks to the Finance and Property Board and to Treasurer, Mark Holman, for the professional manner in which the church's resources are managed.