Voters Meeting this Sunday
This is an exciting time at Trinity. We have much work to accomplish in our Community and His Kingdom which offers us great opportunity to come together as God's people to live out the "Great Commission".
During the past year we have faced stiff challenges as well as great opportunity in working toward meeting God's call to Trinity to share the gospel with others through ministries which strengthen and equip this Trinity family for service and witness. Finances continue to be an ongoing challenge for Trinity. But, we came together to cover a daunting four month cash flow shortage, and we are approaching solutions for our balloon payment and managing our Magnolia building and Ruth Lane properties. By far, the most painful decision this year was closing the K-8 portion of our school ministry, which even after many, many years of investing every last bit of effort and resources we could muster, simply could no longer be sustained given our available resources.
We must trust that we are guided by God's will for Trinity's future. Moving forward, much of our work will be difficult, some decisions painful, but through these challenges we have a great opportunity as we adjust our course in preparation for Trinity's second century of ministry. One area of ministry that we recognize where
growth is imperative
is our Pastoral Ministry Team. By the time we all meet for our budget meeting, we will have
only two FT staff members remaining
on our Pastoral Ministry Team: Senior Pastor Doug Kallesen, and Ministry & Communications Coordinator Chanda Gillenwater. Mrs. Julia Malenke retires at the end of this month, and the Pastoral Ministry office receptionist position was removed earlier this year in order to assist with the four-month cash shortfall.
We must
commit to, and intentionally focus on, the health and well-being of our Church and church ministries, first and foremost over the next several years, in order to restore health and balance, and begin to plan for growth, by increasing financial resources and support allocated to the church ministries, by increasing funding available to increase the number of Pastoral ministry staff members and by supporting our Pastoral Ministry staff in creating a long term comprehensive, strategic ministry plan that they can reasonably hope to accomplish with the resources available. At the same time, we will continue our support to maintain our CDC school ministry and will develop a more comprehensive outreach plan to ensure our school ministry is first and foremost an outreach ministry to our community wherein we foster opportunities and provide support & encouragement for those Trinity families to build strong families of faith, whether or not they connect with the church during their time at Trinity's CDC. This is a tall order and we have a lot of obstacles to overcome to make this happen. I ask for your continued prayers for Trinity, its staff and lay leadership.
So, as we close in on the final days of this fiscal year and plan for the next two years of ministry at Trinity, our work is focused on a strategic plan to grow our Pastoral Ministry Team staff to enhance Trinity's ability to reinvest in our church ministries, commit to a long term plan for church ministry program development, intentionally address member spiritual health and growth, purposefully strengthening and equipping our church family to serve as disciples
and
to encourage and support making new disciples, focusing on a plan to right size our ministry efforts and to get back to the basics through Word, Worship, Stewardship, Witness, and Fellowship, and to support our CDC school ministry in becoming the best possible source of support to our CDC families in building strong families of faith. I ask your continued prayers for the Leadership Council and our staff as they work to prioritize the budget planning process to bring about these much-needed changes in our Trinity ministries.
The Leadership Council is preparing to bring a budget to the congregation for consideration for approval on
Sunday June 30 at 12:30pm
. WE NEED YOU TO BE THERE to show your support for reinvesting in church ministries, our Trinity family, and moving forward to restore our Pastor Ministry office staffing to full capacity. We look forward to spending this time with you on the 30th.
Thank you, Ted Lange, Congregational President
THIS WEEKEND: Celebrating Peace & Supporting our Comfort Dog Ministry - June 30
Trinity's Comfort Dog Ministry is celebrating Peace Comfort Dog's 2 1/2 year birthday and one full year of being vested here at Trinity. It has been a very successful year of ministry for Peace here at Trinity and we hope to grow the ministry even more! We will celebrate on Sunday, June 30 with a cake and coffee/water reception in the back of Fellowship Hall after each Sunday service. If you would like to support efforts to continue to grow the Comfort Dog Ministry, you can donate with checks or cash with a note to Comfort Dog Ministry. As this is not included in Trinity's operating budget, the work of the Comfort Dog Ministry is supported entirely by private donations like yours. Thank you for your support and prayers for Peace!!
THIS WEEKEND: Food & Funds on the Fifth Sunday (June 30)
On Fifth Sundays we stock up on pantry goods to donate to a local food pantry (Second Harvest Food Bank this time) and replenish the Pastoral Discretionary Fund which helps people in an Urgent Financial Crisis. Collection will take place on the weekend of June 30 - place them in the shopping cart. Thank you!
July-August Cash Flow Issues
First, we would like to thank everyone who participated in our recently completed Stewardship Drive. The response was great!
There is one issue, however, that still needs to be addressed and that is having enough cash on hand to pay our bills in July and August. While our annual budget accounts for the expenses we expect to incur in the upcoming fiscal year it does not and can not ensure that our receipt of funds will be realized at the same time as our bills fall due. This year we will be experiencing a cash-flow crunch during the months of July and August due to employee benefit plan payments coming due the first week of July and the month of August being a three pay-period month.
If anyone has the ability to pre-pay a portion of their regular annual contribution to Trinity it would greatly help us get through these next two months.
This is not a request for anyone to increase their annual giving, but rather to contribute donations that you plan on giving later in the year in the next week or two
to help us match our receipt of revenues with the dates our bills fall due. Ideally these pre-payments would be made prior to the beginning of the new fiscal year, that begins July 1
st
. However, any extra payments that you can make during the months of July and August will be a great help.
Thank you for your consideration and for being part of the Trinity Family's ongoing efforts to minister to our flock and spread His word throughout the Downtown Orlando area.
Saying Goodbye to Julia Malenke
Mrs. Julia Malenke has now retired, after serving at Trinity for over eight years as a called worker in many capacities (because of her many gifts), and in many church ministries (music, CDC, K-8, pastoral team). Her last day in the office was the last day of VBS - after having organized a spectacular VBS with a truly wonderful team of volunteers! What a great last day! Julia has asked us not to host a going away reception given all the changes going on at Trinity right now. We've asked to share her new address so that you can send a note of thanks and let her know how much she has meant to us here at Trinity during her faithful years of service. Address: 1021 Palm Avenue, Wildwood, FL 34785.
Witness
Last weekend we talked about witnessing or sharing our faith. Jesus told His disciples, "to go" and "you are My witnesses" and "you are an ambassador of reconciliation." I recently read an article on Paul witnessing in Athens. It quoted Acts 17:24-27, 'the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." God has made everything including our life and every breath. He also made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. He determined and allotted periods and the boundaries of where we would live that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him.
Think of God has you right where He wants you. Your family, your children, your job, even your neighbors and church. All of this is by His design. And it is for the purpose of us seeking Him our selves and of sharing Him with others that He has put us where He wants us. Desiree and I have walked out of a restaurant where some type of prayer or sharing went on with someone there and we looked at each other and said, "wow that was a Divine appointment." God wanted us to be there, we were His witness, His ambassador.
Our witness is simple...sharing what God has done in our life. We can help other people understand our relationship with Jesus about how we read the bible and pray, how we care for and love others...how we forgive.
If you knew God had appointed you as His ambassador and had also moved you into the neighborhood you now live in, how would that change your conversation with the neighbors? If you knew God had given you the job you currently work in how would that influence your conversations at work? We are His witnesses and His ambassadors! Happy sharing! -In Christ, Pastor Doug
Educational Sale
On
Saturday, July 13
, we will be having an Educational Sale in Heritage Hall (former K-8 Building). The Sale will be from 10am to 2pm. As you can imagine, after 66 years, there is an abundance of educational material, classroom books, classroom sets of readers, desks, tables, chairs, assorted furniture, book shelves, file cabinets, and much much more. Please plan to stop by for some school shopping to help us wrap things up.
Members are welcome to make arrangements with Bev Middleton to preview before the 13th.
We're looking for some volunteers, two for each classroom, to check people out as they come through. Please contact Bev Middleton to serve at [email protected].
Please let us know!
Please let your Trinity family know of any scheduled surgery or hospital stay. In addition to scheduled procedures, please give the church office a call to let us know about extended illness, unplanned hospital stays, or even the birth of a child. You can call the office at any time and leave a message-no need to wait until business hours (407-488-1919 x101). During business hours, that information can then be forwarded to the appropriate caregivers. For an emergency that requires the care of a Pastor after hours or over the weekend call or text us at 407-490-7339 and leave a message. We'll get back to you ASAP. We want to be sure to know when you need us-whether to pray with you before a scheduled procedure, sit with you during a loved one's procedure, pray for you while you recover, visit you in the hospital/at home or to share praise and thanksgiving prayers for good news/results. Just let us know. Thank you.
Urgent Prayer Requests
If you have an urgent prayer request that can't wait until you fill out a yellow prayer card during worship, please submit it via email to
[email protected]
. While submitting a yellow card during worship is still the preferred way to share prayer requests, sometimes a prayer need can't wait until Sunday. Your prayer request (first name and basic details of the prayer requested) will be shared with a team of committed weekday prayer warriors and will also be added to Trinity's regular printed prayer list for the congregation. All prayers are kept on the printed list for a period of three weeks, so please resubmit long term prayer needs regularly so that they stay on the printed list. Thank you.
Important Dates
June 30
Regular Voters Meeting - budget, elections, releases
June 30
Peace Comfort Dog - Celebrate and Support - after all Sunday services
July 4
Trinity Offices and CDC Closed
July 11-15
LCMS National Youth Gathering
July 13 Educational Sale in Heritage Hall
Sept 15
Trinity's 100th Anniversary Events
