With our first measurable snowfall of the year providing a beautiful blanket of snow yesterday, I thought it appropriate to provide a wrap-up to this year’s Christmas Bazaar that took place on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, November 22^nd. It was quite a day! We had a record number of people attend this year – 1725 was the count. As I was near the front door, I had the opportunity for many, many great conversations throughout the day about Immanuel, faith, church, various ministries, baptism, and our school – it was a wonderful day for me! Prayers that seeds were planted through conversations that were had, impressions that were made, and the hospitality we were able to show.

I want to express a huge thank you to our two leaders of this major ministry event: Cindy Eversole coordinated and communicated with all the vendors over the course of many, many months, and Kathy Schlecht oversaw the volunteers and logistics for the bazaar itself. Thank you, ladies!
 

But to make this happen, it took well over 100 volunteers helping and serving and providing in so many ways. Thank you to all who supported and prayed for this event! Thank you for the donation and prep of the pulled pork for lunch from the Frerichs and the donation of chili from Runza to support the youth, for the tons of Holiday Café support (SO much help!), bringing in pies for the lunch, tarpers and tapers, greeting our vendors on Friday and our guests Saturday, parking lot attendants, for Jim Ramsey and Bob Kamtz carting people to and from cars all day in golf carts, musical entertainment, set-up and hosting Pictures With Santa by the Gonzales and Siecgrist families (and both of our awesome Santas – Scott Gilbert and Ron Heusinkveld!), helping kiddos make Christmas crafts in Santa’s workshop, making cookies and assembling and selling cookies trays, for the greeters, and for the clean-up crew. It really does take an army to pull off this event. Our volunteers heard comments from numerous vendors that they have never been treated this well at any other event… Radical Hospitality at its best!

I’m thankful for all who make up this amazing community of faith here at Immanuel. We are mission-driven, Christ-centered, and all about sharing Jesus and His love, and furthering God’s Kingdom. Praise God for the opportunities we have – in abundance! – to serve our Lord together!

Make sure and scroll down to the very end of this email update for a few more pictures from the bazaar, including some of the prep work and some action shots during the bazaar.

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Enjoy some fun pictures from this year’s Annual Christmas Bazaar!

Friends of Immanuel,
There’s no doubt that your inbox is filled this morning, like mine, with #GivingTuesday emails. I’m sending this your way to invite you to consider the reason behind any giving that you might do today, whether that is to Immanuel or to other ministries, non-profits, or causes near-and-dear to your heart.

As you hear me say each week about the offering during worship, those are weekly opportunities for us to pause, remember, be thankful, and return thanks to the One we know is the Giver of all blessings. So today my simple encouragement is to do just that:

• Pause – simply stop moving for even 60 seconds, which is not easy in our culture today or with the lives we lead or the crazy expectations that we feel on our shoulders.
• Remember – think about some of your blessings. Consider the people in your life – family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors. Take a quick jog into the past and recall some of what’s happened in your life for which you are thankful.
• Be Thankful – literally take a look around, wherever you may be at this moment. Take in some of the big things, the little things, the many things we tend to take for granted, and just notice what’s around you. And say thank you – to people who may be part of these things and also to your Lord.
• Return Thanks – do something tangible, give a monetary gift, offer a compliment or encouragement to someone for what they mean to you, for what they’ve done for you, or for what they do.

If you are considering an additional financial gift to the Lord through Immanuel’s ministries, perhaps you’ve been thinking about a year-end gift, you are welcome to make that today, or in the weeks to come! If you choose to give a gift over-and-above your regular tithes and offerings to Immanuel, I would encourage you, given our current financial challenges, to give toward the General Fund, which would be most helpful for our ministry as a whole.

How can I give?

1. Go to our website (www.ImmanuelLoveland.org) and hit the red “Give” button in the top right corner and follow the directions. If you want to give toward a ministry beyond the General Fund, you are welcome to look at the drop-down menu and select a particular ministry. If there is something you would like give toward that is not listed on the drop-down menus, give your gift and then send an email to ChurchOffice@ImmanuelLoveland.org to let us know the designation.
2. Text ILCGIVE to 77977 and then follow the provided link.
3. You can drop off a gift at Immanuel with either check or cash (we’re open from 8:00am-5:00pm Monday-Thursday, closed at 4:00pm on Fridays).

Thank you for taking time to remember the blessings in our lives AND where those blessings come from! It’s a true joy to serve our Savior together with all of you!

Our Savior’s richest blessings to you!

Friends of Immanuel,

Happy December! Happy New Year! Happy Advent! As I mentioned yesterday, we certainly have officially begun the craziest time of year. I love our new Advent worship series, Coming Home for Christmas: Advent in Isaiah, with the various themes of what I believe is a pretty common desire, and that is, to be home!

We will not have any Bring It Home devotions for the next four weeks as we are using the devotional materials from 1517 that tie into this Advent series. We have paper copies of the daily devotions that began yesterday and will take us through Christmas Day, and those who normally receive Bring It Home devotions by email will receive these daily devotions in your inbox. If you don’t have your devotions, you can stop over at Immanuel during business hours and pick your copy up or let the church office know you would like to receive them via email (churchoffice@immanuelloveland.org).

With not having Bring It Home devotions, I’m also not utilizing any What Now? encouragement at the end of my sermon for these four weeks either. What I will do, however, will be to offer some thoughts in my Monday email update article for you to think about and put into practice in your life.

Home is where we want to be, isn’t it? Even though it may not be perfect, it can at least represent and remind us of a place where we are fully known, fully forgiven, and a place where we can find peace and rest. And the beauty of home is that for us as followers of Jesus, we know that our home is in Jesus. It’s in Him, the One who left His home and joined us in our exile, our homelessness, and our discomforts and struggles, all in order to free us from our sin and lead us out of exile and to forge a path home.

There’s no getting around the craziness of this time of year. That’s life and it’s just the way it is. But maybe there’s a way to redeem it. And here’s what I invite you to consider in the weeks ahead.

• Let all this busyness and craziness and running around remind us that we are far from home;
• Let that ache for home and all that “home” means to us, remind us of the One who left His home out of the amazing love He has for you and me;
• Remember that in Jesus, our true home isn’t far off – in fact, we can experience home even now in Him in so many different ways, catching glimpses and experiences of what home is and what home will be.

So in the coming weeks, let Jesus bring His rest, His peace, and His hope into our hearts and homes through His Word, our worship times together, His love, and His presence here with us.

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,
Every year at Thanksgiving, I have some fun sharing a few of the many, many things for which I’m thankful. Below is a collage of pictures that expresses my gratitude. A thank you/shout-out to my daughter-in-law Leah for her help in putting all these pictures together into the collage for me! “I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” (Ephesians 1:16)

A blessed and gratitude-filled Thanksgiving to you all!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel, 

Yesterday we wrapped up our fall series, Radical Discipleship, with our observation of Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Church Year. Here is the What Now? for this week to help you keep thinking and talking about what it means that Jesus is King in your life! 

What Now?
Heading into Thanksgiving, take time to reflect this week on the gratitude you feel for what it means to know Jesus is your King. 

Next Sunday we begin the season of Advent, a season of preparation, of watching, and of waiting, which leads us into our Christmas celebrations. We also begin a new worship series for Advent, Coming Home for Christmas: Advent in Isaiah. Let me share a bit of background and what this short series will include. 

Pastor Matt Popovits, the creator of this Advent series, explains, “What becomes plain [through the book of Isaiah] is this: when Jesus comes, he brings with him a Kingdom. A reign. A Home and haven under God’s care that is very, very good.” For this series, we’ll focus on five passages in Isaiah where the promises of God – fulfilled in either Jesus’ arrival or His second coming – proclaim to us that while we long to find peace, belonging, and comfort this time of year, our ultimate Christmas gift is our citizenship in His Kingdom. For Jesus is the Home who has come to win us back from exile, keep us safe in His embrace, and promises that we will someday reside with Him forever. 

Throughout December, we’ll use the following weekly themes: “Far From Home,” “No Place Like Home,” “A Home Unbroken,” “A Light that Leads Us Home,” and “Home at Last.” 

For those who may be interested, here is a little more background of the time Isaiah lived and prophesied, all of which lays some helpful groundwork on where our Advent series will go. 

The book of Isaiah spans one of the most turbulent periods in Israel’s history. Isaiah prophesied during the 8th century B.C., a time when the once-unified kingdom of Israel had divided into the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah). As Assyria’s power surged across the ancient Near East, the northern kingdom fell to its armies in 722 B.C. Meanwhile, Judah watched anxiously as the threat of foreign domination grew. Isaiah’s ministry in the capital of Judah (Jerusalem), spanned the reigns of several kings. He warned Judah about the consequences of their idolatry, injustice, and misplaced trust in political alliances rather than in the Lord. His early prophecies focus on coming judgment, yet they are also laced with hope most famously in the promise of Immanuel, “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14). The later chapters of Isaiah reflect a shift in tone and timeline, addressing a people either in exile or anticipating it. By then, Assyria had waned, and Babylon had risen to dominate the region, eventually conquering Jerusalem and carrying many Judeans into exile in 586 B.C. These later chapters speak with extraordinary hope about God’s power to redeem, restore, and bring His people home through this Immanuel, His one and only son, Jesus. 

It is Jesus, the incarnation of the living God, who Isaiah promised would come as a child born, a son given (Isaiah 9:7). Jesus, the holy seed (Isaiah 6:13) from the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:10), who would go to the cross for our sake: “being despised and rejected” and “pierced for our transgressions; crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:3,5). In the midst of exile, Isaiah prophesied only one way home to our God: through the arrival of the God-man, Jesus. 

I’m looking forward to the journey with all of you through this wonderful season of Advent, as we think about and journey again and again back Home! 

Serving together in Christ alone! 

Pastor Glen 

Friends of Immanuel,
On behalf of our Executive Council and Finance Team, I want to provide an update on where things are at financially and with regard to the three studies that the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) have done for us – School Study, Church Study, and Land-Use Study.

When we passed our deficit budget ($154,000) at our July 16^th Voting Assembly, we knew this fiscal year was going to be a challenge in many ways and we are up against those challenges right now. From last Tuesday’s Executive Council (EC) meeting, we are projecting to be at a $300,000 deficit by the end of our fiscal year (June 30^th). There have been three things which have contributed to this.

Unfortunately, we had several families with children enrolled in the school who had to withdraw their students in August due to varying life circumstances. We were anticipating and budgeting for 83 children in K-8 but right now we are at 70 children. A positive is that we anticipated and budgeted our preschool at 27 children but we have 33 currently enrolled! In addition, our offerings are coming in slightly below what we had budgeted and to extrapolate that to the end of the year if giving stays consistent, we will be about $50,000 under budget. The third factor was an unexpected leak that was discovered and we had to do mold mitigation right before the start of the school year.

The Finance Team and EC have grappled with this each month this fall. About two weeks ago, we received the Church Study from LCEF which offered several specific recommendations that the EC acted on in our last meeting. First, we will be strengthening our fiscal accountability with some changes to our Constitution and By-Laws. The Constitution and By-Law Review Team has been working for the past 8 months and is close to wrapping up their work. The recommendations from this team will be shared with all elected leadership in January or February. Once the leadership has had time to look at the proposed changes, these will be shared with the congregation and we will provide opportunities for everyone to give additional input to what is recommended. The specific proposed By-Law changes related to the Finance Team and the Treasurer will be shared at our upcoming Voting Assembly meeting as they relate directly to assuring fiscal accountability.

Second, LCEF holds Immanuel’s mortgage and we are going to engage the LCEF Loan Resolution Group who met with our leaders last May to present options for us to consider. The short of it is, we will restructure our mortgage on a very short-term basis (2 years) with a more manageable monthly payment to assist us in getting our feet back under us. In conjunction with this restructure, LCEF is recommending that we pull out the remainder of our Line of Credit ($288,000) to have available for immediate, monthly cash needs for the remainder of this fiscal year. The Line of Credit will be rolled into the restructuring of the loan. This will enable us to get through most of the year on a cash flow basis, based on current projections.

Third, LCEF strongly recommended that we need to conduct a 3-year Ministry Campaign to raise additional funds. The main components of this campaign will be to raise operating expenses of $200,000 for each of the three years. In addition, because of the age of our building, there are some major capital expenses on the horizon that we want to raise money for to have on-hand when they occur. Those include our insurance deductible for the roof (we continue to repair the roof as we can, but major issues are recognized – $150,000), a new sound system for the sanctuary (we have been experiencing some significant issues with the sound system over the last year and have had engineers come to look at our system and they have told us that much of what we have has for far outlasted its life expectancy – $125,000), and a new humidifier for the gym (the HVAC system as a whole is being cared for as best we can with preventative maintenance with an excellent company, but the humidifier’s motherboard is no longer being produced so once it goes down, there is nothing we can do but replace it – $25,000-$30,000).

Concurrently, we are exploring land-use options with nothing to share at this time, other than to assure you that any decisions made regarding our land will come before the congregation for discussion and a vote with ample time to look at proposals.

I share this with all of you to be transparent and so you know what’s coming. There will be much more information on all these matters as well as opportunities to provide input, ideas, and suggestions. At the end of this email, you’ll find the budget narrative, cash flow projections, and a summary of October and the year-to-date financial numbers. If you have any questions about these, you can contact our congregational president Shawn York (ECchair@ImmanuelLoveland.org) or our Director of Accounting and Finance Dawn Bowers (dbowers@ImmanuelLoveland.org).

As leaders and staff, we are continually evaluating and looking for ways to reduce costs and expenses on both the church and school side while still working toward our mission of sharing Jesus and His love. The next challenge for leadership is to start forging a strategic plan forward, focusing on not just our short-term but also our long-term future. We serve an abundant and loving God, and so we keep our eyes fixed on Him and the mission He’s given us. Thank you for being part of this amazing ministry!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

For our Radical Discipleship series yesterday, we talked about Resurrection, a key cornerstone of our faith as people of God. I do want to follow-up on one statement I made about death. From God’s Word, death is an enemy and not a friend. As I shared, death is a direct by-product of sin in our world (Romans 6:23). One response to my question of what emotions we experience around death was “relief,” which can sound very stark in contrast to death not being our friend.

Relief can be a very valid emotion with death, especially for us as followers of Christ. I have walked alongside a number of you for whom, when death of a loved one finally came, it truly was a relief. Your loved one, a believer, was no longer in pain, and it was a relief for them to be done with this fight against cancer or other illnesses, and to be able to fully embrace our Lord’s promise that in the new creation, when we are with Him, there will be no more mourning or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4; Isaiah 65:19). The promises of the resurrection are that we will be whole and well once again. I wanted to give assurance to everyone that while death is not our friend, it can come and bring relief because of what our Lord has promised.

For all who have experienced death over the past two years and more, who still grieve the absence of those loved ones or friends, I am praying again today that the good news and power of the resurrection bring comfort and hope as well as great anticipation for the reunion with all believers who have gone before us.

The radical nature of the resurrection is that it flies in the face of death. Resurrection has been part

of the plan all along, as we heard from the Old Testament reading in Job 19. I hope that conversations and discussion about resurrection life has, and will, continue in your homes and among your families and friends. Let the resurrection – Jesus’ resurrection and the promise of your resurrection – bring hope and encouragement to you today!

What Now?

Knowing and believing the promises, the assurance, the reality of our resurrection, how does that change the way you live today?

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,
While the balmy 70-degree temperatures in mid-November are trying to fool us, the reality is that some major autumn celebrations, observations, and annual ministry events are right around the corner! The first is our annual Christmas Bazaar that will take place in 9 days – on Saturday, November 22^nd from 9:00am-3:00pm. If you’ve been thinking about finding a place to plug in to help, there are still lots of options and we can use all-hands-on-deck for the event that typically brings into our doors between 1000-1500 people from the community.

To you, the MEN of Immanuel – you may think “Christmas Bazaar = Women,” but we need your help! Next Thursday afternoon we need to remove all the furniture from the atrium, set up some tables, and tarp the gym floor. And on Saturday morning we need a few guys to put on the orange vests, grab a walkie talkie, and help folks find open parking spots. You can use the link below to sign up, contact Kathy Schlecht directly, or call the church office (970-667-4506).

There are plenty of other places where help is needed on both Friday and Saturday. Check out the online signups or look at the signups located in the atrium: https://signup.com/go/HwaGfs. And don’t forget to let your friends know about this very fun community event next Saturday!

The following week is our national celebration of Thanksgiving and you’ll see the article in this update about our annual Thanksgiving Day worship service that I hope all can attend. The Sunday following Thanksgiving is the start of a new Church year with the season of Advent, for which the worship theme for this year at Immanuel will be Coming Home for Christmas: Advent in Isaiah. I’ll write more about what that will entail in an upcoming email update.

With the season of Advent comes several other additional worship and devotional resources. We have daily devotional materials based on this year’s theme, produced by the ministry of 1517 (you can see more about 1517 and all the solid resources they provide at www.1517.org). There are other devotional materials geared more toward families, and all these resources are available on a table in the atrium at Immanuel.

Advent also means midweek Advent worship services. This year we will again be offering very simple, contemplative devotion-type services on Wednesday, December 3, 10, and 17, starting at 1:00pm and 7:00pm. All are invited to come and take advantage of these brief pauses in our crazy schedules to refocus on the true reason for this glorious season. I won’t share information on all the Christmas services, but those, too, are all right around the corner!

It’s an exciting time of year and I hope all of you can fully engage with the many ministry opportunities here at Immanuel as we celebrate our Savior and continue to share His love in the many ways we do.

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Yesterday as part of our time of worship we had the privilege of recognizing, thanking, and honoring the veterans at Immanuel. I’ve had several people ask about getting a link to the video I used as part of that recognition for those, so I thought it easiest to share it with all of you – here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHG_TA1T5mg

With tomorrow being Veterans Day, as a country we collectively say, “Thank you!” to all who have served our country. What a gift we have received – a gift with so many different facets with regard to the freedoms we enjoy. It’s a gift we often take for granted except on special days. If you have opportunity, say thank you to a veteran this week. And thank YOU to all who are reading this who have served our county!

I’m in awe of the number of veterans we have here at Immanuel. Lindy Hafeman and Lorrie McLaughlin, both veterans themselves, continue to lead our Military Support Team at Immanuel, looking for various opportunities throughout the year to support and honor our veterans and those currently serving in the military. If you have an interest in being part of this team, contact Lindy or Lorrie, or the church office, and we can put you in touch with one of them. Over the past year we’ve made a significant effort to try to make sure we have an accurate and up-to-date list of all the veterans here at Immanuel and have pictures of your time of service.

If you are a veteran and you have not contacted the church office to share your years of service, the branch of military with which you served, and given us a picture, please call or email the Church Office (ChurchOffice@ImmanuelLoveland.org, 970-667-4506) with the appropriate information so we can add you to the list. I know we also have some veterans who are deceased, both young and old, who have Immanuel connections – we would like to have information on those individuals as well, so please pass those individuals’ information along, too. We would also be happy to include children or grandchildren who have served in the military on this list as well. Thank you!

Lastly, as a follow-up to yesterday’s message, I want to strongly encourage you to be thinking about the question I posed – “How has Jesus changed your life?”  As we looked at how Jesus dramatically changed Zacchaeus’s life, the reality is, we might not experience such a dramatic change. But what difference does Jesus make for you – that you know Him, believe in Him, and live with the assurance that your life is in His hands?

I hope you take time to think about this important question and, as I encourage in this week’s What Now? (below), to also share your insights with some other people in your life. This doesn’t have to be limited to this week. Be praying that the Lord provides opportunities for you to speak to people in your life – family members, co-workers, friends, or neighbors, especially those who may not know Jesus. At the very least, I pray this exercise helps you become more attuned to the important place Jesus has in your life!

What Now?

How has Jesus changed your life? I encourage you to think about that question this week. If the opportunity arises, share your insights with someone, particularly with someone who may not be a believer. 

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,
With the turn of the calendar to November, we’ve officially entered into what many of us recognize as a season of giving.  The months of November and December are filled with opportunities to give and serve and help and invite, and that is evident with ministries here at Immanuel.

• We’re nearing the end of Operation Christmas Child, filling shoeboxes with simple gifts, toys, and messages of love to be shared with children around the world.
• You’ll read today about our local Orchard Place Giving Tree that is gearing up under the leadership of Teresa Rost, with the Christmas tree and all the tags being put out on Sunday, November 23^rd, as we bless our neighbors to the south with toys and some practical gifts and support, sharing with them Jesus and His love in these simple yet tangible ways.
• At our annual Christmas Bazaar (Saturday, November 22^nd) we are opening our doors to our community with the opportunity to welcome between 1000 and 1500 people from our community and show them some of Jesus’ Radical Hospitality. There are plenty of ways that everyone can be involved in supporting this fun annual open-door outreach of Immanuel.
• We have our ongoing first-Sunday-of-the-month Community Assistance Door Offering to help people in need here at Immanuel as well as partnering with other important ministries in our community to help folks in need throughout our Loveland community.

Worship services are a natural and ongoing place for us as God’s people to gather and serve and invite others to join us. I’ll already mention our annual Thanksgiving Day worship service at 9:00am. Midweek Advent services will start on Wednesday, December 3^rd at 1:00pm and 7:00pm – simple, reflective 30-minute worship services to pause, ponder, and prepare for Jesus each Wednesday in December leading up to Christmas. And then all of our Christmas worship services that you will hear about once we get to December. Then there will be the opportunity to give toward poinsettias and plants in memory of loved ones, to beautify the church for Christmas.

I encourage you to consider any special end-of-year gifts that you would like to give to support the Lord’s ministry here at Immanuel. Finances continue to be a challenge and more information will be coming from the Executive Council with some plans that are being formulated as to how best to deal with these challenges. Know that the offerings and special gifts will be used with the utmost of care and good stewardship for His ministry and the furthering of His Kingdom.

Related to financial giving, I would ask you to give some prayerful thought to putting Immanuel in your will. This is a powerful way to continue to support the Lord’s work after we’ve gone to be with Him. If you have already done this, thank you! If you are wondering how to do that or other questions about this, let me know and I’ll be happy to connect you with appropriate people and resources so you can make informed and God-pleasing decisions. Thank you for considering this!

God created us in His image, and part of that image is that we’ve been created to give, to serve, to be generous and abundant in our giving of ourselves, our time, our talents and abilities, and our finances. As St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, there is true joy that comes when we give freely in all these ways. Thank you all for the generosity and joy that you exhibit in so many ways through the Lord’s ministries here at Immanuel. It’s an honor and a joy to serve alongside you all!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen