Friends of Immanuel,
I want to share some exciting news with all of you. Last Wednesday I received formal approval from our Board of Christian Day School and our Executive Council to begin exploring the possibility of starting a high school here at Immanuel!

A small team of us have met and are having conversations with other Lutheran High Schools around the country, tapping into some resources our national church body offers, and asking lots and lots of questions. As we explore the potential of a high school, we are staying open to the possibility of starting a ninth grade class already this fall.

Why are we doing this? First, because we are excited about continuing to share the amazing, positive blessings that we experience daily through Immanuel Lutheran School. Our school has an incredibly talented faculty and staff who love children and who love Jesus. They possess a passion for each child to joyously grow not only academically, but spiritually, socially, relationally, and physically. From our School Board to our congregation’s leadership all the way through each adult who interacts with these children daily, there is a desire to see children flourish in a positive, loving, encouraging, and biblically-based environment that spills over to all the families here at Immanuel.

We believe in what the Lord has done and is doing at Immanuel Lutheran School and that God has abundantly blessed our school ministry that began in 1977. We are dedicated to continuing to strive for excellence in all we are and do! We have decades of experience with Christian Education within our Lutheran tradition. We know the importance of instilling the love of Jesus as well as the foundation of God’s Word into the hearts, minds, and lives of children that nets a lifelong impact that we have witnessed has made a difference in the lives of thousands of children and families over the years. The idea of a high school is not new – it has been part of a long-term ministry goal for many years and we believe God is leading us at this time to explore this opportunity in more depth.

Second, we are doing this because so many families are asking about it. The question has come to us in parent-teacher conferences, during enrollment, when tours are being given, and even in day-to-day conversations.

But there’s more that motivates us to continue to grow and expand as a school. The culture has changed in all of our lifetimes. In fact, since the COVID pandemic, some would assess that it is changing at light speed. We believe that many of those changes are negatively impacting children and the family. For example, given how our culture has changed and how our public school system has deliberately altered its policies in handling issues such as gender and sexuality, we believe it is important to provide our children and families an educational environment that is solid, Christ-centered, biblically-based, and safe for children to learn, to grow, and to play.

While I know we have many amazing teachers and administrators in our public school systems, even many who are Christian, there are still inroads other groups are having which influence curriculum, value-systems, and so much more in ways that are diametrically opposed to our Christian faith. One current disturbing example right here in our Thompson School District and other area school districts that made national news is a “genderqueer shapeshifter” who is providing teachers with training on “transitioning” and “oppression.” You can read the story for yourself here: https://www.foxnews.com/media/genderqueer-shapeshifter-provides-colorado-teachers-training-transitioning-oppression. There are other concerns that have been surfaced as well by members of Immanuel who are personally involved with our Thompson School District. I share this not as a scare tactic but to make all of you aware of some of what is truly happening in our local public schools.

We love children here at Immanuel, as beloved children whom our Savior loves as well. And our desire is to continue to provide children and families of our community what we have provided for nearly 50 years.

We welcome your input! If you have questions, interest, thoughts, ideas, concerns, etc., please email our team at HighSchool@ImmanuelLoveland.org.

Please keep this exploration process and this exciting opportunity in your prayers and I will keep you posted on progress and decisions as they are made. Thank you for your continued support of this vital part of our ministry together.

Serving together in Christ alone,
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,
Yesterday’s sermon was certainly heavy-duty, from the topic itself of purification, which included the matters of God’s wrath, fire and burning throughout the Bible, and even the poignant example I shared regarding sexuality and how the “ropes” of sin have wrapped up this beautiful gift from God and dragged it to places God never intended or desired. But as I mentioned, and as we’ve been talking throughout this Lent series (Honest Repentance), God’s desire for us is that we be real and honest. It does us no good to “play” church or pretend that all is well with our lives and with our world.

We’re in a constant battle – a battle in which the stakes have ramped up dramatically over the past 5 years or so. The “battle” has always been here. Because of sin we are in a daily battle against the temptations, big and small, that we find in front of us. Whether those temptations have to do with abusing food or alcohol or drugs or our sexuality or time or people or so many other things that we can abuse and misuse, or it’s bad habits, bad attitudes, or sinful behaviors that have become part of our lives, there is SO much that we are up against just in our individual lives. And that’s saying nothing about the cultural battles that we need to be fighting right now – cultural issues that run contrary to our faith and to God’s Word.

Some of the issues we are up against are moving beyond politics. This matter of life that I mentioned in last week’s update and that we prayed about in worship yesterday is not about Democrats or Republicans. Life is an issue that we as followers of Jesus must stand up for. When those ministries and non-profits, like our local Life Choices Pregnancy Center, are being threatened with lawsuits for simply providing women and men support and choices that are life-giving and life-affirming rather than life-ending with abortions, we need to stand up and let our voice be heard. As an important follow-up, the Senate committee voted to pass this bill (SB23-190) and so it is moving into the full Senate for further action. I understand that the next hearing on this bill will be tomorrow, Tuesday, March 21^st. Please be in prayer for our state senators that hearts would be opened to see the truth when it comes to life and that they vote down this bill and the other two companion bills.

In light of all of this, I quote St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” And the promise I held out yesterday from Jesus in John 8 – “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” And again, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!”

Just as the Lord was right there with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in that fiery furnace (Daniel 3), so He continues to be right here with us in whatever we may find ourselves up against. What a gift and what assurance He provides us! We know the victory, the life, the freedom that is ours because of Jesus and what He accomplished through the cross and the empty tomb. He is our hope! So we continue to trust in Him as we follow Him through all that life throws our way.

As I encouraged at the end of yesterday’s deep and challenging sermon (which, if you missed and would like to listen to, you can find at either https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/arise-shine-with-pastor-glen-schlecht/id1613767730?i=1000604873177 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbR7IEHHD8c), use this week’s “What Now?” to help and strengthen you – “Make it a point this week to start each day with Honest Repentance. Be real before God and with yourself. Confess your sin and put yourself humbly into God’s hands. Let His purifying fire assure you of His forgiveness, His love, and the new life He gives you to begin and to live in every single day.”

Don’t lose hope. Stay in the battle. Continue to pray. Keep your eyes on Jesus!

P.S. Happy Birthday to my amazing wife!!

Serving together in Christ alone,
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,
Today March Madness begins! For those not familiar with this rich annual college basketball tradition, basically it’s basketball madness! There are 64 teams (not counting the four “pre-madness” games played Tuesday and Wednesday night) who compete in a one-and-done month-long tournament to determine which team is the best team in college basketball. The tournament began this morning at 10:15 with games starting about every 40-60 minutes late into the evening. Then it repeats starting Friday morning at 10:15 again. Then Saturday and Sunday it all repeats again. The opening weekend of March Madness is exactly that – madness! For many people around the country, it’s a welcome bit of fun as we wait for winter to let go and for spring to arrive. People who know and follow college basketball, as well as many who don’t, fill out brackets, cheer for teams and players they may know nothing about, and compete in office pools, family pools, and other groups for some fun competition.

Why am I writing about this today? I’m writing about it because this is part of our culture and part of life. For us as followers of Jesus, life isn’t all super-serious, faith-focused, Bible-verse-filled, nose-to-the-grindstone-about-the-mission. The lives we lead certainly include worship, devotion time, time in God’s Word, prayer time, and time we spend serving others. But our lives also include our jobs and vocations, recreation, ice cream and pizza, football, and yes, March Madness.

As we’ve been praying over and acting on these very serious matters of Life in our Colorado state legislature, we have to be reminded that life is a gift – it’s a gift God has given us that He intended for us to enjoy. At the very beginning in Genesis 1 and 2, we’re told that God created all of this for US – for us to work, to take care of, and also to enjoy and to experience with all of creation’s wonder and beauty and variety. Since the Fall of Adam and Eve, we know that creation is no longer perfect, but it is still a wondrous gift from God.

So today, give thanks to our Creator and our Savior for this amazing gift that He has given to us that we call “Life.” Enjoy it today – whether that means watching basketball or going for a walk, talking with someone you love and care about, listening to your favorite music, doing your job, playing with your kids, savoring a good cup of coffee, or simply gazing for a while at the mountains. As for me, I’ll be taking some vacation time Thursday afternoon to watch some March Madness, and that’s why you’re receiving today’s update so early in the day…

Serving together in Christ alone,
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,
Some very serious matters have come to my attention regarding actions our state legislators are taking that are very disturbing and very much in conflict with our faith. This is from former Colorado State Representative Kevin Lundberg:

After last year’s extreme abortion bill was put into law it seemed the advocates for abortion had gotten everything, but now they have rolled out three new bills that go further, SB-188, SB-189 and SB-190 which directly attacks crisis pregnancy centers. Here is a direct quote from the bill. It gives a sense of the spirit of this legislation:
“…anti-abortion centers, also known as “crisis pregnancy centers” or “fake clinics”, aim “to prevent abortions by persuading people that adoption or parenting is a better option”; Anti-abortion centers are the ground-level presence of a well-coordinated anti-choice movement;”
This bill goes on to outlaw abortion reversal drugs and gives language that is threatening the future of crisis pregnancy centers in Colorado.

Here is the actual Bill (SB-190) that was introduced March 9^th – https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-190

Joe Sarr of our congregation, who serves as the Executive Regional Director of Catholic Charities – Northern Colorado, deals with many social issues in his position. He is also aware of these bills and the potential impact for him both professionally and personally. He shared with me this video highlighting Bella Health, the medical provider contracted at the existing Marisol Health locations in Denver and Lafayette. This video shows what is currently offered as far as the use and availability of the “abortion pill reversal” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBYoi-pPXuU.

Joe also shared this with me: “Catholic Charities has raised over 4 million dollars in the last year alone to open a new Marisol Health clinic ¼ mile from Planned Parenthood in Fort Collins in the Spring of 2024. While the battle lines are being drawn in Colorado (and the rest of the nation), the life affirming organizations are boldly moving forward to save lives of the unborn in Northern Colorado.”

For more helpful information on details of these bills from the perspective of Pro-Life Colorado, you can go to their website – https://www.prolifeco.org/.

At Immanuel, we believe that God is a God of life – and this gift of life is a precious, fragile gift that belongs in the hands of the God who created us. My urging is to pray – pray for our state legislators to choose life and not travel further down the road of destroying life or restricting options for life. If you are so inclined, reach out to your representatives and urge them to not support these proposed bills and instead to choose life. We are in very dangerous and terrifying waters with these important matters of life in the state of Colorado.

Consider Deuteronomy 30:19-20, these words of the Lord spoken through Moses to God’s people as they were preparing to enter the Promised Land. They are appropriate and fitting for us to consider as God’s words to us today. Let’s choose life in every possible way!

Serving together in Christ alone,
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,
Regret was a topic I touched on in yesterday’s Midweek Lent worship service and it has prompted so many conversations from folks who were in worship – it definitely touched some real experiences of ours. I just scratched the surface with it during our brief time of worship together, so I thought I’d take some time in my update article today to encourage all of us to consider this (and the “other side” of regret) a bit more.

Do you have regrets? Seriously, pause for a moment to actually think about and answer that question. In what areas of your life do you have regrets or have you experienced regret? Anything related to family? Other relationships? Food or eating? Major life decisions? Regrets from your youth? Regrets that are vocational or job-related? Regret can take many forms!

And where does regret take us? I can’t think of any very positive places! More than anything, it seems that regret tends to beat us up with guilt as well as deflate our view of the future. The encouragement yesterday was to “fast regret,” that is, to let it go, to “give it up for Lent,” to not feed it or give it space.

What’s a better alternative? To embrace the “new” that the Lord continually holds out before us – “new,” that comes in the form of the Lord’s mercies (which are new every morning – pause and read Lamentations 3:22-26 for some awesome encouragement!), His forgiveness and grace, the reminders of His unconditional love for us, the unique opportunities both big and small that the Lord puts before us each day, and the hope He’s given us of our glorious future reality because of Jesus.

None of this is necessarily easy – as I mentioned last Sunday, faith is HARD! But all of this is vital, important, and even life-giving. It is worth the struggle, worth the effort, as we journey together through this season of Lent. We know where this season is leading – to a cross that brings us forgiveness and grace, and to an empty tomb that brings us life. With the Holy Spirit working in our hearts, let’s “fast” regret today – and maybe for the remainder of this Lenten season!

Serving together in Christ alone,
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,
This is National Lutheran Schools Week and here at Immanuel that means lots of fun ways that we’re celebrating and giving thanks to God for the gift of Immanuel Lutheran School! Here’s some of what’s going on at Immanuel throughout this week. And I’ll mention here on the front end that all are invited to join the school and staff in the sanctuary Tuesday through Thursday for devotions from 8:20am-8:30am, for the Showcase on Thursday (schedule below), and chapel on Friday (8:45am), which I’ll be leading.

• Monday, March 6^th – Pajama Day (wear your comfy pajamas to school), devotions together, and a “read around the school” activity for all grades
• Tuesday, March 7^th – Hawaiian Day (wear your favorite Hawaiian print), devotions together at 8:20am, and a hula-hoop contest and hula dance in the gym from 2:30-3:00
• Wednesday, March 8^th – Western Wear Day (wear your favorite western wear), devotions together at 8:20am, and students will make cards for church members
• Thursday, March 9^th – Decades Day (wear clothes from your favorite decade), devotions together at 8:20am, and students will be decorating wooden crosses
• Also on Thursday will be the Immanuel Showcase from 5:30pm-7:30pm, where our Kindergarten through 8^th grade students will have their art and science projects on display in the gym and the atrium. There will also be music performances including the preschool performing at 5:45pm and the Kindergarten through 5^th grade students performing at 6:30pm in the sanctuary.
• Friday, March 10^th – “Chosen” Shirts Day (“Chosen” is the theme for this year), it’s Grandparents Day, and a special chapel with Pastor Glen

Come and check out some of what God is doing through our school ministry and join together in giving thanks to God for this gift of our school!

Serving together in Christ alone,
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,
Tonight (Thursday) is the night of the inaugural event for the Christians Engaging the Public Square Ministry Event. This event begins at 6:30 and will run until 8:00. This relatively new ministry team at Immanuel has been working hard over the course of the past year talking about how best to help provide resources for people in our greater Loveland community about some of the many cultural challenges that we are currently facing. Come and check it out! If you have any questions about this event or want more information, contact Pastor Robin (rdugall@immanuelloveland.org or 208-891.4608). Below is more information that has been running in my email updates over the past several weeks.

Christians Engaging the Public Square Ministry Event.  Would you like to learn about the cultural challenges, societal changes, and spiritual “evil” that is engulfing our communities and learn how we can together begin to challenge these cultural ideas that are in complete opposition to God's Holy Word? If yes, read on: A new ministry group called “Christians Engaging the Public Square” was formed a year ago. The members of this group are a composite of teachers from both parochial and public schools, former Business Executives, an Attorney, other related fields of Commerce, three Christian Pastors, along with people of other walks of life. Though this group is made up primarily of members of Immanuel, this team doesn’t seek to be sectarian, nor does it have any political agendas. Many of the participants in this ministry have had a head start in surveying and speaking to the prevailing culture pressures, realities, and “threats” that surround us.

At this event you will hear some of the team members share their understanding of some of the realities in culture that surround us. You will gain a better understanding of what it means for Christ followers to meet cultural challenges as “salt and light” of God’s Kingdom. In addition, this event will have break out/small group table discussions that will give each participant a chance to present questions on the subjects ranging from “The Culture and Public Education,” “The Changing Power of the Media,” “Understanding Race Issues,” “Exploring Contemporary Politics” and more. As Jesus followers, we need to understand and be equipped to respond to the world’s pressures with a Christian/Biblical Worldview. In this first event, the focus will be on equipping each attendee with spiritual and educational “armor” in defending the faith and fulfilling both our Biblical obligation and our civic duties as citizens.

Serving together in Christ alone,
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,
In my last update I made mention that Immanuel’s Community Assistance Ministry will be changing. I’d like to share with you here more details on that change, the ‘whys’ behind the change, and the future of our Community Assistance Ministry.

For over 30 years, Immanuel has offered financial assistance to members of the Northern Colorado community, primarily helping families pay overdue rent and utility bills as well as offering food assistance. This ministry has been primarily administered by volunteers over these many years. The volunteers would meet with individuals, determine the need, and offer assistance – and not just financial assistance but spiritual and emotional as well. Immanuel’s Community Assistance Ministry is funded 100% by donations of Immanuel members out of a desire to share God’s love with those in our community.

Over the last couple of years, administering this program has become very difficult for a number of reasons – the financial need of families has grown exponentially, the abuse of the program by individuals has elevated, our ability to accurately track and vet individuals has become more and more difficult, and there are security concerns with the administration of the program at Immanuel.

After much prayer and discussion, the difficult decision has been made to direct our community assistance funds to individuals utilizing the services of, and in partnership with, Christian agencies in our community who are better equipped to determine the needs and help families, and who have a better vetting system/database than Immanuel. Some of these agencies include House of Neighborly Services (HNS), Neighbor to Neighbor, Community Food Kitchen, St. Matthew Clinic, and others. Rather than meeting with individuals at Immanuel to offer financial assistance, we will forward our funds to these and other agencies whose focus it is to help families in need.

I want to be clear that our Community Assistance Ministry is not going away! The monies given to this ministry will continue to be directed to families in need in the Northern Colorado community. We will also retain some of the money given to offer assistance to members of Immanuel when emergencies arise. In addition, we will continue to partner with other agencies to provide help in other ways: through food drives for House of Neighborly Services, hygiene drives for Orchard Place, and collecting items for Personal Care Kits, to name just a few. In addition, we will continue to have a door offering on the first Sunday of every month and your offering envelopes will still have the Community Assistance envelope included.

There is a team being formed who will meet on a regular basis to determine where funds will be directed and to coordinate our efforts in helping people in our community with various opportunities to give needed resources. Those ongoing opportunities will be publicized in my email updates. If you would like to be part of this team, contact Annette Bures (ChurchOffice@ImmanuelLoveland.org) or let me know.

Thank you, Immanuel, for the heart you have for this important ministry of being the hands and feet and voice of Jesus, especially to individuals and families in need. It has been, and will continue to be, a powerful way that we can share our Savior’s Radical Hospitality and the love, care, and concern that He has for all people. If you have any questions, concerns, or thoughts about this decision, feel free to reach out to me.

Serving together in Christ alone,
Pastor Glen