Pastor's Note

1. The online “A New Kitchen for a New Day” fundraiser finished *above goal* at $26,296! More than 95 people participated and 32 people shared the link, which is the key to making an online campaign successful. I was especially pleased to see the involvement of the Marquette community in this effort. Makes sense, because MU students have served hundreds of Noon Run lunches at Redeemer, and they will begin again on September 25^th. Special thanks to Alex Habeck, Redeemer’s Communications/Administrative Specialist, who constructed the website and ran the effort behind the scenes.
2. Sanctuary Restoration Plans. This was so cool. Redeemer’s Construction Team Lead, Donnie Bogle-Boesiger, set aside time to teach and train the rest of the Team in how to read architectural plans. At the end of the session, he gave us a QUIZ and had us show our work! Speaking for myself, I feel much more prepared to engaged in the next step of our process-seeing a detailed budget for the identified work and deciding with the Team on priorities for what will begin to happen late this fall.
3. When you come to church on Sunday, you’ll see nine additional links on the chain adorning the balcony! Each link represents $5000 pledged and/or given to the Fearless and Faithful campaign in our Partner Support category. This latest addition represents the New Kitchen campaign ($26,000), an individual gift ($4000) and a three-year pledge of support from a congregation in our synod ($15,000). We have a long way to go, but every link gets us closer to the other side.
4. The basket of eggs . . . well, that’s always on the table in my office. Why? People often come to my office for difficult conversations, and the smoothness and heft of these eggs are soothing in the palms of anxious hands. (True confession: sometimes I take one in my hands, too).  And the thing about eggs?  They represent the promise of new life, as yet unseen. They represent faith: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1