Facing Our Giants Together
The beauty of having sermon series as the basis for our preaching is that they are helpful in keeping things relevant by connecting worshippers with the passages in scripture that they need to hear the most. Of course, we know that all of scripture is the inspired Word of God, but it is very often the case that the worship services and sermons that mean the most to us are the ones that address the issues that weigh most heavily on our hearts and minds. “Facing Giants” will be a series that takes us through many of the things that we all struggle with: doubt, anger, success, and resentment. We all have these giants in our lives but the operative word in the title is “facing” because it’s so easy to pretend that our giants aren’t there or to simply hope they will go away. God gives us all that we need to face up to the obstacles that loom on the horizon or that come crashing into our lives. We have been given the Holy Spirit in our baptisms and we have the constant presence of God in our lives to see us through the worst things that life can throw at us. One of my favorite Bible verses is John 16:33: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” There is no one greater to have in our corner than Jesus who specializes in taking down the giants that threaten us. Romans 8:37 reminds us of a truth that we need to hear again and again: “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
Revelation 2:17 is a beautiful passage that isn’t heard very often: “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.”
What will be that new name that is given to you and to me on a white stone? Whatever it may be, it will surely point to the grace of God that is always working behind the scenes to bring the goodness of God into every darkened corner of our lives. We all overcome giants in our lives and we all have giants that are yet to be faced but we do so only by the grace of God. There is a great song that was written years ago by Mark Heard called “Strong Hand of Love” that has a profound chorus: “We can laugh and we can cry and never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows. We can dance and we can sigh and never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows.”
My prayer for us at St. Andrew is that our worship services will be a sacred space and time where the deepest and most profound hurts and challenges in our lives can be brought to the foot of the cross where we receive the good news of the Gospel and where we can have our cups filled to overflowing. Not a bad way to spend an hour on Sunday mornings! Come and join us on Sunday mornings this summer as we join together in the worship and praise of the Strong Hand of Love that is so active in our lives, even when our attention is turned to other things. God is good—all the time!
See you in church!
Tim Graf Worship & Music Director
“Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.”
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–Frederick Buechner
Worship & Music “Notes” from the Music Office
Facing Giants: Visiting Holy Land a Trip of a Lifetime
When Michele and I came to St. Andrew nearly 10 years ago, St. Andrew members knew we were coming to Eden Prairie from our previous location in Cairo, Egypt. I remember one of the first things I was asked was if we were going to lead a trip to Egypt. While we are there, they asked, can we go to rest of the Holy Land? The bucket list kicks in for many people. Seeing the pyramids would be amazing. How about the places where Jesus performed his ministry? Do you think we might get over to Jordan to see Petra, too, the place where Indiana Jones rode the horse in that movie? These giant bucket list items are amazing to see, but for our recent trip participants to Egypt and the Holy Land, the surprising experiences of this memorable trip were an unforgettable Palm Sunday adventure, a more nuanced and passionate understanding of the socio-political issues between Israelis and Palestinians, and the lasting deep connections between each other.
As a pastor, it is challenging to be gone from the congregation on festivals like Palm Sunday. From all the stories I had been told, I knew the experience on Palm Sunday in Jerusalem is remarkable. When this second Holy Land trip plan was hatched, I immediately sought to be in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday alongside the 10,000s of other pilgrims who flock there to commemorate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The shouts and songs of ‘hosanna’ truly ring loudly from the Mount of Olives. Even though it was close to the end of the trip after we had seen so much, I will never forget our smiles, energy, and joy of sharing the experience with this throng of pilgrims from around the world.
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Facing Giants
When it comes to the Middle East, people often think of the political challenges between Israelis and Palestinians. I tell groups before going to this part of the world that if we wanted to go to Disney Land, we can go to Florida. Israel/Palestine is no Disney. To care for God’s world requires us to listen and understand more deeply the conflicts within it. Then, our attitudes and prayers are shaped by the experience. Michele and I intentionally use Christian guides. No surprise in this. They will talk about their experiences as a faith community. They use words like ‘occupation’, ‘corporate punishment’ of Palestinians, ‘illegal Israeli settlements’ and ‘separation walls’ that change neighborhoods and whole societies - all in an effort to control the land. Samir, our guide, shared sadly that the situation has pushed his two children out of Palestine to school in Vienna. Like so many other Christians, he does not expect them to return home to live because of the hard life conditions there. It is hard to imagine our boys Alex, Andrew, and Liam thinking this about the Twin Cities. Let’s continue to pray for peace between these two peoples – so much hardship deserves God’s reconciliation and hope.
Finally, a lasting joy of the experience the group experience and relationship building. Taking us busy people out of our normal lives and placing us into a new context for learning, fun, humor, and faith development yields friendships that stand up to the test of time. We have already had a reunion of trip participants. We all want to keep a toe or two in the Middle East, holding onto the experience as long as we can. When you see a close circle of people before or after worship, visiting in the Fellowship Hall, or drinking a beer at a patio crawl, they might be former participants. Please know we are not trying to be an exclusive club! The relationships are just that tight. What a blessing these new relationships are!
Many have asked when we are going to offer the trip again. We have no dates set yet. But please keep asking and stay tuned. These trips are giants in faith and life development and more of us need to experience it together. It is not a question of if we will make the trip again, but when.
Peter Johnson Pastor of Service & Small Groups
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Holy Land Trip
Facing Giants in My Life
I don’t know about you but as for me, I’d love to go through life and never have to face or do battle with a ‘giant.’ Giants have power over our emotions and mind. As I struggle with whatever giant it is, I’m usually entering the battle thinking, “I don’t think I can win this battle. The giant is going to win and I’ll be defeated and perhaps never be the same again.
At about 8:00 PM on a warm August evening, as my wife, Kathy, and I were just settling in for some reading and relaxing time, I heard a loud, I mean really loud, explosion outside the front of our house. I ran to the door and looked out. What I saw would immediately change our lives forever. I saw tons of smoke and flames coming out of the roof of our garage. I then ran to the utility room and opened the garage door to see the front of my car in flames. How could this be happening to us? How is this going to affect our lives?
The house was a total loss but Kathy and I and our lovable cat, Pablo, were all safe. A salvage company took the things that survived and stored them for us. That company was in NE Minneapolis which meant a long drive many, many times to get there and go through stuff. Actually, it wasn’t the big things that were as hard to lose as the little, personal
gifts we’d given to each other on our wedding night years ago or special mementos from family. I watched along with our two young grandsons as the huge excavator dismantled our house bite by bite. When my wife and I drove back from Montana after my internship in seminary, we got all that we owned in our Rambler and a small U-Haul trailer. As we drove away from our house the night of the fire, I said to Kathy, “Well, we’re back where we started forty some years ago—everything we own will fit in the trunk of the car.”
The recovery process and rebuilding was a Goliath of a job—exhausting. We had to replace everything and pick out all the items that go into building a new home which included furniture, cooking items, clothes etc. Someone once said, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” Well, in our case, we felt that God might have been a little overconfident. The one force that drove us day and night was the desire to get our life and our home back to normal. Of course, we felt like quitting but nothing improves when one takes a time out to feel sorry for himself.
Philippians 4:6–7 says, “Don’t be anxious about anything, but in every
situation, with prayer and thanksgiving, present your requests before God who will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.” It’s easy to say, “Don’t be anxious about anything.” It sounds like a pious platitude when you’re facing a giant who’s managed to destroy most of your past. Prayer for me usually came in the night as I wondered why this happened to us and asked God for peace and strength to keep moving forward. Kathy and I were 66 years old at the time and we had no choice but to deal with it. By March of 2010 we moved into a beautiful new home and life was returning to normal. God didn’t perform any magic trick to miraculously fix everything for us but God did give us peace and a spirit of thanksgiving that we could even recover from losing so much. For six months, we had no home except for a rental house. We learned that stuff is only stuff and in the end it’s replaceable. We learned to love things less and cherish life and health a little more. Occasionally, my thoughts wander back to that night, the night we faced a giant but ultimately won the battle.
I don’t know what battle you may be facing but I do know how overwhelming and hopeless it can feel as you grasp to find something to hold onto and gather the courage to face that giant knowing God can provide you with more than you’ve ever asked. Kathy and I have occasionally reminded each other of how challenging life was through those moments but God didn’t fail us! Blessings rose up out of the ashes. Might I say to you, “Don’t quit in the middle of the battle with your giant. Find help, find support, look for the good and God will guard and protect you.”
Roger Schindel Visitation Pastor
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Doubt. Anger. Success. Resentment. When I read about the Giants we will be facing in our new sermon series, I was a little surprised to find success in there. Why is it showing up here? Doubt, anger and resentment are all internal, personal, emotional. Success does not really fit in here? It’s public, visible, measurable. Right? And yes, it’s a double-edged sword. What counts as success in our society? Fame and Fortune, that has not changed. Whether in business, entertainment, politics, sports, we tend to focus on the top 1% and celebrate, respect, honor, or fear them. And we measure our own successes against theirs, obviously falling short 99% of the time. Think of David in the story against Goliath. He was an unknown entity before the fight and had quite the career afterwards. The Bible tells us that God chose David because of what he saw in his heart. Yet with all the values God saw in him, the successes along the way tripped David up more than once. The success and power went to his head, as we would say today. He needed God to remind him why he was chosen, and what really mattered.
As the mother of a teenage daughter, I am especially wary of what counts as success in our society today. And what striving towards the image of perfection that Social Media (and lots of filters and photo editors) feed her every day is doing to her mental health. Or competing with the souped-up resumes of her peers on Linked-In. If my generation was aware of the fact that we were comparing ourselves against the top 1%, it seems like her generation believes that the 99% have already made it, and they are the miserable 1% that failed. Success has become so much more toxic today.
That’s why we need to be reminded frequently what God values in us. What success really looks like. To be kind and compassionate. To be responsible. To love one another, to love God’s creation. To take care. To lift up. Especially our children, as they go through the relentless competition of the society we have built and are faced with so many big issues they will need to solve.
And that’s where we need our congregation. We cannot do this alone. We need our whole community of faith to accomplish this success. To be examples of living out our faith and our values in daily life. For ourselves, and the generations to come. Thank you for being kind and compassionate. Thank you for caring and loving. Thank you for creating a place where all are welcome. And where we can take the time and pause to be reminded by God what really matters. To all 100%.
Meggy Wagner Senior Director of Church Operations
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Facing Giants
Church Operations
The Finance Committee met on May 4, and decided to go ahead with the following building projects:
1. A concrete walkway around the West side of the building to the Prayer Garden, to ensure easy accessibility of the Columbarium outside of building hours. This project is made possible through sponsorship.
2. The renovation of our main bathrooms. This project is mostly funded by our Building Fund Reserve, with a small shortfall coming out of the General Reserves.
3. The conversion to LED of all light bulbs in the building. This project is financed in part through a sizable rebate from Xcel Energy, and has a payback period of 4 years through energy savings.
4. A Welcome/Visitor center on the Narthex wall by Burke’s office. We are contracting for a professional design for this project, but will most likely build it ourselves to keep the costs low.
5. An architectural study of our Early Learning wing, to understand our options to bring the building up to current codes if we were to change our Early Learning enrollment license numbers. This study is funded from General Reserves.
For more information, contact Meggy Wagner mwagner@standrewlu.org.
Facing
Finance
Giants
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have to start with honesty: when I was asked to write a piece for the Son Times, I didn’t read the topics. I just said yes because I’m happy to work with this church. After I said yes, I went back and looked at the upcoming topics. And, wow, they unleashed the giant hounds of “Anger”, “Doubt”, and “Resentment” on me? No thanks. I’ll pass on those and play with that other one. Yeah, the puppy with the big eyes, droopy ears, and wagging tail named “Success”.
Turns out the joke is on me again, because success is probably the most dangerous one of the bunch for me. Anger, doubt and resentment are bad, but that’s the easy thing about them. They feel easy to identify and call out and say “I’d rather not be that”; perhaps I succeed or fail, but with those I can always give myself some credit for trying. Success always feels a lot less clear on what to do with it. Of course I want to strive for excellence and to do the best I can. The slope from trying my best to being distracted from what matters can be so slippery it’s almost imperceptible. The thing that scares me the most about this is: what if I’m not even aware when I need to make a change?
My fear was illustrated (in crayon) while playing a game. When you play hide and seek, what’s the goal? Is the fun the excitement of the search or the challenge of finding the best possible hiding place? Just enjoying the game? One thing is simple though, if you don’t try to succeed, the game won’t be any fun. But, what happens when you’re playing with a 6 year old? One time I found a really good hiding place, I knew it would be a challenge for my daughter to find me. Unfortunately, my hiding place was too good. Her excitement for the search turned to frustration at failure, which turned into worry and fear that I had left. While I was reveling in my perfect hiding place, I was completely unaware her tears were starting to well up. The fun of the game was gone, I just didn’t know it yet; in fact I was just getting smugger at how great my spot was.
On a broader scale that’s what I worry about with success: What if I’m not aware that it’s coming at the cost of someone else? What if success is a fatal distraction from faith and I’m so focused that I’m not even aware I was distracted?
Brendan Dolan
Congregational Council
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Congregational Council
Facing Giants
In the world of Early Childhood hearing the term “Facing Giants” automatically brings visions of David and Goliath to mind. In the book of 1 Samuel, we are told how Goliath taunted the Israelites for 40 days, challenging anyone to come out to fight him. Goliath was an imposing figure at 10 feet tall covered in armor and wielding a shield, spear, and sword. It is not a huge leap to compare Goliath to any number of adversities we as adults face in our lives let alone the “Goliath” like challenges that children face each day.
Enter David…
David was a young boy armed with a slingshot and 5 stones. The one thing he had that all the soldiers in the Israelites army lacked was the confidence he held in his faith to God. He KNEW God would be with him and bring him through the fight with Goliath.
Each day, we see little “David” in the classrooms here at St. Andrew Early Learning as teachers give children new tasks to attempt or as each “David” faces a confrontation with a peer that wants the same toy at the same time.
Sometimes, we as adults overthink how simple happiness can really be. During our school days, when children are faced with a new challenge that may not be as easy as they would like it to be, we talk a lot about how together we can do hard things. As teachers, seeing children overcome their challenges reminds us that every little moment counts as a teaching moment. Children are a lot like David. They are confident, bold, and yet not afraid to let others know that they could use a little help when those “Goliath” like challenges come up. As teachers, we need to help children learn the confidence of David and make sure they know that God is with them, facing every challenge, side by side, through it all. Happiness comes from being there for our friends through all the David and Goliath moments of life, after all, “The Lord is greater than the giants you face.” –1 John 4:4.
Melinda Eddihi Childcare Assistant Director
–1 John 4:4
“The Lord is greater than the giants you face.”
9 Facing Giants Early Learning
My kids are 20 and 18, but I vividly remember sitting in the middle school open house, when my oldest was ready to head off to middle school. I had worked with kids and youth in churches, and I was sure I knew what to expect, parents had asked me if I was nervous to send my kids off to middle school, and I laughed, thinking “I know what to expect.”
I sat in one of the rooms waiting for the first presentation to begin, I was listening to snippets of conversation going on around me.
“What summer activities have you signed your kids up for?” “You know, if you don’t get them into summer training camps for sports, they will never make the high school teams.” Then there was this—“We are counting on so and so’s involvement in these activities for college scholarships, and you know, colleges are looking carefully at extra-curricular activities now-a-days.”
I was relieved when the meeting began. I listened to the orientation. As the first presentation came to an end I began to feel overwhelmed. Will he remember where to go? Will he remember his locker combination? I need to get home and look at summer opportunities—man, we are way behind. All these thoughts went through my head as we traveled to our next presentation. At the end of that presentation, I overheard another group of parents talking about the school.
“We just aren’t sure this curriculum will be challenging enough.” “We are looking into private schools.” “We love it here; best choice we ever made.” Ugh. Now all the insecurities and doubts began to take over. Am I doing the right things for my kids? Am I making choices now that will impact their future in big ways? All these giant fears came crashing in on me.
I took a deep breath, and realized I needed to think about some of the things I had been telling families for years. Families facing these very same insecurities and dilemmas.
When you are making decisions about activities and priorities, think about the kind of adult you want your child to be. Twenty years from now will your child still be playing baseball? You have less than 1/2 % of a chance of playing MLB if you are on your high school baseball team. Believe me, my son was convinced he would be in those numbers, and he is thankful to have a few more years to enjoy his sport in college but the MLB is definitely not in his future.
Twenty years from now, do you hope your child is still going to church? Do you hope that your children are still Christians? That doesn’t make these other things wrong or bad. There are great lessons to be learned in being part of a team. I love what my kids have learned in their activities and I absolutely want my children to have academic success as well. I want them to find a vocation that not only captures their heart’s desires but helps to serve a great need in the world.
These are important things. I just have to remember that, for me, they aren’t the most important thing.
My strongest hope for my children, and for all of God’s children, is that they will grow up knowing they are loved by God, no matter what.
I pray that they would come to claim that identity as the most important one. I want them to be a Child of God first, before they are an athlete, or an accountant, or a beautician. Sometimes we all get mixed up about which identity is most important. When someone asks us about who we are or what we do, we struggle with that identity. It is the identity as a
Child of God, that helps us conquer all of the giants, all of the fears.
For each of us, the primary answer should be the same: “I am a Child of God, and I am loved—no matter what.” Think of how our self-esteem, and the self-esteem of our kids might change if we truly believed that.
For years, every bathroom mirror in our house had the following window cling on it. These stickers were given out at baptisms at our church. Every day when they wash their face or brush their teeth I want my children to be reminded of “who they are” and “Whose they are” until that identity is ingrained into their hearts and they can proclaim it boldly. If they remember that, they can face any giant.
What do you do to remember your true identity as a Child of God?
Shawna Berg Children’s Ministry Director
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Children’s Ministry
Facing Giants
Our Confirmation ministry at St. Andrew is a very large program and we add new Confirmands constantly throughout the year. Which this is amazing, we have a lot of youth and families invested in this area of ministry. With that, there is a giant task of making Confirmation a place where middle schoolers want to come and participate in. This is something that I think about constantly on how this program will relate to a middle school crowd.
This past year, we made a lot of changes to curriculum and added a mentor program. These changes were done as a start to creating a Confirmation program that is more accessible and more engaging. We really wanted a program that builds meaningful relationships based on faith. We accomplish this through more focused small group time with an adult leader, an opening worship where we bless each other, having more adult, small group leaders to help us keep small group sizes smaller. Because of these tweaks, I am hearing that youth learning more about faith, youth wanting to come to confirmation because its enjoyable, and small group leaders having better relationships with their small group.
We also added a mentor program for our 8th graders to finish out their confirmation program. I have loved being to check-in with the Confirmands on who they picked, how it’s been going, and what they have learned. We had a good number of Confirmands choosing to have their baptismal sponsor to be their mentor, which is such a perfect way to engage those baptismal promises that sponsors make to the baptized. A lot of Confirmands reconnected with people who were once apart of their daily lives. It has surprised me how well the mentor program went for Confirmands to learn more about other people’s faith as well as their own in the process. They grow in faith together while building a faithful relationship.
The positive effects of these changes are only just beginning as we face this giant continuing to make Confirmation a place where youth are filled with faith and know without a doubt that God loves them and walks with them.
Sarah Fike
Family
Pastor of Children, Youth, &
“Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
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–1 Thessalonians 5:11
Confirmation Ministry
Facing Giants
My whole career has been spent leaning into the challenge of engaging young people in their faith lives and the life of congregational ministry. It’s a monumental task and a complex facet of the life of the church. Or at least that’s been my experience in the Lutheran tradition.
One of the first topics our parent group “The Check In” spent time on earlier this year was how to engage their teenage children in church participation. There is no denying that much of the narrative when kids are young is about “getting confirmed and being done with church.”
Here at St. Andrew, we love our confirmation age members. They have so much to offer, and St. Andrew is actively working on keeping our confirmands involved. It’s culture work.
When you look at the cultural upbringing of kids in a faith community it really is a paradigm shift to think that church is still for you when you’re in that age range of early teen years until maybe you have a family of your own. Sunday School, it’s on parents to get kids there. Confirmation, there’s an outcome to work toward. But after that…What is there to do? The answer is A LOT!
We try to convey the “lifelong journey” mindset as opposed to “you finished this program.”
What I can tell you is that we strive to be a ministry for and by high schoolers and young adults. We want to address life events and circumstances unique to their age. We ask for them to share the topics and activities they’re interested in learning more about and doing more of. They are the content, not a packet or
book, but their lived experience. Then there’s making it clear that we don’t intend to compete with other activities and opportunities available. Those are all good and worthwhile pursuits. In fact, those things are essential to a growing and developing life of faith.
Why do it then? Why try and continue to walk alongside these young people?
With season three still in progress I think I’m OK to reference the AppleTV hit, Ted Lasso. He’s an American college football coach, transplanted to the UK to coach a European football (soccer of course) club. His approach? To help the players under his care become the best people they can be. Not necessarily the best player, not to achieve an undefeated record, but to help people be their best. Well, I can relate. I just want people to know the love of God in Jesus and to experience that in their life at every age and stage. Out of that will flow whatever the Spirit inspires. Much of which we might not get to see or know about. Which is fine, we’re not in it for the typical standards of success.
Success sounds like these messages we have recently received from parents and youth:
“Your planning and topic generation is exactly what I had hoped. Last night was powerful and real for my kids. As I have told others, this is the first time I have had my kids actually talk to me after Wednesday Night Youth Group about their faith and feelings. They are opening up and asking us questions and sharing their thoughts like never before.”
“I’m so grateful for the community at St. Andrew…I look forward to con-
tinuing to connect and make memories!”
“St. Andrew will always be close to my heart—I consider it like home because I always feel welcome and love from everyone that is around.”
These are the markers of success we look for. Success is being faithful to the work of creating opportunities for more stories like these to be told.
To continue reaching more young people, we need more folks to know they can help kids feel connected to the church…
Here are some of the concepts we are brainstorming about: Could we have folks showing up at concerts, performances, and games helping kids know their church sees them?
Could we have folks with unique gifts, passions, or access to opportunities sharing them with small groups of youth as a way of demonstrating how faith connects to their daily life?
Could we have confirmation small group guides and/or mentors continue their role with their young people? Or new mentors ready to step in after their confirmation years are done?
I’m ready to invite more people into these kinds of ministry opportunities. If you feel you have the desire and energy for this kind of thing, let’s talk!
Grace and peace, Brent Haglund High School & Young Adult Director
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High School Ministry
Facing Giants
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It Was a Great Run!
This past Easter was a wonderful experience. Through Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and finally Easter, the worship services were inviting and beautiful. They were filled with glorious music, inspiring messages, and literally thousands of people! A huge thank you needs to go out to the well over 100 volunteers who set up chairs, set out palms and flowers, changed banners, served communion, greeted, ushered, helped park cars, helped in the nursery, and the list goes on. We needed every single one of you to help make the worship experience at St. Andrew what it was—meaningful! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
The need for volunteers at St. Andrew continues to grow and expand. There are dozens and dozens of various opportunities for you to get involved and make a difference in the church, in our community, and in our world. Our church is vibrant, growing, and relevant. It will continue as such with dedicated and engaged volunteers in all facets of our
ministries. You will always be needed!
My time as a member of the St. Andrew Church staff will come to an end on May 31 when I will retire. I was hired on September 8, 1992. At that time, I was an 11+ year veteran of youth ministry, a married man of 9 years and a father to a 3-year-old daughter. Now, Paula and I will soon celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. My one daughter was followed by two more daughters now aged 30 and 23 respectively. My then 3-year-old is now 34, married, with three daughters of her own! Yup, I get to be a Papa full-time now. The greatest job ever! I would not have been able to do what I did without the love and support of my amazing family!
The changes in my life over the three decades at St. Andrew has been staggering and absolutely wonderful! God had
blessed me with the opportunity to walk and work in God’s grace with the children, families, and the wonderful adults here at St. Andrew. Whether as a High School Youth Minister, Camp Director, or Hospitality & Facilities Director, my life has been forever changed because of all of you and the warmth, friendship, and love you have shared with me.
I’m certainly not the only one who has changed over these past 30+ years. The change and growth of this congregation has been nothing short of amazing. From the small church at the corner of Mitchell and Valley View, St. Andrew grew and built the beautiful facility we now enjoy here on Technology Dr. Add Spirit in the Pines Camp to the mix and “Bam!” we have certainly kicked it up a notch! The opportunities and ways to do worship and ministry have changed and will continue to change. Even though the St. Andrew pastors and staff have changed over the years, the continued leadership and direction provided is passionate, Christ focused, and authentic.
I look forward to what God has in store for me and St. Andrew in the years to come. God’s love and grace is the one constant over the years that continues to bless us both beyond measure.
Thank you, God! Thank you, St. Andrew!
Burke Hancer Safety & Facilities Director
Burke’s Retirement
Facing Giants
Refugees Face Giants—Overcome Them with Love, Support, and Perseverance of St. Andrew’s Good Neighbor Teams
The fall of Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 made worldwide news. A large number of Afghan families who worked with American interests in the country were dealt with a life-changing crisis of safety. Some families were fortunate to enter a formal resettlement process to move to the United States. St. Andrew Lutheran Church has stepped in to help two new families in Minnesota as Good Neighbor Teams supported by Arrive Ministries of Bloomington, welcoming and encouraging their settling into new life here in the Twin Cities. The following is a report about how many challenges (giants) are being faced and how God brings hope and healing.
Good Neighbor Team One: Kay Nordbye, Jean & Mike Henle, Danielle Benson, Claire Geistfeld, Gary & Andrea Spears
Our Story began January 2023, when our team met the family for the first time. The anticipation and excitement only escalated when our family greeted us with seven big smiles: 2 young parents & their 5 children all under 9 (including a 3-month baby)! We continue our work to settle the family into new routines. We are a bridge from their former life to their new life. We have gotten to know our family while helping them to shop for food, paying bills properly, getting a driving permit, and learning about the many customs of America. And we are learning from them, too, about Afghanistan.
From that first meeting until today our weekly visits find us experiencing ‘God Moments’. One example is when we needed desperately to start an
English as a Second Language (ESL) program for them, but everywhere we looked we had roadblocks. Then while shopping, our team members asked a salesperson how she had learned English when she came to US. Other employees heard the question and suggested we try language apps on our phones like Rosetta Stone. Also, one of our team members was talking at his work about the need for ESL. One of their co—worker teaches ESL and offered to come and help the family. God was listening to our prayers, again and again.
We recently took the children to the park to swing. American children grow up swinging, but not Afghan children. They had no idea what it was or how to get it going. We were there to start them swinging. Once in the air, there were huge smiles stretched across those cheeks.
Swinging is a good image for how they are adjusting to life in America. It is totally new and can be scary at times, but with practice and determination, they can grow more comfortable and even thrive in independence, joy, and a sense of accomplishment. With God alongside us, we are there building the trust and faith that life is going to be OK. Each week we look forward to seeing the 7 Smiles from GOD!
Good Neighbor Team 2: Laura Considine, Pam Frandle, Kelly & Kim Lindquist, Elliot and Penny Meier, Shelley Luna, Steve & Sherry Peterson, Sandy Perkins
We first met our family in November 2022. The consist of a Dad and 4 teenage/young adult children, with several adult children living in other parts of
the world. The family fled Afghanistan in August 2021 when the Taliban took over, having previously suffered the death of their mom in 2020 from complications of undiagnosed COVID. Those images we saw in the news of the chaos at the Kabul airport - they lived it!
From the beginning, we saw God’s hand in pairing our team with the family. The most obvious was discovering that a team member works at the high school where two of the kids attend! The basis of our relationship with the family is one of accompaniment, we don’t simply “fix” things, rather we teach and empower so that they can do it on their own. We are extremely honored that they have allowed us into their lives, and through the time we have spent with them, they have become family.
We enjoy sharing group meals and playing games like Uno, Jenga, and Fishbowl, and the icebreaker where you guess the word taped onto your back. This socializing is so important, as laughter is the very best medicine, not just for the trauma they have experienced, but for connecting our hearts with theirs! From this place of trust, they allow us to help with things like driving practice, homework, deciphering mail, untangling bill payment, navigating healthcare and driving to appointments, buying a car, and all kinds of questions about how things work here in Minnesota.
We also have celebrate many accomplishments with them like a guitar concert, pottery made in ceramics, an immigration essay being included in a published book, and good grades received. Memorable with the family are the birthday celebrations, a first for them.
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This included a rollercoaster ride at Mall of America, a sparkling candle atop a cake, and the expression of “I’m not crying” while hearing the Happy Birthday song sung for you. As the saying goes, it is “priceless”. I’m so grateful to each of the team members for welcoming the foreigner in our midst, and for loving our neighbors as ourselves!
Prayer request: Please pray for our two families. Pray for physical and mental healing after such traumatic experiences so that happiness and joy might be possible again. Also, pray for good and lasting employment for the adult wage earners in these families.
Peter Johnson Pastor of Small Groups & Service
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Facing Giants
The story of young David facing the giant Goliath has made its way from the pages of the Bible into common usage to describe any kind of underdog scenario. But for those of us who follow Jesus, the story has added meaning as we recognize that God calls us to face our giants and to trade in our fears for enduring faith, knowing that God is right by our side in all of it. Regardless of the giants we face (doubt, anger, success, and resentment), God’s Word assures us that we are “more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37). Join us for this powerful series as we face our giants together!
The people of God are often, if not always, underdogs. We see this from their time being enslaved in Egypt, to the exile, and beyond. More often than not, history is written by the winners, and so in the Bible we get this unique perspective of the way that God is always on the side of those who suffer. David facing Goliath is one of the classic stories about this, and it is one we will use in our camp curriculum this summer. This message—of God helping us face our giants—is one that we all need, because no one gets a free pass from suffering in this life.
This spring has been a very busy one as I’ve been getting ready to welcome nearly 1000 campers and their families to Spirit in the Pines. On top of all the normal things, we’ve needed to finish building our new boat house, restore the lower lodge, and prepare our spaces to host outside retreat groups for the first time. Maintaining and improving our camp property can feel a bit like facing a giant sometimes. But it is important work to do, and it’s not because of the fun and games. Camp is important because of the kind of community it creates. Camp is where our campers get to sit and hear
campfire stories from their peers about the giants they face. And it is her where they learn to trust and believe that God will, without fail, help them face their own giants, too.
A new ministry program that I introduced this spring was a series of counselor retreats. Our counselors are some of the most important people up at camp, because they are the ones who sit with our campers, who receive their stories, and who offer them words of hope and encouragement through their evening devotionals. Counselors, however, are still in need of that same care and attention. They need a loving community to receive their stories, and to offer them words of hope and affirmation. This is what we created time and space for at our counselor retreats, as we shared our faith stories in both large and small group settings over the course of an entire weekend.
No one, not even the strongest among us, get a pass on having fear-inducing giants to face. But, thankfully, no one has to face them alone either. God is always on our side, and God often works through caring communities of faith. I am so blessed to get to support this camp community and take care of our beloved property. And, even more importantly, I am so excited to keep adding to the ways that we are feeding our camp leaders so that we are going above and beyond for them just like we do for our campers.
Sarah Blasing Outdoor Ministry & Youth Leadership Director
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Facing Giants
Thank you to all the volunteers who spent the weekend of May 6 at Spirit in the Pines, re-roofing and re-staining cabins and making our camp shine for the upcoming season! We are so grateful for your generous time and excellent work! Thank you, Jerry Gorder, Terry Kroells, Chuck Rodman, Don Mussell, Mark Romo, John Barth, Tom Clemens, Nancy Clemens, Kyle Plath, Leah Plath, Tom Rodman, and Ken Toy!
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Spirit in the Pines
Dear friends,
Over the years I have discovered many ways in which we mark time—sometimes we mark time by our calendars, whether that be years, seasons or just one day at a time. But I think we also mark time by events or accomplishments—those moments that create memories which we never let go of, like a marriage, the birth of a child or grandchildren, a fabulous vacation or…the day we retire.
On April 30th I retired from my position at St. Andrew—a call that has brought blessing upon blessing into my life. It was an incredible day—one I will never forget. Words cannot express how grateful I am for St. Andrew and the relationships formed in my life and my family’s life since the day we walked through the front door. St. Andrew is a very special place and I will miss you deeply. But I also am looking forward to this new time in my life—more time at our home up north, more time with our children and grandchildren, time to travel and time to just relax—I will need to work on that last one.
My prayer for this congregation is that God will continue to guide you and inspire you and encourage you. You have accomplished many great things—there is so much more yet to be done. You have been blessed with an incredible staff who love you and the ministry you share. Support them and join them in their work. It’s always better when we work together.
So, thank you, St. Andrew, for giving me the opportunity to work with this very faithful congregation, talented staff and gifted pastors. Thank you St. Andrew staff. Through you lives of faith are shaped and nurtured… what a privilege you have been given! Thank you pastors—you have blessed me with your friendship, faithfulness and passion for ministry—truly a gift beyond measure. And thank you, Pastor Lillejord, for your guidance, your leadership and for your strength to do the hard work that I know you do every day.
So as I reflect on the significant events and accomplishment that have marked my life, memories of St. Andrew flow with abundance, filled with grace and love—and I am so very grateful. With a few tears, deep grateful and a heart that is full heart, I bid you farewell. May God watch over you and bless you always.
Gail Bach Retired Pastor of Stewardship & Evangelism
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Facing Giants
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Pastor Gail’s Retirement
We are FULL STEAM AHEAD! Thank you for your generous response to this effort for a healthy financial summer where we will continue to provide St. Andrew and the greater community with full steam ahead programming!
We express our gratitude for your generosity as we continue to share God’s love. A few upcoming program highlights have been listed below. We are excited to see everyone there! More information about our summer FULL STEAM AHEAD programming will be available at standrewlu.org/full-steam-ahead.
Pizza & Trivia Night
Age Range: Families
Days/Times: June 20, 4:00-6:30 PM
Description: Join the Children, Youth, and Family Team for a fun-filled evening of trivia and pizza.
Summer Social Wednesdays
Age Range: Families
Description: Come and be social on Wednesdays in July for fellowship. There is something for everyone during our Summer Social. All are invited and don’t forget to bring a lawn chair.
Days/Times:
July 12, 5:00-8:00 PM:
• Food truck
• Tropical Sno
• Bouncy House
July 19, 5:00-8:00 PM:
• Food truck
• Desserts
• Concert by Dryft—High School Band with member, Bodie Hanninen
July 26, 5:00-8:00 PM | ‘Spirit in the Prairie’:
• Food truck
• Bonfire
• S’mores
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Como Zoo Scavenger Hunt
Age Range: Families
Days/Times: August 2, 2:00-6:00 PM
Description: Join us for a fun afternoon and evening exploring Como Zoo. Come and go as you please. We will have a scavenger hunt with prizes!
St. Paul Saints Game
Age Range: All ages
Days/Times: August 20, 2:00 PM
Description: Take me out to the ball game but only with my St. Andrew friends! We are cheering on the St. Paul Saints as they take on the Indianapolis Indians. Cost: $25
For more information about these events please contact Pastor
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Steam Ahead
Sarah Fike at pastorsarah@standrewlu.org
Full
13600 Technology Drive
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
952.937.2776 | standrewlu.org
