The 2015 Annual Report

Holy Love

Lutheran Church

Holy Love Evangelical Lutheran Church

is committed to proclaiming and

living the good news of God’s love

in Jesus Christ as we gather for worship

and study, and scatter for witness and

service to our neighbors.

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Table of Contents

Page Agenda for Annual Meeting January 31, 2016 5 Minutes from Annual Meeting, January 25, 2015 6 Council President’s Report 14 Pastor’s Report 16 Faith Formation Director’s Report 18 Christian Education Report 20 Evangelism Report 21 Family Care Ministry Report 22 Finance Report 23 Personnel Team Report 24 Preschool Board Report 26 Preschool Finance Report 27 Property Team Report 29 Social Ministry/Outreach Report 30 Stewardship Report 32 Worship & Music Team Report 33 Nominating Committee 34 Vital Statistics 34 Financial Secretary’s Report 35 Treasurer’s Report 37 Budget 40 Rocky Mountain Synod 41 Rocky Mountain Synod 42

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Holy Love Lutheran Church

Annual Meeting January 31, 2016

Call to Order/Quorum

Opening Devotions – Pastor Matthew

Approve Minutes of 2015 Congregational Meeting

2015 in Review – Beth Whitney, Council President

Director Of Faith Formation – Jennifer Pulscher

Pastor’s Report – Pastor Matthew

Team Reports (In Annual Report)

Old Business

Safe Haven

2016 Budget and Financials – Jean Roenfeldt

New Business

T-Coil System

Ways to donate – Pastor Matthew

Personnel Team - Lance Wheeland

Council Changes

Recognition of Council Service

Elections – Council, Nominating Team, Church Officers

Closing Prayer – Pastor Matthew

Adjournment – Council President

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Holy Love Evangelical Lutheran Church 4210 South Chambers Road, Aurora, CO 80014 ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING

Sunday, January 25, 2015

CALL TO ORDER/QUORUM

Council President Beth Whitney called the Annual Congregational Meeting to order at 12:41 p.m. on

Sunday, January 25, 2015. The meeting was held in the Fellowship Hall and began after a potluck luncheon. Attendance sheets were signed by those present and are attached to these minutes for reference. There were a total of 40 signatures of congregation members which met the quorum requirements.

OPENING DEVOTIONS

Pastor Matthew Bolz-Weber led the assembly in opening devotions by referring to the inside cover of the Annual Report. Lori Newsom read the scripture reading from Romans 12:4-5. Pastor Matthew and the congregation read the dialogue and prayer responsively.

APPROVE MINUTES OF THE 2014 CONGREGATIONAL MEETING

The minutes of the January 26, 2014, annual congregational meeting were printed in the Annual Re-port. Lindy Whitney moved to approve the 2014 annual congregational meeting minutes as printed in the An-nual Report. Lance Wheeland seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

APPROVE MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER 14, 2014 SPECIAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING

The minutes of the December 14, 2014, special congregational meeting were printed in the Annual Re-

port. Jean Roenfeldt moved to approve the minutes of the December 14, 2014, special congregational meeting as printed in the Annual Report. Joy Knutsen seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

COUNCIL PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Beth Whitney encouraged the congregation to read her report that was printed in the Annual Report and to let her know if they have any questions. She noted that the time and talents of the congregation members are needed for Holy Love to move forward and make a difference for its members and those in the surrounding community. She expressed that Holy Love is becoming more task-oriented and event-focused. Beth invited congregation members to bring project ideas to council for assistance and support. The St. Swisem’s Day Din-ner and fundraiser is an example of an idea that Jim Laird had and implemented. Shirley Kutowy organized the collection of pop can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House that was a result of her serving at that agency during the “God’s Work. Our Hands.” day of service. Beth expressed that council will be glad to help and sup-port congregation members in their efforts to organize service opportunities.

DIRECTOR OF FAITH FORMATION’S REPORT

Jennifer Pulscher thanked the congregation and said it has been an honor for her to serve Holy Love

and get to know the kids and the congregation’s love for service. Jen said she likes to look at the future and how hopeful that will be. Jen shared that during the years she was growing up, her church family was her sec-ond family.

Jen is introducing Faith 5, which is an interactive way for families to share in each other’s lives and talk

about God and how he is seen in our lives. Faith 5 was developed by Faith Incubators and uses the following five steps: Share, Read, Talk, Pray and Bless. Confirmation currently uses this concept whereby the youth share their highs and lows with each other; read a bible verse together and talk about it; and then pray for one another and bless each other with the sign of the cross on their forehead or hand. Jen asked a few families to

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try this exercise in their home, including the Brazee family. Leigh Brazee told the congregation that their ex-perience was that it helped to teach faith to her children; she noted that sometimes further instruction would be helpful in order to understand the bible verse which would facilitate more discussion of the verse. Jen would like to help the congregation learn how to practice Faith 5 with each other. She hopes that in the fu-ture the congregation can come together as a family to learn this process.

Jen plans to offer a congregational family event approximately one time per month.

PASTOR’S REPORT

Pastor Matthew told the congregation he had three things he wanted to tell them about:

Bicycles: Pastor Matthew got serious about cycling when he was about 12 to 13 years old. He initially got a new bike. When his parents saw that he rode it a lot, they got Matthew a new-to-him used bike. Since that time, Pastor Matthew has acquired quite a few bikes, even though his bicycle from the 1980s works perfectly fine.

Telephones: When Pastor Matthew was growing up, a long-short ring was his family’s ring on the tele-

phone party line. Today, we still use telephones, but we don’t have party lines any more. Phones are still used today, but they are different than when we were kids.

Answering Machines: In the 1980s, people used answering machines. Today, messages are stored in a

server somewhere. Answering machines, for the most part, are obsolete today.

Bikes, phones, and answering machines . . . sometimes the church across the country is stuck some-where, particularly in the way they operate. Church is usually done in the way we remember it. Worship at-tendance and participation is down from 10 years ago and that is also true of other congregations. What worked in the past doesn’t necessarily work now. This can be described in the words attributed to Albert Einstein about the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

This doesn’t mean that our faith is lacking. The numbers don’t tell the whole story. We’re going to

hold on to the old things that work (for example, the bike) and get rid of the things that don’t (for example, the answering machine).

In the 1780s, Sunday school started in England to get kids whose parents were imbibing in too much

Gin off the street where they could learn something. This practice was opposed by church members who thought it was the parents’ job to teach their children faith in the home. Since the end of World War II, Sun-day school and the church have taken on the professionalization that was seen in schools. Sunday school mirrored educational schools. Before, faith was passed on by parents; generations later, parents stopped pass-ing on faith and left it to be taught in Sunday school. Today, assuming that most people have 98 waking hours during the week (if 10 hours per day are allocated to sleep), three hours in church on Sunday is not enough time to teach faith formation. Sunday school has worked well in the past, but it may not work the same anymore.

In the coming months, the way church council works will be examined so that council’s leadership

will operate in the most beneficial means to the congregation. Some things that are working well will be con-tinued. Some things will need to be tweaked. Nothing is wrong with the way we did things in the past as they were done at that time; but we want to grab hold of what makes sense today.

Council has been working on strengths in places where we find strength. We love being together as

community. We have worked hard to provide community events every month. If there is something that a congregation member thinks people would enjoy, Pastor Matthew invited those suggestions to be made. Pas-tor Matthew gave the example of a group of people who will be taking a wine tasting tour on February 14.

Our congregation also loves serving the community around us. Pastor Matthew asked Mary Unrein to

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share her experience in handing out backpacks to the homeless the previous day, which was an event orga-nized by Holly Thorstad and Jennifer Pulscher. Mary asked the congregation what image came to their mind when they hear the words, “This is heaven.” She asked the congregation if they would be surprised to know that those were the words Laura said to Rick and Holly Thorstad and herself when Mary wrapped a knit scarf around Laura’s neck and poured her a cup of hot chocolate. Mary explained that Laura was a young woman they met the previous afternoon who was sitting on a sidewalk in downtown Denver next to her wheelchair along with two young men. They were homeless. One of the men was dealing with grief over the recent death of his son. These homeless people greeted Rick, Holly and Mary with smiles as introductions were made and backpacks filled with a few necessities were provided to them. Laura explained that she often sleeps in park-ing garages to stay out of the wind and cold; she explained that she had a voucher for Section 8 housing, but that there were no vacancies; and she told Rick, Holly, and Mary that it is important to put cardboard down on the pavement so that your face doesn’t freeze to the ground like she has seen happen to another man. Mary described the difficulty of leaving this group because of the guilty feelings she had knowing she was going back to a warm car. Mary expressed that she wants to continue to participate in these parts of the real world that take us out of our comfort zone. We all have to help each other and Mary believes that the power of mak-ing human connections will make the world better for everyone. Although Mary said she really didn’t have words to fully describe her experience, she would suffice it to say that her experience gave her a small glimpse of what heaven must be – in Laura’s words.

Pastor Matthew concluded with saying God is community. We will focus on who we are. This con-

gregation is alive, vibrant, and Pastor Matthew is excited to continue to be Holy Love’s pastor. Follow-up questions were asked of Pastor Matthew along with his responses as follows: Question: What is your analysis regarding the age demographics of Holy Love? Response: Pastor Matthew said that over the course of time, a congregation can change. Thirty years

ago, Holy Love consisted of mostly young adults with kids. A lot of those families have stayed here, but the kids have grown up and moved away. Parents are no longer young. Human beings like to be around people who are like them. New folks to Holy Love often look the same as the current members. It is easier to wel-come someone who looks like us. That is the truth about human nature.

Question: What do we do about getting more young people? Response: There are three possibilities –

1. We could just be who we are as well as we can and trust that God will take care of us. 2. We could evangelize to people who have families who live in our community. 3. We could not worry about it and look to younger adults and tell them to take care of it and be frustrated

when it doesn’t happen.

Pastor Matthew thinks we should be excited about who we are right now. He asked, “What are you excited about and passionate about?” People need community. Pastor Matthew’s inclination is for us to cele-brate who we are and not lament about who we are not. If we are excited about who we are, it will be infec-tious. When we get excited about who we are, our excitement will spread to the people around us.

Comment: Holy Love has done a considerable amount of service outside its doors. Response: And also things we do inside the church doors. Question: Have you thought about what it takes to let it be known in our community about our

church? Response: We are afraid to share our faith; that’s why faith formation is important. Sometimes we get

stuck at confirmation-level faith. We are working on encouraging everyone here to grow in our faith.

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Comment: One congregation member shared that she talked to a woman during fellowship hour who said she drove past Holy Love hundreds of times and decided to come in and see what happens inside our walls.

Response: Pastor Matthew added that a woman named Stephanie, who lives in the Mission Viejo area,

recently asked to have her father’s funeral at Holy Love. She knew of Holy Love from living in the neighbor-hood, but had not attended before. Pastor Matthew shared that House For All Sinners and Saints (Pastor Na-dia’s church) is a multigenerational church. For a long time, they had a problem with potluck meals. The young people weren’t familiar with the concept of potlucks. There was a group of older women who mentored the younger set and showed them how a potluck was done, the point being that when people who walk in our door, we provide a place for them to show up and be cared for. Beth Whitney added that 99 kids came to Day Camp in 2014 and only a handful of those were from Holy Love families. The Thursday night program’s at-tendance was overflowing with campers’ family and friends who may not have been to Holy Love before. Beth gave the example that when Mary Unrein was shopping for craft supplies at Home Depot, Mary told the employee who helped her that the supplies were for Day Camp and as a result the employee’s children attend-ed camp that week.

TEAM REPORTS

Beth Whitney encouraged the congregation to read the team reports printed in the Annual Report. The

council representatives worked hard this year and they may be asking congregation members for help in 2015.

OLD BUSINESS

1. T-Mobile Lease Darryl Harvey updated the congregation regarding the proposed T-Mobile lease amendment.

He explained that Holy Love has a lease with T-Mobile whereby church property in the parking lot on the east side of the church is rented to T-Mobile where they have placed a cell phone tower. The expiration date of the current lease is 2036.

T-Mobile recently approached Holy Love with a proposed amendment to the original lease which

would extend the lease an additional 30 years, or until 2066; give T-Mobile a right of first refusal; and pay a $4,000.00 signing bonus to Holy Love when the lease is approved by T-Mobile’s property committee. Darryl then negotiated a 10% escalator for each five-year term (the escalator for the current lease is 2%) and a $5,000.00 signing bonus. A special congregational meeting was held on December 14, 2014, and the congre-gation approved the proposed lease amendment. Darryl communicated the congregation’s approval to the T-Mobile representative and was then advised that T-Mobile’s property committee rejected the lease extension with the increase in the escalator.

Another round of negotiations took place and Darryl explained to T-Mobile’s representative the need

for a real chance of approval since it is not feasible to keep having congregational meetings to vote on revised offers. Darryl said that we now have a preapproved offer that consists of a 2% escalator every five years; a right of first refusal; 30 additional years so that the amended lease would expire in 2066; and a $7,500.00 sign-ing bonus up front. Darryl recommended that the congregation approve this offer.

Al Horton moved to accept T-Mobile’s counteroffer for the lease extension [that includes: (a) extend-

ing the current lease by adding six renewal terms of five-years each with a final lease expiration date of 2066; (b) giving T-Mobile the right of first refusal; (c) keeping the escalator at 2% every five-year term; and (d) re-ceiving a $7,500.00 signing bonus when the lease amendment is approved by T-Mobile’s property committee] and granting council the right to continue to negotiate lease terms in the event any minor changes are neces-sary. Discussion of the motion included a question as to how the $7,500.00 bonus will be used. Beth Whitney advised that the bonus money will be used benevolently just like the monthly rent T-Mobile currently pays and that none of the bonus funds will go to Holy Love. It will all be used for benevolent purposes outside Holy Love. After discussion, Jim Engel seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

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2015 BUDGET AND FINANCIALS

Jean Roenfeldt addressed the congregation on behalf of the Finance Team and referred to the proposed budget for 2015 on page 39 of the Annual Report. This budget was approved by the church council during their January meeting. Jean commented on the following:

The 2015 proposed budget includes $168,000.00 in member pledges. Jean has pledges in excess of this

amount, but no pledges have been discounted. Jean added that people who haven’t made a pledge can still do so if they want.

The amount of $2,200.00 was added as a revenue item to the 2015 proposed budget. This is the unused

amount of funds that were set aside last year for sabbatical expenses. The amount of $20,000.00 was transferred to the 2015 proposed budget from the restricted savings fund

for the Faith Formation Director’s salary. Jean explained that $25,000.00 was originally put in the restrict-ed savings account to cover a portion of the Faith Formation Director’s salary. None of the restricted funds for this purpose were used in 2014. This was because the full amount of the mortgage was budgeted in 2014, but the refinanced mortgage amount was actually paid, thereby leaving additional funds in the budget with which to pay the Faith Formation Director’s salary.

The total revenue budgeted for 2015 is $297,700.00. The budgeted amount for synod benevolence was decreased to $11,700.00. Special benevolence includes offering from Christmas and Easter. The revenue amount and the expense

amount offset each other. The pastor’s salary includes a 2% increase. Budget amounts from committee representatives were decreased from the requested amount. The Synod Assembly budget item was increased since it will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah, this year.

It is anticipated that Pastor Matthew, Jen, and two lay persons will attend.

One congregation member commented that giving in all mainline congregations is down and that Holy Love has had a significant drop in revenue over the last five year. He noted that benevolence giving has de-creased and that budgeting for programming has remained about the same. It seemed to this person that there is money in the budget to use $4,000.00 from Worship & Music for the Evangelism team since that approxi-mate amount has consistently not been used in prior years by Worship & Music. He felt that since we just dis-cussed the need for evangelism in the community, those funds would be a way to aid that ministry. Nancy Collins explained that the unused money in Worship & Music’s budget comes from salaries that haven’t been requested. Worship & Music’s budget needs to allow for an amount that will cover all salaries in the event there is a change in persons who provide music. Jean explained that there is also money in a restricted account for Thrivent Choice Dollars, but the Finance Team does not recommend using it so that it would be available to fall back on if the need arises. Jean noted that funds received from Thrivent Choice Dollars are less than they have been. Also, last year Thrivent Choice Dollars were used for a portion of the Day Camp expenses.

Jean stated that some money allocated to teams last year wasn’t spent because there weren’t

people or council representatives for those teams. Another congregation member asked why there wasn’t an itemized budget for Worship & Mu-

sic in the Annual Report. Although Nancy and Jean didn’t have a copy of that budget with them, Roger Col-lins stated that each ministry team gets an itemized budget every month. Lance Wheeland offered that in his experience with council, any idea that people brought forward for outreach, we have found a way to afford it. James Hersch is a good example of this and Lance noted that there was money remaining from last year’s event that was put toward this year’s cost. Lance said that the church council and the Finance Team don’t

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have secrets. We are discussing the congregation’s money; Jean and Roger don’t have any qualms in sharing details of where money is being spent. We are very transparent about this.

Jean Roenfeldt made a motion that (a) the first $7,000.00 received from T-Mobile in 2015 be

distributed to Holy Hammers, Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp, and Sky Ranch Lutheran Camp, and (b) the 2015 budget and proposed and printed in the Annual Report be approved. Al Horton seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS 1. Safe Haven Policy Jennifer Pulscher told the congregation about a young girl she met by the name of Renee who

comes to Sunday school with her grandmother. Renee has grown to love class and her classmates. She feels comfortable and she can be herself. Jen said that everyone should be safe when they are here.

Jen told the congregation that Safe Haven Guidelines have been drafted which will help us let

others know that Holy Love is a safe environment for kids. Most churches in the ELCA are now using guide-lines of this nature. The draft guidelines were made available to the congregation via E-News. Congregation members were encouraged to let Jen know if they need a printed copy.

Jen reviewed parts of the policy pertaining to the screening and selection process. All church

personnel who work with children or youth will be required to sign a Code of Conduct. A background check will be done on all church personnel who supervise children or youth at a church-related event. Background checks will be updated every three years. Interviews will be done with all applicants who intend to work with children and/or youth. If a volunteer will be driving children and/or youth, they will need to provide a copy of their driver’s license, a current motor vehicle record, and proof of insurance. The policy provides examples of good and bad behaviors for people who work with children and youth. Reporting requirements for known and/or suspected abuse are covered as well as the chain of command to follow if reporting inappropriate behavior or policy violations. A ratio of 1:5 will be maintained when supervising children and youth in 5th Grade or younger; a ratio of 1:8 will be maintained with youth in middle school and high school.

A congregation member asked about the cost of the background checks and how that expense

will be covered. Beth advised that council had discussed the price for background checks and that funds are included in the budget to pay for them. Jen added that the company she is considering charges approximately $20.00 for each background check.

Another congregation member asked if background checks that a volunteer obtained from another

source, i.e. a school district, could be used instead of having the church do one also. Beth said that the church will conduct their own background check on everyone volunteering in a capacity that requires a background check, unless the background check was done through the preschool. Jen used the example of Day Camp and said that if someone volunteers for one day, they won’t be background checked, but they will be working under the direction of someone in charge that has been background checked.

A question was asked regarding how long it would take to get a background check. Jen said it would

be approximately a 24-hour turnaround. Beth told the congregation that council read and approved these Safe Haven Guidelines that they are

now being asked to vote on. She thanked the following volunteers for their service on the Safe Haven Team to come up with a final product: Mary Unrein for the hours she spent typing and retyping the document; Mary’s boss, John Tatum, who reviewed the policy and offered suggestions to keep in mind when drafting it and who explained the Colorado Revised Statutes pertaining to the reporting requirements; and Roger Collins who worked on the development of this policy for years and gathered a lot of information for a starting point. The Safe Haven Team also thanked Beth for her involvement and input during the numerous meetings she attended while the document was being drafted and edited.

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Darryl Harvey moved to accept the Safe Have Guidelines policy as presented. Pam Engel seconded

the motion and it passed unanimously. 2. Wiring Costs Steve Knuth addressed the subject of re-wiring needed in the sanctuary and said that now is an oppor-

tune time to make the repairs. We have a nice sanctuary, but outdated lighting. Steve explained that the bal-last for the light fixtures is no longer being made and the ballast is causing the lights flicker when they are dimmed. Two additional wires need to be added to each fixture to resolve the problem. He stated that there would be a cost of $14,000.00 in materials to replace all the light fixtures, which is not feasible.

Since the church is getting a new roof due to hail damage, the re-wiring can be done during the re-

roofing process and it will be cost effective to do so. The re-wiring will cost approximately $6,800.00 and the ballasts can be replaced on an as-needed basis. The roof replacement is scheduled for the third week of Febru-ary.

Jean Roenfeldt told the congregation that the Finance Team proposes that $10,000.00 of the surplus

funds from 2014 be restricted for payment of this project. Steve Knuth made a motion to approve the project of re-wiring for the light fixtures in the sanctuary

when the roof is replaced; Jim Lewis seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Steve said he will over-see the work and said that he could use some volunteers on the roof who are not afraid of heights. There will also be some dry wall repair necessitated by the re-wiring.

Jean Roenfeldt moved that $10,000.00 from the 2014 surplus funds be moved to a restricted account to

pay for the re-wiring project. Holly Thorstad seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

RECOGNITION OF COUNCIL SERVICE

Beth Whitney thanked the following persons for their service on the congregation council:

Leigh Brazee, Dave Yoder, Chris Martinez, and Sarah Wynder.

ELECTIONS – COUNCIL, NOMINATING TEAM, CHURCH OFFICERS

Beth Whitney advised that nominations would be received from the floor for the following

council representative positions: Evangelism, Family & Care Ministry, Youth, and WELCA. There were none.

Beth advised that Joy Knutsen, Jean Roenfeldt, and Debbie Anderson will continue as the

council representatives of Stewardship, Finance, and Worship & Music, respectively, as they complete the second year of their two-year term.

Beth presented the slate of nominations for election to the 2015 council positions for the terms indicat-ed:

Christian Education (two-year term) . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Lewis Preschool (two-year term) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jessica Breiding Property (two-year term) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steve Knuth Social Action Ministry (two-year term) . . . . . . . . . . Diana Stigleman The nominations of persons for election to the 2015 Nominating Team for a one-year term are: Leigh Brazee Dave Yoder

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The nominations of persons for election of the 2015 Church Officers for a one-year term are: President . . . . . . . . . . Beth Whitney Vice-President . . . . . Lance Wheeland Secretary . . . . . . . . . . Mary Unrein Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . Roger Collins Holly Thorstad moved to accept the slate of council representatives, nominating team members,

and church officers as presented. Steve Knuth seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

OTHER

Lance Wheeland told the congregation that it has been a pleasure to work with Beth Whitney this year. She has done a lot of work and kept things together through Pastor Matthew’s sabbatical and the hir-ing of a Faith Formation Director.

Beth told that congregation that they are needed as much as we need money for wiring and oth-

er expenses. Steve Knuth reminded the congregation that there are still open positions on council and that if

anyone is interested, they should not hesitate to contact a council member. He felt that we, as a congregation, should have all council positions filled.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to be heard, the meeting was adjourned at 2:49 p.m. after a clos-

ing blessing from Pastor Matthew. Respectfully submitted, Mary Unrein Council Secretary

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Council President's Report

The year 2015 has been a year of giving, serving, changing and growing for Holy Love. As I looked back through the many opportunities that have been given to and accepted by our congregation, I was proud of the boundless level of generosity that continues to identify who we are as Christians and members of Holy Love. Opportunities for service, outreach and giving were many throughout the year, including, but not limited to: "God's Work Our Hands" was a success again as 5 groups of 60+ people went out into the community to

spend time with elderly residents at The Community at Franklin Park with Bessie's Hope; assisted with dinner meal preparations at the Denver Rescue Mission; visiting patients at the VA Hospital; cleaned and disinfected at the Ronald McDonald House; delivered gift bags containing personal care items; and served dinner at The Crossing. The congregation also had the chance to decorate paper bags for Project Angel Heart.

T-Mobile funds of $9,792 were given to eight different groups including Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp,

Sky Ranch Lutheran Camp, Habitat for Humanity/Holy Hammers, Brent's Place, Aurora Interfaith Com-munity Services, The Delores Project, Denver Rescue Mission, Aurora Warms the Night, and Southeast Community Outreach/SECOR.

St. Swisem's Day Dinner fundraiser where two individuals received a share of $3200 raised for therapy

payments and equipment needed to help with mobility. An opportunity to support "one of our own", Mackenzie Patrick, as she attends seminary. A Chili Cook-

Off fundraiser was held and $800 was raised to donate to help with her costs. There is also a restricted fund in place so members can continue to donate to this ongoing fund.

The Love Fund and food pantry continue to be areas where Holy Love provides support to those in need

throughout the community. Once again this year, the church council has worked to provide Shared Ministry events for the congregation to participate in monthly. These events are meant to bring the congregation together outside of worship, to serve within and outside of the church community and for opportunities for fellowship. James Hersch continues to be one of the most popular of these events for the congregation, as well as, an important Outreach Ministry as he shares his gift of music throughout the community. Other opportunities for this Ministry have included Shrove Pancakes with the Pastor, Palm Sunday breakfast, Easter Egg Hunt, Random Acts of Kindness Day, celebration of Pastor Jim Engle's 50th Anniversary of his Ordination, Stewardship workshops, Worship in the Park, and others that are listed above. If you have not attended any of these events in the past, please try to find one that will work into your schedule and interest. I think you'll be glad you did!! In rewriting and extending our contract with T-Mobile, Holy Love was presented with $7500. Through our discussions, the council has decided to present the congregation with a "$7500 Challenge". This challenge asks for members of the congregation, individually or as a group, to present a service opportunity for a given organization to the council. This service project will come with a portion of the funds to be given to the organ-ization that is receiving the service. In providing service with the funds, the council is hoping to make a bigger impact on not just the organization, but on those providing the service. The Council spent time in 2015 reviewing activities that Holy Love has engaged in and which of those worked and which of those we may want to let go of at this time. We were primarily looking at those events and activi-ties that continue to define who Holy Love is and that support our mission statement. In an attempt to keep things "fresh and new", but not lose or forget about those activities that are "old, but everlasting", the council listed and discussed activities one by one. It was a great opportunity for reflection of each activity and giving ourselves permission to let go of some activities without feeling guilty. Knowing that at anytime those activi-ties can be reinstated. It was also a time to look ahead to what new activities will meet our mission and support our call to Ministry. The council is anxious to hear from all of you as to what ideas you have for events or ac-tivities that will fit the definition of who we are as members of Holy Love.

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The Personnel Team has been active this year developing a new evaluation process for the staff. Thanks to Lance Wheeland for his leadership with this team and for the members who have researched and worked to create a procedure for this process. At this point, it has been implemented with Pastor Matthew and will extend to the rest of the staff in 2016. Children and youth have been a huge part of our growth and excitement in 2015. Our Confirmation Class has grown to 14 youth; we sponsored four high school youth and two adults at the National Youth Gathering; Day Camp included 114 campers who were provided with the chance to learn about the Fruit of the Spirit; and 30+ children (between both services) at the Children's sermons on Sundays whose comments and answers keep Pastor Matthew on his toes and the rest of us smiling and left thinking about how often we see God in their fac-es. What a Blessing they are to all of us!! Pastor Matthew, Joy Knutsen and I attended the Metro East Conference of the Rocky Mountain Synod in Sep-tember. Through the conversations at the conference, it became apparent that Holy Love had already covered and made improvements on many of the items that were discussed. These improvements were as a result of Pastor Matthew and Holy Love acting on suggestions made by Pam Roberts, the consultant who Holy Love retained in 2012 to conduct a congregational assessment. It's obvious that some very positive changes have been made at Holy Love. As I end my year as President of the Congregational Council, I am proud of Holy Love and how hard we've worked to make the improvements that we've seen. We are a strong community of believers who have worked through trials and come through stronger and even more committed to who we are as Christians. I look forward to the upcoming changes as the church council looks at restructuring its make-up. Do we still have areas to grow? Of course!! But that's part of the excitement of being part of an organization of any type. Thank you to all the people who are behind the scenes, but making sure that worship continues each and every Sunday and the services in between. Thank you, also, to Pastor Matthew and the members of the council who I was privi-leged to work with throughout this year. I pray that each of you have found an event or area on the Time and Talents sheets where your gifts can be used to help Holy Love continue its Ministries and you can feel fulfilled about being a part of something bigger than yourself. Yours in Christ, Beth Whitney Council President

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Pastor’s Report

People of God, it is a joy to serve as your pastor. This congregation is a vibrant and exciting community to be part of; we can give credit to God, and I also give credit to you who continue to be willing to follow where God leads us.

There is so much good ministry that we’ve been part of over the past year. I encourage you to look through the rest of this annual report. I will take a moment, though, to review some of what I’ve been excited about; then I’ll take another moment to dream about what might be next in our future together.

Looking Back

Council Leadership The Congregational Council has given notable time and attention over the past year to considering a num-ber of truths, among them: church doesn’t occupy the same place in society that it once did; people, on average, feel much less obligated to participate in the life of the church than we did (on average) 40 years ago; the meaning of ‘regular’ worship attendance has changed over the past three decades from 3 times per month to once a month; we can no longer assume that people who grew up participating regularly in the life of the church will return to church after those stereotypical young-adult years when they decide to sleep in on Sunday mornings. Because our world is different now than it was when Holy Love was founded over 40 years ago, and be-cause the world is different now than it was when I was called here as your pastor over 8 years ago, the council has taken a serious look at how we embrace the future of ministry here in South Aurora. To that end, the council is working on thinking in new ways about how congregational leadership operates. If you think that doesn’t sound exciting, I’d have to disagree with you. It’s pretty fantastic that I get to work with a group of church leaders who are excited about creating opportunities for folks to serve God through our work here at Holy Love over the next years.

Group Gatherings Over the past months, we’ve started a couple new group events. Social Networking gives anyone who is able to show up the chance to talk with other members of our congregation in a relaxed setting. Theology Pub gives anyone who has the third Thursday of the month free the opportunity to talk with (or just listen to) other members of our community talk about a theological topic. And we’ve continued some of the community events that have been life-giving to this congregation; among those are St. Swisem’s Day, Pancakes with the Pastor, Lent and Advent Wednesday evening wor-ship services.

Worship For a couple years, we’ve looked around the sanctuary at the 11:00 service and noticed that there really aren’t usually very many people there. In order to take that reality seriously, we’ve been talking about what we might do, and we came up with a couple options 1) Keep things exactly as they were. Some weeks, there are plenty of people there and the sanctuary doesn’t feel empty and cavernous. But some weeks there are only a few people, and it’s somewhat uncom-fortable (especially, I’d imagine, for a first-time visitor). 2) Discontinue that service. Not, in my opinion, the best option. See, there’s a significant group of peo-ple who really appreciate, and show up regularly to, that service. It would be bad to ignore that part of our community simply for the sake of convenience. 3) Make some changes so that service feels life-giving to visitors as well as for HLLC members who show up there.

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We went with option 3, and are still experimenting with what will feel right. We will often reconfigure the sanctuary so that people sit closer to each other, which fosters a sense of community and connectedness. Of course, sometimes that backfires (like it did on November 29) and more people show up than can comforta-bly fit in the space. Most of the time, though, it seems about right.

Looking back, I feel good about how this congregation is taking seriously the world around us, so that as we look forward, we can continue to serve God faithfully.

Looking Forward Education

Young People: There is a really fantastic group of about 15 Middle Schoolers who get together once a month to explore this faith we share. There is a group who regularly splits into a few groups for Sunday School. And there are quite a few young people who wander up to the front of the sanctuary for a Chil-dren’s Sermon every week at worship. It’s great that we provide a supportive environment in which young people can experience the love and grace of God. People who used to be Young: On Sunday mornings, we’ll be taking a look at some so-called hot-button issues. After all, it is a presidential election year. So instead of yelling, or virtually yelling, at each other at campaign rallies or on the internet, we’ll take a look at how our faith informs our interaction with the tricky topics in our world. As a guide, we’ll use the Social Statements and Social Messages published by the ELCA.

Living in the World You, this congregation, continue to come up with new and vibrant and life-giving ways of sharing our faith with the world around us. From generous donations of food to hand-knit hats and scarves; from gifts for children around the world to the piles and piles of clothes we collected for folks who have been recently released from prison; God really is blessing the world through this congregation. I anticipate something else new in the coming year … maybe the raised bed on the north of this property will be developed into a community garden?

Worship Worship is the central and most important thing that we do as Christians. We will continue to explore what life-giving worship is for a Christian congregation who gathers together as Holy Love Lutheran Church.

Thank you for your good ministry, and for allowing me to serve as your pastor.

pr. m

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Faith Formation Director’s Report

It has been a very transformative year. Here is a recap and then a look into the future of the ministry happening at Holy Love.

RECAP Day Camp We had a very Successful Day Camp this past summer. With 114 Kids able to attend, we spent the week with the staff from Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp learning about the Fruits of the Spirit. I would like to give a spe-cial thanks to our Co-Coordinators Beth Whitney and Mary Unrein, and all the adults that volunteered and do-nated items to make this week wonderful for all the kids. Day Camp has been a wonderful opportunity to reach out to our community and provide a safe, fun, spirit lead week for the children and youth of Mission Viejo. We also added in High School Students helping out as Jr. Counselors in the classroom. Safe Haven Holy Love’s Safe Haven Policy was approved at the 2015 Annual Meeting. The Safe Haven Policy is a set of guidelines intended to provide staff and volunteers guidance in the area of making sure young people remain safe while participating in church activities. In the past year we have run background checks for 20 volunteers. We will continue to screen new volunteers, and each person who continues to volunteer will need to be screened every three years. Confirmation Starting the fall 2015 the Confirmation Class started a journey learning about the Old Testament. With a focus around Service, Worship, Class, and Community the youth (grades 6 – 8) meet once a month. During Class we start with a meal and invite members of the Congregation to share a devotional about their faith and their in-volvement at Holy Love. The class has also participated in the Confirmation Retreat at Rainbow Trail, and in the Middle School Youth Gathering in Colorado Springs. They will also be participating in an Urban Plunge in Denver later this spring. High School This summer 4 youth and 2 adults traveled to Detroit Michigan for the National Youth Gathering in July, 2015. This week journey had a few day bus trip out to Detroit with 4 other Rocky Mountain Synod Churches on the Sky Ranch Bus. While in Detroit our group got to learn about telling the story; Our Story, Your Story, God’s Story. We experienced the rich history of Detroit and got to listen to people in the community tell us their stories. One of the days we had the chance to get out into the community and help a church clean their building and community garden. The next National Youth Gathering will be in Houston, Texas in 2018. AGAPE We have also been learning and playing together as a community over the last year. Last spring we gathered families together to learn about the faith 5, which is a 5 step (Share, Read, Talk, Pray, Bless) process which gives families a structure for talking about faith together in the home. On Reformation Sunday, we gathered together to play Jeopardy and learn about the history of the Reformation. In the Beginning of Advent, families gathered together and created Advent Calendars for the Advent Season. FUTURE Community As we enter into life together here at Holy Love, we are able to share and experience the story of our faith with one another. As we learn about the rich Lutheran traditions, we also explore new ways to see and talk about faith. Our community is filled with wonderful people that have a story to tell.

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As we look into the future, I hope we are able to share those stories with one another; creating opportunities for all to be a part of. We have multiple cross generational volunteer ministry events that need your help. With a growing and energetic Day Camp over the summer we need caring adults to walk a week with our children and teach them the story of Jesus. During the season of Lent you can experience the joy of getting to know one of our confirmation youth better through our Lent mentor ministry. The Sunday School Classes are always looking for adults to enrich the lives of our children and youth every weekend. For those that have the gift of planning and imagining, we can use you to help guide our vision of community with all by helping create min-istry events for others to participate in.

To help guide our community and learn more about how we can work together to achieve our vision here at Holy Love, I will be attending the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza. This is a weekend where Pastors and Youth leaders get together to network and learn about new ideas through workshops and speakers. In those workshops, I will be focusing my time around relational ministry, volunteering, and looking at faith outside the classroom. I will also be looking into public speaking classes. As I work to guide our ministry, these classes will help me to articulate my ideas and vision of our community more clearly. I look forward to another wonderful year as your Faith Formation Director. God Bless, Jennifer Pulscher Faith Formation Director

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Christian Education Annual Report

This past year, the team included Jen Pulscher, Michelle Kneipper, Rich Newman and Jim Lewis with support from Brandi Patrick. At our organizational meeting we discussed “What is Christian Education” and agreed that it encompassed preschool aged children to adults and included Sunday School, Confirmation, Day Camp, Rainbow Trail, Adult Forum, First Communion Classes and Bible Studies. Our primary focus is to assist Jen Pulscher, the Director of Faith Formation. Sunday School. This past year, Sunday School has been divided into three classes: Little ones (preschool to 1st grade), Kiddos (2nd grade to 5th grade), Youth (Middle School). The average attendance has been around ten. The congrega-tion enjoyed the Christmas program that the children performed at the 9:00 service on December 13th. Sunday School will resume on January 17, 2016. Confirmation Starting in the fall of 2015, the team decided to change the curriculum from “Faith Incubators”, which had been used for several years, to “Collaborate”. Each confirmand has been supplied with a “Collaborate Bible” and a handbook. The Confirmation class has grown from eight students last spring to 14 students starting last September. Day Camp A very successful Day Camp was held in June thanks in large part to our co-leaders Mary Unrein and Beth Whitney, the many adult and youth volunteers and the staff from Rainbow Trail. There were 114 kids attend-ing, but several had to be turned away due to the lack of adult volunteers required to maintain the required adult to children ratio. We have already signed up to have the Rainbow Trail staff return for June 20 – 24, 2016.

Other At our November and December meetings, we finalized inputs for Christian Education, Family Care, Confir-mation and Senior Hi/Youth Ministry for the 2016 budget. Seven kids and Jen are planning to attend the Mid-dle School Youth Gathering on January 15 to 17, 2016. Respectfully submitted, Jim Lewis Christian Education Team Council Representative

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Evangelism Annual Report

The mission statement of Holy Love Evangelical Lutheran Church proclaims that we as a congregation is committed to proclaiming and living the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ as we gather for worship and study, and scatter for witness and service to our neighbors. The goal of the Evangelism Team is to pro-mote that mission. A total of 16 new members were received into membership at Holy Love in 2015. They were: Robert and Ellen Campbell; Laura Flynn; Katelyn, Kristi, Connor and Dan Miller; Matt, Beth and Lilly Moore; Christian Hanson; Elaine Kokindo; Jim and Colleen Wood; and James and Preston Boese. WELCOME TO HOLY LOVE! We started the year with the annual James Hersch concert in January. Thanks to Greg Watson, who made all of the arrangements for Mr. Hersch’s visit to our community and Church, everyone enjoyed an evening of good music and humor. Greeting cards were sent to members throughout the year for various occasions: Get well cards, Sympathy cards, Thinking of you cards, Thank you notes, Congratulatory messages, etc. If we missed anyone, please accept our apologies. Our goal for the coming year is to get the addresses of the members of the military. We would like to be able to send Christmas and Easter cards to them from the congregation letting them know that we remember them and appreciate their service. If you have an address for any of our armed forces mem-bers, could you please let the office know? Two clothing drives were held – one for women and one for men, both for people who had been incarcerated and having served their sentences were ready to enter the work force and re-integrate into society. A lot of people come out of prison with nothing – literally only with the clothes on their back which is the one set of clothing given to them by the Department of Corrections when they are released. The Evangelism Team par-ticipated in the men’s clothing drive – Mary Unrein directed and implemented the clothing drive for women. Both were highly successful due to the generosity of the congregation of Holy Love. We collected an entire pickup truck load of men’s clothing. This was probably due to Pastor Matthew encouraging women to help their husbands by cleaning out their husband’s closet for donations. He did not encourage men to go through their wives closets. Pastor Matthew is a wise man. We need more members on the Evangelism Team so that more can be accomplished. In the past, we have had the Blessing of the Animals on the Saturday closest to October 4th, the date of the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. This Christian custom originated in remembrance of him and his love of all creatures. We would like to re-establish this activity. There are other pursuits that the Evangelism Team can and should be conducting. Hopefully, we will be able to do more in the coming year. Instead of asking people to commit to an entire year of being on the Team, we are proposing that you volunteer for an activity as it comes up when you know how much time and energy you can expend for an event. We realize that people have busy lives, and we will appreciate whatever you can do.

Yours in Christ, Judi Vogel Evangelism Team

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Family Care Ministry Annual Report

In the past year Family Ministry has been reaching out to help bring conversations about faith into the home. We have supplies home devotionals for families to pick up at church or download from the Holy Love website under the Sunday Education Tab. Last spring we started to talk and learn about the Faith 5, which is a struc-ture for encouraging families to talk about faith with each other in the home. This 5 step process of Sharing high’s and low’s, Reading a bible verse, Talking about the verse, Praying for one another, and finally Bless-ing everyone with the sign of the cross, did not receive a lot of momentum. We will still be learning and hav-ing conversations around what families are looking for to help bring faith conversations into households. As we grow in our faith here with our Holy Love family we will also be reaching out to keep learning what households need to keep the conversation of faith going throughout the week. In this coming year we will have our first Family Retreat at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp this April. This will be a weekend to come together as a community and refresh from the daily stress of life. This is a weekend we get to come together and grow in our faith and community. Jesus went into the wilderness multiple times to refresh and pray. We are also called to go out and refresh our mind, body and spirit as we retreat up the mountain. This retreat is open to all Holy Love households; whether you have a one or two person household, a house-hold with a few kiddos running around, or a random collection of people living together, you should consider participating. If you would like to be a part of the Family Ministry Team and help create ministry opportunities for all con-tact Jennifer Pulscher. Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Pulscher Faith Formation Director

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Finance Annual Report

The Finance Team worked diligently to keep track of Holy Love’s income, monitor the expenses of the staff and other teams, pay the bills and prepare financial reports. The team members were Roger Collins (Treasurer), Kelly Gaer, Julie Hansen, Jim Lewis, and Jean Roenfeldt (Financial Secretary). Thanks everyone for the extra effort and countless hours serving our congregation. Throughout the year the team monitors the expenses to ensure that all were valid and were reported against the proper budget line item. We continued to monitor our insurance costs and coverage to ensure that we are get-ting the best possible value while maintaining adequate coverage Roger Collins, Keely Teynor, and Jean Roenfeldt met with different copier companies to get the best quality and copier needs for Holy Love. We stayed with LaserCycle for a 36 month lease B&W and color with booklet finisher. November saw the start of preparing the budget for 2016. With the pledges coming in lower than 2014, we as a team had a challenging job. The December council meeting we proposed a budget of $295,632.00 for 2016 with the recommendations to a balanced budget using the final $5,000 from the restricted fund for the Faith Formation and also using funds in the amount of $ 10,000.00 from the General Savings Account. The budget was approved by the Council at the meeting on December 16th. The Finance Team also recommends that Rainbow Trail ($2,500), Sky Ranch ($2,500), and Holy Hammers Habitat for Humanity ($ 2,000) receive the first $ 7,000 from the cell tower money as we have done in the past years. Respectively Submitted, Jean Roenfeldt Finance Team—Council Representative

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Personnel Team Annual Report

The Personnel Team of Holy Love met several times over the past year to work on developing expectations of the staff that are aligned with the mission of the church. Serving on the Committee were Daryl Harvey, Past President, Robert Apmann, congregation member, Beth Whitney, Council President, Pastor Matthew Bolz-Weber, and Lance Wheeland, Council Vice President and Chair of the Committee. The group identified five general areas of responsibility which define who we are or wish to become as a com-munity. These arrears are outlined as follows: ADMINISTRATION An effective administrator provides clear, concise, and timely direction and guidance managing and/or provid-ing direction to those in the organization for whom he or she is responsible. A good administrator recognizes that he or she is ultimately responsible for the success of that organization, group, or department. As effective administration applies to Holy Love Evangelical Lutheran Church – Do the Pastor, Director of Faith Formation, and Office Administrator each provide appropriate levels of direction, guidance, and supervi-sion to volunteers (and subordinates as in the case of the Pastor) in each of their areas of responsibility? Addi-tionally, as is the situation in a smaller congregation such as Holy Love, does the Pastor recognize that he or she is ultimately responsible for overall administration of all programs? COMMUNITY A social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists. Holy Love Evangelical Lutheran Church includes people who are committed to proclaiming and living the Good News of God's love in Jesus Christ. People who are integral to this community and who should be wel-comed, invited and/or encouraged to participate include: * Members of Holy Love Lutheran Church. * People who attend Holy Love Lutheran Church frequently throughout the year. * Preschool staff members, preschool children and families of those children. * Former members who may have become disconnected, disenchanted, or disenfranchised and may have

ceased attending Holy Love. * People who reside in communities within close proximity to the church. * Families and groups that are embraced by Holy Love Lutheran Church members as a part of outreach pro-

grams and services, e.g. people who use the food pantry or benefit from the Love Fund. * People and families who volunteer and assist with outreach activities. EDUCATION Act or process of education; the imparting or acquisition of knowledge, skill, etc.; systematic instruction or training, the result produced by instruction, training, or study; the science or art of teaching; pedagogics. Education: as it pertains to us at Holy Love Lutheran Church is what we promise when we are witnesses to a baptism. We promise to educate the person being baptized in the Creed the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. We are all empowered to teach others about God's love and grace through thought, word and deed. This means not just as a Sunday School teacher, Confirmation mentor, Day Camp volunteer, adult in the life of a child or children, etc., but also by the way we live our lives. As role models for all of those around us (not just chil-dren), it is our responsibility to share the Word of God.

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Education is a lifelong process, so creating opportunities for educating those of all ages is important. It is our

"duty" to continually offer different levels of education so all those attending Holy Love have the chance to continue to grow in their faith and understanding of Lutheran Theology and the Bible.

HUMAN NEEDS (PASTORAL CARE) The ministry of care and counseling provided by pastors, chaplains and other religious leaders to members of their church or congregation, or to anyone within institutional settings, with a focus on healing, reconciling, guiding and sustaining. As applied to Holy Love Evangelical Lutheran Church, “Every Ordained Minister shall: … provide pastoral care … offer instruction, confirm, marry, visit the sick and distressed, and bury the dead...” * Visit members who are hospitalized. * Pray for individuals who are in need. * Provide pastoral care for members and their families. * Provide the life-event ritual actions (funerals, weddings, baptisms, confirmations, etc.) for members and their families, as well as for members of the community. WORSHIP Ceremonious gathering to render reverent honor and homage to God in a meaningful manner. As applied to Holy Love Evangelical Lutheran Church, “Every Ordained Minister shall: preach the Word; Administer the Sacraments; conduct public worship; …” Plan the congregation’s worship life (weekly and seasonally) with the goal of closer congregational connection with God through the Lutheran Christian lens of Law and Gospel (convicting people of their sin and proclaiming God’s forgiveness). * Lead worship services in a way that is appropriate to our context, taking into consideration: 1) Lutheran theology and worship tradition, 2) congregational sensibilities, 3) the gifts present in the congregation, and 4) the culture in which we find ourselves Following a thorough discussion of each of these areas, Lance presented this information to the Council for their review and approval. With that approval, The Personnel Committee met with Pastor Matthew to discuss potential goals related to these areas for Pastor, Jennifer Pulisher, Faith Formation Director and Keely Teynor, Office Administrator. Pastor Matthew will be sharing those goals with the Council and the Congregation. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Personnel Team for their efforts in developing these standards. Faithfully Submitted, Lance Wheeland Vice President Holy Love Lutheran Church

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Preschool Board Annual Report

Holy Love Preschool and Kindergarten continues to provide its students with a high quality early childhood education in a loving Christian environment. The entire staff, led by director Mary Stephenson, work together as a team to educate children socially, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Teachers provide students with gentle reassurance and guidance while setting positive examples for students on how to care for and inter-act with others. For the 2015-2016 school year, Holy Love Preschool and Kindergarten has 161 students en-rolled. 88 (55%) of those students are male and 73 (45%) are female. Our diversity continues to grow with 106 (65%) students identifying as white, 14 (8.7%) identifying as black, 12 (7.5%) Asian, 15 (9.3%) Indian, 10 (6.2%) Hispanic, 3 (1.9%) Pacific Islander and 1 (0.6%) identifying as "other". The Preschool Board works to support the preschool and kindergarten program it serves. We kicked off the 2015-2016 school year by hosting a cake reception after the August 23rd Sunday church service . This was in celebration of the school's thirtieth anniversary and installation of 12 staff members. The Preschool Board con-tinues to maintain our “Adopt a Project” by organizing and restocking “Busy Buckets” for children to use dur-ing worship services. As an outreach to the congregation, the Preschool Board supported and participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in late September with the Holy Love team, “Happy Hoofers”. The team raised funds and walked for breast cancer awareness and research. We also welcomed several new con-gregational members to the Preschool Board this year who we are blessed to have. During the fall, several parent volunteers worked to remove wood chips from the playground area and install rubber chips. This improvement ensures that chips do not need to be replaced each year and provides a soft landing should a child stumble and fall. Several volunteers from the church also worked over the school's win-ter break to clean carpets in each of the classrooms, providing care to remove all furniture beforehand and re-place it afterwards. The Preschool Board is extremely grateful for the hard work of the Parent Teacher Organization whose work and fundraising efforts have provided the funding for special projects, such as the installation of the rubber playground chips. The Parent Teacher Organization also does an exceptional job of supporting the staff, stu-dents, and fellow parents. The Preschool Board is also thankful for parents of students who provide support to the school through time, funds, and resources as well as Holy Love congregational members who support the preschool’s several fundraising efforts during the school year. Holy Love Preschool and Kindergarten continues to provide a strong community in which the lives of its stu-dents are touched by many. The Preschool Board is proud to be a part of this community and to provide its support to the children as they grow in faith. Respectfully Submitted, Jessica Breiding Holy Love Preschool Board Council Representative

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Property Team Annual Report

I want to thank all the property committee members for attending the monthly meetings and helping with the monthly maintenance items, and all the church members and other volunteers who helped out with spring fest and the fall fest church building and grounds clean up events. 2015 we received new impact resident shingles on all of our sloped roofs on the building and the three storage sheds the exterior of the building has been completely repainted less a couple of hollow metal doors and Jambs, we hope to catch those up this spring. While the roof was torn off we were able to cut holes in plywood deck to access the existing sanctuary large pendent light fixtures to add the needed wiring to make the conversion to digital lighting ballast. We were not able to use the LED fluorescent bulbs as designed as they would not dim properly . Once the LED market finds a way to address this problem we will then complete that upgrade as well We replaced two of the heating and air-conditioning units this year, the one for the kitchen and the large pre-school class room north of kitchen, the other was the north rooms of main hallway. Special thank You to: All the mowing teams for their continued efforts of mowing and picking up the property on a weekly ba-

sis. Vern Roenfeldt for his continuous ongoing effort to spray and fight the weed problem in the lawn, flower

beds, rock and ground cover areas and many other items he takes care of both inside and outside our church building.

Bruce Merritt for being the property team Chairman, and taking care of the many daily maintenance

items. Bruce Smith for his maintaining of the lawn sprinkler system and annual start up and shut down. Gayle Rullo for all the hard work she has completed this last year on the many items she has completed.. All the many others who have helped out with the maintaining of the property who I may have failed to

mentioned above. We are looking for more members to help out on the property team, we meet at the church the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 have a brief meeting and then spend 30 min to an hour doing minor maintenance items needed to keep things working properly. Please come and join us to see what it is all about. Thank you all, Steve Knuth

Property Team - Council Representative

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Social Ministry/Outreach Team Annual Report

The people of Holy Love are amazingly willing to reach out to those in need. Some of the things you do are organized by members of the Social Ministry/Outreach Team (Peggy Apmann, Laura Flynn, and Julie Hansen) but that’s not always the case – and it’s definitely not the rule. Here are some of the things you did to help those less fortunate in 2015. Lutheran Family Services (LFS) -- Easter found the congregation and pre-school working together to

provide Easter baskets for LFS foster children. In addition, a basket for the LFS Kentucky Derby themed annual gala was put together. In November thirty Thanksgiving Bags, supplemented by grocery gift cards were donated for LFS families and seniors. The LFS Christmas tree was lovingly stripped of all the tags and the gifts were returned to Holy Love for blessing before being delivered for distribution.

Feeding the Hungry – Helping those who struggle to pay the bills and feed their family is a high priority

for the people of Holy Love as evidenced by the donations to the food bank maintained at Holy Love. Christmas in July and the cornucopia erected in the sanctuary in November bring special attention to the need for food and the congregation responds generously. Donations are shared with Aurora Interfaith Community Services.

Helping the Homeless – Backpacks filled with personal hygiene items, healthy snacks, gloves and hats

were distributed to the homeless in our community on a cold winter day. Family Promise – Dinner was prepared and served to the Family Promise families housed at Christ the

Savior Church by Holy Love members. This is a great way to give a hand up to families who are in the process of getting their lives back together. Family Promise provides shelter, meals, financial counseling and encouragement to families in a welcoming atmosphere.

ELCA World Hunger – The Souper Bowl of Hunger provided an opportunity for us to help feed the hun-

gry all around the world. Another opportunity was provided in September when Hunger Awareness Month was emphasized. The generous financial response was sent to the ELCA World Hunger office in Chicago.

Clothes for Women and Men Released from Prison – This project was organized by a member who has

a heart for helping those who are trying to get their lives back on track. We all have clothes hanging in the closet that we seldom, if ever, wear and those clothes now give someone who was recently released from prison, a chance at getting a job and a new life.

God’s Work. Our Hands. – A wide variety of opportunities to reach out to our community were offered

to members on this very special day. Clothed in our bright yellow t-shirts members showed God’s love preparing and serving meals at the Denver Rescue Mission in downtown Denver and the family shelter at The Crossing, visiting Ronald McDonald House, Project Angel Heart, and The Community at Franklin Park – Bessie’s Hope.

Evening Gardening Harvesting at Urban Peak – Both adults and young people helped to harvest the last of the gardens at Urban Peak.

Operation Christmas Child – This was another great opportunity for the congregation and pre-school to work together. Eighty-two shoeboxes full of pencils, tablets, crayons, craft projects, books, toothbrushes, soap, wash cloths, and gobs of other great things were prepared and delivered to the local Operation Christ-mas Child collection center to be distributed to children around the world.

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What’s next? The Social Ministry/Outreach Team is working on several opportunities for the congregation to help the less fortunate in our community. On Saturday, February 6, you can prepare and serve breakfast for the families at Ronald McDonald House. Souper Bowl Sunday will be February 7. Hopefully, the Broncos will be playing in the Super Bowl, but regardless of the teams playing, we’ll be able to support ELCA World Hunger. We’d also like to offer an opportunity for members to do a little healthy vegetable gardening in the plots prepared as an Eagle Scout project a couple of years ago and, perhaps, offer plots to families in the com-munity to raise food for their family. As Christians we are charged to feed the hungry, give a drink to the thirsty, and give clothes to those in need. Let’s do it! Prayerfully submitted, Diana Stigleman Social Ministry/Outreach Council Representative

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Stewardship Annual Report

Holy Love’s stewardship team consists of Pastor Jim Engel, Darryl Harvey, Jean Roenfeldt, Roger Collins and Joy Knutsen as council representative. Pastor Matthew & Bob Apmann joined us for our annual stewardship campaign. The stewardship team focuses not only on the financial aspects of giving but also ways in which we can share our time and talents. To this end we were blessed this year when Bob Apmann approached us with the idea of leading congregational members in an exploration of how we spend our time and what we value. These mis-sion building sessions titled "Called to Mission- Linking Our Time & Values to Our Faith" formed the core of this year’s stewardship program. Through these sessions we were able to step back and reflect on what truly is important to us. Prior to Commitment Sunday, temple talks were given by three members of our congregation: Steve Knuth, Deb Watson and Laura Flynn. Many thanks to them for sharing their areas of interest, motivation and their personal values and how it affects their involvement in the life of Holy Love. This year at the urging of Council, a new time & talent form was designed by Darryl Harvey. It was suggested by that perhaps more members would be willing to commit to specific projects rather than a team which has a longer time commitment. On Commitment Sunday, November 15 we presented our financial pledges and our time & talent forms. As of 12/11/15 the results were as follows:

67 pledges for a total of $164,916 41 time and talent cards were returned

I would like to thank all the members of the stewardship team for their continued dedication to Holy Love. Special thanks to all who wrote stewardship articles for the Mission Bell, those who gave temple talks and those who labor over our finances. Respectfully submitted, Joy Knutsen Stewardship Council Representative

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Worship & Music Annual Report

Mission Statement of Worship & Music: Oversee the conduct of the services in God's house to ensure that the services are conducted regularly, and in accordance with the liturgy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Provide the organization through which trained ushers, acolytes, greeters, lectors, cantors, and communion assistants are available and designat-ed for individual services. Maintain, as required, an active altar guild, and nursery for church services, and choir(s); care for paraments, vestments, and musical instruments; procure music, floral, and devotional prod-ucts/supplies, as well as, supplying and maintaining hymnals. Coordinated and Participated in the following projects:

Pancakes with Pastor on Shrove Sunday, Feb. 15th.

Pastor Matthew provided two Ash Wednesday services on Feb 18th 12:00 and 7:00 PM.

Participated in Soup Suppers during Lent, Cookies and Cider during Advent, and Sunday Fellowship Hour

Provided Mid-Week Evening Lenten, Advent Services, and Christmas Eve services at 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, and 10 PM.

Pastor Matthew provided services on Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday.

Kathy Wallen and the Chimes choir and Nathan Jones, Chancel Choir and all the instrumentalists provided fantastic Easter services.

Summer worship service was at 9:00 am only from Memorial Day weekend thru Labor Day weekend with special music presented some Sundays.

Worship in the Park was help at Mission Viejo Park on Aug. 16th at 9 AM in conjunction with the annual church picnic and special music was provided by the Chimes choir.

Saturday evening services on the 2nd and 4th Saturday night of each month starting with supper at 5:30 PM.

Implemented using the Narrative Lectionary

Nathan Jones and the Chancel Choir presented “A Ceremony of Carols” program on Sunday Dec. 20th. Chimes provided special music on Christmas Eve at 5:30 PM and the Chancel Choir at the 10:00 PM

services. With gratitude to our subcommittees and volunteers:

Debbie Anderson served as our council liaison and chairperson for Worship & Music and scheduled the assistant ministers, lectors, communion assistants, altar guild, and greeters for all services. Altar Guild team members, ensured paraments and banners were in place for the season, and made sure there were adequate supplies maintained on hand. Nancy Collins, Mary Kay Horton, Michelle Kneipper, Pam En-gel, Michelle Kneipper, and Pastor Matthew selected the liturgies and hymns for our worship services to inspire and uplift us. Kathy Wallen directed the Chimes Choir. Nathan Jones directed the Chancel Choir. Michelle Kneipper directed the Praze Song, and provided Holy Love with a contemporary wor-ship service on a monthly basis. Charlie Anderson scheduled the ushers. Greg Watson coordinated the James Hersch Ministry in conjunction with Holy Love. Nancy Collins scheduled & maintained the nursery. Debbie Anderson conducted training for new assisting ministers and acolytes.

“Thank-You” to all the volunteers who have dedicated their Time & Talents during 2015 to make the worship services a meaningful experience for everyone. A special thank you to the Preschool board for keeping the kids busy buckets busy and to Keely Teynor, the church office manager, and Nancy Collins for keeping me on track with the schedules and assistants. Respectfully Submitted, Debbie Anderson Council Representative

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Nominations for Election at the 2016 Annual Meeting

2016 Council (2nd - 2 year term): Joy Knutsen Jean Roenfeldt

2016 Council (1st - 2 year term): Rich Newman Beth Newsom Jim Wood Debi Young

2016 Nominating Committee (1 year term):

We will take additional nominations from the floor

Debbie Anderson Beth Whitney

2016 Officers (1 year term):

Lance Wheeland President Beth Moore Vice President Mary Unrein Secretary Roger Collins Treasurer

Vital Statistics 2015

Added to Membership:

Baptism 5 Transferred 17 Affirmation of Faith 1 Total Received 23

Departed from Membership:

Transferred Out 6 Death 2 Other 0 Total Loss 8

Total Membership at Year’s End:

Baptized 421 Confirmed 250 Youth Confirmed in 2015 1

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Treasurer’s Report

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Treasurer’s Report

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Treasurer’s Report

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Holy Love Lutheran Church 2016 Annual Budget

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