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Salem Lutheran Church

9655 Pioneer Trail Greenfield, MN 55357

Pastor Paul T. Schuler

(763)498-7281 (office) (920)284-0172 (cell)

pastorschuler@ salemwels.org

Church Secretary Brenda Berkenes

church @salemwels.org

(763)479-9161 (cell)

Salem Lutheran

School 9615 Pioneer Trail

Greenfield, MN 55357

Principal Jonathan G. Beilke

jbeilke@ salemwels.org

School Secretary Stephanie Smith

(763)498-7283 (office) school@

salemwels.org

Faculty

Colton Berger Rachel Berger Lisa Charlson Amanda Kroll

Merry Leerssen Jonnica Mayer Shelley Wolff-Hendershot

www.salemwels.org

Volume 20, No. 7 June 2016

By Pastor Paul T. Schuler

Have you ever been stuck in the mud? I am sure many of you have. It is quite frustrating. You keep pressing the accelerator but you don’t go anywhere. Your wheels keep spinning and spinning and yet…nothing! You are stuck. You need someone or something to pull you out. Have ever felt like you were spinning your wheels in life? Day after day, it is the same

old grind. You work hard, but you just don’t seem to get anywhere. You try harder but don’t seem to make any headway. You have dreams of what the future could hold, but those dreams never seem to become reality. Did you know the same thing happens within churches? It is not that the Word of God loses its power, because that is not possible. It is not that God’s people are no longer excited to do

the work they have been called to do. In fact, this can happen even as the people of the church are very busy doing all kinds of ministry. It is also not that people

“Jesus, Savior, pilot me

over life’s tempestuous sea …

Chart and compass

come from thee:

Jesus, Savior, pilot me.” THE PILOT Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church and School Newsletter

Ministry Planning continued on Page 3

Ministry Planning-Gaining Traction Creating a Vision for Salem

Mr. Ryan Randall, Salem’s new 7th/8th grade teacher and athletic director, and his family will be moving into their new home in Buffalo Saturday, June 11. We are collecting items for their pantry to make the move easier for them. The family doesn't have any specific food allergies, but they do have a child in size 4 diapers. Pampers is the preferred brand. Please bring your donations to church or school by Sunday, June 12.

Pantry Shower for the Randall Family

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Welcome New Members! Mike and Donna Stone, and chil-

dren Megan and Jacey, transferred to Salem from St. John’s Lutheran

Church in Fox Lake, Wisconsin.

Member News

Baptisms: May 8

Melanie MaryJo Reinking,

daughter of Daniel & Chelsea Reinking

Our Mission

Salem Lutheran Church exists to reach out to our members, our community,

and our world using the gospel in Word and Sacrament to strengthen souls with the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

Board of Elders Dave Lohse

Rodger Marschel Chad Edwards Arvid Green Dave Klatt

Fred Pfotenhauer

Board of Education Bill Radintz Theo Rex

Brian Schmid Dan Smith

Patrick Dale Anthony Pittman

Board of Finance Grant McFadden

Bill Reich Jared Tessmer

David Alderman Mike Reich Mark Tusler

Board of Trustees Gary Lieder

Joel Nystrom Dave Bechtold

Steve Gutknecht Jeff Bursch Ron Schmid

S a l e m C h u r c h C o u n c i l

Congratulations to the 2016

Confirmands!

They were confirmed Sunday, May 15.

Derek Gordon Bursch

Son of Bob & Tanya Bursch

Matthew Ryan Edwards

Son of Chad & Kimberly Edwards

Taylor Ann Lange

Daughter of Joshua & Tiffany Lange

Benjamin Gerald Schleif

Son of Chad & Susan Schleif

Are you interested in becoming a member of Salem? Or has it been a while since you reviewed the basics of Christianity? Are you simply looking for a midweek Bible Class opportunity? Then this class is for you! Our first meeting will be Thursday, June 9. (Because of a pastoral emergency, the original first class was cancelled, May 19.) Most classes will take place Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. If you are interested in attending, please contact Pastor Schuler at 920-284-0172 or email him at pastorschuler@salemwels.org. Check the calendar on the website for schedule updates and changes.

Bible Information Class Open to All: NEW START DATE

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don’t have great ideas or dreams about the future. The ideas can still be flowing and the dreams can be bigger than ever, but still the church can struggle to move forward. They can still feel as though they are spinning their wheels. This often happens because a clear focus, a clear vision, a clear plan, for moving forward has not been established. Sitting on my desk is a book entitled, Traction. It is a secular book that was written to assist companies in developing and maintaining an effective operating system for their business. The goal of the book is to help businesses gain traction and stop spinning their wheels. Although written to be a business model, some churches are also using this model to better organize their ministries. Using the tools the book suggests, churches are working to gain traction, establish a clear vision and focus, and move forward.

This coming summer the leaders of Salem are going to embark on a journey. We are going to use a ministry-focused version of the Traction operating system and strive to

lock our wheels into four-wheel drive. The plan will be to establish a clear focus/vision, clearly define both the short and long term goals of Salem, and then develop a detailed ministry plan to reach those goals. The Lord tells us in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” What a promise for us as a congregation!

The Lord already knows what the future holds. He already knows what ministry plans we will create, and He already knows how He will bless those plans. May it be your prayer that the Lord does bless the efforts of our leaders and grants us a clear vision and focus for the future.

Salem is a member of an associa-tion of congregations supporting

West Lutheran High School, located at 3350 Harbor Lane North

Plymouth, MN. Salem has a number of students

attending West Lutheran. For more information, call

763-509-9378 or visit at www.wlhs.net

Salem is a part of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran

Synod. www.wels.net Finances

Year-to-date as of May 22, 2016

Budgeted Envelope Offerings: $314,039

Received Envelope Offerings: $303,858

Ministry Planning continued from page 1

Do you have ideas for the future of Salam?

If members of the church or families attending the school have input, ideas or dreams for the future of Salem that will as-sist in making disciples, please share those ideas with staff or council members prior to the Au-gust workshop. The workshop at which the plan will be formulated will be held Thursday and Friday, August 4 and 5. Part of the workshop will include a presentation open to all who want to attend, time yet to be determined.

“The plan will be to establish a clear focus and vision...of Salem, and then develop a de-tailed ministry plan to reach those goals.”

Upcoming Choir Festival Service The Senior Choir will sing many of the songs they sang throughout the year during the Choir Festival Service, Sunday June 5, 9 a.m.

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“Malungo alipo. Pepani! Mupite kwa adocotala mkati.” I feel like I’ve said this a million times this month while helping with the malar-ia testing at clinic. For those of you who don’t speak Chi-chewa this translates to “You have ma-laria. Sorry. You need to go and see the doctor inside.” In April, our clinic days have been in-credibly long and hard, seeing as many as 3,145 people for malaria alone—not in-cluding any other sick patients!! This is the most malaria cases LMC has seen in one month since I arrived in Janu-ary 2015. Compared to April 2015, this April we saw an increase of over 1000 patients with confirmed malaria, a 42% increase. Part of this increase is because the Ma-lawian government hospitals have run out of malaria test kits and LA, the stand-ard medication for malaria. Since the government health facilities do not have the basics, they must go to private facili-ties, and in rural locations, options are very limited. By the Grace of God, we are able to serve four of these rural areas and have been able to handle almost all of the ex-tra patients. Unfortunately, the government short-age of malaria test kits and LA means that we aren’t able to procure our sup-plies, free of charge, as we typically do, from the government.

As a result, I have to travel to local phar-macies to buy them. There are three huge issues regarding the purchasing of these two essential supplies. The first is that the government sup-plies, donated by USAID (US government) are checked for quality. Unfortunately, the medication sold in local pharmacies is not. This means we have to pray that the medication has the correct amount of medication per tablet, in order for it to be effective. The second issue is cost. LMC received all of our malaria test kits and LA from the government in 2015. April was the first month I’ve had to purchase from pharmacies. Each malaria test kit is ap-proximately $1.50 and a dose of LA rang-es from $0.50 to $2.00. Due to the high volume of patients seen, I spent $4,375 on malaria medica-tion and test kits and we still had to turn some patients away because we ran out.

Since we charge only a nominal fee for our services—a child can be seen for $0.10 and $0.25 for an adult—we rely heavily on these free government sup-plies to manage costs. Needing to buy such high volumes of these items to keep up with an excep-tionally high number of cases creates challenges. Lastly, this national shortage of both LA and test kits is not limited to just the government and the facilities it sup-

plies. When I have purchased test kits and LA, there have been times that I have bought out the pharmacy of their entire supply! If neither the government nor the pri-vate pharmacies are able to keep up with the demand, the consequences will be unnecessarily fatal to many Mala-wians who contract this treatable ill-ness. When thinking about such hardships facing the Malawian healthcare system, I feel so small and inadequate. But then I remember, the Lord is BIG and can do BIG things. God’s power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12: 9). I have to remind myself that we are His tools and that He will provide. He alone is the saving grace. Our heavenly Father knows everything we need (Matthew 6: 32) and He will supply for us every need through Christ Jesus (Phillipians 4:19). Thankfully, right now, Lutheran Mobile Clinic has the resources to buy malaria rapid tests and LA; however, if the num-ber of cases don’t decrease and the gov-ernment isn’t able to solve the national shortage of malaria rapid tests and LA, we will face some significant challenges in our budget and our ability to serve those who need life saving treatment. Please keep Malawi, Lutheran Mobile Clinic, and those

Please read this letter to see

the dire circumstances our

medical mission is

experiencing regarding the

malaria diagnosis and treatment. Pray with them to

have a solution. -Darlene Bechtold

East Crow River CAMM Contact

Lutheran Mobile Clinic From Amanda Oswalt

Nurse in Charge – Lutheran Mobile Clinic

Donations Donations can be made by check (made payable to CAMM) and mailed to:

Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

PO Box 64064 Saint Paul, MN 55164-0064

Or online at https://community.wels.net/

Under Selective giving, world missions, and selecting Central Africa Medical Mission.

Lutheran Mobile Clinic continued on page 5

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we are serving in your thoughts and prayers. We know that if we ask, it will be given, if we seek, we will find, and if we knock, it will be opened to us (Matthew 7:7) and that whatever we ask in prayer, we will receive if we have faith (Matthew 21:22). So please join me in lifting this situa-tion in prayer to Him who can do more than we can ask or imagine

Love to cook? Help prepare meals for new moms Have you received a home-cooked meal from ladies at Salem after having a new baby - and would like to return the pleasure?

Are you someone who likes to cook for others?

We are so blessed to have growing families in our church congre-gation and it is a wonderful treat to offer a nice meal for new moms.

If you are interested in teaming up with a co-chef (another willing Salem member) to bring a meal to a family with a new addition, please contact Shelley Kromschroeder at Kromschroeder@gmail.com or 763-248-8408. Thank you for being willing to serve Salem families through your helping hands!

Summer's a Great Time to Volunteer at the Wise Penny!

Did you know that the Wise Penny Thrift Shoppe in Buffalo is run by volunteers from area WELS/ELS churches?

The net proceeds from all Wise Penny sales are donated to West Lutheran High School, Christian Life Ministries, and the Twin Cities Luther-an Institutional Ministerial Association. In 2015, Wise Penny donated a total of $200,000!

Wednesdays are Salem's specific days to staff the store. Every Wednesday from 9:30 a.m.—4 p.m., around 10 volunteers come to help cashier, price items, and take care of maintenance tasks.

With school over and family schedules a bit lighter, why not bring your kids or grandkids for a few hours on a Wednesday and help out?

If Wednesdays don't work, choose another day that is better for you! Contact Brittany McFadden, store manager, at wisepennythrift@outlook.com or call Lanita Farstad, volunteer coordi-nator, at (612) 310-5418 to let us know when you are coming!

Summer church and school office hours

The church & school office will have guaranteed open hours from

9 a.m.—1 p.m.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays

May 31 through August 26

In addition, the church and school secretaries will be in the office various times throughout the summer, depending on work-load. The office will be open when they are at the school. School staff will be in and out on various days throughout the summer.

Join the Parade Committee The parade committee is being formed, and will be in charge of updating Salem’s parade float and organizing Salem participation in sever-al local parades this summer.

If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact Mr. Beilke jbeilke@salemwels.org. It needs to be organized soon if Salem wishes to enter the Buffalo Parade Saturday, June 18.

Volunteer Opportunities

to Serve

Lutheran Mobile Clinic continued from page 4

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It has been a blessing to serve the students and families of Salem this year, and what a year it has been. The theme for this past school year was Grace Given, Grace Driven based on Ephesians 2:8-10. It is the love that God first showed us that motivates us to love others and that was our focus this year. It is such a blessing to see this love play out in the lives of our students. I thank God for them, and I thank God for faithful parents who part-ner with us to instill in these chil-dren the Christian principles that God would have us live by. Words can’t express the joy that I have in being able to share God’s Word with these children each day. Thank you, members of Salem, for calling me to serve you and these young children in this way. Staff Changes This has certainly been a year of change staff-wise. It was Mrs. Berger’s first year in Kindergarten, Mrs. Kroll was newly called to serve at Salem, Mrs. May-er stepped in to help when Mrs. Kroll went on maternity leave, Mrs. Wolff-Hendershot took over upper grade music and next year the

changes will continue. Mr. Berger is resigning after three years of faith-ful service and Mr. Randall was called to replace him. Additionally Mrs. Brandel is re-turning to the 3rd-4th grade class-room after her two year leave of absence, and Mrs. Kroll will transi-tion into the role of RTI teacher that was vacated by Mrs. Green as she moves to a full-time position at Redeemer. These changes mark an exciting time as we transition to the next chapter in Salem’s history. Student’s serving I am proud of the students, par-ents, and staff who worked hard all year to serve God with their best. This was evident in the test scores that average the 70th percentile! This was evident in the sportsman-ship they showed during competi-

tions - both athletic and academic, and around the school. This was evident in the generosity they demonstrated through chapel offerings to build a church in Thai-land, boxes donated for Operation Christmas Child, coins collected for Pennies for Patients, and Jump Rope for Heart. This was evident in the way they served and encouraged others through campus clean-up projects, Easter greetings sent to missionar-ies, service at the local food shelf, singing in nursing homes, and pack-ing food at Feed My Starving Chil-dren. While each year has it’s ups and downs, I thoroughly enjoyed serv-ing among you this year. Thank you for all of the support you have provided through count-less volunteer hours, and generous financial gifts. I am so looking forward to what the future holds for Salem as we reach out to our congregation and community with the good news of the Gospel. Have a blessed summer and we’ll see you next year!

Another Year Comes to a Close By Principal Jonathan Beilke

About The Pilot The Pilot is a monthly newsletter of Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church and School. The intent of the newsletter is to provide members and families of Salem school with information about Salem Lutheran Church and School, as well as highlight pertinent information from the WELS Synod, West Lutheran High School, and other area affiliated organizations. The Pilot also provides information on opportunities to serve, worship, and join in fellowship with each other. There are many organizations within the Salem congregation and keeping the communication lines open is very important.

Feedback is welcome! For any suggestions or ideas regarding the newsletter, please contact:

Brenda Berkenes at church@salemwels.org

or Liz Hackenmueller at lizhack@gmail.com

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Congratulations are in order for Salem’s latest Master’s Program Graduates. Mrs. Kroll and Mr. Beilke partici-pated in the graduation cer-emony at Martin Luther Col-lege, May 14. Mrs. Kroll completed her Master of Science in Special Education degree while Mr. Beilke earned a Master of Science in Education with an empha-sis in Educational Leader-ship. We are proud of your hard work and dedication that has culminated in this wonderful accomplishment. To God be the glory!

The PTC would like to thank staff members who are leaving after the 2015-2016 school year: Mr. Colton Berger (7th /8th grade teacher), Mrs. Carol Green (RTI instructor and after school care), and Mrs. Jonnica Mayer (Mrs. Kroll's maternity leave substitute teacher). Thank you for your service!

A sincere thank you to the follow-ing Sunday School teachers; Rachel Alder-man (music), Linda Anderson, Tom Bursch, Tammy Jurrens, Shelley Kromschroder, Chel-sea Reinking and Barb Sherwood for making the Sunday School program a meaningful, faith filled learning experience.

Thank you also to Colton Berger, Ra-chel Berger, Lisa Anderson and Carol Green for providing back-up teaching assistance when needed.

We are blessed and grateful for the Sunday School staff’s God given talents

Thank you to the Sunday School

Staff

Thank you to school staff

Salem Arbor Day Thank You

Thank you to all who came out and helped on Saturday, May 7th with Arbor Day. Thank you to the Ladies’ Aid for providing the midday meal.

Salem is hiring for two positions Kindergarten/1st Grade Aide Salem is looking for an individual to serve as a Kindergar-ten/1st Grade Aide for next year. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: working with students one-on-one and in small groups, supervising activities, correcting work, assisting with projects, assembling materials, etc. Salem pays $11/hour with 6.5 hours a day M-F when school is in session. Interested individuals should submit a re-sume to Mr. Jonathan Beilke by Sunday, June 12. (We also have a 3rd-4th Grade half-time position available pending voter approv-al - more details to follow the June 12 vote). After School Care Enjoy working with kids of all ages? Looking to add a little supplementary income? Salem has a position opening for an in-dividual(s) to run our After School Care Program. The Program involves supervising students while they complete homework and while they play. The program runs daily from 2:15 p.m. until the last child leaves or 5:30 p.m., whichever comes first. Individuals are paid an hourly rate of $12/hour. Interest-ed individuals should contact Mr. Beilke by Sunday, June 12.

Congratulations Graduates!

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Salem Ev. Lutheran Church and School 9655 Pioneer Trail Loretto, MN 55357-9694

Address Service Requested

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID

Permit No. 20 Loretto MN

Memorial Day Ceremony You are invited to join a ceremony by

The American Legion at the Salem Lutheran Church cemetery, approximately

Brunch to follow at St. Paul’s

Lutheran Church in Hanover.

Creating Salem’s Vision, page 1

Salem is hiring, page 7

New Bible Class Open, page 2

Welcome new members and

confirmands, page 2

INSIDE

Pastor’s Office (763)498-7281

Church/School Office

(763)498-7283

Congregational Officers: Chairman: Joel Nystrom

Vice-Chairman: Dave Lohse Secretary: Dan Smith

Summer Worship Services:

Sundays 9 a.m. Wednesdays 7 p.m.

A member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church and School

www.salemwels.org

Located in the City of Greenfield, 2 miles south of Hanover on County Road 123

10:45 a.m.

Monday

May 30

To remember and honor those who have served in American Armed Forces.