THE VISITATION MINISTRY
Our leadership team:
· Lynn Schellenberg
· Melissa Toth
· Darlene Hjelte
· Ruth Moerman
Lynn Schellenberg continued to help me lead and evaluate this vital ministry. She continued to inspire me and help me care for our team. We held an evaluation and encouragement meeting in September and were blessed to have Melinda Bensler share with us about visitation and end-of-life conversations.
Some of our visitees went to be with the Lord in 2022 but we were blessed to add some new visitees as well. We continued to visit approximately 32 people in our church family and had approximately 23 visitors visiting them. With Covid restrictions lifted we resumed physical visitations as well as continuing to write letters and to call visitees on the phone.
Four times a year we sent out hand-made cards by Ruth Moerman to all our visitees. We sent cards with words of blessing, Our Daily Bread Devotionals, bookmarks, and this year I added a personal Christmas letter which included a picture from one of our seniors, Clarence Knodel (see above).
YOUNG AT HEART
Our leadership team:
· Lance Duncalfe
· Stella Friesen
· Phil and Annalora Horch
· Florence Schorr
· Mary Ann Westgard
Y@H was finally able to resume in 2022. We held a Hillcrest ministry presentation describing all that the Legacy Ministry does, two grandparenting training sessions and a Christmas production. We averaged 20-30 people from inside and outside of Chinook Village.
LEGACY CHRISTMAS BANQUET
It’s been my intention since starting as Pastor of Legacy Adults to offer intergenerational ministry opportunities in our church. I strongly feel it’s important for our seniors to connect with our children, youth, and adults and to give them the occasion to share their spiritual legacy with those who follow. The intent is not only to bless those younger than them with their faith, history, and heritage but for them to be blessed and encouraged in return.
With Covid restricting much of our fellowship activities, 2022 marked the return of our Annual Legacy Christmas Banquet. I wanted something different than the traditional turkey or roast beef dinner, and after much deliberation, Karen and I came up with a “Mexican Christmas Dinner”. Several Legacy volunteers helped prepare and serve the food (Carol Kulhavy, Margaret Johnson, Jan Rattai, and Betty Kramer). It was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s and well received. Karen is amazing!
There were approximately 118 people attended.
For several previous events, Pastor Alisha and I have worked together to bring the Youth and Legacy Adults together. Once again, she organized and brought in 10 youth to help set up, serve, and clean up. They were wonderful and the Legacy Adults were once again thrilled to be able to interact with them.
I want to recognize Val Seitz who came in to decorate for us and for her willingness to allow us to reuse the decorations for the Youth Christmas Banquet. She’s wonderful to work with and does such a great job.
For the last couple of years, my wife Jamie has been studying Jazz Piano and was excited to provide an hour of jazzy Christmas music during the meal. People really enjoyed the freshness of the music and Jamie’s willingness to provide live music for them.
We intentionally scheduled the banquet for Saturday night so that it fell on the King’s Kids production. I have often thought of bringing in an artist or providing our own program but again wanted our Legacy Adults to bless and be blessed by other ministries in the church. They genuinely enjoyed the production and thought it was a wonderful addition to the night.
Finally, over a dozen of our Legacy adults blessed the kids by providing/sharing homemade cookies or treats with the kids and those attending the event. I was so pleased and excited to see all the generations interacting during the fellowship time. It was a joyful noise and there was a beautiful spirit in the room!
THE HUNGER GAMES
For the second year, Pastor Alisha and I combined our Legacy Adults and Youth. On a Monday night, several of our Seniors taught several youth to make desserts that we could all share. The next night the Legacy Adults and Youth were invited to enjoy their dessert creations and play board games for the evening. They had a blast!
SENIORS’ DAY CAMP
This was our first camp since 2019. The weather was wet and the ground was very soggy but we had great attendance and our Seniors were thrilled to finally be back at camp. We has several individuals who attended for the first time and we also provided bussing from Hillcrest for about 25 people. I spoke on 1 Corinthians and encouraged our Seniors to run well, right to the end.
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