Pioneer Lutheran Church
Publisher: Julie Petersen jmpete@itctel.com Volume Number 11 Issue Number 27
MARCH 2009
PASTOR TYLER HEPNER 802 2nd ST BROOKINGS, SD 57006 pastor@pioneerlutheran.org
Pioneer
CELLLutheran
PHONE: Church Council Minutes- February
695-2907 Officer Elections: Dana Crooks asked for nominations for president. Dana
2009
President Lew Weeks called the Pioneer Lutheran Church Council meeting to
order on Wednesday, February 4, 2009. Present were Lew Weeks, Dana
Crooks, Larry Holler, Tiffany Petersen, Glen Thompson, Aimee Lutz, Kevin
Quail, Arlene Madsen, and Pastor Tyler Hepner. Pastor Hepner led devotions
on the Paul’s letter to the Galatians and God’s chosen people. He closed in
prayer, and the meeting proceeded.
Secretary’s Report: Minutes from the January, 2009 meeting were presented
to the council. Dana Crooks moved to accept the minutes as presented. Glen
Thompson seconded the motion, and the motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report: Arlene Madsen presented the monthly treasurer’s
report. The general fund was negative $78.00 at the end of January; as we
recover from the 2 missed Sunday services in December. Larry Holler moved
to accept the Treasurer’s report and pay bills. Kevin Quail seconded the
motion, and the motion passed.
Old Business: There remain 3 bags of brats from the cancelled Oktober fest
to be sold. Arlene Madsen will take 2 and Kevin Quail will take 1.
The meeting was adjourned and reconvened with the newly present members.
Dana Crooks, the previous vice president call the meeting to order and held
officer elections.
Date:
Crooks was nominated and the nomination seconded by Kevin Quail. Glen
Thompson moved to cease nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Dana.
Larry Holler seconded the motion, and the motion passed. Dana Crooks
asked for nominations for vice president. Larry Holler was nominated and
Aimee Lutz seconded the nomination.
Kevin Quail moved to cease nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for
Larry. Glen Thompson seconded the motion, and the motion passed. Dana
Crooks asked for nominations for secretary. Glen Thompson nominated
Aimee Lutz was nominated. Larry Holler seconded the nomination, and
moved to cease nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Aimee. Dana
Crooks asked for appointees to the treasurer’s position. Tiffany Peterson
nominated Arlene Madsen. Kevin Quail seconded the motion, and the council
appointed Arlene as treasurer.
NEW BUSINESS:
Pastor’s Report: Pastor Hepner reported he conducted 3 visitations, prepared
4 Sunday services and 4 bulletins. Adult forum this month was lead by Bill
Powers. Pastor Hepner discussed the Book study on the Hammer of God.
Pastor Hepner discussed the 2009 LCMC Youth Rally that will be held in Salt
Lake City, UT July 12 -15, 2009. He would like the youth group to attend and
is going to get the information to Julie Petersen. Air vs. ground travel was
discussed. Aimee suggested checking with the Sioux Falls because she heard
that Sioux Falls Airport was adding Salt Lake as a flight destination. Pastor
Hepner also was going to get information on the Lutheran Youth Encounter in
Chicago.
Miscellaneous Announcements: Pioneer Lutheran Church
- Pioneer Lutheran Church received an annual giving request from the Financial Report
White fire department. Tiffany Peterson moved to contribute $25 to
the White fire Department. Aimee Lutz seconded the motion, and the February 4, 2009
motion passed.

- Arlene Madsen mentioned that the Earl Michaelsen CD will mature in

February and wanted the council to decide to renew the CD or find an General Account $ (78.85)
alternate use for the money. The council decided to renew the CD for Social Ministry $ 7.67
6 months. Memorial Fund $1,952.85
Insurance Fund $ 560.25
- Arlene Madsen and Pastor Hepner discussed the upcoming 125th
Funds in Checking $2,441.92
anniversary celebration. They are planning a special service with the
choir singing hymns in Danish as well as children’s hymns. Previous
Pioneer Lutheran Church pastors. A Danish meal will be served.
ITC-phone & internet $ 85.36
Lacey Quail is working on a history book and Melissa Thompson is
Sioux Valley Energy $ 58.19
going to plan to take pictures of families after church service.
Postmaster-stamps $ 16.80
Minn-Kota Pest Control $ 54.91
- As a result of the vote at the annual meeting to call pastor Tom
Anderson Oil-268 gal fuel @$2.00 $ 549.40
Walker, a letter of call is being drafted.
UPS Store-2000 prepaid copies $ 74.20
Adjournment: Kevin Quail moved to adjourn the meeting, and the Lord’s Tyler Hepner-salary $2,250.00
Prayer was said in closing. The March meeting will be held on Wednesday, $3,088.86
March 4, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Sunday Offerings
Aimee Lutz Jan. 4 $ 995.00
Jan. 11 $ 625.00
Jan. 18 $ 945.00
Jan. 25 $ 682.00
$3,247.00

Misc. Income
Brats sold $ 84.00
$ 84.00

125th Anniversary
Perhaps, while sitting in the pews in a moment of distraction or
meditation, you've glanced upward toward the altar, there seeing a
statue of Jesus, His eyes looking down upon us all. This statue is a
copy of a statue now sitting in Vor Frue Kirke (Church of our Lady, and
now known as Copenhagen Cathedral) in Copenhagen. It has a rich and
interesting history.
In 1807, under British bombardment, the church was seriously
damaged.
It was during its reconstruction that the famous Danish sculptor Albert
Bertel Thorvaldsen was commissioned to create a colossal series of
statues of Christ and the twelve Apostles. Given that it was the church
itself that was being raised from the ashes, how appropriate that
amongst those creations was his statue of the Resurrected Christ,
commonly referred to as Christus. How more appropriate is the story
told of its creation in a 1961 edition of Guideposts.
Having worked for weeks on the massive statue, Thorvaldsen finally
stood
back, surveyed the results of his hard work, satisfied at last. At this
point in the process, the statue was modeled in clay. Yet still it was
impressive, just as he had imagined it: Christ with strong arms
outstretched, raised (Yes, I did say raised) high in a gesturing
command, the fine-shaped head thrown back in triumph.
"This is He," Thorvaldsen said, "the powerful, majestic Christ."
Then he closed the door to his studio for several days, waiting for the
clay to set. However, when he returned and opened the door, he stared
up at the statue in horror. His work was ruined.
During his absence there had been a storm, causing the room to become
overly damp and damaging the statue. No longer were the arms
outstretched, now they fell low. The moisture had caused the once
proud
head to bend. Gone was the triumph of Christ's resurrection. The body
was drooped, looking more defeated than proud.
In despair, he grabbed a hammer, raised it above his head, determined
to
strike it down, but he could not. With pain still in his heart, he
turned and fled the room, his majestic work destroyed.
Time passed, but still Thorvaldsen had no heart for his work. Finally he
resolved to put an end to it. With a friend he went back for the first
time to the studio with the intention of destroying the statue, removing
its remains, and starting all over again.
Entering the studio, they suddenly stopped and gazed with awe upon
the
broken work they had intended to scrap. Bathed in light, the lowered
arms no longer depicted defeat. Instead, they revealed the depth of
God's Compassion, His Sympathetic Arms encircling the sorrowing and
needy. The head was now bowed low with contrite countenance as if to
say, "I understand your trials and your sorrows."
Instead of the majestic and triumphant Christ of the Resurrection, a
greater Power had breathed into Thorvaldsen's discarded work, not a
defeated Christ, but the Compassionate Savior.
 VACATION BIBLE CAMP
Vacation Bible Camp is scheduled for July 5-9th with Shetek
Lutheran Ministries. Please mark your calendars and plan on
inviting friends. Camp has been a good way for potential new
members to get to know Pioneer so keep that in mind when
thinking of kids to invite.
NEWSLETTER
Do you have an email address that you would like to have me
send you the Newsletter to? We have started sending through
email to save the church some money. Send me your address
and I will send the newsletter to you.
jmpete@itctel.com Thanks, Julie
THANKS TO ALL WHO CAME TO THE YOUTH
VALENTINE SUPPER
PUT JUNE 14, 2009 ON YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE
125TH PIONEER LUTHERAN CHURCH CELEBRATION
SIGN UP FOR COFFEE FELLOWSHIP
SIGN UP FOR SOUPS FOR LENTEN SERVICES
Rules from God for 2009
1. Wake Up!! Decide to have a good day.
"Today is the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it"
Psalms 118:24
2. Dress Up!! The best way to dress up is to put on a smile. A smile is
an inexpensive way to improve your looks. "The Lord does not look at
the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance; but the Lord
looks at the heart."
I Samuel 16:7
3. Shut Up!! Say nice things and learn to listen. God gave us two ears
and one mouth, so He must have meant for us to do twice as much
listening as talking. "He who guards his lips guards his soul." Proverbs
13:3
4. Stand Up!!... For what you believe in. Stand for something or you
will fall for anything. "Let us not be weary in doing good; for at the
proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as
we have opportunity, let us do good..." Galatians 6:9-10
5. Look Up!!... To the Lord.
"I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me."
Philippians 4:13
6. Reach Up!!.... For something higher. "Trust in the Lord with all your
heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways,
acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path."
Proverbs 3:5-6
7. Lift Up!!... Your Prayers. "Do not worry about anything; Instead
PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING."
Philippians 4:6
 Some of you may know that last Sunday, a Dell Rapids senior took
his life on the football field at the school. He was a popular kid and his death
has deeply affected the entire community, including students at both the
public and the Catholic school. Casey Michel, a recent graduate of Dell
Rapids St. Mary School, wrote the following piece about his friend's death. It's
long but well worth the read - trust me, you'll be glad you took the TIME to
read it. Quite the perspective from a 20-year-old, and a great reminder to
treasure the time we have with the ones we love.
The Gift of Time
Written By: Casey Michel
Some people like to talk about the “best gift they’ve ever been
given.” People talk about something like a car or jewelry, and they
usually cover everything in between. However, the best gift ever given
to mankind is not given to us on this earth. When God creates a human
He gives them the best gift anyone could ask for: the gift of time. Along
with the gift of time, God gives us a side gift: the gift of free will – the
ability to decide what we wish to do with our time, either good or bad.
It took me nearly 20 years and one tragic event to realize what a
precious gift the gift of time really is.
You see, I always used to be like everybody in this world; I
would always wonder how I was going to get everything done that
needed to be done, wondering why there were never enough hours in
the day. You look around and see the world moving at such a fast pace
that you wonder how anybody could get by, and I felt like I was in the
same boat with everyone else.
“Hey Casey, can you help me with my math homework?”
--- “Sorry, not right now man, I’m busy.”
“Hey Casey, got a minute to talk?”
--- “Hey I’d love to, but I gotta get somewhere quick.”
I didn’t always have enough time to help out a friend. After all I
had my own stuff to take care of, just like everyone else. And if I
couldn’t make time for a friend or a loved one, how could I make time
for anybody else? When I saw a stranger on crutches struggling with
their books, I just kept walking. I couldn’t help them; I was in too big
of a rush. A rush to where? I don’t know, but I had places to be and
things to do, and I didn’t have nearly enough hours in the day to do it.
And so I went about my life day by day by day. I was always in
a hurry, always in a rush; I didn’t have time to do anything.
That was up until that February Sunday changed everything.
Suddenly, I wasn’t in such a rush; suddenly, I had time. I had
time to help a friend with homework, or to talk to them about
something. I had time to help carry books for the stranger on crutches.
Not only did I now have time, but I somehow made time, too. I made
time to ask a friend “Hey, how you holding up?” “Hey, how’s
everything going for you?” I made time to tell my family and friends
that I love them. I made time to let everyone know that I’m here for
them whenever they need me; that I will always answer if they call.
And I know I would answer if they called. You can bet on it. After all –
now I had the time to.
It’s almost as if God granted me more hours in the day. It’s
almost as if He not only gave me more time to do what had to get done,
but also more time to do what needed to be done. But this isn’t at all the
case. The amount of time God gave me on this earth did not change one
second from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon. I will not live one
second longer or shorter because of what happened on a football field
in Dell Rapids in the morning hours of February 22, 2009. Neither will
anybody who reads this or who was affected by that tragic event. No,
rather, God granted me the ability to realize what a precious gift time
really is; and to use that time to seize every second, every moment that
I am on this earth.
It was through this tragic event that I learned probably the most
important lesson of my life:
You don’t realize how much time you have, until you realize that
time is all you’ve got
I mean think about it: what do we have in life besides time? If a
fire burns down our house, we will still have time. If a loved one passes
away, we still have time. Things happen on a personal level: cars break
down, jewelry loses its shine, we grow out of clothes, relationships
break up…. Things happen on a wide-scale level, too: wars are being
fought, poverty strikes nations, natural disasters devastate areas…. Yet
through it all what we still have is the gift of time.
There’s also the other side of the coin that we must see. While I
now realize how much time I have during the day, I have no way of
knowing how much time I have left on this earth. I could live to be 100,
or I could die tomorrow. And once my time is up, I am completely out
of it. I only get one chance to use this gift that God has given me.
And that’s the key to it all; the use of the gift. God did not give
us the gift of time so that everyone could follow the same path – the
easy path, the straight and narrow one – to arrive safely at death. No,
He gave it to us so that we could use it as we choose; that free will
aspect. While we can never know how much time God has given us on
this earth, we will always have the ability to do with it as we please.
In the end, that’s how we will be judged. When we get to the
Gates of Heaven, there will be God waiting to punch our time card that
He gave us when he created us. And then God will look at us and judge
us. The thing is, He won’t judge us on the number of hours we put in.
He won’t look and say “You lived to be 100, come on in” or “You only
lived to be 22? Sorry, you didn’t put in enough time….” No, God won’t
do that because the number of hours we put in are not up to us, but to
Him. Rather, God will look at what we did while on earth. He will
judge us by the way we used the gift; He will judge us by what we did
with the time He allotted us.
That is why I am writing this. It is my way of using the time
that has been given to me. I am not writing this to try to tug on people’s
emotions, or to make people regret anything that has happened in their
past. I am writing this to make a difference; to change the way people
view those hours of the day from here out. I used to sit around and
watch the seconds of my life tick away, but not anymore. Now those
seconds don’t drag on or fly by like they used to. Now those seconds
don’t seem so insignificant..
You see, this is the way I am choosing to use my gift of time. I
have 3 goals in life, and I know that if I can fulfill them, I will have
successfully used the time given to me on earth. These are 3 goals that I
think everyone in the world could live by. They are 3 goals that
everyone could strive to achieve with their gift of time.
1. Make a difference in the lives of
others. Whether I make a difference in the
lives of just my family, or just my friends;
whether I make a difference in the life of one, or
the lives of 10,000 people – I want to make a
difference for the better.
2. Be the change you wish to see in the
world. I see and hear so many people these
days wishing for things to be better, but yet
doing nothing to make them better. I want the
 world to be a better place, and I want the world
to change – and I will do everything I can while
on this earth to be that change I wish to see in
the world.
3. Leave the world a better place than
you found it. This is the tie in to everything.
This is the way to bring it all together. No
matter how much time I have on this earth, I
can always make a difference. One way or
another, I can leave this place a little better
than when I found it. And really – that’s all that
can be asked of anyone.
So here we are today, slowly coming around to coping with a
tragedy that shook a town and a community to its very core.. We wish
we could go back in time and change something to make it different.
We wish time would just stand still until we are able to deal with this
and move on. But the fact of the matter is that time goes on. Our time
on this earth is still ticking.
Nothing we do can change the past, but everything we do can
change the future
We can’t change what happened on that Sunday morning. But
we can change what might happen this Sunday morning, or next
Sunday morning, or the Sunday after that. We can do this by using the
gift of time that God has given us, and using it to the fullest. I
encourage everyone to realize what a precious gift time really is, and I
encourage everyone to use their gift to the fullest. Reach out to loved
ones and strangers alike. Let people know that you’re always there for
them. Do everything you can to make a difference in this world. But
above all and most importantly: PRAY. Pray that God bless everyone
you love and everyone in this world. Pray that God helps everyone
involved through this tragic and tough time. The easiest way to make a
difference in someone’s life is to send a prayer their way.
It is not going to be easy to continue on with our time. For
many people this is going to be the toughest thing they ever have or
ever will have had to deal with. It’s going to take an unbelievable
amount of strength to press onward. That strength will not only come
from ourselves, but from the people around us. Everybody is going to
question if they are strong enough to get past this. But that’s the
amazing thing with the way God created us: He doesn’t just put
everything on the surface; He doesn’t let everyone know who they are
and what gifts they have when He creates them. No, because that would
be the easy path – the straight and narrow one. Instead, God makes us
fight for what we truly believe in, for what we truly want. The strength
that comes from within each of us won’t be evident; it won’t just be on
the surface. It’s something that we have to delve deep within ourselves
to find; it’s something that we have to fight for with all our hearts. After
all,
You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only
choice you have
Personally, I don’t want God to question me when he punches
my time card at the Gates of Heaven. I don’t want there to be any doubt
in his mind about whether I should come in – any doubt whether I used
my gift of time the way He intended it to be used. I want to use every
second I have on this earth, and I want to live every moment to the
fullest.
You must dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die
tomorrow; and live every moment like it’s your last
Do everything you can to use every second that God has given
you on this earth.
After all, this time on earth is the only time we’ve got.