Please join me and the Rev. David Thiele, Mission Executive of the English District for an important congregational presentation on the current state of “doing church” in today’s culture, and in particular, how it relates to Fairlawn Lutheran Church and Preschool. The meeting will be held Saturday, March 13th at 9am until 12pm. Rev. Thiele will also preach at all three Sunday services on the 14th. Consider the following from Rev. Thiele:

“Do you remember what it was like in 1959? Yes, some of you were not born yet! However, in 1959 - 69% of the US population was in attendance in a Christian worship service every weekend. You could talk about Jesus in the workplace and at school. Setting up a manger scene in the center of the city was expected. Today, 17.1% of the US population is in attendance in a Christian worship service every weekend. Today, you are expected to keep your religion to yourself and wishing someone Merry Christmas is offensive. Today, there is a growing group of people living who can not tell you one story from the Bible. This means they do not know that Christmas is about Jesus being born or Easter is about Jesus rising from death to bring life. Within the church it feels at times that we are hanging on for dear life. This workshop will introduce you to some of the principles, trends and models being used in the culture surrounding us today.”

Please mark your calendars for this important gathering and I hope to see you there!

Thank you to all who are “reading along” through the book, Already Gone. We have received a great response from you—so-much-so we had to order more books. Also, we have a DVD presentation that will be shared with the Council and other leadership teams. If you are interested in Ken Ham’s 40-minute presentation on the research from Already Gone, and will not be able to view the DVD with a team or small-group, please let me know. —PT

 Pastor Tom