A note from our Pastor

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=110 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I><IMG SRC="3c5755a0.jpg" border=0 width="117" height="90" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">       </I><I>Living Word </I><I> Free </I><I>Lutheran</I><FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#006600" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#006600" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><I>  </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#006600" FACE="Arial" ><B>  |    </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Living Word "><U><B>Home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="609" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 49 WIDTH="603"><div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Who We Are"><U>Who We Are</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Worship"><U>Worship</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What We Believe"><U>What We Believe</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A>   |   <B>A note from our Pastor</B>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="An Invitation"><U>An Invitation</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Index of Sermons"><U>Index of Sermons</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Service Time and Location"><U>Service Time and Location</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Announcements"><U>Announcements</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="History of Living Word Free Lutheran"><U>History of Living Word Free Lutheran</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><U>Odds and Ends</U></B></div> <bR> <div> Recently, our little flock at Living Word Free Lutheran participated in the Red Envelope campaign. This involved mailing empty red envelopes to the white house to symbolize the unborn babies lost to legalized abortion.  According to World Net News the white house has confirmed receiving 2.25 million red envelopes, but there was no official response. Thank you all for your participation.</div> <bR> <div> On another note, it has become apparent that meeting in our present facility has not been conducive to our numerical growth at Living Word. The lack of visitors COULD be attributed to meeting in a funeral home. If that is the case, we need to see about finding another facility. </div> <bR> <div> One of the avenues I thought we could pursue would be to hold worship services on Saturday and see if we could use another church in the valley to hold services. That suggestion was voted down by the congregation by a two to one margin. Therefore we will need to ask around in our community to find a suitable place for worship.  Be in prayer that the Lord would lay a facility that we could afford to use on your heart, or perhaps a person who could lead us to one. Then follow through with an inquiry.</div> <bR> <div> K.C. Beyer noted that the old Bitter Sweet store on Appleton Road is for sale or lease and he arranged for a quick tour. The facility has definite possibilites. It is in a very high traffic area, and there is plenty of parking. It is a 2500 square foot facility with a complete dry basement. The price tag for the building and substantial lot is 135,000 dollars. Not bad, but as you know Living Word is committed to being a debt free church. It would take a miracle to purchase the building outright. </div> <bR> <div> Another option is to lease the entire facility for 1000 dollars a month. Right now, that would probably be more space than we can use, but at least we would have two bathrooms. </div> <bR> <div> The third option is to lease half the building (one bathroom) for 600 dollars a month. </div> <bR> <div> The lease options do not include utilities, but the past owners say that their budget plan expenses for heat and electricity  was around 275 dollars a month. To give you a perspective on this, right now we pay 200 dollars a month and that includes snow removal, landscaping, heat, utilities, and furnishings. And even with such low overhead at our present facilities, we have made budget a total of two times in our 9 years of existence. </div> <bR> <div> This is a very tall order for a congregation our size. Yet, we have a tall God. Be in prayer for a miracle, because no matter where we move to, it looks like we will need one.  </div> <bR> <div> In awe of a miracle working God, </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Pastor Duane Matz.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Living Word Free Lutheran Church Mailing address: 1412 Geneva Rd Menasha, WI 54952  Tel:  (920) 585-2474</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> © Living Word Free Lutheran Church 2002</div> <div> All Rights Reserved</div> </td> </tr></table></body>