Vacancy

We welcome Rev. Dean Rudloff, who has agreed to serve as our vacancy pastor since Pastor Schutte's retirement. We thank Pator Rudloff for serving us and delivering God's Word and Sacraments to us while we seek a new permanent pastor. Pastor Rudloff will be available in Grand Marais on Wednesdays and Sundays during the vacancy.

Pastor's Retirement

After serving Life in Christ for the last 11 years, Pastor Schutte will be retiring as of November 26. To celebrate his ministry with us, there will be a time for congratulations, fellowship and a dinner after the Divine Service on Sunday, November 20. All are welcome as we thank God for Pastor's service to this congregation.

New Website

We've just upgraded and revamped our web page! Check it out at http://www.boreal.org/~lcms.

Summer Schedule Begins

Starting this Sunday, June 7, Life in Christ will begin its summer schedule. We will have our regular service at the Cook County Community Center at 9:00 Sunday mornings, and then we will have an additional service at 11:00 at Heston's Lodge on the Gunflint Trail. If you're vacationing on the Trail, please stop by and join us on Sunday morning!

Year in Review

Yes, it's been quite a while since we posted information to this site! Blame it on busy schedules and a lack of news to report. Hopefully both will improve, but I'm not making any promises at this point!

Meanwhile, here are a few highlights from the last year at Life in Christ Lutheran Church:

• We welcomed some new members, including the Mesenbring, Bockovich and Berglund families.
• For the third summer, we conducted a second Sunday service at Heston's lodge at the end of the Gunflint Trail. We thank Gecas's for hosting our service at their lodge and look forward to having services there again this summer.
• This summer we did Vacation Bible School a little differently - instead of having classes each morning for a week, we had them one morning a week for six weeks. This schedule was much easier on both teachers and parents, and we're planning to do VBS this way again this coming year.
• This fall we began having a Sunday school after church. It's a pleasure to see the little children learning about Jesus, their Savior!
• On the down side, we continue to struggle financially. Our pastor's final compensation in 2008, including benefits, was about 46% of his designated compensation package. So far this year is looking about the same - please keep us in your prayers on this matter!

Summer Potluck

One Sunday, July 29, Life in Christ members from town joined the members who meet at 11:30 at Heston's Lodge on the Gunflint Trail. After the service, everyone gathered for a potluck dinner, loaded with all kinds of great dishes. A short voter's meeting followed the dinner.

Baptism

On Sunday, July 1, 2007, we were happy to welcome Kendra Berglund into the Christian church through baptism. Congratulations to Kendra's parents, David & Heidi Berglund, and to big brother Spencer. We wish all God's blessings to Kendra.

Fire News

Just a quick update - the Ham Lake fire burns on, and the evacuation is still in effect north of County Road 85 on the Gunflint Trail. That includes all the area around Gunflint Lake.

While we were delighted to see the Gecas's in church today, we were sorry that the reason they were in town and not busy with the fishing opener was because they'd been evacuated and their home and livelihood is in very real danger from the fires. We were also sorry to hear that so many of the cabins where our summer guests vacation have been destroyed by the fires. How appropriate that today's readings focused on prayer! Our prayers are certainly with the Gecas's, the Preuss's, and all who've lost property and/or had to leave their homes due to the fire.

Today was another high-danger day as winds were expected to rise and blow the fire towards the homes and businesses on the south shore of Gunflint Lake. We haven't heard yet what happened on the fire today, but the good news is that the winds here near the Lake stayed mild all day. I hope they were as mild up on the Gunflint Trail.

To see lots of fire photos and pictures of the devastation, click here, and please remember our people in your prayers!