On Sunday, January 23, 2011, our Annual Meeting for the Year 2010, took place following worship service and fellowship. It was well-attended by church members, with special guest being Rebecaa Alwin, a representative from the ELCA South-Central Synod Office. New Church Council members elected to serve are Helen Brausen, Gary Homuth, Wendy Kirkland and Jon Meyer, with Rebekah Heisig serving as the Youth Council Representative. Continuing on as Church Treasurer is Lisa Johnson, Financial Secretary is Betty Koenig, and Sugar Creek Bible Camp Representatives are Steve and Veronica Eicher. Bob Bruegger was also re-elected to continue as a member on the Norway Grove Cemetery Association Board.Many thanks to our ‘retiring’ Church Council members this year. There are Jim Simpson, Jackie Kelley, Sam Kirkland and Dave Pahl. Thanks also to Brad Urban, who served as the Youth Rep for 2010.

Copies of the 2010 Annual Report of the Congregation are still available at church, and can be found at the usher’s table. Please pick up a copy if you’d like!

We had a good Annual Meeting. Ideas and suggestions were voiced that were helpful all around. We have good leaders who are willing to serve and I know more will come forward in the days and weeks ahead. They will be Servant-Leaders.And I have been thinking about the term “Servant-Leader”. It seems to be an oxymoron - two words used together which are opposites. The world would tell us that one can be a leader or a servant but not both. (Just watch Masterpiece Theater on a Sunday night!) However … Jesus tells us that we are supposed to be servant-leaders; we lead by serving and serve by leading. And it is sometimes a sticky wicket, a balancing act which we cannot do alone. Left to ourselves, we slide into a place of personal comfort.Being just a servant after awhile becomes not only tiresome, but can become self demeaning. Burn-out and resentment are bitter rewards. This is not what Jesus wants or ever intends. For others, the opposite danger lurks. The servant-leader becomes the Leader with deaf ears. Their vision may be good, but if it is not a shared process, a shared vision with all voices heard and other ideas Entertained, it is only the Leader’s vision … not the vision which serves Christ’s church. The end result for all those good intentions is burn-out and resentment … a bitter reward. This is not what Jesus wants or ever intends.The Good News is always Christ is with us. God does not desert us. We are never left to our own devices, locked in fear or failure. Believe me, God is quite willing to help and guide, renew, remake and rebuild. It has already begun. Scheesh! it makes me giddy with joy. And this is only February. As I write this, there are only 53 days ’till spring! And February is a short month. Ah, but every day is a gift and we, all of us, have work to do together.Thanks be to God!

Pastor Fabie

“Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.” ~Ephesians 5:19I’d like to express my sincere appreciation to all those who participated in the church’s music ministry for their commitment and diligence throughout 2010. We are blessed to have such a supportive and talented music community at Norway Grove. A special thanks to all of our musicians for the extra work put in during Lent, Easter, Advent and Christmas. We really appreciate the time and talent that you so generously share. A final thank you goes to our Sunday School children, teachers, and families for their help on “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. A snowstorm delayed our December performance, but we were given a second chance to perform it for the congregation on January 9^th. The kids gave a great effort despite the month-long delay! Kudos!Often we take time at the beginning of a new calendar year to evaluate our lives, giving thanks for the year behind and anticipating changes and challenges that may come with the year ahead. This can be a great time to evaluate our church music programs as well, giving thought to the highlights and lower points of the past year, as well as our hopes and dreams as we move ahead. What was unexpected? What plans worked out especially well? Were there half-finished ideas that we can take another look at? What was some of the feedback we received?  I look forward to continued dialogue with our members and staff as we plan our music ministry for the upcoming year.The new year is an excellent time to join a music program at Norway Grove! Now that Christmas is past, we have something of a new beginning as we start ramping up for Lent and Easter. If you’ve seen the tone chimes perform and thought it was something you would enjoy trying, practices are held on Sunday mornings following the service. If you have rediscovered a love for singing, think about attending a choir practice on Wednesday evenings at 7:30. If you’ve dusted off your bass guitar and amp and are getting the itch to play in an informal    setting, come and jam with the praise band on Sunday evenings at 7:00. Let’s keep ringing and singing together!This year we have the joy of experiencing an extra long Epiphany season. Although we may have taken down our Christmas decorations and lights, the light of Christ continues to shine throughout this dark winter and throughout all time. May the light of Christ continue to shine through us here at Norway Grove Memorial Lutheran Church. See you at worship!

Jill Buchheim, Music Director

The Prayer Task Force was formed in October 2010 before our congregation was asked to take the spiritual vitality survey. Many other groups were formed after the survey had been taken to study, and work on vision and mission of our congregation these last 3 months. The Prayer Task Force prayed weekly for the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of all the people working within these groups and to focus on what God is calling our congregation’s vision, mission and philosophy statement to be.  We prayed for the church and its purpose of God the Creator, to prepare the church for the presence of God in Jesus Christ and open the church to the power and work of the Holy Spirit.Now that the Prayer Task Force has been formed, we now would like to be called the Prayer Team. The purpose of the prayer team is to give members of the church the opportunity to engage in a ministry of prayer for the church, our members and their specific concerns, local and world events. This prayer team will further the mission of being a church that listens for and serves God in prayer.There will always be an open invitation to come and join us each time we meet. If you have prayer concerns there will always be opportunities to seek a prayer member and ask for prayer requests. Or you can write the prayer request down on paper and put it in our prayer basket in the narthex. As the prayer task force developed, we realized that as humans we cannot struggle in life without the help of our God the Creator, Christ our Savior, and the works of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is the blood line of the Church. Without prayer we will fail.The Prayer Team will start praying for members of our congregation starting in February.  Each week, we will take five individuals or families from our most recent directory and pray for them. This will be done alphabetically until we have the whole directory prayed for. Then we will start over from the beginning. When new members come into the congregation they will be included in our prayers. Postcards will be sent out so you know when the prayer team will be praying specifically for you, and the names of the individuals or families being prayed for will be listed in the bulletin.Prayer has become a learning process for our group. It is vital for the church and for us as individuals. Now that the prayer team has formed, we pray that the group will grow and it will become contagious for others to join us.We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. As we talk to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and your continual anticipation of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.             1 Thessalonians 1:2-3Blessings to all of you,

Veronica Eicher (Prayer Team); Other Members are Rick Johnson, Betty Olson, and Ginger Pippert