Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As I write this letter, exciting things are happening in our church family.

· The Lord continues to provide the resources needed to carry out the work He is doing through Emmanuel.

· Our school enrollment is at its highest level in years and is projected to rise again next year.

· In 2009 alone, our congregation has been blessed to celebrate 20 baptisms, two of which were adult baptisms.

· We have welcomed 36 members in this calendar year, and each day God continues to open new doors for ministry.

The Holy Spirit is working among us and we have much for which to be humbly thankful. In the midst of all this activity, we have also been planning for the future and, for the last several years, we have been looking ahead and working hard to be prepared for the opportunities that God has planned for us. The centerpiece of this planning process is the “Building Faith” vision which was approved by the congregation in April of 2008. This report pointed to many of the changes that we have been experiencing as a church and also set out an action plan for propelling our ministry into the future. This vision led to such things as an expansion of our outreach to the neighborhood, the development of a new staffing model and the formation of an adult Bible study program which will be launched later this year.

The “Building Faith” vision also led to the formation of a committee charged with:

· Studying the ministry plans and needs outlined in the “Building Faith” report

· And translating them into a master plan for campus development.

After nearly a year of working through this process, the Campus Development Task is now ready to present their study and preliminary building plans to the congregation.

On Sunday, May 31^st, at our semi-annual congregational voter’s meeting, the Campus Development Task Force will unveil these plans to the church and seek approval from the congregation to moving ahead with the planning process. This is a critical stage in the life of our church and I am writing to encourage every member of Emmanuel to attend this important meeting.

To help our members make informed decisions at the meeting, and to make the best use of our time on the 31st, a congregational meeting guide is being prepared and can be picked up on Saturday, May 23^rd, or Sunday, May 24^th when you come to church. Please take the meeting guide home and study it so that you can take part in the meeting as an educated participant.

Also, if you are coming to the meeting on May 31^st and are in need of lunch, or childcare, please register for lunch and/or childcare by signing-up on the clipboard located near the Church Resource Center in Brandt Hall. The meeting will take place in the school cafeteria approximately 15 minutes after our 10:30 service concludes on Sunday, May 31^st.

This is an exciting time to be involved with God’s work at Emmanuel and I hope that you can join us as we seek the Lord’s will for our next steps as a caring family, sharing God’s love and forgiveness.

In Christ,

Pastor Thomas A. Eggold