With thanks and appreciation…. Twenty Four years of Faithful Service Shirley Francies We will give thanks and appreciation for Shirley’s faithful years of service to our congregation on June 23rd following our 10:00am service by joining together in a special luncheon. Save the date! “Good Morning, Trinity Lutheran Church, this is Shirley.” For the past 24 years callers, visitors, members and friends a like have been welcomed by Shirley into the ministry of Trinity. It was the summer of 1988 that Shirley began her service as our Church Secretary with Pastor Jack Schieman. Pastor Jack was concluding his ministry at Trinity so the congregation moved into interim ministry with Pastor Paul Michaelson and 14 months later, Pastor Chuck Nahnsen. Shirley was the first person that I met when I arrived to serve Trinity. Shirley has given her heart and soul to our ministry at Trinity. Her deep love for her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, her willingness to reach out and to help others has been a hallmark of her special gifts. Trained as a “Stephen’s Minister”, Shirley brought her special talent of listening to bear on all of her relationships. Hospitality was the center of her greeting and she was always ready to go the extra mile, like the Good Samaritan she has given of herself to many a homeless person, offered emotional help and support above and beyond any call of duty. Shirley was intimately involved in all aspects of our ministry, able to call up the names of any who called, knew the gifts and abilities of all and was never hesitant to pick up the phone and call people for help. She assembled a mighty group of volunteers for our newsletter production, Sunday morning coffee, greeters, social ministry outreach and council teams. Prayers were always in her heart and lips for those in need. Shirley has seen many, many changes around Trinity. A charter member of Trinity Shirley was with that group that first worshiped at Ailsal School. She saw the construction of our first sanctuary and fellowship hall, was active in the women’s ministry, Sunday school and council. When she began her service as our Church Secretary, the congregation numbered a little over 200 members with a worshiping body of 60 people and one service. The two room office space served as the pastor’s study, secretary office, workroom, and sacristy. The phone was one line and there was no such thing as a computer. The typewriter was a “Swinter – state of the art – electronic”. But since that time Shirley has moved from the first Apple Mac, where files were shared via disk, an ImageWriter for a printer and a very old Xerox copier (that took up a very large part of the office) to our PC based system, with emails, CDM, and Google calendar. Shirley boldly learned all of the new programs and computer technologies, and when we moved into the new administrative space took on the role of Parish Administrator, responsible for an office staff that included another full-time secretary, an evangelism associate, a second pastor, and youth director. Shirley has worked with seven pastors in her 24 years, has seen the congregation expand from a family style ministry into a full fledged program ministry. Good friendships were established along the way with the other office staff, Sarah Schuler, Andrea Holmquist, Denise Sereda, Jennifer Esparza and Karen Ellgas. Twenty Four years of faithful service…how do you sum up that time given and shared? With much love and gratitude on behalf of the entire congregation I say thank you to Shirley for a job well done. And this is not the end….because Shirley will continue to lead our volunteers and serve in our Outreach ministries, coordinating our Open Heart Kitchen volunteers, ready to bring joy and hope to all she meets. I invite you to write a memory of an event or time that you have shared with Shirley through our ministry at Trinity. Share a good story as we gather a book of memories. Christine Zoraster Christine Zoraster began her service as our principle Sonshine teacher in the Fall of 1988. Twenty-four years of faithful service has been shared with hundreds of students and parents. Mrs. Z as she is known around Sonshine started by leading a “mother’s time out group” taking care of the children in our fellowship hall for several mornings. Her infectious joy and delight in the children brought more and more people looking for her to care for their children. In a short time, the morning time expanded to a five day a week experience and soon after into an afternoon session. In those early years we had to set up and break down the classroom space daily as we had but one space that needed to be used by all of the ministries. Our dream was to create a full time preschool that was “developmentally based”, taking in the needs for the social and faith development of our children. I can tell you that the rest is history, but there was much work in moving Sonshine into a fully state licensed Christian preschool. With thanks to the many vision filled leaders who took the plunge in 1991 and brought on the first modular building, hired a Director and established Sonshine Enrichment Center Preschool. Mrs. Z has been the master teacher through out this entire time. After 24 years Mrs. Z has touched hundreds of children and their families. Some of the preschool children have even returned to Sonshine to serve as teachers. Mrs. Z’s love for the children is evident as soon as you enter into her classroom. The pictures, art projects and most important, the smiles from the children tell it all. Lives have been changed and Mrs. Z has been a huge influence in giving a firm foundation in the start up of our children’s education. On behalf of the members of Trinity, the staff, students and parents of Sonshine we say thank you Christine for your faithful and compassionate teaching. I would also invite you to write up your favorite story of how your children and family have been impacted by Mrs. Z and her 24 years of service to our Sonshine ministry.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:55:23 +0000
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