Let God Lead with Generosity; Part Two

Yesterday in his sermon, Pastor John invited people to share experiences of generosity.   He shared  two examples.

I remember the generosity of my father in regards to the Lutheran Bible camp near our home.  The camp was called Lutherhaven and it was on Wildcat Lake, about 15 miles from my home in Bremerton, Washington.  He served on the camp board and worked many week-ends helping to maintain the cabins and lodge.  He appealed to our congregation to make our financial donations and he also gave monetarily to the camp.  And the one summer I worked as a camp counselor there, he proudly showed the new staff what the camp had to offer.   My dad was a model of generosity for me.

And our congregation has a model of generosity in our own recent history.  We are so blessed by the generosity of Glenn and Inez Oehlke, whose farmland we now occupy.  Early on many commercial developers approached them: Walgreens and others, because they knew what valuable property this was, being on the key intersection of Bailey Road and Woodbury Drive.   But they said no to the commercial realtors, because they wanted churches to be here.  So they sold at reasonable prices to both St. Ambrose Catholic Church and to Resurrection Lutheran Church.

Then after Glen died, Inez moved out of her farmhouse and donated the land and buildings to the south to us where we now enjoy our Harvest Festival and outdoor worship.  God truly has taken the lead in our congregation's experience of generosity.

     

You can share your own experience of generosity  by taking the following survey where your comments will be used later this month in worship.  You can take the survey anonymously or leave your name if you choose. The link is here Generosity Survey