Maintenance, Ministry and Online Donations
The letter below went out to families of Como Park Lutheran Church this week, pointing out some of the congregation’s summer expenses. What it doesn’t mention is how easy it is to contribute using our new online donation tool on the homepage of this website. There are three check-boxes there to direct your offering to different uses. It’s a simple way to participate in our ongoing ministry. Read through the letter, and check out the donate button and its options.
Dear Friends,
I wonder if someone would write a special check?
There’s a five pound block of metal on my desk, covered in grease and grit. It’s one of two main bearings from the air handler for the sanctuary that had to be replaced this summer. Since this particular size isn’t made anymore, it had to be fabricated and shipped from Ohio. It cost between $300 and $400 dollars and we needed two of them. I don’t know what the installer charged for his time yet.
There’s a box on the floor in the boiler room that holds a new Baldor electric motor ($500) that needs to be installed. There’s a $600 phase control unit for this new motor that still needs to be ordered. Leaks in our roof last fall led to an $8700 roof repair that we completed early this summer -and a few very hard rains since then suggest the workers did a really fine job.
Our Chapel needs new carpeting, the Fireside Room does too. One is worn and stained and the other presents tripping hazards that we can’t afford. Figure about $4,000 for each room for commercial grade carpets and installation. And there are sidewalk slabs that we’re responsible for that need to be replaced or ground down so that people don’t fall and so water will run where it’s supposed to. We’re expecting bids for those projects later this month.
So how do you feel about bearings and air handlers, roof repairs and tripping hazards? These are some of the “hidden costs” of ministry and – quite frankly – our budget doesn’t stretch far enough to cover all of them. So if you’d like to donate a bearing, a motor, a phase control unit or several square yards of roofing or carpeting, Como Park Lutheran Church would gladly receive your special gift for “Maintenance and Ministry” this summer. Pray about this if you would, and consider what you can do to help.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Martin R. Ericson