Report of Senior Pastor Rick Nelson

 

Dear Members of Central,

 

This Annual Meeting marks the beginning of my fourth year in service alongside of you in the ministry God has entrusted to us.   I am happy to report that I remain enthusiastic, passionate, challenged by, and hopeful about our life together.  Annette and I so enjoy Central and the Twin Cities; we join you in loving them both!  Please know that we deeply appreciate the warmth, friendship, and encouragement so many of you provide us.  I trust it will continue to be the hallmark of our ministry to and with one another.  I thank God every day for calling me to this labor of love and the joy and privilege of being partners with you in God’s mission in Christ to the world.

 

Central is alive, vital, and very blessed with generous resources and gifted people---and, of course, to whom much has been given much is expected.  I hope you’ll be faithful and active in discerning just what God is calling us to in these coming years of ministry AND in making it happen.  Empowered by the Holy Spirit in our individual, day-to-day lives and as a community of faith together, God has much to do with us as we move forward into His marvelous future.  I promise to listen faithfully to God, as I hope you will, in order to arrive at the ministries, people, and directions we ought to be reaching.

 

In this report, I want to publicly thank God for you disciples whose activity and participation at Central make great things take place.  Thanks, also, to an inspiring, hard-working, talented, faithful staff AND ministry team leaders.  Thanks be to God for all of you who have supported our ministry with over $1.2 million in regular giving and an additional $2 million over the past 3 years in “Forward in Faith” giving for helping us accomplish the renovation of necessary space on our campus, and provid funding for various disaster relief projects and our partnership with Jordan New Life Church on the north side.

 

Today you are voting on a ministry plan that will require even more generosity on your part in order to accomplish all things God has set before us.  Ambitious?  Yes.  Faithful?  Yes.  Prayerful?  Bathed in it.  Can we do it?  God can, through us.

 

Other points of thanksgiving and reflection:

 

* I thank God for Annette: the love of my life and ministry partner---she remains patient, supportive, honestly insightful, a soft place to land, and a lifeline for me.  I also remain very blessed with joy by Kris, Jess, and Brita and their spouses who still love Jesus and His Church---both girls, their husbands, and our two new grandchildren are relocating to the Cities----a gift from God that we’ll enjoy.  Even with distance, though, they remain deep wells from which I daily draw laughter, encouragement, and hope for the future of our world;

 

* I thank God for the privilege of teaching and preaching—thank you for showing up at worship and Bible studies---remember: there’s always room for more!  Why not bring someone who has not settled into a church home?  Or better yet, someone who really needs to meet the God revealed to us in Jesus.   These two things I especially love. Other elements of my work which bless me often include casting/keeping before us the vision of God’s work among us, caring for the staff and other leaders, visitation and personal interactions with you, working hard to maintain a warm, creative, passionate, and friendly climate around this place, and being an ambassador and representative of Central in this city, God’s world, and in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America;

 

*I thank God for my colleagues in ministry: Pastor Kristen and Pastor Foy---uniquely called, gifted and blessed for the work they do among us;  and for Pastors Chuck and Mark who passionately serve in our ministry of visitation.  I do appreciate them so, and I hope you let each one of these pastors know that YOU do, too;

 

*God has blessed me in rich ways through the staff team of Central, and I thanks God for them---they work hard to guarantee that specific ministries happen around this place, and that you are supported in doing around here what God has in mind for you.  Through these past three years there’s been some turnover and moving on.  Yet, God continues to raise up just the right people to join us in this labor of love!  We spend a lot of time together, and I am ever-thankful for the joy and cooperative spirit they bring to work each day;

 

*My hope and commitment for the coming year of life together?  Personally: I will seek to model for you a well-balanced life: work, play, study, exercise, spiritual disciplines, and special relationships.Corporately: I intend to work hard with you at keeping our eyes on Jesus, resisting distractions which can derail and discourage us, and discerning the future to which God is calling us.

 

Please read the reports that follow, as they represent a collective glimpse of the work of God through this congregation and staff.  The REAL annual reports are YOU---lives touched, changed, inspired, challenged, and renewed by the Good News of Jesus Christ!

 

To God be the Glory!

   Pastor Rick


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Minneapolis, MN 55404
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