Immanuel Lutheran Church

Board of Trustee’s Meeting Minutes - 5/20/2025

The Board of Trustees met May 20th 2025 at Immanuel Lutheran Church at 7pm. Tonight’s meeting was also our semi-annual meeting with Luz de Vida.

Present were: 

1. Pastor Mark Tooley

2. President Fred Hildenbrand

3. Vice President Millard Littlepage

4. Head Elder David Schmidt 

5. Treasurer Wesley Brown and 

6. Recording Secretary Corey Schmidt

Also present from Luz de Vida were: 

1. Vice President Joel Sanchez 

2. Founding Member Eli Sanchez 

3. Gamaliel 

4. Yoni Perez 

5. Leo Barrio 

6. Greice Sanchez

Introduction and Welcoming of Members - Fred Hildenbrand

Fred introduced everyone and welcomed members of Luz de Vida. Thanked them for the care they take of the facility and congratulated them on their 19th anniversary.

Opening Devotion - Pastor Tooley

From Luther’s Small Catechism - 5th petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses.”

Sharing Discussion - Fred Hildenbrand

Luz de Vida’s youth society sent us a letter which Fred read. They are having their anniversary and requested use of the facility on Saturday Sept 20th 2025 5pm & Sunday Sept 21st 2025 at 1pm. 

Motion to approve by Pastor Tooley, seconded by Wes, all were in favor. 

Memorandum of Understanding. Fred passed out two copies of the Memorandum between Luz de Vida and Immanuel. Fred requested they review the Memorandum and have their President and Vice President sign and return to the Trustees by the end of June. 

Pastor asked Luz de Vida about their long term plans - they would like to eventually have a facility of their own. They’ve done lots of talking and planning, but don’t currently have concrete plans to purchase a facility. If this facility were available they would be interested as they feel it’s like home. They are asking for God’s guidance in this matter. Both groups appreciated the desire to communicate their respective long term plans and keep the other informed if anything changes.

Our next scheduled meeting with Luz de Vida will be on September 16th at 7pm.

Secretary’s Report - Corey Schmidt

April 15th minutes were previously emailed to the board after the last meeting. Printed copies were also distributed for tonight’s meeting. 

Motion to dispense with reading of minutes by Wes, seconded by David. Motion to approve 4/15/25 minutes by Fred, seconded by David.

Pastor’s Report - Mark Tooley

Over the last 3 years the church is experiencing net growth in membership.

Delany Cox baptized, April 27th 2025. 

Lois Yeager transferred to the Church Triumphant May 10th 2025. Funeral service May 27th at Frampton Funeral Home at 312 S Talbot St. St. Michaels - visitation starts at 2pm followed by service at 3pm. Burial will be May 28th at 2pm at their family plot which is located at St. John’s Cemetery, 3480 St John’s Lane, Ellicott City, MD.

Daniel and Annette Clougherty confirmed May 11th, 2025.

Attended SED conference with Bob Mildenberger on May 7th.

Community Bible Study sent us a thank you note along with a gift. Wes has recorded and deposited it.

Letter going out to those in the Adult Information class identifying upcoming dates for class which is now going to be held in September.

Has a scheduled meeting via zoom with our SED stewardship leader in June to discuss and plan our upcoming stewardship emphasis to begin Nov 2025.

Bethany Lutheran of Salisbury is having a joint church picnic with area LCMS churches on June 7th from 11:30 - 3pm. The picnic will be held at Schumaker Park Pavillion, 1019 S. Schumaker Dr., Salisbury, MD. Full details in weekly email.

Will be visiting with homebound and widows in the upcoming weeks.

Been working with Laura Katherine to craft email address for church leadership that can be utilized while in office and passed down when members transition from the position. Exploring finding the most efficient and cost effective ways to implement.

Roof Update - Matt from Bay Area Exteriors texted Pastor Friday and stated he will be coming by to check the roof since we recently had a bad storm which included some hail.

Also crafted a Credit Card Use form to be filled out by members who need to use the church credit card to cover expenses.

June 22nd - Trinity Lutheran in Chestertown will be installing their new Pastor, Rev Keffie Dean. Pastor will be attending and members are invited to attend. Please RSVP if you are planning to attend.

Laura Katherine sent a letter to the trustees detailing the things she is doing to help facilitate communication between leadership and the congregation. Her goal is to break-down the people and processes that exist behind the scenes at Immanuel and showing who the trustee’s elders and other leaders are by having us complete the member spotlights for the weekly email updates.

President’s Report - Fred Hildenbrand

Working to further enhance communication between church leadership and members. Monthly calendar is one method to do this and will be included in the weekly email. Fred is also stressing cleanliness of the facility. This is God’s house, and there are areas that could be improved upon. Lou Diefenderfer asked if she could raffle a quilt she made and asked if the trustees would give their blessing to do this. Trustees agreed to see if Lou had a specific mission in mind for the funds which would be raised and to provide one if she didn’t have a specific one.

Lighting in the Courtyard - Trustees discussed whether it was a good idea to install lighting in the courtyard in anticipation that it would be used for open mic nights and other events in the future. What type of lighting would be appropriate, as well as logistics of the project were discussed.

Vice President’s Report - Millard Littlepage

Millard and Mark Mildenberger helped replace the lights that were out in the sanctuary.

Millard spoke with Brian Endzel our groundskeeper and he is sending us a written estimate detailing the cost estimate for snow removal services.

Contacted Family Heating and Air about scheduling a maintenance of our HVAC system. They will be coming out on June 11th to service our HVAC units per our service agreement with them.

Mark Mildenberger will also be fixing the electric meter where it is coming loose from the wall.

Elder’s Report - David Schmidt

We are going to a single service at 10 am starting this week and lasting through August 31.

Included an explanation in the weekly email for the service time change.

Patriotic/Memorial Day service is this Sunday at 10am.

Have been running out of bulletins for Sunday service, working with LK to get a better estimate of attendance so that this does not continue to happen in the future. Pastor mentioned average attendance has been about 74 for both services. Pastor will work with LK to get a cheat sheet for instructions on how to print out bulletins.

New Elder search - has a potential candidate for filling the position, which will be vacated by Don Galloway at the end of this year.

Treasurer’s Report - Wesley Brown

Ended the month of March with a balance of $13,000 in the primary checking account. The balance for the month of April was $11,600 in checking. The HVAC service contract expense of $2,070 was the primary reason for the decrease. Will distribute full financials in the coming days.

Community Bible Study contributed $3,475 to our general fund in the month of May. This was recorded and deposited. Trustees signed a thank you card for their contribution.

Old/New Business

None

David Closed with prayer.

Meeting Adjourned 9:30 pm

LUTHERANISM 101 CLASS INFORMATION

Greetings in the Name of Jesus the Christ.

Given that our first round of classes for our Lutheran 101 course had to be

rescheduled due to my shoulder injury and surgery, I am writing, once again, to all

active attendees of Immanuel who are NOT registered in our records as "official

members". Moreover, this course is also intended for those who are, in any way,

new to the congregation and invite you to an Adult Inquiry Class intended to lead

toward becoming Confirmed (i.e., having gone through a basic Lutheran doctrinal

course) members of Immanuel Lutheran Church. I am also writing to all current

members of Immanuel who wish to repeat a coarse, such as this, on our Lutheran

Confessions.

This class is a Lutheran 101 course for adults. The goal is to cover the basics of

our Lutheran heritage and doctrine. Many who have even been Lutherans for life,

find a course like this beneficial because they either have forgotten things or

because they learn things they didn't know.

The course is a six week, six session class. We will begin Wednesday August 27th

and meet each Wednesday at 5:30PM - 6:30PM until October 1st. All classes will

be in the classroom across from my office.

Those who complete 85% of the course (5 of 6 classes) are encouraged to join

Immanuel Lutheran on her official roster. Those completing the course will be

invited to publicly affirm your faith and join Immanuel on Sunday October 19th.

Please contact me by email, text or phone for any questions and let me know you

are planning to attend. This for the sake of ordering enough materials.

I will provide all materials. Each participant will receive the book "Lutheranism

101".

Course Content:

August 27: It's All About the Relationships.

When God created mankind, it was His plan that we would have an everlasting

relationship with Him.

Sin destroyed that relationship. In sending Jesus Christ as the Savior of all

mankind, God has done what we could never do to restore our relationship with

Him.

September 3: Delivering the Gifts of God.

The power of God and the grace of God are administered in the world for the

benefit of all who have faith. God gives authority and power to the civil

government to establish order and peace. God's word establishes the church. In the

church, God delivers the gifts of faith, forgiveness of sins, and everlasting life.

September 10: The Means of Grace.

God offers, the stoves, and seals to people forgiveness of sins, life, salvation,

through the means of grace. Lutheran recognize the means of grace as God's word,

and the sacraments, namely, holy confession, and absolution, baptism, and the

Lord supper.

September 17: Lutheran at a Glance.

Lutheranism arose out of a desire to reform the doctrine and practice of the Roman

Catholic Church, but after being rejected by the Roman Church, has grown to be

the fourth largest Christian tradition in the world.

September 24: Worship: The Blessings of God.

People often think that worship is about what we do for or toward God. The reality

is quite different.

In the Divine Service, God comes to us and provides His service for us. The work

we do in worship is to receive the gift of God's grace and respond.

October 1: Living as Lutherans.

Having received from God, all good things for our body, and for our soul, as

Christians, we live in relationship with not only God, but also our neighbors. The

love we have received becomes active in our faith. And this way, the believer

becomes the mouth confessing, the Good News of Jesus Christ and the hands of

God, working for the good of the neighbor.

I look forward to hearing from you and joining together in the joy of being in

God's Word.

In Christ Alone,

Rev. Mark D. Tooley

And As Always, Thank You for Reading.