Annual Meeting 2014: Prepare the Way!

Sunday, June 8 will be a busy day in the church building. In addition to a Hot Breakfast (9:00 - 11:00 am), Camp Wapo Orientation for children (Grades 2-5) and parents at 9:45 am, and a Summer Commissioning for all Summer Stretch, Summer Camp, Mission Trip participants and leaders during worship at 9:45 and 11:00 am, we will have our Annual Congregational Meeting.

The coming year at SOTV will be full of activity and excitement. We want to prepare for what’s next in our church’s mission and we need your help – all of you. Here’s what you can expect on June 8 at our Annual Meeting:

• A Devotion - SOTV Pastors
• State of the Church Report - President Steve Mueller
• Leadership Elections and Appointments - Vice President Jenny Buckley
• Capital Campaign Discussion and Vote - Past President Lynn Askew 
•  Budget Review and Approval - Treasurer Troy Nelson & President Steve Mueller

Lunch will be served in the Great Hall following 11:00 am worship with a freewill offering. The meeting will take place in the Sanctuary immediately following lunch.

We hope to see you there so you can hear about all the great things that have been done at SOTV in the mission of Jesus Christ in the past year and the plan for 2014-15. This is a great opportunity to participate in and support the work of your church.

Please register at the Welcome Center or online, so we can plan for food.

$161,426 raised for Heifer International

In honor of "Throwback Thursday", we're taking a look back at our 13 years of ministry supporting Heifer International. You may remember it as "Fill the Ark" Sunday or Petting Zoo weekend.

About Heifer

Heifer provides long-term solutions to hunger and poverty. Since 1944, Heifer has helped 20.7 million families in more than 125 countries move toward greater self-reliance through the gift of livestock and training in environmentally sound agriculture. The impact of each gift is multiplied as recipients agree to “pass on the gift” by giving one or more of their animal’s offspring, or the equivalent, to another in need.

Here to better explain how Heifer works is celebrity chef Alton Brown:




How You Have Helped

Every spring since 2000, you have helped us raise money for Heifer International. These donations provide farm animals that produce food and income for needy families around the world. The total of $161,426 represents 13 years' worth of donations by Shepherd of the Valley. That's an average of over $12,000 per year. Wow! THANK YOU to all who have made generous gifts to Heifer over the years.

For those of you new to SOTV, most years have happened like this:

In early spring, children in church are given an ark-shaped bank  to take home and collect coins in. Sometimes even "older kids" take a bank too! On Fill the Ark Weekend, usually the first weekend of May, the congregation returns its FULL banks to church, with all donations going to Heifer. Additionally, we have staged a "Living Gifts Market" in the narthex where people can symbolically “purchase” animals including goats, pigs, honeybees and more. Many people have taken advantage of Fill the Ark Weekend's proximity to Mother's Day to give mom a special gift that keeps on giving!

What you probably remember most from past years is the Sunday Petting Zoo featuring many of the same animals that Heifer purchases for families. In addition to the photos on this page, check out our Throwback Album on Facebook. It's always fun to see kids experience animals up close, but check out some of the awe-struck adults getting in on the action too!


Moooved by Great Volunteers!

A special debt of gratitude to the volunteer leaders of this ministry including Kirsten Levorson, Martha Pederson, Lori Bullock, and most notably the Turnquist sisters—Cheryl Perry, Kristi O’Brien, Marcia Priebe, (pictured) and their entire families. Over the years, the Turnquist clan has created many creative, memorable, and always costumed, skits for worship. These skits have served to educate and bring awareness to the work of Heifer and the need for this global mission. Their dedication to this ministry has been truly inspiring, and has provided a great example of how a whole family can serve together to support a single cause.

We did not plan a Living Gifts Market or Petting Zoo this spring, but we encourage you to learn more about Heifer International and to make a donation now, or any time throughout the year at www.heifer.org.

SOTV does great work in many other global ministries too, including our Tanzania Parternship, Holy Land Shepherds, Fair Trade Coffee (in the narthex this weekend!), and more. Thank you to all the volunteers and generous donors who enable this faith community to be Christ's hands and feet in the world through Heifer, and other global ministries.


See more photos from past Fill the Ark Weekends on our Facebook page!

Post by Shepherd of the Valley- Apple Valley, MN.

CAT Survey Results Provide Helpful Insights

A Summary by Pastor Chris Smith

Pastor Chris Smith
Senior Pastor

Thank You! 
The Church Assessment Tool (CAT) Survey was completed by 927 people between January 19 and February 16, 2014. This is fantastic! The large sample provides results which have high validity and yield reliable insights. Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. Below is a summary of key findings from the survey. A full copy of the report with an explanatory DVD is available at the Welcome Center for check-out.

A High Energy Church 
The people of Shepherd of the Valley (SOTV) report that the church is a high energy center of ministry in the name of Jesus Christ. SOTV is a transformational church where people express overall high satisfaction with their experience of its ministry and appreciate the diverse opportunities for worship and growth that our church offers.

An Adaptable Church 
SOTV people also report that they experience the church as a flexible, adaptable place of mission and ministry. We are willing to adapt our worship and our programs in order to meet the changing needs of our current members as well as to reach out to others in our local community. We are also a theologically diverse community of faith. We think and talk about God in a variety of ways and make room for others with differing viewpoints.

Particular Strengths 
The CAT survey highlighted a number of areas of strength in SOTV’s ministry: 

• Music and Worship – Worship at SOTV is characterized by music and other worship elements that are outstanding and inspiring for faith 
• Educational Offerings – SOTV provides opportunities for education that are high quality and suit the needs of our community. 
• All Called to Ministry – SOTV does a good job of equipping its people for ministry and helping them know that they make a difference. 
• Energetic Spirit – At SOTV, people experience the presence of God in ways that impact their faith and how it connects to other aspects of their lives. 
• High Morale – People at SOTV are energized and transformed by their experience of the church so that they invite others to experience the church as well. 

Of course just because these are strengths of SOTV does not mean that these same aspects of our ministry do not need attention and improvement. CAT results also point to ways we can build on our strengths to enhance the experience of the ministry and mission of SOTV.

Places for Improvement 
The CAT survey also revealed a number of areas where SOTV can improve: 

• Governance – CAT results suggest that the Church Council and other governance teams at SOTV do two things: First, include broader representation from the congregation and, second, make information about key decisions more accessible for review and comment. 
• Transformation and Meaning – While people experience an energetic spirit and high morale at SOTV, they also seek greater meaning from their experience in worship and beyond to apply to their lives every day.
• Conflict Management – SOTV has gone through a variety of changes in recent years. Changes like these will happen more effectively through broader engagement and excellent communication in the process of making decisions and implementation. 
• Invitation and Welcome – SOTV needs to explore new ways to welcome and engage the diverse community around us. 
• Activity Level Beyond Worship – While the people of SOTV affirm worship as a key priority in their faith development, their involvement beyond worship is at a lower level than most churches. How can we inspire greater participation? 
• Opportunities to Give – The people of SOTV on average give 1.28% of their household income to support the mission and ministry of SOTV. A giving increase of just one-half of one percent of household income would fully fund our mission and enable us to be far more generous with those in need. 

Your Priorities 
The CAT survey provided the opportunity to name priorities and hopes for SOTV. The results ranked four as high or very high priorities: 

• Serve Our Community – The people of SOTV want to do much more to reach out and serve those living on the margins of society. This means that our church needs to develop ministries that bring healing to those broken by life circumstances.
• Reach Out – The people of SOTV want to develop and implement new ways to invite others to engage in the life and ministry of SOTV. 
• Build Relationships – The people of SOTV want to form new relationships with others in our community of faith. This priority means that we need to create new and diverse ways for people to meet one another and build relationships. 
• Worship that Transforms – Worship and music are already key strengths of SOTV. The people of SOTV want these experiences to deepen their connection to God and one another and to bring greater meaning to their faith in daily living. 

The Vision and the CAT 
It’s exciting to see how the results of the CAT survey align with the vision of SOTV. Our vision is to invite all people to experience the welcome, transformation, and sending of Jesus Christ. This vision supports devoting more energy to reaching out, building relationships and community, and creating transformational worship experiences, all priorities for SOTV. These efforts would also build on our strengths as a church. As an adaptable, high energy church we have the capacity to put into action much that the CAT survey results suggest.

Ideas Please! 
Your leaders on the church council and on the church staff will be discussing the CAT results in the weeks and months to come. If you have ideas about putting insights from survey results into action, please share them. We need good ideas! And, thanks again for completing the survey!

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Full CAT Survey Results 
Download the full Vital Signs Report (PDF) prepared by Holy Cow Consulting. A full copy of the report with an explanatory DVD is also available at the Welcome Center for check-out.

You may also view a video explanation below of the Vital Signs Report, by J. Russell Crabtree, called the Vital Look Session. This video lasts an hour and 17 minutes.