Implementing Our Vision: New Worship Leader Identified

Last summer, we introduced Our Vision for ministry: Shepherd of the Valley (SOTV) will invite all people to experience the Welcome, Transformation and Sending of Jesus Christ. Last fall, we published specific plans of how we would invest in worship to achieve Our Vision, including the creation of a new full-time Worship Leader position.

The job of the full-time Worship Leader is to plan and lead our band-led worship, and also help evaluate our worship options in terms of structure, style, visuals, music and overall experience. While we worked over the past year to identify a candidate for this position, Brian Bremer served as a part-time interim leader. We are very grateful to Brian for his work, leadership, and dedication to the ministry of SOTV. Brian’s collaboration with staff and volunteers enabled a successful transition of band-led worship from the Great Hall to the Sanctuary. We are thankful to Brian for his work as the interim leader.

Brian will continue to lead the band through the 11:00 a.m. worship service on Sunday, July 28, 2013. Following the 11:00 service, Brian will be available to greet you in the Great Hall. Please join us and express your appreciation! We look forward to continued worship and fellowship with Brian and his family.

Our year-long search was a significant, wide, and prayerful process which included input from a large group of people. We are pleased to announce Shawn Vaughan will join our team as the new Worship Leader effective August 1, 2013. Shawn will lead 11:00 a.m. worship beginning Sunday, August 4, 2013.

Shawn comes to SOTV with many years of worship and band leadership across a variety of venues. His training and education includes a degree from McNally Smith College of Music, in addition to a passion for ministry and excellence in worship. Shawn will report to Mark Ertl, Director of Music and Worship, and collaborate with the pastoral staff. In addition, he will provide leadership to the band and other musicians. We are excited to experience Shawn using his skills and gifts to create meaningful and inspirational worship. Please join us and warmly welcome Shawn!

Favorite Hymns

This past weekend in worship, we concluded our series on the Psalms with a Hymn Sing. The original hymns were Psalms, after all.

Below are a series of videos featuring members of SOTV speaking about their favorite hymns, all of which were featured in worship as part of Pastor Duane's sermon. You can also listen to Pastor Duane's sermon.
The hymns we sang in worship last weekend were chosen by you! There were 385 total votes, and here were the top vote-getters (# of votes):

1. Beautiful Savior (42)
2. Amazing grace (37)
3. How Great Thou Art (35)
4. Borning Cry (18)
5. On Eagles Wings (17)
6. A Mighty Fortress (13)
7. Lift High the Cross (12)
8. Children of the Heavenly father (11)
9. Holy, Holy, Holy (11)
10. Here I Am, Lord (10)
11. What a Friend We Have in Jesus (9)
12. Praise to the Lord the Almighty (7)
13. Just As I Am (7)
14. This is My Father’s World (6)
15. Battle Hymn of the Republic (5)
16. Earth & All Stars (4)
17. Shine Jesus Shine (4)
18. I Know That My Redeemer Lives (4)
19. I Love to Tell the Story (4)
20. Love Divine (4)
21. Abide With Me (3)
22. Day by Day (3)
23. You Are Mine (3)
24. We Are Called (3)
25. We Are Marching in the Light (3)
26. Jesus Christ is Risen Today (3)
27. For All the Saints (3)
28. This Little Light of Mine (3)
29. Jesus Loves Me (3)
30. When Peace Like a River (3)
31. Canticle of the Turning (3)
32. Silent Night (3)

15 songs had 2 votes. 62 songs had one vote. The top three songs had over 25% of the vote. The top ten songs had over half the votes. Thank you to all those featured in our hymn videos, to everyone who voted for their favorite hymns, and special thanks to Arlen Wilson for suggesting the idea for the Hymn Sing.

A Recap of a Busy June

The transforming winds of the Holy Spirit have blown briskly throughout Shepherd of the Valley this June. Usually the start of summer is a quiet time, but not so this year! If you've been away for a few weeks (no judgment here, it is summer!) here's what you might have missed:

• Band-led worship has moved from the Great Hall (at 9:45 and 11:00 on Sunday) to the Sanctuary (at 11:00 only). There are many reasons for this move. Essentially, the Sanctuary is a larger and better space for worship. You can read about the full list of reasons or watch Pastor Chris talk about them.


• Organ and piano-led worship continues to thrive--unaltered--at the worship times of 5:00 p.m. (Saturday), 8:30 and 9:45 a.m. (Sunday). In addition, we have added a service for the summer months at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, for folks who are out of town during the weekend. Often there's ice cream on Mondays too, and who doesn't like ice cream?


• Sunday fellowship (aka coffee and donuts) has moved from the Narthex to the Great Hall. There's much more space for people to visit and meet in the Great Hall, and now less clutter in the Narthex. In addition to coffee and donuts, we're offering a Hot Breakfast on Sunday, July 14, August 18, and in the fall on dates to be announced.


• We've added technology to the Sanctuary, under the leadership of our Production Manager, Omar Reyes (hired this spring): screens, new video camera, and a larger sound booth area that will enable staff and volunteers to handle multiple tasks simultaneously. It's pretty exciting!


• Pastor Paul Harrington has officially retired. There was a fantastic celebration of his ministry during worship on June 22, 23 & 24. You can listen to or watch his final sermon online. He and Margaret will remain active members of SOTV.


• If that wasn't enough, there were also two fun-filled weeks of Vacation Bible School and our most successful garage sale ever. This year the Shepherd's Sale had more volunteers than ever before and our largest ever profit. $28,000 was raised for children in need!

Thank you to the many, many volunteers who have made June worshipful, meaningful, and fulfilling. Is Christ calling you to get involved in the flurry of activity at SOTV? Check out our current list of volunteer opportunities.

Questions or concerns? Drop us a line. We review each and every comment - your voice really does matter!

God bless you this 4th of July.

Trip Sullivan
Communications Director

A Most Heartfelt Word of Thanks!

From Pastor Paul and Margaret:

The last couple of weekends have been among the most special times in our lives. Margaret and I decided these days rank right up there with our wedding day and the day of my ordination into the ministry of the church. Words fail us as we try to thank everyone who had anything to do with our farewell celebration. But let us try. 

To the Planning Committee and the SOTV staff that made everything run so smoothly despite the large crowd and the somewhat limited space due to the Shepherd’s Sale preparations, thank you. 

To have almost the entire Senior Choir show up on a summer Sunday to sing that gorgeous piece of music (“Fairest Lord Jesus”) was more than we could have hoped for. 

To the four speakers at the program, we are so indebted. 

 To the Men’s Quartet that sang at the Monday evening “cabin service”, we are grateful. 

To Pastor Duane who orchestrated the entire event and who also wrote two musical “masterpieces” sung by the staff and by the Men’s Quartet, our sincere thanks. 

And for hundreds of cards, emails, letters, gifts, hugs, and well-wishes with some of the most affirming and heartfelt words you can imagine, we say THANKS to one and to all! You have been a blessing to us and our family for over three decades and we count you among the greatest gifts God could have ever given to us. 

This is a remarkable congregation so filled with love, devotion, and a deep desire to make a difference in the world today. It has been an extraordinary joy to have served with you for these past 33 years and we will never forget your many kindnesses, your faithfulness, your generosity, and your love for one another. 

We will always be thankful for each and every one of you! You have been one of the greatest blessings of our lives! 

Your friends in Christ, 
Pastor Paul and Margaret Harrington

Wowed by a Wonderful Weekend

Wow! That’s the word that came to mind this past week after witnessing significant events at our church.

On Friday, SOTV hosted the funeral of Lt. Col. Mark Weber on behalf of Easter Lutheran Church. Volunteers and staff from Easter directed traffic, greeted and welcomed mourners. Representatives from the National Guard were on hand and the entrance to the church was flanked impressively by their honor guard. Word is some 800 people attended, and it was truly a wonderful celebration of life.

I heard many positive comments from people in our community that our church looked great and staff provided extraordinary support. Although our role in this event was very small, we were honored to be able to help minister to so many people during a difficult time, and be a place for people in our community to experience the welcome of Jesus Christ. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.

The Shepherd’s Sale is again underway and volunteers in record numbers are hard at work. And, the building of full of great stuff. Thank you to all the donors! All has begun well and smoothly during a very busy weekend. On the basis of this excellent beginning, we are looking forward to another successful sale on behalf of children in need.

Of course, this past weekend marked the celebration of Pastor Paul’s retirement. Worship was wonderful, the program very well done, and the meal managed superbly. It’s been a long time since we have fed that many people in the building at once and I thought it went great. There was lots of affirmation for Pastor Paul, Margaret and the whole Harrington tribe. I was especially impressed by the staff and volunteers supporting this event. Another Wow!

Don’t forget, all this is taking place on the heels of a great VBS program just a couple of weeks ago, and another week just around the corner. So, well done, one and all. In recent days and weeks a lot of people have experienced the welcome of Jesus at SOTV thanks to the good work by this community of faith.

Finally, thank you to all who come and take part in our worship and special programs. You are the church, and the reason we do what we do.

See you in church,
Pastor Chris Smith

A Meditation on Change by Pastor Paul

Recently, as Pastor Paul was contemplating his upcoming full retirement, he offered a few thoughts on how SOTV is beginning to live into its Vision for ministry:

My Mother used to remind me that change in life is the one constant. Depending on your situation, that may be good news or not such good news. But often, change can be helpful, progressive, innovative, and even life-giving. 

In response to its vision, SOTV is currently making some changes in its worship life. Time, place, and style of worship in some cases have changed. Upgrades have been made in our technology. New screens, projectors, sound boards, and other audio equipment have been added to our worship experience in the sanctuary.

We live in an age of technology when telling the gospel story can take many forms in order to reach a wide range of people. Over the next several months we will all likely do some adjusting to this new vision for worship. It is the hope of your pastors that these modifications will allow them to share the Good News of our Lord and Savior more effectively than ever before. I will be experiencing these changes along with all of you and I trust they will be implemented thoughtfully and caringly under the guidance of our pastoral staff.

Be assured that the basics of Word (Bible) and Sacraments (Holy Communion and Holy Baptism) will remain central to the ministry of SOTV as we gather each week for a time of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. As the Psalmist put it, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go up into the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 122: 1)

- Paul L. Harrington

Psalms in Real Life

This week we're taking a break from hot breakfasts and transformations in and around the building to focus on worship itself. After all, worship is the center of our ministry and vision to Experience Jesus.

Thank you to Pastor Diane Sponheim for writing this week's blog, and for her work in putting together the summer Psalm worship series!

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I challenged myself and all of you to try praying the Psalms with me this summer as we go through the 6-week series “Drinking Deeply From the Psalms” I hope you're trying it – it's never too late to start! The Psalms will teach us to pray, and they will stretch us and work on us.

Here's what a couple of families had to say about their experience of praying the Psalms.

“Our family decided to take the challenge! After dinner, we look up a Psalm, and read it one verse at a time, passing the Bible around the table, so everyone gets a turn. As we read, we stop and ask what they mean – what is God teaching us? When we read Psalm 3, first we had to look up why the heading of the Psalm told us that David (the writer of the Psalm) was running away from his son Absalom, so we learned something! Then, we thought about people who need deliverance, and each person named someone to pray for God to deliver them from their situation. The boys came up with “The Okies” (recovering from the tornado) and hungry people. It was cool to see our kids connecting the words of the Psalm with situations that are happening today.”

“My wife and I are both going through very difficult times at our jobs. We decided to pray not just one Psalm a day, but a few. It's helped us both get through some really hard days. We feel like the Psalms articulate some of the really “unacceptable” emotions we feel (anger and the desire for revenge) while also giving us hope. We've noticed that God has answered our prayers and helped these situations resolve quickly. Thank you for encouraging us to pray the Psalms!” 

I encourage you to read and pray the Psalms with us. I'd love to hear how God is working on you through them!

If you didn't pick them up in church, you can download the instructions for my Praying the Psalms challenge right now.

- Pastor Diane Sponheim