All Members, Winter Residents, Family and Friends,
Greetings on this last Wednesday of April. Here we are a quarter of the way through 2025! Soon the students will be out of school and summertime activities will be beginning. We are praying for a safe and enjoyable summer for everyone near and far.
Tomorrow is May 1st and the National Day of Prayer. There are several opportunities for you to participate. The will be an opportunity on the lawn in front of the County Court House tomorrow beginning at 11:00AM. Followed by a luncheon sponsored by the Kiwanis of Sebring at First Church, Sebring. At noon the Lake Placid Ministerial Association will be hosting prayer at the circle in town at 12:00 Noon. Everyone is invited to this event. Since I serve as Lead Volunteer Chaplain for the H.C.S.O. I will be attending the Sebring events. We have a chaplains meeting at 9:00AM at the Sheriff’s Office.
This Sunday is the first Sunday in May and we will have Holy Communion. Immediately following the service we will have our annual congregational meeting for the purpose of election of officers and bringing everyone up to speed where we are as a congregation,
Following the meeting we ask that some of you who are able stay and help take down and pile the chairs for the first “Trinity Tots Prom.”
The students of Trinity Tots will be participating in their very own, “Prom” on Sunday afternoon. We will have a live DJ, food and fun for the children. It will be a great deal of fun and hopefully a memorable experience for all who participate. The “Prom” will take place at 2:00PM.
Attached you will find our Trinity Monthly Tidings for you to read and be informed.
You will also find my sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter.
Respectfully in Christ,
Rev. Richard A. Norris
Trinity Lutheran Church
25 Lakeview Street
Lake Placid, Florida 33852
863-441-4168
If you have read this far perhaps you may wish to read further as I have some information to share with you
Throughout the years I have been asked what “called and ordained” means. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod specifically has a “polity” for the sake of providing qualified individuals to serve the people of the congregations in Synod as Professional Church Workers. Ordained Pastors, Commisioned Teachers and other professionally trained individuals can be “called” to serve a congregation. Here at Trinity we have three called individuals serving you the members. Myself as a “called and ordained Sr. Pastor; Rev. Olckers “called and ordained” as an Assistant Pastor and Susan as a “Called Commissioned Minister of Christian Education”.
“Ordained” is a term reserved only for Pastor’s serving congregations, District Officers, Seminary and College professors within the L.C.M.S. Teachers and other professional church workers are call “Commissioned Church Workers.” In the Missouri Synod only males may be “ordained” following the normal route of four year undergraduate and four years graduate/seminary training leading to “Ordination”. “Ordination” is the setting apart or elevating the individual to be distinguish from the laity of a congregation. Called Church Workers are there to “train and equip the Saints for ministry.” Called Pastors and Teachers serving on staff are only advisory to the different boards and committees as well as the Church Council or Board of Directors of any given congregation. The only place a “Call Church Worker” may vote on matters before the congregation are in duly called congregational meetings.
Now there are other routes male candidates may take such as the Coloquy, when a Pastor comes into the Missouri Synd from another denomination, D.E.L.T.O., which is Distance Education Learning and Training Opportunity and S.M.P. or Specialized Ministry Pastor. The S.M.P. program is where a congregation would pay for an individual from the congregaiton to go through the training program. This is the route that Rev. Arias and Rev. Olckers worked through and completed to seek their Ordination. This is an abreviated four year distance education program with with no residency at the seminary except for a few intensive course students must take. Since the congegation where an SMP student is sponsored, they are required to remain in that congregation unless otherwise moved by the District President to another congregation. Since Grace Lutheran, Arcadia is a small congregation and they could only partially pay his salary so he is also serving Peace Valley Lutheran Church, Wachula where between the two he has a small income. Then District President Gregory Walton asked Trinity to “Call” Rev. Olckers as an Assistant Pastor where he would have a place to serve with a small stipend considering the circumstances surrounding his eligibility for “ordination.”
The difference between being “called” and “contracted” is a little complicated. A “called” individual cannot just be terminated because the congregtion does not like the color of his clerical shirts, or the style of his hair or topics he preaches or his ability or lack of ability to preach or teach. Termination of a “Called Pastor or Teacher” can be considered for accusations of lewd and lacivious lifestyle, preaching falso doctrine and finally total incompetence. The factors mentioned are there to protect the “call worker” from arbitrary dislike by a few in the congregation or a change in leadership which does not support or like the “called” individual.
It stands to reason then that a contracted worker of a church can be terminated for just cause and a different criteria as any business might remove a worker from their employ. However since a congregation and its ministries believe in Grace and Forgiveness the threshold for removal of a contracted employee may be a bit more evangelical than in the secular workforce.
A Pastor may receive “a call” from another congregation and he deliberates if he has a greater call to the church he is already serving or to the congregation who has sent him the “call documents.”. If the Pastor or called Teacher decides to take the new call, then the Pastor or Teacher leaves the current congregation to begin duties in the new congregation. Then the congregation that the individual has left is considered vacant in the position which was vacated by the individual. Then the congregation would begin the “call process” for a person to filled the position vacated.
It is common knowledge that I have voluntarily offered to have my salary cut in half to assist the congregation financially. However this should also serve as an indication that my time here at Trinity is or could be short. I see maybe another year maybe two before I retire at which time the congregation would be have a vacancy in the Office Sr. Pastor. Susan and I have a great deal to consider as not only would the Sr. Pastor position would be vacant, but the position of Director of Trinity Tots would also be vacant. Fortunately we have a candidate for replacement already on staff for the Directorship if the congregation desires to continue this vital ministry.
What come next is really out of my control once I announce my retirement date. There are considerations to be made during the present time so perhaps the transition may be less distressing to all involved. Once Susan and I make a decision I will meet with congregational leaders to discuss our options. So I pray that this explanation and brief glimpse into the future has helped to clarify some thoughts you may be having.