All Members, Winter Residents, Family and Friends,
Greetings on this Monday afternoon.! What “Trinity Tots Jr. Prom” we had yesterday! Parents, DJ and students just having fun. Mr. Benjamin Rose, the DJ was truly a blessing! He captured the attention of the Students and Parents from the beginning and for a whole two hours. Snacks and other activities were provided by the staff and some of the parents. For the first time it was a HUGE success. Thank you those on the Trinity Tots staff for this great afternoon and great opportunity to meet parents and siblings of our student.
I want to express my heartfelt thanks to the members of the church council who stepped aside yesterday from their offices. We have been through a great deal in the past 4 years, and we have been through a great deal and all of our officers have done a great job navigating the challenges that were and still are before us. Looking forward to welcoming some new people and maintaining positive leadership with others. Thank you to everyone stepping forward into leadership roles, we are blessed to have you serving Trinity Lutheran Church, Lake Placid, Florida.
Thank you to everyone who stayed after the meeting to set everything up for “The Prom”. I wish I could do more, but my back and my right leg are driving me nuts with pain and difficulty, limiting my mobility and accomplishing physical activity I want to do in my mind, but I cannot accomplish.
My sermon for Mother’s Day/Good Shepherd Sunday is attached for your review.
At yesterday’s congregational meeting a discussion was had concerning finance reporting and responsibility. To clarify some misconceptions before they get blown out of proportion and hit the good ole rumor and gossip mill, here are some cold hard facts and truths. Some people just can’t help themselves from getting involved with good juicy gossip without the facts that perpetuates misinformation and division. You know my position on gossip and rumors, it is wrong and does not belong in the church or any organization. Do not participate or listen to such misinformation. Below are points of interest and revelation for all to read and put a stop to the rumor mill and gossip chain before it gets started. The truth always prevails against rumors and inuendoes.
Susan wanted me to send this out to all of you so there would not be any wrong information or misunderstanding being shared with others about Trinity Tots Preschool.
In 1989, (long before many of you arrived here at Trinity) the church voted to have a Mother’s Morning Out program offered to our church families and the community. It was run by volunteers in the church. In 1992, when this current building was built, the congregation voted to get licensed to make the program a preschool and it was named Trinity Tots Preschool. The congregation wanted this to be a ministry and outreach of the church. So, the church went through the process of getting licensed through the Department of Children and Families, staff was hired and tuition was charged to each family. It has remained a vital ministry of this church for the past 36 years.
The church could have voted to have the school pay the church rent for the use of the facility and to pay for their use of the utilities, but would this now be a ministry of the church? No. It would have been a preschool using the building and the church not really being a part of it. That’s not what the congregation wanted. They wanted to be a part of ministering to the families not only in our church, but also in the community. They wanted to be a part of sharing Jesus’ love with the hundreds of children who have walked through our front doors. And, one of the top responses on our Parent/School Survey to the question, “Why did you choose Trinity Tots for your child to attend”, is: We want the church setting and the religious/Bible curriculum.
So, what does Trinity Tots Preschool give back to the church. First of all, they get the church’s name out in the community that Trinity is a church that cares about the children and families in our community. Second, they pay for a lot of things that all of you use monthly. Here is a list of some of the things that the preschool pays for:
-cleaning products, paper towels, toilet paper, soap, garbage bags for all the garbage cans in the buildings, air fresheners for the bathrooms
-weed killer and ant killer
-an occasional water bill over the past 2 years
-plastic utensils and paper plates, napkins, storage baggies in the kitchen for fellowship hour and throughout the week, dish detergent
-the water bottles and soda in the refrigerator for the staff and others who stop by
-they clean the bathrooms, kitchen and mop and vacuum the floors daily in the church building, empty the garbage cans daily and even after church
-they clean the ice maker periodically so the church doesn’t have to pay to have a ice maker cleaning company come in 2x to 3x a year to clean it.
-they provide color copy paper for special bulletin inserts
-they pay for the preschool staff’s wages and benefits, licensing fees, their copier fees
-many of the children from local businesses such as air conditioning, electrical, plumbing, and irrigation have attended your preschool and have given the church generous discounts on their services because of their relationship with Trinity Tots.
So, if some of you are thinking that Trinity Tots Preschool sucks all the financial resources out of the church, you are wrong. If there is a month that the church is struggling to pay a bill and the preschool has extra funds that month, they offer to help. I hope this helps you understand how this church and preschool work together to share God’s love and grace with you and those in our community and how we have helped “Grow Hearts and Minds With Jesus”.
Susan Norris
Trinity Tots Pre-School Director
As Pastor I would like to add a few thoughts. To begin with Trinity Tots Pre-School has repeatedly been recognized as one of the top two pre-school programs in all of Highlands County preparing our students for kindergarten. It is not uncommon to note that the majority of Trinity Tots Students entering kindergarten are placed in the gifted program at our elementary school. Little old Trinity Tots is Nationally Accredited program by The Lutheran Educators Association of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. This is a distinct recognized which requires meeting many benchmarks and criteria every five year after having been critically observed by representative of the Florida/Georgia Accreditation Committee for three days. This is a distinction we have had for the past 15 years and is renewed or recognized every 5 years. Susan also sits on the Florida/Georgia Accreditation Committee and has found many good ideas she has implemented from other programs. In 36 years of ministry Trinity Tots has NEVER received a citation from the Division of Children and Family Service who inspect all Pre-schools in the state. The inspector was just here today, and we were recertified for another year and our license was renewed. Susan has been recognized twice in 36 years by the Florida/Georgia District Educators Conference for an outstanding Director/Teacher of the year. At one time she received the Ben Eggars Award for Outstanding Educator and this past year she was recognized again with the Living Light Award for outstanding Educator/Director Award. Additionally, Susan has served as the Tri-county Chair for Early Learning Coalition of Highlands, Hardee and Desoto counties and will be continuing to serve for another three years. Trinity Tots has an outstanding recognition within our county and surrounding churches. The Pastor, who is a friend of mine and Pastor of one of the largest churches in Highlands County said to me “if we could guarantee the if we started a preschool and was as outstanding as Trinity Tots, then I would start one tomorrow.” Rev. Dustin Woods, Grace Bible, Sebring, Florida.
I want this clearly stated right up front for all to read. Our former President Mike Bardon and our then and current church council were sticklers for detail and informing people and they continue to be if people would take the time and read the bulletin board at the rear of the church. After a criticism by an individual in our congregation that the Pastor (me) asked for money too often, the Church Council insisted two and a half years ago that I was not to ask for money or speak about money, so I have not and regretfully cannot. People just do not want to be challenged in their stewardship of the Time, Talents, and Treasures. I used to take the entire of month of January to preach on Stewardship and then the entire month of February I would preach on Pro-life issues preaching against abortions and euthanasia issues that have swept across our nation in the past 40 years.
Personally, I want everyone to know that the church council did not ask me to take a cut in salary. No, I voluntarily, after prayerful consideration, offered to cut my salary in half because I could see that although out attendance was up across the board, our giving was going to be way down in 2025 if the trend continued. I applied for my retirement through Concordia Retirement Plans and Social Security benefits. I did this so we could maintain the current staffing. I could have simply retired and walked away, and frankly a few people would have been happier if I had done that. But remember I cannot preach about stewardship challenging people to increase their giving over the year. No some are more interested in what salary increase everyone received than increasing their own personal giving to meet the increased financial challenges of Trinity Lutheran Church.