Arvin Pirness | The Voice of Zion November 2022 - News and Notes --
November marks the end of the church calendar year and the approach of Advent. On November 1, All Saints Day, we remember with love and longing those who have gained the victory of heaven. When God’s children gather in remembrance, it allows us to see the beauty of the congregation: the throng of escorts who have been and the ones still here. Today, God’s children still journey to heaven.
As plans are made for Advent and Christmas, may we thank and praise our heavenly Father for the trials and blessings of our day and the hope of heaven that awaits. The approaching end of this year has us looking towards 2023. The mission department is working on more detailed plans for 2023 foreign mission trips and support for local mission work efforts in the foreign mission fields. This includes communication with the various countries for their input and plans for the coming year, finalizing trip schedules, and remote support in both seminars and service events for those in foreign mission fields.
Finance has recently prepared an amended 2022 budget now with January – September actuals and with estimates for 4th quarter. Changes included some larger items for maintenance at our camps and higher income and expenses for Summer Services.
We are also beginning to plan for 2024 work! We will plan for the 2024 budget in preparation for the 2024 Operating Plan and 2023 Annual Meeting.
Final reports for the camp seasons at Stony Lake, Hasscib Lake and Kamp Kipa are complete. Each camp center is experiencing greater usage year to year. In 2019 there were a total of 2,679 participants and in 2022 we saw 3,272 participants. God continues to bless camp work abundantly.
Enrollment for 2023 camp season begins again in January. For 2023, there will be two stages for confirmation school enrollment, like this previous year. Geographical preference will be made again with enrollment through the end of December 2022. 2023 camp enrollment will open on January 9, 2023. Communications will be sent to all confirmation students and parents by the end of November regarding enrollment.
Work continues at LLC facilities. Stony Lake’s East and West Bunkhouses along with the garage were reroofed with metal. A big thank you to volunteers who got this job completed prior to the winter freeze.
In the area of Communications, you can expect to see two new Christmas publications. Christ Child, our new choral Christmas album, is already available as a CD. Soon it will be available on Hearken and on other digital platforms as well. We will also publish a Christmas coloring book later this month.
There will also be a lot of Christmas and holiday content on Hearken. If you already subscribe to our publications app, you will see this content in the app over the next month. If you don’t yet subscribe, consider signing up today! New content created by believers for believers is available every week.
In all our areas of work, we see God’s rich blessings and guidance. Here in the U.S., we will soon gather with loved ones around the Thanksgiving table. May one item of thanks be the blessings our church organization continues to experience. God truly cares for His own!