As a part of our 2010 capital campaign called mychurch, we went around and asked some of our congregation members to share with us what about Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church impacts them the most. Here are some of their responses.

If you’re a member of Our Saviour’s and you didn’t get a chance to be interviewed for this video, please share how you are impacted by Our Saviour’s in the comment section below!

I have been impacted by OSLC in a wide variety of ways. First of all… mychurch is my home. Having been a member since 1992, when I was a second grader, and now having the wonderful opportunity to be on staff here… it has really become a place where I feel a great connection to. I am always amazed at the passion our congregation has for missions and ministry. We have such a variety of professional skills in our members and many of them use their skills to better the church and it’s mission of Knowing Jesus, and Making Jesus Known. We are in the process of developing a resource bank so we can better connect people so they can help each other.

If you’re not a member of Our Saviour’s but attend a different church, I ask you the same question… how are you impacted by your church?

As a part of our 2010 capital campaign called mychurch, we went around and asked some of our congregation members what missions at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church do they connect with the most. Here are some of their responses.

If you’re a member of Our Saviour’s and you didn’t get a chance to be interviewed for this video, please share with me what makes you smile about Our Saviour’s in the comment section below!

There are many missions that I most enjoy being a part of at OSLC. I have had the privilege of traveling to Slovakia twice, once in 2004 and again in 2008, and have grown to really love the people there. Specifically at the Martin Bible College and Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in the city of Nitra (Naperville’s “Sister City”). I have also become interested in OSLC’s “Mission Africa”. We currently have an advocate named James Baker who is living in Chimoio, Mozambique, and I was fortunate enough to be able to spend some time getting to know him the day before he left for his 10-month journey.

Aside from our global missions we are also involved with a variety for equally important local missions. I’ve enjoyed walking in Naperville’s annual Crop Walk as well as participating in our PADS ministry in the summer.

If you are a frequent reader of my blog it should come as no surprise to you that I really enjoy being a part of the youth program here at OSLC. I went through both the junior and senior high programs when I was younger and it has given me great pleasure to serve as a mentor for those programs going on 10+ years now!

If you’re not a member of Our Saviour’s but attend a different church, I ask you the same question… what missions that your church has to offer to you connect with the most?

Last month I blogged about how we at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church (OSLC) are upgrading our website. I laid out what we’re doing and some resources we’re using to help us through this process. But what I didn’t really talk about is why we’re doing it.

As I think about our new church website, I think about what makes my church so amazing. There are many layers to what makes my church amazing. Think about a banana. I know this might be a reach… stay with me.

I think of my church as a banana. There are two main parts to a banana that cannot grow without each other. I think of the peels as all the different missions and ministries that my church supports. The peels help the inside grow and become amazingly tasty! The inside would not be anything without the peels. I look at the inside part as the core values and beliefs of the church.

Our old website showed all the peels. It even showed the peels that we no longer invest in. The “old couches” if you will. Our re-focused website strategy is showing the inside part of the banana. The amazingly tasty part. We realize that the peels only support the inside goodness.

I just read a blog post by Carlos Whittaker where he said,

The fact that some of our churches have amazing logos and an amazing websites does not mean what is going to happen on Sunday morning is even close to amazing.
The most important message about our churches sometimes is the least visible message to attenders.
If your church is great at making jelly beans…Be amazing at making jelly beans and don’t try to be amazing at making bubbles.

Now I am not trying to be amazing at making church websites, that’s why we’re using a Cloversite. Cloversites is amazing at making church websites. What OSLC, my church, is amazing at is it’s community of believers who have amazing hearts for missions and ministries. Some hearts at my church are all about our mission in Africa, some are all about our summer PADS program, some are passionate about our dynamic youth program, others are all about making music for God through our spectacular music ministry. But the one thing that we all have in common is that we all come together on the weekends and worship as a community. We are one church with two campuses. Some of us worship differently than others. But that is what OSLC, my church, is all about. Knowing Jesus, learning about his teachings in worship together, and Making Jesus Known, being Jesus to others through our missions and ministries. My hope is that this new website reflects that feeling.