Hummingbird

When we took Karen Hendrickson's body from Cincinnati to the cemetery in Abbottsville, Ohio, near Dayton, where she was buried on August 26, 1999, I drove alone. As I did so, I began to compose a song in my mind, the melody and the first verse washing over me like a flood. I made a mental note to complete the song, which I was calling Hummingbird, and share it with Kathy Luccasen, then our pianist and an extraordinary musician. (Kathy and I had already composed several songs together, she writing the melodies and me the lyrics.)

Some days later, in a conversation I can only describe as a God-incident, Kathy said to me, "I think that we should write a song for Karen to present on All Saints Day." "That's what I've been thinking," I replied. "I think that we should call it Hummingbird." "That's what I've been thinking."

Kathy then revealed to me that she'd come up with the melody for a chorus. I told her that I had a melody for the verses. Kathy also had the melody for a bridge, which we'd not been able to use in any of the previous songs we'd written together. They all turned out to be in the same key. I was then able to write lyrics for the entire song.

We presented the song on the day before All Saints' Day, Reformation Day, October 31, 1999, during worship at Friendship. Here are the lyrics:

Hummingbird

Hummingbird, fluttering, flying,
Outside the window pane
Have you come helloing, goodbying,
Beauty in the middle of pain?
Have you come to show us that freedom
Will be ours in the end?
And joy will follow all of our mourning
That life and peace will blossom again?

Hummingbird, our smiles and our heartaches,
Mingled joy and fear,
Leave us wondering just what it takes
To make it through down here
Could you please show us the vista,
That city on a hill,
Where bright, the Savior reigns forever
And with His life we all will be filled?

Hummingbird fly away
On wings of grace
Soar to the endless day beyond
There is a God Who has shared His life
So one day we all may rise

Trying
Crying
Looking for the perfect path
Tearing
Wearing
We rarely live for things that last
But in your flight
We catch a glimpse of
Beauty that awaits all who believe

Hummingbird fly away
On wings of grace
Soar to the endless day beyond
There is a God Who has shared His life
So one day we all may rise

Hummingbird, your soulmate awaits you
Escort her to her home
Let her fly in hope and in freedom
To Him Whose grace she owns.
Like you, her too-fleeting presence
Has thrilled our earthbound eyes
We'll try now to look to the Savior
And point our lives to the skies.

Hummingbird, fly!

[The following was shared by way of background in the worship bulletin of October 31, 1999.]

Funeral for Karen Hendrickson, August 26, 1999, Part 2

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Funeral for Karen Hendrickson, August 26, 1999

Karen Hendrickson, then vice president of Friendship's Church Council, and a person of inspiring faith, died on August 22, 1999. Her funeral was held four days later.

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Construction Photo #5

A sign of things to come at 1300 White Oak Road.

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Construction Photo #4

Steve Snoke, Phil Hudak, and Dave Mikolay chewing the fat in the southeast corner of the main room of the building.

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Construction Photo #3

Friendship folks really pitched in on the construction of our first building, making it possible for us to get it done under budget and on time. Here, we see work being done to treat the arches and decking. Top pic: Who is that masked man? Bottom pic: Mike DeVore

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Construction Photo #2

In this photo, we see Friendship folks preparing to seed the lawn between the parking lot and Appomatox, on the north side of the lot. Pictured (l-to-r), I think: Don Wood, Phil Hudak, Nate and Mike Cheney, Lisa Wood, Jeff Daniher, Aaron Knorr, Kim Miller, somebody behind her, Jerry Miller.

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Construction Photo #1

These pictures show early site work on the construction of Friendship's building, taken in the summer of 2002.

As you can see, the footers are in place, but the foundation hasn't yet been poured.

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More Pictures from the Groundbreaking, June, 2002

Bundled against the chill, we set up chairs in the middle of Appomatox, which Pierce Township officials had graciously closed off between Ohio Pike and White Oak Road. The folks at Jelly Bean Junction allowed us to use their parking lot. (Goddard School was not yet constructed.)

Top left: Megan Henderson, youngest of Dan and Michelle Henderson. Dan was president of the congregation at the time. They moved back to their native Iowa.

Small inset: Jerry Miller and Steve Snoke

Middle Left: (from left) Nanci Daniher, Michelle Henderson, Kathy Bendick

Bottom Left: Paul and Marti Niehaus

Bottom right: Some of my extended family, who will be identified below.

Rectangular shot, middle right: Nate Cheney

Who's the kid with the shovel in the middle?: Kassadi Snoke

Top, middle right: I talk with Ron and Sue Hendrickson, who drove from the Dayton area, to be with us. Their daughter was Karen Hendrickson, one of the four Friendship members who have died since the congregation began in 1990.

Top right: Front row, l to r: My sister-in-law Trina; my dad; daughter Sarah; my mom; my nephews Cameron, Jameson, and Andrew; Ann. Back row: Me; Phil; my brother Marty; my sister Kathy; my brother-in-law Scott.

In the beginning...

Some members of our small core group prepare mailing to community announcing Friendship's first worship, which happened on May 19, 1991.

From left to right: Barb Holmgren, Ann Daniels, Kathy Meyer. On the other side of the table, l to r: Sibylle Waugh, Diana Russell.

The husbands really were working on the same project at the Daniels kitchen counters and card tables set up around the house. Honest.

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'Friendship Profiles'

Our 'Friendship Profiles' newspaper ads were the brainchild of D.C. Stanfa. Based on the old Dewar's campaign, the ads were designed to let people know that ordinary folks just like them liked Friendship...maybe they would, too.

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Our Billboards

With the help of D.C. Stanfa, we had three billboards on State Route 125 in 1992. We learned that you really need multiple billboards over an extended period of time for these to be effective.

In the top one, several Friendship folks donned Groucho glasses to ask, "Who says church people are no fun?"

The second shows a bunch of Friendship kids and announces, "We're the new kids on the block."

The last one's message is simple: "Down on Monday? Get up on Sunday!"

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I Don't Know How to Rotate This...

so turn your head.

This appeared on page 1 of The Cincinnati Enquirer on Christmas Day, 1992.

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One of Our Early Advertisements

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Another Picture from the Land Dedication/Spruce-Up...

May 3, 1992

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Land Dedication and Spruce-Up, May 3, 1992

Most of these pictures were taken on what is now the frontage of Goddard School, which didn't then exist, of course. As explained elsewhere, we sold our front 1.7-acres in order to have the money to pay the balance on the loan for our land, enabling us to use money raised in the capital campaign to construct our building.

Part of the agreement we made with Goddard for the land was a shared sign on which Friendship would get top billing. Since we were giving up frontage, we didn't want to lose the advantage that represents entirely. A prominent sign on Ohio Pike was a way to keep some of that advantage.

By the way, I got ticks this day and had to be tested for Lyme's Disease. Thankfully, I didn't contract it.

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Scenes from Friendship's First Easter, 1992

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More from Friendship's First Worship, May 19, 1991

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Some of the Publicity for Our First Worship

In addition to five years' worth of decreasing support for my salary and benefits from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), we also received support from several Lutheran congregations. (Most notably maybe, Saint John Lutheran Church, Grove City, Ohio, which gave us $18,000 a year for three years.) These additional monies allowed us to do some publicity, including advertising. We even had billboards for three months in 1992.

Maybe the Convict Picture Wasn't the Way to Go

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More VBS Pics

I think that they both were taken in 1996. I scared one poor kid to death with that Roman centurion get-up.

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Vacation Bible School, ca. 1996

The date is an extremely educated guess. In those pre-building days, our VBS was held in Lutheran Church of the Resurrection's facilities. My recollection is that this was the first year that Group published VBS materials. They were and have remained so consistently great, that we've stuck with them ever since.

Youth Kindness Outreach, ca. 1995

Even before the rest of the congregation got into the kindness business, our youth group were doing outreaches. Once, for example, we took cold cans of Coke to area construction sites. Here, the kids are pictured after we spent part of an October evening raking leaves in Shayler Crossing. We did it for free, of course. That's because, as Saint Paul reminds us, "...God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance..." (Romans 2:4)

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More Campaign Kickoff Pictures

Above: Mel and Lois Simmons

Below: Mike and Amy Cheney, with Pastors Iseringhausen and Beck in the background.

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Capital Campaign Kickoff, 2001

These were snapped at our Capital Campaign Kickoff at Royal Oak Country Club. The campaign raised enough money for us to seek a commercial loan to finance construction of our current church building.

Pictured Above: The jabbering pastor is speechifying. To my far right, Carl Beck of Church First, who coordinated our campaign. To my right, Pastor Tim Iseringhausen, formerly assistant to the Southern Ohio Synod bishop. (Tim graduated three years after me at Trinity Lutheran Seminary and is currently pastor at his home church, Trinity Lutheran Church in Bexley, Ohio.) To my left, is Ann as well as former West Clermont Local School District Superintendent, Mike Ward, and his wife.

Below: Some of the attenders at the kickoff.

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Karen Hendrickson, Whose Witness for Christ Inspired Us All

Here's Karen, pictured with her then-infant son, Paul. This picture was taken in 1994.

See more here, here, and here.

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Lord's Table, Banners, 1994

Taken at Withamsville-Tobasco Elementary School.

More From the 1997 Picnic

This is another set of pics from the '97 Picnic.

Top: Debbie and Tyler Snoke.

Middle: Various picnic-ers.

Bottom: Me, demonstrating how I acquired my middle-age spread.

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Friendship's 1997 Picnic

Friendship's first congregational picnic happened in September, 1991, at Juilfs Park in Anderson Township.

Top Picture: Brian Ward, overseeing a grill. Brian and wife Lezlie moved to Michigan and later, to Evanston. They continue to follow what's going on at Friendship closely.

Bottom: The balloon toss.

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Showing a Little Kindness

Inspired, encouraged, and at times, financed, by Vineyard Community Church in the TriCounty area of Cincinnati, Friendship undertook weekly kindness outreaches from 1997 to 2002. We gave away cold cans of Coke in the warm months, dollar-off coupons for gas at the SuperAmerica station at Route 32 and Old Route 74, cans of soup, Busken pastries, and other things. When asked why, we responded, truthfully, "We're trying to share the love of God in practical ways."

Brenda (Hilberg) Knorr was probably the most consistent participant in the outreaches.

In the five years we ran the outreaches, we "committed" more than 20,000 acts of kindness, all of which I've documented in a journal.

These two pictures were snapped during an outreach in September, 1998. In the bottom pic you see adults, from left to right, Bill and Kris Smith and Amy Cheney. The young man is Kris' son, Kyle. Bill and Kris were later transferred to Rhode Island.

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Worship, Withamsville-Tobasco Elementary School, 1993

For most of the twelve-and-half-years before Friendship had a building, worship was held in the W-T School. For several weeks in the summer of 1993, we worshiped though in the cafeteria of Saint Thomas More's school. A West Clermont levy failed in the spring of '93 and in order to save money, the school board decided to close the buildings to outside groups. But when Glen Este Youth Basketball Association found a provision in Ohio law that forbade schools from prohibiting outside groups from using their buildings, we were back into W-T. It's a good thing, because our exile at Thomas More, no matter how appreciative we were for the hospitality, nearly killed Friendship!

These pictures though, were taken in the gym at W-T.

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The Building Committee Meets, 2002

Pictured here, meeting with our architect, Bill Gunter, is most of the building committee, from left to right: Jim Jordan (barely visible), Dan Henderson, Mike Cheney, Steve Snoke, me, Laurel Vogel.

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Groundbreaking, May, 2002

It was, as you can see, unseasonably cool when we broke ground for the construction of Friendship's building.

Top left: Judy and Jim Jordan and Dara and Pete Wagner

Top right: A group of folks, including Cheryl Weyant's parents and Tara's fiance, now husband, Jason.

Middle right: Sabrina Darnowsky and son, Alex Nelson.

Just below that: A group, including old friends from my first parish, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Okolona, Ohio.

Bottom left, seated: Ron and Sue Hendrickson, parents of the late and wonderfully faithful Karen Hendrickson.

Bottom right: At the center of this picture is Rev. Dan Perrin, formerly pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church in Mount Washington. Dan was a wonderful colleague, a neighbor, and like Ann and me, a Glen Este High School choir parent. He prayed often for Friendship and is now in the Saint Louis area. Members of my extended family are also pictured.

These pictures and a whole bunch more were taken by Don Wood.

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"Surveying the Land"

Jumping ahead wildly in this Friendship photo history, here's a picture snapped of me as the church property was prepared for construction.

My family and I arrived in Clermont County on August 22, 1990. I formally began my work on September 1 and began going door-to-door to introduce people to this new congregation on October 1. (By the way, I believe that going door-to-door is--and already was then--a horrible way to start a new congregation. But it was the proscribed procedure then. I only learned later that when it comes to bureaucratic procedure, even in the Church, it's far easier to get forgiveness than permission.)

In the period between our arrival and the first worship celebration on May 19, 1991, we also held biweekly Bible studies in our home and I sent out weekly newsletters to prospective members.

Friendship's property was purchased in 1991 by the Mission Investment Fund (MIF) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was a 5.2-acre rectangular parcel that ran from State Route 125 (Ohio Pike) to White Oak Road, Appomatox Drive forming the east boundary line.

After striving for and attaining three or four different MIF-established thresholds, the fund wouldn't give us a loan. So, we pursued the next set of goals they established for us. They were composed of worship attendance, offerings, and a proscribed dollar amount pledged in a capital campaign. We hit those targets as well, then were told by MIF that they still wouldn't lend us the money for construction.

So, I urged the Building Committee and Church Council to see if commercial loans couldn't be found. Steve Snoke took hold of this challenge with faith and tenacity. At about this same time, we were approached by the Goddard School. They wanted to purchase the front 1.7-acres of the lot, a portion bounded by Ohio Pike. Their offer would allow us to pay what we owed MIF for the entire parcel, freeing us then to use the capital campaign-generated dollars for construction. God set that in our laps, for sure!

Steve was also the person who found Adeco of Springboro, Ohio, a company that had already been involved in more than 600 design-build churches across the country. The company's founder was an extraordinary man of faith and he and his company were a dream to work with. Steve was the point person and God used him to get the project completed under budget!

The people of the congregation also helped reduce costs by all of their volunteer labor. Among other things, Friendship members did roofing and soffit work, treatment of the arches and decking, and lots of other things. Volunteers, for example, painted the walls. (One day I walked into the place to find 23 people painting!) Don and Lisa Wood wallpapered the women's rest room. Eric Binder and sons, Sean and Adam, designed and put down the pavestones. Steve Snoke designed the tiling and he and Judy Jordan put it down.

Ann Daniels chaired the appointments committee, selecting the colors and the chairs.

Aaron Hauke designed and constructed the altar, the pulpit, and the coffee bar.

Aaron Knorr built the shed, which provided needed storage. The original building plan called for more storage and a slightly bigger building. But Clermont County's building inspectors required extensive carbon monoxide-detecting fresh air returns, adding $13,000 to the cost of the project. To save money, the building committee ordered revisions to the design, knocking out storage. Right now, of course, as part of his Eagle Scout project, Kyle Barrett are adding to the shed, allowing us to have both "outdoor" and "inside" items stored there.

This picture was taken by our daughter, Sarah, in June, 2oo2. Clearing of the property began that month. The foundation was subsequently laid. The arches and decking, which were shipped from Canada, were delayed when the truck carrying them broke down in Minnesota. They were finally erected on the Tuesday following Labor Day, 2002. We received a temporary occupancy permit in order to hold our first worship service on Christmas Eve, 2002. We began regular worship there on the third Sunday in January, 2003.

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Friendship Photo History, First Worship

[I'm going to start posting photographs from the history of Friendship Lutheran Church here.]

The photo below is from the congregation's first worship celebration. It was held on May 19, 1991 in the auditorium of Withamsville-Tobasco Elementary School. The president of Lutheran Men in Mission of Ohio presented hymnals and Good News Bibles to the not-yet chartered church. (That wouldn't happen until November 23, 1993.)

The LMMO president is at the podium. To his right is Roger Holmgren, president of the congregation's Service Committee. That committee was a kind of Church Council, but unelected, recruited by me as Pastor-Developer.

At the piano on that first Sunday as a special favor was Vi Sill, a member of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Anderson Township. At first, our only pianist was Barb Holmgren, Roger's wife. She would soon be spelled by Paul Niehaus.

There were 91 at Friendship's first worship service, 45 of them from our area. We started with a nucleus of just five households, including the Danielses. That core group of five hand addressed three mailings of 10,000 apiece to announce the service. By that time, I had knocked on some 6000 doors inviting people to learn more about this new church.

The Holmgrens would soon move from our area. But they maintain their interest in and prayers for Friendship to this day.

By the way, I don't think that clock ever told the right time.

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Thanks!

Thanks to all who helped with the fund raising at New Richmond's River Days. With a match from Thrivent Financial Services for Lutherans, you raised $1600.00 for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Clermont County!

Thanks to...

Nancy and Jim Ball
Gail and Don Niemeier
Aaron Hauke
Laurel and Tim Vogel
Letitia Fulkerson
Kim Miller
Mark Wilkins
Debbie and Steve Snoke
Jan Witkowski...who coordinated the entire thing.

Thanks so much!

Thanks, Tim!

He probably won't like this...but big thanks go to Toerner for all he does to keep the building clean and hospitable each week.

Also: Tim could use your help. So, if you can volunteer once a month to do the weekly clean-up at the building, that would be great!

Thanks, Tim!

Witnesses for Christ

WITNESSES FOR CHRIST next happens on Wednesday evenings in October. Resolve that you’ll be part of this next offering of a course designed to help you fulfill your mission as a Christian.

Your Service Hours

MAKE SURE TO NOTE YOUR OUTSIDE-THE-CONGREGATION SERVICE HOURS ON YOUR ATTENDANCE REGISTRATION FORMS. THESE RECORDS ARE STILL BEING KEPT.

PSST...You Can Help the Local Hungry

PSST!! When you're grocery shopping, remember those four letters. They stand for peanut butter; spaghetti; spaghetti sause; and tuna, four items that we'll collect at church each week, and take to the Christian Help Center in Batavia. You can see Ann Daniels for more information.

GoDeep Resumes September 8

Our GoDeep Saturday worship celebrations resume on September 8. These weekly worship opportunities are laidback and incorporate the chance to discuss the Biblical texts and themes at hand. We’ll skip the Saturday service on September 29 to accommodate a wedding happening at Friendship that night. GoDeep happens at 5:30 PM.

For This Evening's Bible Study...

Here is the set of Biblical passages and discussion questions we'll be looking at this evening.

As you know, we're discussing basical Christian teaching. We began looking at Salvation last week and had an interesting discussion last Tuesday.

We meet tonight from 7:00 to 8:30. Hope to see you then.

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[UPDATE: These will be the passages and discussion questions for our September 4 gathering.]

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Tomorrow Night's Bible Study

Our Tuesday night Bible studies are dealing with "The Faith of the Church." We get together again tomorrow night from 7:00 to 8:30PM. Above are scans of what the next unit of the study covers, some of which we might get to tomorrow evening. Everyone's invited...bring a friend!