Current News  

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                                                     WE HAVE A NEW PASTOR!!!

A LETTER FROM REV. LARRY ECKART :

July 1, 2010

Dear people of Island Lutheran,

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!

May the Lord bless you and your family!

I write you this letter to formally announce that I ACCEPT your Call to become pastor of Island Lutheran Church, Hilton Head, South Carolina.  May this Call and our future journey together result in much joy in heaven and many souls brought into the kingdom!

As you probably gathered from my visit with you, this was not an easy decision. I have had many sleepless nights. Kathy and I have spent much time in prayer.  There were many points at which we were not going to leave Michigan for South Carolina.

I enjoy a great relationship with Hope Lutheran in Linden, Michigan.  I enjoy a significant privilege of entry into the local public school system and a high level of influence among the town’s churches as well as the area Missouri Synod congregations as a Circuit Counselor.

I returned from my visit with you into VBS week in which my sanctuary was literally transformed into a boat. We have that flexibility and freedom in my current congregation. The people see the sanctuary itself as a flexible tool to enhance ministry and not a one-dimensional building that you dare not use for any other purpose besides worship. I walked back into a VBS with 150 kids packed into the sanctuary. This past Sunday we had three services, each different unto itself, each with a different kind of music,  highlighted by a VBS closing in which the mood was the boisterous praise of children.

This was mostly organized without my direct presence.

Why would I leave that to come to Island Lutheran where you have few children, where the people are mostly “mature”, and the worship style is primarily, liturgical/classical?

These are the primary reasons I decided to accept the Call to Island Lutheran:

1)   One of my primary spiritual gifts is the ability to rebuild churches. I am better at rebuilding broken churches than at maintaining churches that have become healthy.  At both Hope in Linden and St. Timothy in Detroit,  I walked into situations where the congregations were “broken”.  Make sure you understand that I have no “savior complex.” Rather, God has given me gifts to walk into hard situations and, with the great help of the Holy Spirit, turn them around into stable places.

2)   My skill set matches the challenges of Island Lutheran.  This is what the Call Committee and congregation leaders told me you want in a pastor. You want a pastor who will rebuild trust in the pastoral office. You want a pastor who has the strength to stand up to a congregation that has, by your own admission,  more “chiefs than Indians”.  You want a pastor who connects with younger families and with whom children feel at ease. You want a pastor who is willing to diversify your worship. You want a pastor who will help you be more mission-oriented and more involved in your community.

3)   The truth that Island Lutheran has never fulfilled its potential in your 25-year history. Yours is the only Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod congregation within 40 miles of Hilton Head Island.  (In comparison, there are 23 Missouri Synod churches within 40 miles of my current congregation!) There are 2.7 million visitors to Hilton Head Island annually. Every week, Island Lutheran  has visitors from around the country. While the makeup of  Island Lutheran is predominantly  “mature” Lutherans who moved from the Midwest, the Midwest is not your primary mission field! While many areas of the United States are currently seeing a decline in population, the Low Country area around Hilton Head continues to grow. There is no excuse for Island Lutheran Church to be anything less than a growing, healthy congregation with a substantial number of young families! No excuse! Island Lutheran  Church can be and should be a flagship congregation of the Southeastern District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

4)   On a personal level, Kathy and I would like the opportunity to have home and church and community in one area.   For sixteen years we have lived in one community and served in a totally different community. We’d like to become a part of not only the community in Hilton Head, but also the Low Country region.  And Kathy would like to become more involved in the congregation than she has been able to do in the past. 

Details about my last Sunday in Michigan are still up in the air, but I imagine my last Sunday here will be around August 8.  After that I would like a few weeks to clear my head as well as address all the details of selling a home and moving. There are many, many items on our end up in the air at this point (especially when Kathy will permanently join me in South Carolina due to her job).  I would initially guess at an installation date in early September.

Until that time, I ask that you begin praying, not so much for me as for the work that God wants to do in our midst.

Pray that the Holy Spirit would be given pre-eminence amongst us. Pray for personal humility before the Lord and His Word. Pray that the people of Island Lutheran would grab a hold of a vision that your most significant days of influence as a congregation and as individuals are ahead of you and not behind you.  Instead of calling yourself “retired”, I challenge you to see yourself as “a missionary on special assignment with the life God gives me.”

Pray that my leadership would be received with joy. Pray that souls will be saved and that many people will “come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Pray for the vision to look forward as a people. Pray for the vision to look forward as Lutherans in South Carolina, and not look backward at “what we used to do in our Lutheran Church in Michigan or Wisconsin or Ohio or wherever.”

Pray for the courage and freedom to try new things in outreach and eventually, in worship. Pray for agape, the love we have received from Christ, to be visibly evident among us.

Pray for spiritual discernment by the leaders of the congregation, because the last thing Satan wants is for Island Lutheran Church to become an effective, Christ-centered, growing congregation. Elders, Council members and all staff: I call you to daily prayer and study of the Word so that your leadership might be Spirit-based and not based solely on personal experience.

Pray for the families and children that will come with the blessing of the Holy Spirit!

May the Lord watch over thee and me while we are apart!

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Lawrence M. Eckart

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                                                 NEW SUMMER SCHEDULE

Beginning July 4, there will be only one service at 9:30 a.m. with fellowship afterwards. Sunday School will resume in the fall. All Bible classes will resume in the fall , as well.

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                                                     HELPING HAITI

Thrivent for Lutherans has announced a decision to match $1 for every $2 given by its members up to $250 per member. Go to Thrivent.com/helping haiti for information. If you desire to donate by sending a check, make the check out to one of these organizations:(1) Lutheran World Relief or (2) LCMS World Relief/Human Care. On the "memo line" write: "Helping Haiti" then send the check to: THRIVENT FINANCIAL FOR LUTHERANS, 4321 N. Ballard Rd., Appleton, WI 54919.

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The Altar Guild is always looking for new members . If you are interested in serving, please contact Dorothy Hoemann.

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Hand sanitizer dispensers have been installed for your convenience. There is one in the Narthex beside the Guest sign -in book.  There is also one by the kitchen door in Graudin Hall.

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           HEARING ASSIST DEVICES

Anyone needing a hearing  device to assist in your worship, please contact an usher or Steve White. The devices work in both the sanctuary and Graudin Hall.

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The Church Council Minutes and Monthly Board Reports are available in the church office for review by Island Lutheran members. They are in a labeled white notebook on the white bookcase behind the secretary's desk.

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                                            CD's Available

        CD copies of the Sunday service or just the sermon are available. See Jan or Steve White.