As I sit down to write this column it is just ten days until the end of August. The State Fair starts in a couple of days, Labor Day weekend is coming right up, and next thing you know the leaves will be turning colors for reasons other than the summer heat. The Fall season is soon to be starting at Mindekirken as well, and there are a lot of things to look forward to. Flyers are already out for the Fall Rømmegrøt luncheon, being held the last Saturday in September. Before that, we start our second year of Norwegian classes. Our choir has already held an end-of-Summer potluck and "non-rehearsal rehearsal" which included a look at the newly commissioned piece for the Leiv Eriksson festival, written by Norwegian composer Arne Bech.

I’d like to point out a few upcoming issues that I think will be important to us in this coming year. First of all, the Leiv Eriksson International Festival, which has been a vital part of our cultural offerings for many years now, is taking on a new form. Instead of a single large event (typically a concert), there will be more events spread throughout the month of October. Every church service and every Tuesday open house will have some connection to the festival. In past years, when major Norwegian musicians would come for the Festival Concert, this single offering often overshadowed the many other fascinating events going on as part of the festival. I’m interested to see how our new approach works this year, and think it could be very popular.

For several months now a committee has been meeting to recommend how to finish the basement of our new building addition. As you know, when we built the new addition two years ago we took last-minute advantage of an opportunity to add a sizeable basement under the new offices and meeting rooms for relatively little extra expense. That large room has sat unfinished for all this time, since we had no money allocated to finish it. Also during this time, demands on space, for meetings, the new Norwegian classes, and other gatherings, have grown. It has gotten to the point where we have had to schedule Norwegian classes around Congregation Council meetings and vice versa! So we will soon have the opportunity to look at some possibilities for how this space could be made useable, and useful, to the church. We are expecting to call a Congregational meeting to discuss and vote on a proposal – watch for more information soon to come.

Also soon to be put to a vote of the Congregation will be a recommendation from the Call Committee on a new Pastor for Mindekirken. Pastor Gillebo and his wife Jorid will be returning to Norway in February of 2002, and our Call Committee has been studying applications from pastors interested in the position. We placed advertisements in a couple of different Norwegian publications in late Spring and have had very good response from interested Norwegian clergy. There is not a date finalized at this time for the presentation to the Congregation, but I expect it to be set soon.

So, as always, there is a lot going on at Mindekirken. I have no doubt that I have left out other interesting events and activities, so be alert! It promises to be an interesting Fall season.

John Casey,

Congregation President