Another year has passed and this was my second as President for the Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church. It is interesting how fast time passes. It seem like it was a easier year for me as President of the congregation. The council members have settled down and are now used to my style of leadership.

The new council met had its first meeting just a few days after the annual meeting. We had such good experiences from the Council mini retreat of June 1 2002, so we decided to start out the year with another mini retreat. Again Bernt and Kari Fosse was hosting the event at their house in Bloomington. Our vice president Cindy Peters was in charge of the agenda. The intent of the mini retreat was to to give the new council member a chance to get to know each other better. It also gave me an opportunity to bring out my good and trusted Roberts Rule of Order to let the council members know a bit about how I expect the council meetings to be conducted. It was a good meeting. Thanks to Bernt and Kari Fosse for hosting this event.

The congregation of Mindekirken was met with some hard challenges early in the year. At the congregational council meeting on February 11 2003, we had a visitor by the name of Saleshi Testaye. Saleshi is a Christian from Ethiopia who has been living here in United States for the past nine years. Saleshi has a goal, a vision to start a church for his Ethiopian people. Saleshi has approximately 50 people whom he leads in worship and study in the Christian faith. The original proposal presented to the Mindekirken church council was to rent Mindekirken facilities to Saleshi and his group so they could meet here on Sunday afternoons.

As part of our follow up from the February meeting, Vice President Cindy Peters contacted the ELCA Synod office, and was referred to an ELCA sponsored organization called Agora Ministry led by Pastor Cherian. Pastor Cherian met with the Executive Committee and it turns out that Agora Ministry deals with exactly the issue we had been presented with. Their goal is bringing people together in neighborhood churches. Pastor Cherian noted that providing the group with a place to worship is a good thing, but recommended a more mission minded approach, one that will give Mindekirken an opportunity to join with this group of emerging Christians while each still retains their cultural identity.

At the March 11 congregational council meeting, Pastor Cherian presented these ideas. If we choose, Agora Ministry will facilitate the relationship between Mindekirken and Saleshi’s group for as long as needed. Pastor Cherian has met personally with Saleshi to counsel him as a Lay Leader as well as his church elders to mentor them in the process of forming a Christian church.

The Council formed a taskforce that met and formulated a recommendation for the council regarding this issue. The recommendation was to do nothing with the Ethiopian congregation at this time. Members of the taskforce feel that the issue was not presented to Mindekirken in a good way and the congregation might not be ready for this kind of a challenge.

We were disappointed to find out that the Nidaros Cathedral Boy’s Choir trip in April was canceled because of concerns about the war in Iraq. I hope that these concerts can be rescheduled for sometime later this fall.

The Syttende Mai celebration this year was a success. There were many different events to attend. The events at Mindekirken went especially well this year. It started with the Sunday worship service at 11a.m. As usual, the service was in Norwegian with flags, speeches and national hymns. The church was filled to nearly the last seat with almost 500 people in attendance. Guest preacher Inge Lønning, Vice President of the Norwegian Parliament, delivered the sermon. The guest text reader of the lessons was my brother, Lars Helge Hatlevik, from Fosnavåg, Norway. In addition to the Mindekirken choir, we also had special music by the Nordkapp Male Chorus and Norwegian opera singer Magne Fremmerlid. After the service we had the traditional Folketog parade through the neighborhood by Mindekirken. A parade band was a great addition to this year’s event. Hopefully that can become a regular part of the Syttende Mai parade.

Following the parade, the celebration continued in the parking lot behind Mindekirken. Preparations for this day started weeks before. The newly formed Landscaping Committee dug in to ‘spruce up’ the grounds and plant colorful flowers. The day of the event found a whole army of people (too numerous to name) setting up an awning, tables, and chairs and serving refreshments. Many enjoyed the Norwegian custom of lunching on hotdogs, chips, ice cream and lemonade. We also had entertainment by Det norske folkedanslaget, Fjell og fjord Children’s folk dancers, and the Nordkapp Male Chorus.

August 12, 2003 the Congregational Council met the first time after the summer break. Due to health reasons, Priscilla Sorknes resigned as chair of the Trustees. Priscilla will continue as a Trustee, but Paul Knutson was elected to fill the position as new chair of the Trustees.

By the end of the summer, the pictoral directory was competed and in September we distributed the copies to members that participated in the making of the directory. We made a few extra copies and they will be given out to new members and extra copies are available for sale. In addition we have for sale two different postcards that were also produced by Ollin Mills, the company that made the directories.

In October we had a full schedule of LEIF events. Of these events, I particularly enjoyed the Nidarosdomen Boys Choir concert at Mindekirken on October 3. The "Tuesday Open House" programs were well attended this year. One of the best of these was the program with Rolf Stang as "Hans Kristian Andersen" telling his own fairy tales.

As sure as the leaves on the trees are changing color, Mindekirken’s Congregation Council had another Stewardship drive. A committee decided on a stewardship campaign format. This year the motto of the campaign is "Where the Heart is". Contrary to the chair of the committee I believe it was a good drive. This year we focused more upon the time and talent part of stewardship. I strongly believe that we will repeat the stewardship drive in coming years too. In the middle of the Stewardship month, on November 16^th, Klubb 500 sponsored a special Sunday service featuring the fantastic Barbary Coast Dixieland Band.

On October 19^th of this year, I called a special Congregational meeting to hear the presentation (again) by representatives of the Credit Union and to vote on the ‘Declaration of Easements and Covenants’ that will govern the (good) relationship between Mindekirken and the Credit Union. Unfortunately this meeting was recessed because members began leaving and we lost the required number of voting members necessary to have quorum. To make sure we had a good understanding of the proposal, we hired an outside legal advisor with experience in these matters to review the contract and work with us in the negotiations.

Then on November 23^rd we called another special Congregational meeting. At this meeting the Congregation approved a motion that will, in cooperation with our legal advisor, allow us to complete the final negotiations with the Credit Union and approve the agreement with our Good Neighbor.

The traditional "Juleaften Service" on December 24 at 4pm and the special New Years Eve service on December 31^st. ended the year 2003.

I think 2003 turned out to be a good year for Mindekirken. It sure seemed like doom and gloom in November when the General Fund was nearly $40,000 in the red. But thanks to God answering our prayers and the generosity of all the members and friends of Mindekirken, we ended the year in the black with just a bit to spare.

Magne A. Hatlevik
Congregation Council President