January update from pastor mark
Happy New Year! We are happy to share with you our new congregation website and communication platform.
As part of the most recent Capital Improvements Campaign, Our Redeemer authorized the redevelopment of our congregation's website. Creative and technical support teams worked hard this past fall with a website developer and just before Christmas we were able to launch the new webpage. If you have not already seen it, check it out at ourredeemerlacrosse.org (this is the same URL [web address] as our previous site). This new webpage will be a more effective communications tool for members and friends of Our Redeemer, as well as the wider public. As Jane and Melanie and I grow in our skills developing and updating the site, there may be a few hiccups along the way. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it is an exciting time in the office! As you begin to click your way through various features on the site and become familiar with all that is there, please let us know if you encounter any difficulties or items that are not working properly. Just send an email to office@ourredeemerlacrosse.org.
In addition to improving our web presence for members and the public alike, our recent work also enables us now to deliver regular communications, such as Our Redeemer Reaching Out – the monthly newsletter, as well as special bits of news and announcements electronically to your email. This is why we have been asking you to confirm your email address with us! If you do not think we have your current email, please send it to us at office@ourredeemerlacrosse.org . And be sure to share our new webpage with family and friends! Near the bottom of the homepage, they can subscribe to our newsletter. We’d love to have them get to know us better.
Beginning here in the New Year (2025!), in part because of these new communication tools but also because of the expense of producing a print version of a newsletter and the rising cost of bulk mailing, we will no longer be sending out hard copies of the newsletter. You will receive an email with a link that will take you directly to a pdf version of Our Redeemer Reaching Out (watch for communications from this address: Our Redeemer Lutheran Church news@ourredeemerlacrosse.org). The format of the newsletter, for now, is unchanged, though it will come to you “in living color” rather than in black and white. If you are homebound and do not have access to the newsletter online, contact Jane in the church office and we will happily mail you a copy. If you simply prefer to pick up a black and white hard copy of the newsletter at church, some copies will be available in the narthex.
You will see that the link to our worship Livestream is still easy to find on the homepage. Another link allows you or others to support financially the many ministries at Our Redeemer with one-time gifts or by regular, recurring donations through an online giving platform, Engage.
We are grateful for your support of the Capital Improvements Campaign. It was a great success! The new lift elevator is in place, the parking lot has been replaced, HVAC upgrades in the sanctuary and office/library areas have been made, and our website is new!
Out with the old. In with the new. Sounds like New Year’s! A time to celebrate!
May your New Year be happy, healthy, and richly blessed by God.
+ Pastor Mark