Dear Friends,Tom and I thank you all for the wonderful welcome and support you have given us over the past year and a half. It has been an honor to serve as your pastors at Christ Lutheran while you searched for a new pastor to lead you into the future. Now that Pastor Cheryl has been called our mission here is coming to an end. We have made many good friends here and will miss the fellowship that we have shared together. During our time here we have seen a renewed energy and spirit to seek what God is calling you to do in Arcadia.

We will continnue to hold you in our prayers. We pray for you to have a future like that spoken of in Jeremiah 29: 11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare of all, to give you a good future and a hope. Our hope for you is to have a wonderful future in ministry here in Arcadia. Our hope is that under Pastor Cheryl you find new ways to connect with the neighborhood and invite more people to worship with you Sunday morning. Our hope is that you deepen in your relationships with God so that you find that it is God who is the source of all strength and hope for you. Our hope is that you extend your reach in service so that more people will know God's love through you. We hope that you will share the wide-open welcome that is part of the DNA of this congregation so that people who are seeking a new spiritual home might experience God's love through you. We hope that you will continue to BE who you ARE -- the beloved and loving people of God -- all of your days.

We close with the phrase that we say to our children when they come forward for a blessing during the communion service, "Remember you are a child of God and God loves you.”

Blessing to you all,
Pastor Bob Schoenknecht
Pastor Tom Bryan