Open Door News
March 13, 2008
New Board Member
On March 2, through a unanimous member vote, John Parenteau was approved to serve a six-year term as an elder on the Governing Board. John began attending Open Door 13 years ago and, since then, has
been involved in many ministries,
including: Outreach
Ground Breaking Committee,
Small Group Committee, Alpha,
Small Group Leader, Communion
Steward, and Prayer and Metro
Impact Ministries. John feels honored to serve on the Governing
Board. He loves
Open Door and at this
time of his life, it seems
like a really good fit.
February 27, 2008
Team Travels to Mephibosheth Home, Haiti
Steve Hanson and Nancy Abbott will be coleading a team to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb 18-Mar 11. The team includes Carol Brekke, Connie Mathre, Bonnie Middleton, Diana Rogers, Cheryl Skelly, Dave Smith, Derrick Strom and Mary Walters. They will be staying at the Mephibosheth Home, getting to know the kids, playing games and doing crafts with them. During the day, a few of the team members will be spending time at
Mother Teresa Sisters of Charity, holding and feeding sick babies.
November 1, 2007
Open Door Welcomes New Pastors
Open Door's new Teaching Pastor, Steve Weins, and Worship Pastor, Stefan Van Voorst, will begin working in the office on Tuesday, November 6. Before this, Steve was on staff for four years at Christ Presbyterian Church as the student ministries pastor. He has been a guest speaker at Open Door over the past two years including this summer when he preached a three-part series, Small Kingdom-Big Kingdom. Stefan served as the worship leader for the past five years at Upper Room and has led worship here several times. Stefan has also been a guest speaker. Welcome, Steve and Stefan!
October 29, 2007
Steve Hanson to Attend Seminar in Bangladesh
On November 20, Global Impact Pastor Steve Hanson will be traveling to Bangladesh. He'll attend a seminar on microfinance put on by Grameen Bank, which lends small amounts of money to the poorest of the poor. As of September, Grameen Bank has
7.31 million borrowers, 97% of whom are women. After attending the two-week long seminar, Steve will spend a week with Peter Halder, one of Open Door's Global Partners in Bangladesh. Steve
will return on December 12.
August 26, 2007
Project Mercy Home Provides Hurricane Shelter
When Hurricane Dean blew past Belize last week, the Hopkins Village area experienced a strong tropical storm. Our friends in Hopkins prepared for the worst by moving to the most secure structures. Their most secure building is The RahCinDes Home and School, built by your Project Mercy coins. Victoria Castillo reports that 50 residents found safety in “our” safe place, and wants us to know how grateful they all are.
June 19, 2007
Lisa Brinkman’s last day on staff was May 30. Taking over a large part of Lisa’s pastoral duties, Vicki Degner has moved to full-time, and her title has changed to Adult Care Pastor. Vicki will now oversee Women’s Ministry. Julia Schirmers has accepted the Adult Life Ministry Coordinator position. Julia served as the Adult Care Admin Assistant for the past 4½ years, and will now oversee and direct the administrative aspects of Adult Life.
May 17, 2007
Sanctuary CDC Teacher Appreciation Update
Between Open Door and Sanctuary Covenant Church, we collected enough gift cards to bless and encourage over 300 teachers and school staff in North Minneapolis. Sanctuary CDC staff and tutors went to each school to say thank you, and took a few moments to recognize their work this year. Neeraj Mehta emphasized, "We are here today to represent hundreds of people around the metro who support you and are so thankful for your investment in the kids in North Minneapolis. Though they couldn’t all be hear today, they wanted to show their support by blessing you with a gift card.”
April 11, 2007
Team Travels to Kenya & Uganda
Steve Hanson, Pastor of Global Impact, along with Nancy Abbott, Terry Eiswald, Todd Bertelson, Tom McLellan, and Vicki Gerken are traveling in Kenya and Uganda. While in Kenya they will continue our partnership in the Kawangware Slums of Nairobi with Huduma Ministry. This partnership has evolved into a strategic HIV/AIDS focus. They will go on to northern Uganda to the city of Gulu and World Vision’s “Children of War Recovery Center.” This visit will provide the next step for our HIV/AIDS partnership in the region of infected child soldiers. The team will return on April 21.
