July & August 2008 Message from the Council President

Stewards of the Grounds, A Visit to the Property Committee

Whenever I come to Prince of Peace for a service or a meeting, I take a few minutes to sit under the tall pines in the meditation garden or a stroll around the flower beds, bushes, and trees. The beautiful grounds were one of the attractions that drew us to Prince of Peace when we started looking for a church years ago.

After being elected as Council President at the June meeting, I took a detour through the meditation garden to think about how to make a difference. That’s when the idea to visit our working committees came to me. In the coming months I hope to visit all the standing committees we have at Prince of Peace and highlight the important work they do in the monthly messages.

My first visit was to the Stewards of the Grounds, the Property Committee.

The grounds are always so fresh and green, almost like fairies have been there, picking away dead leaves and dandelions and giving an extra light touch to delicate blooms making them perfect.

There are fairies, but they are not the tiny kind you might imagine. They are a group of dedicated congregation members and I have seen them at work. They are out and about the church grounds and buildings on Wednesday mornings from 8:30 to about 12 noon. They are bent over in plant beds, eradicating weeds growing in cracks, cleaning up behind buildings, and fixing what’s broken.

They take a morning break at 10 am when a fresh pot of coffee and a bag of home baked cookies waits for them in the Fellowship hall and that’s where I meet them last Wednesday.

When I addressed them as the property committee, one said. “What property committee? We just work.”

What do you like about coming here to work? I asked them.

“We like to the camaraderie. Some of us meet for breakfast before we get here.”

How do you decide what to work on?

“We do what calls us,” Reinhard says.

“Who are members of the property work group?” I ask.

The very first people they mention are two that are no longer with us. Bob Werling and John Matson. We’ll miss them.

Bob Werling was chairman of the committee and John Matson was a long time member. These two were the driving force behind many of the improvements we enjoy today. Bob pushed hard for the beautiful patio and John built most of the trellis work you see around the grounds and in the patio.

These are the current members: Onalee Fuchs, Bud Johnson, Bob Mayers, Bill Young (Bill’s wife, Susan, bakes the Wednesday cookies), Reinhard and Rotraut Wolter, and Clay Barron helps with electrical.

“We always need more hands,” they tell me.

How to get involved: If you feel called join them show up at church on Wednesday morning and they’ll put you to work. There is coffee and home baked cookies at 10 a.m.

At the last congregational meeting we talked about the parking lot that the property group does their best to keep up. In the Church Council we get many suggestions from the group and the council works to find the funds.

We have a wonderful legacy handed to us from those who went before, those who built the church. All we do as a church, what we are, the good works that are done with and from the congregation is rooted in the physical space.

In my position as council chair I will work to put aside funds for maintenance and improvements to keep up our church home. I feel it is one of our responsibilities as good stewards of the church.

So next time you come to church, take an extra look around. Enjoy the inside and outside that is kept up with dedication and care.

And remember: it’s not fairies, it’s our property committee members, who make it possible for our church and grounds to shine.

Get Involved, Share your Talents,


Susanne MacDougall

Council President