-Summer Office Hours through August 15
-Staff Openings in the Saint Paul Area Synod
-Crossing Bridges: It's About Goals
-ELCA Civic Engagement Tour
-Around and About the Saint Paul Area Synod
-Cyber Garage Sale and Cyber Bulletin Board

From Beth Helgen, Saint Paul Area Synod
Synod Summer Office Hours Continue through August 15
The synod office is open from 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. For six weeks this summer on Fridays, July 11-August 15, the synod office will be open from 8:00 a.m.-12:00 noon and closed for the afternoon. Regular Friday office hours resume the week of August 18.

Communications Specialist Sought for the Saint Paul Area Synod
We are currently seeking a communications specialist in the Saint Paul Area Synod. This is a new position which fulfills a recommendation made by Shirley Teig following a consultation in 2005 that the synod hire a full-time staff person to oversee communications, and repeated by John Johnson following the interviews and focus groups he led this June. This is an entry level position, particularly suitable for a recent college graduate or a person with one or two years of experience. Applications will be received until Friday, Aug. 15.  For a complete job description>

FROM GARY F. ANDERSON, CROSSING BRIDGES MISSION APPEAL
It's About Goals
The Olympics are underway in Beijing and the world is watching. The games are about many things such as team-work, being good sports, training, fun, challenge, competition and international friendships. But finally for the athletes the Olympics is about achieving goals and, yes, even winning the gold! Goals are not everything, but they are important. Our Saint Paul Area Synod congregations working together in the “Crossing Bridges-Connecting in Mission” appeal have a goal to raise $2 million to advance the mission of our church in the greater Saint Paul Area. We want to do God’s work more effectively in four key areas that impact lives here and abroad. Now we are so close to our goal. The other end of the bridge is just a bit over $100,000 away! We started out over two years ago with a huge bridge in front of us. Now we can see the end. It is like one of the Olympic athletes running in track and as they round the final turn, the goal is in sight. Sixty five of our congregations and hundreds of individuals have participated. If every congregation does something, we can easily make or even exceed our goal. With fall planning going on, now is a good time to go for the goal. If your church is one of the remaining 49 that have not yet joined in Crossing Bridges, please consider doing so with a effort to gather an offering this fall. If your congregation has already joined in the effort, another gift would carry us across the goal. If you are an individual who has already made a gift, thanks for considering another. If you have not made a gift, please do so. Information is available at www.spas-crossingbridges.org.

From the ELCA Washington Office
Civic Engagement Tour: Your Faith, Your Vote
Aug. 28, 11:30 a.m., Woodlake Lutheran Church, Richfield, and Aug. 29, 11:30 a.m., Cross of Hope Lutheran, Ramsey. Lunch and fellowship begin at 11:30 a.m. The forum begins at 12:00 noon. Chances are good that you are overwhelmed with televised debates, opinion poll analyses, and feature stories tracking the presidential candidates. It's easy to become sidetracked by the political mudslinging and partisan bickering, until we consider how our faith can inform our civic engagement. In his Large Catechism, Luther identifies government as a means through which God works to preserve creation and to help maintain a peaceful and just social order in a sinful world. Our faith values should inform how we look at public issues and interpret what is happening in political life. The ELCA is called to be a public church; and thus, we have a responsibility to engage potential political leaders on the values and ethics affirmed by our faith. This isn't about partisan politics. In fact, in order to protect religious liberty and our nation’s democratic system, we must remember that it is not the church's role to promote any single candidate or endorse any activity that will provide any form of partisan gain. Our goal is to equip Lutherans to understand what nonpartisan political activities we can engage in as a church, and to encourage others to get involved. Now is the time to register to vote, think critically about our civic responsibility, and prayerfully and thoughtfully evaluate political issues, as we keep the promise for a faithful democracy. Please join staff from the ELCA advocacy office to discuss:

• How and why we are called to be a public church?
• Why does the ELCA advocate?
• Who is your advocacy staff?
• What are permissible nonpartisan electoral activities for churches?
• Issue conversations on: domestic and international hunger and poverty, immigration, global conflicts, and the environment.

Around and About the Saint Paul Area Synod
The Citizen as Co-Creator
Aug. 19, 7:00 p.m., Virginia Street Swedenborgian Church, 170 Virginia St., St. Paul. Harry Boyte, nationally known community organizer and author of The Citizen solution: How You Can Make a Difference, challenges the recent studies that portray American democracy as in decline. He argues we are at the threshold of a great shift, toward self organized cooperative citizen efforts, in which people and communities define problems, what to do about them, and how to measure success. Organizing is different than mobilizing campaigns where people are rallied in support of predefined goals. Organizing depends on the citizen as co-creator of a democratic society. People of faith are challenged to move beyond acts of charity and service to work that helps build and repair the world. Boyte will describe some of the theological roots of organizing and the citizen as co-creator, and discuss ISAIAH, an organization featured in The Citizen Solution. The Rev. Grant Stevensen, president of ISAIAH, will respond.There will be time for small group discussion. Information at 651.225.8989.

CYBER GARAGE SALE and Cyber Bulletin Board
Green Hymnals and With One Voice Available for Free
Christ the King Lutheran, Bloomington, has approximately 230 copies of the green hymnal and With One Voice. Email Jane VeVea or call 952.881.8600 if you have a home for them.

Sharing Space
A synod congregation is allowing another congregation to use space for its services, and the congregation wants to draft a memo of understanding that outlines expectations and accountability. A commercial real estate lease is too complicated and formal, but the congregation wants to address issues of insurance and who pays for what, etc. If you have a draft of such a lease, please email Beth Helgen.