During her years here at First Trinity, Sue was involved with Martin Luther Christian School.  First Trinity was one of several churches that financially supported the school and many of our congregation’s children attended and graduated from MLCS throughout the years before it closed.  Sue would frequent the school to participate in the chapel services every year, and on several occasions took part in the 8th grade graduation ceremony. 

At church, Sue was involved with scheduling the National Youth Gatherings and work camps for our youth to places all over the country such as Atlanta, New Orleans and Orlando.  What an experience for our kids.  Many of these same kids are now all grown up, have kids of their own who are now attending Sunday school just as their parents did years ago.

Sue has now taken on a different role at church, that being the Director of Transformation Ministries.  She has been teaching adult bible classes with many of our younger adults in attendence that were once in her Jr. Jam and Jam programs when they were teens.  Sue has been continuing her education at Buffalo State College and Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora.  She is nearly finished with a Master’s program in Creativity and Leadership.  She is also working with the Karpenko Institute in the Chicago area for training DCE’s as leadership developers. 

Sue has a love of fun and drama.  She plays the bass drum as well as the baritone horn.  She has quite an imagination for using props for teaching and Kid’s sermons which have captivated audiences of all ages.  She plays basketball, walked a marathon and has a very keen sense of wonder and enjoyment of our world.  For the present, her greatest joy and satisfaction comes from helping people in ministry.  She loves to connect people to each other, mentor students and experience Servant Event Ministries.  Those of us who have shared in her ministry give great honor and praise to our Lord for this remarkable servant among us.

Sue is a very unique and special person and has touched the lives of many people, young and old, in our congregation throughout her 25 years of service. In some way, shape or form, through the years, we have been touched by her faith and dedication to her profession and to her family here at First Trinity.  May her future be blessed with an abundance of love and support as she continues on with her journey.  We love you Sue!

Sue got a call from First Trinity to come and interview in November of her last year at college. While here for her interview, she stayed with Jim and Sue Brese.  Jim, in an effort to make Sue feel good about the area, took her around to see all the local sites including Niagara Falls.  Upon returning home, her mom asked how things went and where else she was going to apply for a job.  Since Sue’s brother Peter graduated the same year as Sue and had been on several job interviews before accepting a position with a company,  Sue’s mom was a little confused about this whole “call” process.  Sue told her that it didn’t work that way.  Your name is placed on a list with your college and once contacted by a congregation for an interview,  if offered a call, you then must prayerfully decide if this is God’s calling for you to accept.  It’s called the ”Divine Call”.   Her mom, not understanding any of this responsed by saying,  ”And just who the “heck” do those people think they are”. 

In the summer of 1984, after graduation from Concordia College in Seward, NE, Sue accepted the position to serve First Trinity as our Director of Christian Education.  Her work in ministry here evolved steadily as we experienced her talents in organizing, teaching, giving children’s sermons, Sunday School curriculum planning, VBS and youth leadership.  Even in the earliest years of her tenure here, she helped young people and their parents get involved with church youth gatherings and service events. 

During the next several years at First Trinity, Sue received calls from congregations in Orlando, FL and Topeka, KS.  She flew to Florida for an interview as the process requires and was not at all comfortable with the position offered.  Her second interview in Kansas was scheduled, but at the last minute had to be  cancelled due to the passing of Ben Milak, one of our youth members.  She then decided after other calls continued to come in that it was too agonizing to keep this process going. She had reached a place in her professional life that would keep her at First Trinity until she felt she was no longer effective.

Sue constantly thinks about the “precious” people who are no longer with First Trinity.  She feels very honored that people want her around for big events (good and bad) in their lives, because she connected with their families in a “Spiritual Way“.  Sue is very “Humbled” that she has truly become a part of many families throughout the years.  How great to have helped kids have great moments in their faith.

I can say from personal experience that Sue had a positive influence on my own two girls while they were growing up at First Trinity participating in the Jr. Jam and Jam programs.  This influence, I know, has contributed to the terrific adults they are today.  

In 2004, after twenty years as DCE,  Sue took on a new role at First Trinity as the “Director of Transformation Ministries“.  The next five years were a challenge as well as a blessing.  Stay tuned for the rest of her story.

 This month of September marks the 25th year of service of Sue Steege, our Director of Transformation Ministries at First Trinity.  Although Sue requested we, as a congregation, should not do anything huge to celebrate this occasion, the Staff Care Team went into action and planned out some special, “small” activities throughout the month to keep Sue constantly aware of how much she is appreciated and loved and what a wonderful gift she is to all of us at First Trinity.  Twenty five years is a significant milestone in one’s career and it should be recognized and celebrated.  The Staff Care team has initiated 25 days of celebration for Sue that started on September 1st.  Throughout the month of September, the congregation has been invited to participate as individuals, families or as members of a group, such as our Life Groups, to honor Sue with cards and notes or any random act of kindness.

Sue Steege, one of three children, was born on September 24, 1960 in Atlanta, GA.  Sue and her family moved to Burnsville, MN in 1964 due to her dad’s job with the 3M company, where he was employed. ( Worked in Marketing for 3M )  While there, Sue attended grade school at Sioux Trail Elementary. During her grammar school years, Sue and her family attended church every week and she was very active in Sunday School.   After 8th grade graduation, they moved to Fullerton, CA in 1972, where Sue became very active and was confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church, Anaheim.  She was a member of the youth group and a singing group.  Sue’s mom studied the Bethel Bible Series, which had a great impact on her life.  In 1975 Sue attended her first year of H.S. in Fullerton, CA.  When she was a sophomore, her family moved once again to  Woodbury, MN, where she graduated from Woodbury H.S in 1979. 

At Woodbury High, her days were filled with extra curricular activities, friends, jobs and sports.  These included playing the baritone horn in the marching band, drama, events, swim team competition and basketball. She had a “cool” job at a roller rink snack bar and attended her church’s youth group.   During her Junior year of High School, Sue went on a youth group retreat and remembers her DCE that year asking her if she ever thought about becoming a DCE.  Sue commented that she never gave it a thought.  Sue always thought she would become a nurse like her mother or possibly a physical therapist.  That year is when Sue decided to pursue a career in youth ministry and become a DCE.   When Sue approached her family with the idea, her mother was not very happy about it; thought she could do better.  Her dad and brothers liked the idea and thought it was “Great”.  There were no church workers in her family so this would be a first.  Sue then visited several college’s and decided on  Seward Concordia college where she attended from 1979 to 1984. There she met Professor Bill Karpenko, who became a role model for her.   While at Seward, Sue majored in Elementary Ed. and DCE, with a minor in theology and music.  She served for one year as a DCE intern at Our Savior Lutheran Church, St. Petersburg, FL, before graduation.

Sue’s next challenge after graduation was finding a job.  More to come on her job search and her life.  The next 25 years.

Financial Condition and Activities:  A)  The Senior Pastor may not expend more funds than have been received in the fiscal year to date unless the debt is met.  B)  There shall be no conflict of interest in awarding purchases or other contracts.  C)  The Senior Pastor may not in-debt the organization in an amount greater than can be repaid by certain, otherwise unencumbered revenues within 180 days.  D)  The Senior Pastor may not use any Long Term Reserves.  E)  The Senior Pastor may not allow tax payments or other government-ordered payments or filings to be overdue or inaccurately filed.  F)  The Senior Pastor may not fail to develop a fiscal year budget in a timely fashion.  G)  The Senior Pastor may not expand any endowment or designated funds other that for the purposes determined at time of receipt or designation.

Asset Protection:  A)  The Senior Pastor may not fail to insure against theft and casualty losses to replacement value and against liability losses to Ministry Council members, staff or the organization itself in an amount greater that the average comparable organization.  B)  Assets may not be unprotected, inadequately maintained or unnecessarily risked.  C)  The Senior Pastor may not allow unbonded personnel access to material amounts of funds.  D)  The Senior Pastor may not subject plant and equipment to improper wear and tear or insufficient maintenance.  E)  The Senior Pastor may not unnecessarily expose the organization, its Ministry Council and staff, to claims of liability or risk its nonprofit status.  F)  The Senior Pastor may not make any purchase wherein normally prudent protection has not been given against conflict of interest of over $1500.00 without having obtained comparative prices and quality.  G)  The Senior Pastor may not fail to protect all intellectual property, information, and files from loss or significant damage.  H)  The Senior Pastor may not receive, process or disperse funds under controls, which are insufficient to meet the Ministry Council’s auditor’s standards and I)  The Senior Pastor may not encumber the organization’s public image or credibility, particularly in ways that would hinder its accomplishment of the Outcomes Policy.

Communication and Support to the Ministry Council:  A)  The Senior Pastor may not neglect to submit monitoring data required by the Ministry Council in a timely, accurate and understandable fashion, directly addressing provision of the Ministry Council policies being monitored.  B)  The Senior Pastor may not let the Ministry Council be unaware of relevant trends, anticipated adverse media coverage, material external and internal changes, particularly changes in assumptions upon which any Ministry Council policy has previously been established.  C)  The Senior Pastor may not fail to advise the Ministry Council if, in the Senior Pastor’s opinion, the Ministry Council is not in compliance with its own policies on Governance Process and Ministry Council-Senior Pastor relationship, particularly in the case of Ministry Council behavior which is detrimental to the work relationship between Ministry Council and the Senior Pastor.  D)  The Senior Pastor may not fail to marshal for the Ministry Council as many staff and external points of view, issues and options as needed for fully informed Ministry Council choices.  E)  The Senior Pastor may not present information in unnecessarily complex or lengthy form.  F)  The Senior Pastor may not fail to provide a mechanism for official Ministry Council, officer or committee communication.  G)  The Senior Pastor may not fail to deal with the Ministry Council, as a whole except when fulfilling individual requests for information or responding to officers or committees duly charged by the Ministry Council.  H)  The Senior Pastor may not fail to report in a timely manner an actual or anticipated noncompliance with any policy of the Ministry Council and lastly I)  The Senior Pastor may not, within three months of staff evaluations, fail to prepare, implement, or share with the Ministry Council an annual professional development plan that responds to staff evaluations.

There you have it, First Trinity’s Governance Policies.  A lot to digest and understand.  Any questions or concerns can be forwarded to the Ministry Council President, Jon Morris, my self or Pastor Whited for further clarification.

General Constraints:  The Senior Pastor shall not fail to A)  Ensure that all programming and services relate to the directives of the Ministry Council, as set forth in the Governance Outcomes.  B)  Maintain an “Operations Manual” which outlines the organizational structure and workings of the church office.  C)  Maintain all official records of membership, attendance and functions of the church office, and D)  Develop and maintain a long range and subsequent annual operating plan.

Treatment of Staff:  A)  Dealings with staff and volunteers shall not be inhumane, unfair, undignified or illegal.  B)  The Senior Pastor may not operate without personnel procedures, which clarify personnel rules for staff, provide for effective handling of grievances and protect against wrongful condition.  C)  The Senior Pastor may not discriminate against any staff member for expressing a personal opinion.  D)  The Senior Pastor may not prevent staff from grieving to the Ministry Council when;  internal grievance procedures have been exhausted, the employee alleges that the Ministry Council policy has been violated to his or her detriments, the Ministry Council policy does not adequately protect his or her human rights, there is a failure to acquaint the staff with their rights under this policy and staff/volunteers are subjected to unsafe/unhealthy conditions.  E)  The Senior Pastor shall not fail to complete annual performance evaluations for all (paid and non-paid).

Budgeting:  A)  Budgeting and fiscal year or the remaining part of any fiscal year shall not deviate materially from Governance Outcome priorities, risk fiscal jeopardy, fail to show a generally accepted level of foresight or fail to be derived from a multi-year plan.  B)  The Senior Pastor may not present a budget that contains too little information to enable credible protection of revenues and expenses, separation of capital and operational items, cash flow and disclosure of planning assumptions.  C)  The Senior Pastor may not plan the expenditure in any fiscal year of more funds than are conservatively projected to be received in that period.  D)  The Senior Pastor may not endanger the fiscal soundness of future years or ignore the building of organizational capability sufficient to achieve Outcomes in future years.  E)  The Senior Pastor shall not fail to adequately budget for Ministry Council directives during the year.  F)  The Senior Pastor may not deviate materially from Ministry Council Outcome policies in allocation of competing fiscal needs and G)  The Senior Pastor may not allow deviations from generally accepted accounting practices.

Financial Condition and Activities, Asset Protection and Communication and Support to the Ministry Council to follow in Part II