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Business to ministry: Todd Lundgren pastor at newly renamed, Simply Church

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Created: 19 May 2022

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SIMPLY CHRISTIAN - Geneva’s Simply Church unanimously decided to make the church a non-denominational church. Pictured above is Pastor Todd Lundgren of Owatonna.

Star Eagle photo by Melanie Piltingsrud

By MELANIE PILTINGSRUD
Staff Writer

Todd Lundgren of Owatonna is the new pastor of Simply Church, formerly called Victory Life, in Geneva.

Lundgren is a businessman with three daughters. He and his wife, Grace, own Country Goods, a business known as “southern Minnesota's largest gift store.” The 18-year-old shop at 4515 NW 22nd Ave., Owatonna – across the freeway from Cabella's – is open seven days a week. Lundgren's three daughters are all over the map. One daughter, together with her husband, is a missionary in Kazakhstan. Another lives with her family in Lawrence, KS. A third daughter is in her fourth year at the University of Northwestern in St. Paul. Lundgren also lost his fourteen-year-old son seventeen years ago in a boating accident, just one year after Lundgren had opened his business.

“Most of us Owatonnans don't really get to Geneva too much,” says Lundgren, “so I wasn't too familiar with Geneva.” 

Lundgren says the Geneva church started about eight years ago, and was connected with the Assembly of God denomination. “For whatever reason, they decided they didn't want to be part of that denomination or any denomination,” says Lundgren. The congregation voted unanimously to be a non-denominational church, deciding to be known as, “just strictly Christian.”

They also wanted a new moniker. “I gave them a big, long list of potential church names,” Lundgren says. But the congregation didn't choose any of those. “Lo and behold, they unanimously voted on the name 'Simply Church.'”

Ellendale church welcomed their new pastor in May

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Created: 19 May 2022

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Pastor David Modder

By BARB FINSETH
Staff Writer

Vibrant Life Assembly of God Church in Ellendale welcomed Pastor David Modder and his family in May of 2021 to serve as their full-time pastor. Assembly of God churches are a mainline Christian community and the largest Pentacostal denomination, which welcomes  people of all faiths and walks of life. 

Pastor David was a young follower of Jesus Christ in high school, who grew up in a farming community in central Michigan. He tried several different professions after graduating, but he says, "There was a restlessness in my soul, and I sensed being asked to serve Him as a vocation." David followed this calling years later when he enrolled at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis to pursue the call to full-time ministry. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Cross-Cultural Communications, and met his wife, Jennifer, while they were studying there.  

After college, they were deciding where they would locate their ministry when they realized, "The biggest need we saw was in the ethnic variety of our neighborhoods, so we decided to stay in Minneapolis." For the next 23 years, David worked as an "at-home" missionary, starting a church among this diverse community, which was primarily among the large population of Somalis.  He later started another church in the area and both of these churches are still active. 

During the busy years of ministering, they were blessed with four children:  Gabriel, the oldest and recently engaged to Danelle, works and goes to school in the Twin Cities; Caleb and his wife, Angela, are also in the Twin Cities, working and going to school; Joseph lives at home and is finishing his high school senior year in the Post-Secondary Option through Riverland Community College; and their daughter, Alaina, who is entering 7th grade at the Cannon River STEM school in Faribault, where Jennifer is employed. 

Preliminary tax increase of 10%

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Created: 19 May 2022

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By ELI LUTGENS
Publisher/Editor

A preliminary 2022 City of New Richland budget proposal calling for a 10.21% residential property tax increase was presented during a public budget hearing, September 13, 2021.

“I don’t want anyone to be alarmed, because right now it looks like a 10.21% increase,” Mayor Gail Schmidt said. “There are reasons for that[...]. So the numbers are ugly. I really don’t want anyone to panic, because there is still work to do. We just have to get this preliminary submitted to the county before the end of September.”

Property Tax Increase

The proposed property tax hike would have owners of residential property valued at $100,000 see an increase from 2021 totals of $888 go to $969 in 2022, an $80 increase. At the high end, for properties valued at $400,000, the increase would be an additional $446. Properties valued at $200,000 would see an increase of $202. Commercial properties valued at $500,000 would see an increase of $1,033 at the proposed rate increase.

The rate may decrease once the city receives its tax rate from the county. “We’re kind of at their mercy because we’re waiting for a tax rate,” Mayor Schmidt said. “I think once we get that tax capacity [rate], that’s gonna bring it down some."

Explanation

The reasons given by Mayor Schmidt for the proposed increase are:

1. Liability insurance increased by 20 percent due to the turmoil in police departments across the state of Minnesota.

2. Workman's compensation increased 12 percent.

3. Health insurance increased six percent.

“These are things we do not have control over,” Mayor Schmidt explained. “Those are big jumps, especially the property and liability.”

Excitement for the 2021 school year: A brief message from the new NRHEG Superintendent, Mike Meihak

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Created: 19 May 2022

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The long-standing tradition of excitement for the start of a new school year means something different for most people. There is the excitement of connecting with friends again after a summer break.  There is the excitement of taking one step closer to graduation.  There is the excitement of meeting new teachers and new students.  And let’s be honest, there is the excitement of getting the kids out of the house and back to school. Regardless of the extent of your excitement level, the staff of your NRHEG School District strives to provide our students with an exciting, safe and welcoming learning environment.

John Dewey, an American philosopher and educator is quoted as saying “ Education is not the preparation for life, education is life itself.” This statement is one of my favorite quotes and is true for all people, not just school-aged children.  Life is full of learning and no matter your age, learning is always taking place.  Students across the globe engage in some sort of educational process based on the concept of learning, growing, and maturing.  The students of the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva School District are promised an education that meets state standards and benchmarks, local priorities, and are designed to include a wide range of subject areas.  In the education world we use terms like; growth mindset, empowering, interventions, comprehension, assessment, and so on.  While these are important words and concepts, words like these can be misunderstood and can seem to be words that we use in attempts to make us sound like we know what we are doing.