I enjoy working at ELC Cokato because of the wonderful staff and team of volunteers that come together with all God’s people to celebrate grace through sharing Christ’s story.

I grew up in a mega church and never felt like I fit in. At ELC-C it’s definitely a welcoming and friendly place to worship and to work at. I enjoy working with my co-workers. My husband and I were looking for a church to call home and a place where our children could learn about God and grow in their faith. We discovered ELC-C from Karen, my mother-in-law, who thought we’d really enjoy it! I really liked that they had children’s sermons. I had never seen that done before and thought it was really special that a church would include the children as part of the service.

I have been a member of ELC Cokato since 2016. I enjoy working at ELC Cokato because of the people, both on staff and part of the congregation.

I’ve enjoyed being part of the ELC Cokato team as a part-time custodian. It’s given me the opportunity to get to know members and see how their individual contributions mesh to make ELC Cokato a thriving and caring congregation.

I love working at Cokato Evangelical Lutheran Church because of the congregational support of music. I am incredibly blessed to have access to high quality instruments (including the pipe organ and grand piano). The priority CELC has of preserving and maintaining these historical instruments is evident when you worship and/or play at other places and comparatively hear sour notes and encounter poorly maintained instruments.

How many churches claim an ownership of a grand Steinway piano? Not many. Also, our Kimball pipe organ is about 100 years old and play arguably better today than when originally installed. One project I am particularly proud of the congregational support is restoring the chimes and bringing them back to their original glory.

During my interview I met Karen Anderson (who I learned during the interview had played at CELC for over fifty years)! I thought to myself after the interview; that if a congregation kept an organist happy for that long, I assumed they must have done something right. I could not have been more correct in my assumption! This includes not just the support I have felt with music ministries, but the many members who have made it a point to be welcoming and genuinely interested in my family and me (to the point my family and I chose to be members at CELC).

Lastly, there is a strong foundation of musical talent at CELC including the many volunteers who sing in our choirs and various soloists throughout the year that I love to accompany and support as needed. I look forward to continuing to serve and develop further music ministries.

I was serving on the Church Council in 2016 when Heather Wheatley was financial secretary and was moving away. Thus, the council was talking about options on filling her role at church. As I was thinking about our situation, I just couldn’t stop thinking that “I can do this.”

I’ve worked full-time as the Controller for a manufacturing company in South St. Paul since 1997. Accounting is what I know. I remember one of our devotions during council had been about service and I just kept thinking “I can do accounting. This is something I can do to help my church family.”

My full time job did the Strength Finder with our employees and 4 of my top strengths are Harmony, Responsibility, Discipline and Consistency. I feel like these strengths are why I’m passionate about my work at church.

I want our church family to know I take my position very seriously. I take great responsibility for all I do at church and my goal is that I provide information that’s timely, accurate, useful… anything to make things flow smoothly for our growing church family!