De Soto and Freeman Lutheran Churches

06/09/2026

Join us this month for worship!

04/15/2026

A memorial service for Verna Fladhammer will be held at De Soto Lutheran Church on Saturday, May 2 at 10:30 am. Burial will be after the service at De Soto Lutheran Cemetery. There will be a luncheon at the church after the burial.
Verna passed away on January 22, 2026, in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
She was 80 years old.

Verna Kay Fladhammer, age 80, of Alamogordo, New Mexico passed away peacefully on January 22, 2026, in El Paso, Texas. She was born March 31, 1945, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Verna was preceded in death by her parents, Harold and Annie Woodward (Willenberg); her daughter, Tammy Elaine Fladhammer; he...

04/02/2026

There will be Good Friday Services at Southwest Prairie Church, at 10AM....

04/02/2026

Celebrate the joy and hope of Easter with us! This Sunday, we gather to rejoice in the resurrection and the promise of new life. Whether you come every week or it’s been a while, there’s a place for you here.

He is risen! We can’t wait to celebrate with you! 🌷✝️

03/20/2026

A Friday morning reflection

Picture credit: Joshua Bulandr, Last night with the stars up on the bluffs in the Driftless.

Waiting Isn’t Wasted

I’ve been spending time in a few readings this week that all seem to circle the same idea.

Waiting.

Not the passive kind. Not sitting around hoping something changes. The kind of waiting that actually does something to you.

I’ve been thinking about the Israelites and those 40 years in the wilderness. A journey that should have taken weeks stretched into decades. It’s easy to look at that and think delay, frustration, even failure.

But what if it wasn’t wasted time.

What if it was formation.

That hits a little closer to home than I’d like to admit. I can look back over the last 30 plus years of my life and see a lot of detours. Moments where things didn’t move when I thought they should. Times where progress felt real, only to stall again.

And yet, with a little distance, I can also see something else.

Clarity didn’t come in spite of those seasons. It came through them.

One of the passages I read this week said that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. That’s not just theology. That’s lived experience.

The pressure, the setbacks, the unknowns. They weren’t random. They were shaping something I couldn’t have built any other way.

The other piece that stuck with me is this idea of peace. Not the kind that comes when everything lines up perfectly, but the kind that holds steady when it doesn’t.

That kind of peace takes intention.

It means choosing what you focus on. Choosing what you allow to take root in your thinking. Choosing not to let fear or frustration run the show.

And for me, it also means letting go.

Letting go of bitterness. Letting go of the need to settle scores. Letting go of carrying old names and old stories into new seasons.

That part is harder than it sounds.

But I’m starting to see that you can’t step fully into what’s next if you’re still holding onto what’s behind.

So for me, this season of waiting looks a little different now.

Less about asking when things will change.

More about paying attention to what’s being formed.

Less striving.

More trust.

Less noise.

Grace and Peace,
Marc 🙏❤️

03/15/2026

Due to weather conditions...

03/15/2026

DeSotoLutheran Churches are canceled today!!!!!

03/11/2026

Thank you Nadine Hall & The De Soto Area Lions Clubs International for hosting this fantastic event for our community. 🙏❤️

03/09/2026

If you weren't able to make it to worship this Sunday, or if you'd like to hear the sermon again, here is the church program as well as this week's episode of Marc My Words.

"Still Moving" — Second Sunday in Lent

The Mississippi never stops being a river. Even frozen over, even quiet, the current is still there underneath. God's covenant works the same way.

This week we sat with God's one-sided promise to Abram, Jesus' ache over Jerusalem, and Paul's charge to a small church to stand firm. For all of us who keep showing up in the waiting.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2506493/episodes/18816575

Grace and Peace,

Marc 🙏❤️

03/03/2026

March is here — and while many think of “luck,” we are reminded that our greatest blessing isn’t luck at all, but the gift of God’s grace. 🍀✝️

Join us for worship this month as we walk together toward Palm Sunday, celebrating the joy of Christ and preparing our hearts for the season ahead. We would love to worship with you!