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Second Sunday of Easter. April 12, 2026. DeSoto and Freeman Lutheran Churches, Ferryville and DeSoto, Wisconsin.

The Gospel is John 20:19-31. The disciples are behind locked doors on Easter evening. The tomb is empty. The news has been spoken out loud. They are still afraid. Thomas was not even there.

This sermon draws on what was already happening in two small Mississippi River communities: volunteers at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery repairing mussel cages ten days before Easter, a birding workshop at the village hall on a Saturday morning, Friends of Pool Nine preparing for the annual river cleanup, and the fire department running a meat bundle raffle to fund their own equipment because the county budget does not cover it. Nobody was waiting for certainty before they showed up.

Thomas did not get a lecture. Jesus came back for him. Through locked doors. With the wounds still showing.

The river is open. The birds are back on Pool Nine. Easter happened and you are still here.

SHOW NOTES

Marc My Words | Season 2, Episode 3 April 12, 2026 | Second Sunday of Easter | Year A DeSoto and Freeman Lutheran Churches | Ferryville and DeSoto, Wisconsin

Presiding: Marc Bulandr Reader: Jennifer Bulandr

Scripture First Reading: Acts 2:14a, 22-32 Psalm 16 Second Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-9 Gospel: John 20:19-31

Sermon "Faith in Boots" | Marc Bulandr | 11:44

Hymns from Worship Gathering Song: I Know My Redeemer Lives (ELW 619) https://youtu.be/Cl4lKtBuF6E?si=jIVXo8gi3b65RQaJ

Hymn of the Day: O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing (ELW 386) https://youtu.be/Y5GCvaJGH3A?si=A-9waI7RSIpI6wqa

Closing Hymn: Beautiful Savior (ELW 838) https://youtu.be/XxMaMOrEKRU?si=fxD5Ka8BTumncZ4R

Note on worship music: DeSoto and Freeman do not have an organist or accompanist. Marc donated a large-screen television and built a curated YouTube playlist so the music could live in these services. The congregation sings along. That is the whole system.

Community referenced in the sermon Genoa National Fish Hatchery volunteer work, ten days before Easter, mussel cage repairs Ferryville birding workshop, Saturday morning, village hall Friends of Pool Nine annual river cleanup, Lansing VFW Ferryville Fire Department meat bundle raffle, self-funded equipment Congregants volunteering at area hospitals weekly April is National Volunteer Month. In this community, that is just a Tuesday.

About Marc My Words Marc My Words is the podcast of Marc Bulandr, lay worship leader and SAM candidacy candidate in the La Crosse Area Synod (ELCA), and founder of Qualitative Intelligence Systems. Weekend episodes are grounded in Scripture and drawn from active congregational ministry at two small Mississippi River churches in the Driftless region of Wisconsin.

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Luanne Cameron is a Maine insurance agency owner, a published author, a cancer survivor, and one of the most grounded thinkers I have met in a long time.

She built her leadership philosophy around a turtle. And no, that is not a gimmick. The turtle has a head, a heart, legs, a shell, and it produces results when you do all of it right. Head is vision. Heart is people. Legs are operational excellence. Shell is culture. Results follow.

This conversation covers the full origin story. A five-year-old in a nursing home parking lot deciding she was going to live to 110 and have fun doing it. A childhood that forced her to trust her gut before she even knew what that meant. Three Fortune 500 startup operations, from zero to a quarter billion dollars, repeated three times. Breast cancer. A decade of illness. Two years of solid health. And a partnership that started when her husband JP made one introduction.

Midway through, Verity Grey joins us. Verity is the AI persona I built inside Qualitative Intelligence Systems. She is voiced, she is precise, and she asks Luanne questions that take the conversation somewhere it had not gone yet.

This episode is for the business owner who is grinding and not sure why it feels off. For the leader who knows the culture is slipping but cannot name the source. And for anyone curious about what it actually looks like to bring AI into a room with intention and humanity.

Luanne Cameron | 110philosophy.com | Book on Amazon – Buy from Website 

Marc Bulandr | linktr.ee/marcbulandr

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"Still Moving" — A sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent, delivered to DeSoto and Freeman Lutheran Churches in Crawford County, Wisconsin on March 8, 2026.

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

This week we sit with Genesis 15, where God makes a one-sided oath to Abram in the dark. With Luke 13, where Jesus aches over Jerusalem. And with Philippians 3, where Paul tells a small church in a big empire to stand firm.

For the people who fish the river, hunt the bluffs, work the land, and keep showing up — this one's for you.

Presiding: Marc Bulandr
Readings: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 | Psalm 27 | Philippians 3:17-4:1 | Luke 13:31-35

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