OCTOBER 2018 VOLUME 44 NO. 9. St. John s Lutheran Church 44 West Main St Shiremanstown, PA 17011

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1 OCTOBER 2018 VOLUME 44 NO. 9 St. John s Lutheran Church 44 West Main St Shiremanstown, PA

INTERVIEW PART II WITH PASTOR WHITESEL GOOD NEWS: When last we spoke, you mentioned five developmental steps in the intentional interim process. We got through three. What are the other two?

2 INTERVIEW PART II WITH PASTOR WHITESEL GOOD NEWS: When last we spoke, you mentioned five developmental steps in the intentional interim process. We got through three. What are the other two? RICK WHITESEL: Do you remember the first three? GN: Certainly. They are the past, the present, and the future. RW: You got it. The fourth of the five steps is to strengthen ties with the congregation s judiciary body. For us as Lutherans that means the West Shore Conference and the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Actually, Saint John s is in good shape in this area. We are physically close to the Synod offices. Several people in the congregation know the Bishop and his wife personally. A few knew and worked with the Dunlop s before he went to seminary and got ordained. Various members of the Synodical staff have been in the congregation building on a regular basis. GN: Why are these relationships important? RW: I think it is important to be a part of broader expressions of the Church than just the local congregation. Conferences and Synods are not just for pastors and associates in ministry. Just as individual Christians are able to draw encouragement and strength from gathering with others when we gather for worship, education and fellowship each Sunday, so it is with our folks when they go over or up to the Conference and Synod. We share ideas, pool resources, and share the work of large scale ministries, such as camps, advocacy ministries, seminaries, and so on. (Continued page 3) 2

3 GN: Ok. What about number five? RW: Good old number five. That is preparing to welcome the new pastor. Actually, this is a good thing to keep in mind. There is a day coming when a call committee will have settled on a suitable candidate, the council will say yes to letting the name go before the people, and the congregation will vote to extend a call to a living breathing pastor. The last time that Saint John s did a call process was a decade ago when you all called Pastor Sarah. GN: Do you get directly involved in the call process? RW: No. I am able to provide some general information about the actual process, how that is written, but I have absolutely nothing to do with the call committee s work. I should not, and will not, influence the process as it rolls out. Pastor Sarah won t either. OCTOBER 2018 GN: Just out of curiosity, what happens to you when a call is nearing completion? RW: I do intentional interim ministry full-time. There is a shortage of pastors. We typically have 20 open congregations here in the Synod at any given time. I typically move from one congregation to the next without missing a step. GN: You have the first intentional interim event this month, on October 28. RW: Yes. The youth are doing a fundraiser dinner, and I am leading a cottage meeting. Dinner is at 5:00 pm. The program starts at 5:45 pm. Gentlemen should be in kilts. Just kidding about the kilts. GN: What is the program part about? RW: We will be looking at Saint John s past. What can we learn from the congregation s journey here to date? GN: Not even a little bit? RW: I will say four things: It would be best to call a Lutheran Christian who is a fully committed disciple of Jesus Christ. The call committee should check references carefully. There are many worthy pastors out there in the Church from whom to choose. You do not need to be in a hurry. Go for the right person. Like baseball, you do not need to swing at the first pitch unless it is low and outside. (That is it has homerun written all over it.) And, work with the Synod staff. They are good people trying to do a good job for you. 3

FROM OUR ASSOCIATE PASTOR Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God

John's that only those who have served on council can serve as a deacon.

4 FROM OUR ASSOCIATE PASTOR Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 1 Corinthians 12: 4-7 There has been a standing rule/ tradition here at St. John's that only those who have served on council can serve as a deacon. Those who serve on council or who have served our congregation in that way are certainly leaders of the church in a very special way. We are thankful for their leadership and commitment to serve. But as we learn from scripture, for example from Paul's writing in 1 Corinthians, there are a variety of gifts. Just because one is gifted for leadership does not mean that they are comfortable to serve in front of the congregation and some chose to not serve as deacons. And on the other hand, just because one does not feel called to serve on council does ~Pastor Sarah not mean that they don't have gifts for serving in leadership in worship. I have long struggled with equating the two exclusively and excluding those who feel called to serve in different ways. So now what? Well, just like lectors, ushers and other worship leadership roles, we are going to welcome anyone who wants to serve as deacon to sign up to do so. If you are a confirmed member of the congregation and attend worship, you are qualified! Watch for information in the bulletin about being added to the list of deacons and we will be having a worship leadership training session in the not so distant future. This will be the perfect time to learn what it really takes to be a lector (can you read?) or a deacon and to be added to the lists for future schedules. Thank you to all who serve in a variety of ways here at St. John's - the body of Christ wouldn't be complete without you! 4

October Team Meetings Tuesday, October 2 6:30 PM Church Council Library Thursday, October 4 6:30 PM Worship and Music Conference Room NEWS FROM OUR TEAMS OCTOBER 2018 Administration Ministry

00 BENEVOLENCE World Hunger 0.00 1,284.00 1,284.00 0.00 BUILDING 60,349.95 4,141.50 700.70 63,790.75 MEMORIAL 31,969.75 100.00 1,983.86 30,085.89 TOTALS 118,005.54 34,703.66 53,064.53 99,644.

5 October Team Meetings Tuesday, October 2 6:30 PM Church Council Library Thursday, October 4 6:30 PM Worship and Music Conference Room NEWS FROM OUR TEAMS OCTOBER 2018 Administration Ministry Coordinator FINANCE TEAM August Financial Manager's Report Beginning Ending Income Disbursements Balance Balance CURRENT 25, , , , Benevolence , , BENEVOLENCE World Hunger , , BUILDING 60, , , MEMORIAL 31, , , TOTALS 118, , , , Income Day Care - Facility Use 2 1, Parsonage Rental VBS Disbursements 1 3, Ed Bldg Maintenance 2 2, Church Maintenance 3 5, Greenawalt (Audit) 4 1, Painting (Memorial Fund) Did you know we offer e-giving? St. Johns has partnered with VANCO Services to make an E-Giving option available through a secure automatic online giving system. Go to our homepage at and click the DONATE button found in the menu bar. Set up a profile and choose options for giving. You re in control of the amounts, where the money is coming from, and how often you wish to give. S. J QR C The QR code displayed here will take you to St. John s secure egiving web page. Once there, you ll see several options to donate to St. Johns. 5

Stewardship Campaign for 2019 Grow in Faith. Share God s love. Serve others. The Stewardship Team is using the Mission Statement as their theme for the 2019 Stewardship Campaign.

6 Stewardship Campaign for 2019 Grow in Faith. Share God s love. Serve others. The Stewardship Team is using the Mission Statement as their theme for the 2019 Stewardship Campaign. They want to emphasize the importance of this statement and the commitment to what it means in our daily lives. As the Stewardship Team looks to our Mission Statement of - Grow in faith. Share God s love. Serve others. - it s been decided to make some changes to the usual Time and Talent form and pledge card format. Instead, the team with the help of St. John s Discipleship Coordinator, Beth Bard, is putting together a member information sheet. This year we want to get to know you better. As our church prepares for the call process of a lead pastor who is St. John s? is the question being asked. We want every member to help us answer that question as well as how the church leaders can help you to - Grow in faith. Share God s love. Serve others.? Look for more information to be mailed to you in September. Take time to review it, complete the information sheet, and submit it by the deadline of October 14. Help us by returning the information. Any member not returning the form will be contacted. Bible Passage-Galatians 6:10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity let us work for the good of all WITNESS MINISTRY Coordinator Donna Enrico NEW MEMBER CLASSES OFFERED We are joyful for all who join us for worship. This includes all members and visitors. For those who have been visiting with us, we invite you to consider joining with our church family. We are offering a series of New Members Classes on October 21 and October 28. These classes will be from 9:15 to 10:15 in the education building. We ll meet in the atrium lobby for coffee and fellowship, then move to a classroom. New members will be received on October 28 th at our 10:45 Service. Call the church office at for more information. 6

7 LEARNING MINISTRY Coordinator Leigh Ann C Sunday School kicked off the year on Sunday, September 9. Rally Day offered an opportunity to recognize Sunday School attendees for their dedication and commitment through attendance. Congratulations to the following awardees: One year Cricket Layla JJ Paul Carly Mallory Myah Phoenix Orion Naomi Two years Olivia Chase Rayna Jack Three years Jase Ella Michael Paul Four years Addyson Olivia Five years Natalie Six years Micah Hannah Bryce Seven years Nicholas Eight years Jonah Nine years Madeline Ten years Mayzee Thirteen years Joy 7

OCTOBER 2018 The Lutheran Camping Corporation of Central PA Offering many exciting

Adult Study Retreat on the books October 2-4th, 2018 Being Mortal: Medicine and What

3-5:30 pm Camp Kirchenwald Fall Foliage Day, Sunday, October 21, 2018 Kirchenwald and

Retreat November 9-11th, 2018 Camp Nawakwa.

Advent Day Apart - Saturday, December 8th, 2018 10:00 am-2 pm. The Wittel Farm ($15.

8 OCTOBER 2018 The Lutheran Camping Corporation of Central PA Offering many exciting upcoming events! Adult Study Retreat on the books October 2-4th, 2018 Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End The Hummingbird Capture the Flag Spectacular Sunday, October 7th 3-5:30 pm Camp Kirchenwald Fall Foliage Day, Sunday, October 21, 2018 Kirchenwald and Nawakwa Annual Quilt Auction Sunday, November 4th, 2018 Camp Nawakwa Women's Craft Retreat November 9-11th, 2018 Camp Nawakwa. Projects are provided AND may bring your own to work on! Advent Day Apart - Saturday, December 8th, :00 am-2 pm. The Wittel Farm ($15.00 registration fee) Kirchenwald Winter Youth Retreat January 4-6th. All registration forms for the above events can be found on In addition, any questions regarding these events, please contact the Camping office 8 at

John's. This student will be with us primarily on Sundays as well as for some team and council meetings and perhaps other activities.

9 United Theologial Seminary Comes to St. Johns! We are very excited this year to be partnering with United Theological Seminary (formerly Gettysburg and Philadelphia Seminaries - now in partnership) to have a first year seminary student here at St. John's. This student will be with us primarily on Sundays as well as for some team and council meetings and perhaps other activities. We will be giving him a chance to see a vibrant, healthy congregation in action, as well as give him a chance to do some teaching, leadership and even preaching in the spring semester. Our student's name for the academic year is David Hoth. He is a second-career student coming from Colorado. Before seminary, he was a furniture set builder for a theater company and is also an accomplished potter and artist. So what does that mean for the congregation? First, please welcome our new student when David joins us for worship. As the weeks go on, he will be doing various leadership roles in worship and teaching in different settings. Be open to his story and welcome him just as you would anyone else! There might be times that Pastor Sarah asks you to fill out an informal evaluation to aid in the learning process - please be open to doing these! One of the things that we commit to doing for our student is to host him for lunches for some of the weeks that he is with us. If you would like to have a lunch for him (with your family, with a group that you are part of at St. John's, at a home or a restaurant, etc) please let Pastor Sarah know! She will be making the lunch schedule for David and would love to have a variety of people to share their stories and church experience with him. Please join with us in welcoming David to our congregation and giving him this opportunity to grow in his pastoral calling. Don't be surprised if he pops into a future meeting or event or is doing a leadership role in worship. What a wonderful partnership we can grow with our seminary - to grow new pastors and to grow the church. 9

10 OCTOBER 2018 INSIDE THE GARDEN Looking for some old-fashioned family fun this Fall? Look no further than our Fall Festival on Saturday, October 6 th from 11:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m. This is the first joint event hosted by St. John s and The Children s Garden. The festival will be held on the church grounds. There will be games, a 50/50 raffle, a cake/pie contest, carved pumpkin judging and live entertainment.... not to mention lots of fun! Food will be available for purchase and provided by St. John s Youth Group, with proceeds going to the group. Festival tickets are $10 per family (includes 10 game tickets) and can be purchased in the Garden Office, the Church Office, or at the door. Festival proceeds benefit the construction of an infant/toddler play yard. Come out and show your support of our church and its important outreach! For more information or to get involved, contact the Garden Office at or the Church Office at Reformation Dinner and First Step Conversation October 28, 2018 Looking at St. John s past come out on Sunday, October 28 and take the first step with Pastor Rick on the journey that leads to our future call process! Reformation dinner hosted by our CONNECT Youth Group begins at 5:00 PM. Served family style this free meal includes the usual pork and sauerkraut dinner plus a few pleasant surprises. At 6:00 PM the fun begins as we take a look back at our church and our own personal histories. We ll complete a timeline of important events and then be led by Pastor Rick as we look at these events; review where our church had successes and why; plus, consider times where there were challenges and how we as a church handled them. Sign ups are important so the youth and their advisors know how much food is needed. Complete the form and place it in the offering plate. Make your reservation today! I/We are attending the Reformation Dinner: Name: How many attending:

11 To St. Johns congregation, Pastor Sarah, friends and family! On behalf of my family I would like to thank the Congregation and Pastor Sarah for all the prayers, sympathy cards, meals, well wishes, and visits made by Pastor Mike. Mark really enjoyed his visits especially when they talked baseball. He shared communion with each visit. These last two years were extremely emotional for my family. Mark started declining about 2 plus years ago. It was horrible watching him lose ground and not being able to stop it. Mark passed away on June the 19th. I was able to keep him at home. He died in my arms. Through all of this we held onto our faith. We felt the Lord's presence with us which gave us much comfort. Thank you Pastor Sarah for being with us on the 19th. God bless. Joyce E and family Dear St. Johns, Thank you for the cards, phone calls, and sympathy at the time of my daughter, Barbara W s death. Your thoughtfulness is appreciated. Vi B Dear Pastor Sarah, The Ziegler and Logan family would like to express our gratitude toward you for baptizing Henry and Charlotte! You have been the constant representative of God s love to our families. We are appreciative of your role in all of our spiritual lives. Gratefully - The Ziegler s and the Logan s To my St. John s Family, Thank you Pastor Sarah and Pastor Rick (during a very busy week of Bible School) for your prayers before surgery, visits and calls during my stay in the hospital and recovery. For the beautiful altar flowers, delivered by my Heart Sister Vickey Wood. We had a nice visit. And, to my St. John s Family for their prayers, cards, calls, and meals. What would a person do without the prayer and support of their church family. You are all truly a blessing to the ministry of our church and its people. Bless you all, Joan VO GOOD NEWS: The deadline for the November GOOD NEWS is Monday, Oct. 8. If you have any information to be included in this issue, please have it in the Church Office by that date. 11

All Connect youth members are invited to come for a Gathering in the Lounge on Sunday October 14 from 6-8pm.

12 OCTOBER 2018 EVENTS We hope that everyone will come out on Saturday October 6th for the Children s Garden Fall Festival from 11am-2pm. Connect Youth members will be selling lunch items as a fundraiser for our upcoming retreat and synod events. It will be a great family event! All Connect youth members are invited to come for a Gathering in the Lounge on Sunday October 14 from 6-8pm. These evening gatherings are very lowkey with some time for a Bible Study, games, snacks and fun with friends. Connect Youth members and their families will meet on Saturday October 20 at 8:30am at Project Share in Carlisle for a morning of serving our community in need. We will be participating in their monthly food distribution Saturday, where community members come to receive free food donations. Please come out and help! I hope that you will enjoy some fun time with your Connect Youth Group friends on Sunday October 21st when we meet at Sky Zone in Mechanicsburg for their Youth Group night. Please meet at 5pm and plan to stay until 7pm. I ask that you bring $10 to help defray some of the cost for this event. This year, the Connect Youth members will again be serving our annual Reformation Dinner on Sunday October 28th. Keep an eye to the Good News and bulletins for additional information on this fellowship event! Service Opportunity Calling all Jr. LYO! That's 3rd through 6th grade here at St. John's! We have some work to do! Ok, not really work, but we are called to serve others, and we are going to do just that. We will gather on November 4 th following choir practice (around 12:15) for lunch and to work on making blankets for Nico's Power Up Boxes. These blankets will be then added to boxes that are given to children of all ages who are in the hospital for cancer treatment. If you can tie your shoes, you can help with this project. This is a great chance to chat and help other kids just like you who could use a little bit of a Power Up to face the challenges that they have in life. Watch for sign- ups and come out for our first JR LYO event of the year! 12

Worship Schedule and Hours Saturday Worship Service Saturday 6 PM Sunday Church Services 8 & 10:45 AM Sunday Church School 9:15 AM Interim Pastor The Rev. Richard Whitesel Associate Pastor The Rev.

13 Worship Schedule and Hours Saturday Worship Service Saturday 6 PM Sunday Church Services 8 & 10:45 AM Sunday Church School 9:15 AM Interim Pastor The Rev. Richard Whitesel Associate Pastor The Rev. Sarah Keilholtz Seminarian David Hoth Office Hours: Monday Friday 7:30 AM 12 Noon 1:00 PM 4:30 PM Office Phone (717) Office Fax (717) church@stjohns1787.org Website: News and Notes: sjnewsandnotes.wordpress.com Facebook: St Johns Lutheran Church 1787 Twitter: stjohns

NOVEMBER 2018 VOLUME 44 NO. 10. St. John s Lutheran Church 44 West Main St Shiremanstown, PA 17011

NOVEMBER 2018 VOLUME 44 NO. 10 St. John s Lutheran Church 44 West Main St Shiremanstown, PA 17011 1 Ten Years Ago So what were you doing 10 years ago this month? I know what I was doing...i was working