From Pastor Nate... "It is good to give thanks to the Lord," -Psalm 92:1

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1 take up the shield of faith Ephesians 6:16 From Pastor Nate.... "It is good to give thanks to the Lord," -Psalm 92:1 November 5 Nearly every year since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock a day has been set aside to offer thanks to God for His providence. Our first President, George Washington issued the first proclamation for a national Thanksgiving Day in his first year and first term of office, to be observed on the 26th of November, It is important to remember that half of the Pilgrims died within the first year after the Mayflower arrived on our shores. Despite all of the hardships they still gave thanks to God. President Abraham Lincoln made this Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in 1863, when America was in the midst of a civil war, It has seemed to me fit and proper that the gifts of God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. In the words of St. Paul, we are to rejoice always; pray constantly; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-19) How is it possible to give thanks to God in all circumstances, when we are experiencing pain and suffering and when it appears the world is crumbling around us? What allowed the Pilgrims like Edward Winslow, who lost his wife, to still give thanks to God? Even in the midst of dark circumstances the Light of Jesus Christ was not diminished. When the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6) has been revealed to us, we see things differently. Even in the valley of the shadow of death we see God s presence and love for us. Robert Barron puts it this way, Christianity is, above all, a way of seeing. Everything else in Christian life flows from and circles around the transformation of vision. John Newton writes about this in his renowned hymn Amazing Grace when he states, I once was blind, but now I see. Through the grace of God he overcame his spiritual blindness. Not everyone has overcome their spiritual blindness. St Paul writes, The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4) As John Baillie writes, A true Christian is one who never for a moment forgets what God has done for him or her in Christ, and whose whole comportment and whole activity have their root in the sentiment of gratitude. Have we received that visual transformation to see clearly all that God has done for us in Jesus Christ? As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving we have an opportunity to open our eyes to see how God has blessed us and our nation and then to honor God by offering our gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving! Pr. Nate Bjorge 1

2 President s Message Faith Lutheran Family, It has been another good month for our church. Our building is holding up well, our finances are in good shape, and our kids are back in Sunday school and confirmation with a full staff of teachers. Thank you to all who volunteer their time and money to help our church continue to be strong. God is truly at work here. The Wednesday night service is doing well. So far the attendance on these nights is around 50, with many positive comments about the service. During our monthly council meeting we discussed the church s long term strategic plan. The team that has been tasked with developing this has been hard at work. They have worked to refine our churches mission and vision, making them more concise. After they complete their editing, the council will review them for approval. We also have a team working on developing a security/active shooter plan for the church. They have completed a draft and are refining it at this time. We are taking this very seriously. We do not suspect anything, but we do want to be prepared with a plan just in case something happens. There is going to be a movie night at the church on the 4 th of November at 7:00pm. The movie we will be showing is Case for Christ. There will also be a Rend Collective concert at Calvary in St. Cloud on November 4th. For more information on that you can ask Ally White. Final note for this newsletter: In January we will be electing four board members. If you would like to throw your hat into the ring, we would welcome that very much. I know you will enjoy it if you volunteer for this. This job gives you an opportunity to meet more church members and you get to help us grow as a church. We welcome new ideas and opinions. If you feel moved to join, please provide your name to someone on the board, Sarah, or Pastor Nate. Thank You God Bless You All, Randy Wolbeck Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Collection Faith Lutheran is hosting our local Operation Christmas Child Collection week again this year. National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child is Nov Dates and times of collection are: Monday, Nov 13 9:00-12:00 pm Tuesday, Nov 14 9:00-12:00 pm Wednesday, Nov 15 5:00 8:00 pm Thursday, Nov 16 5:00 8:00 pm Friday, Nov 17 9:00 12:00 pm Saturday, Nov 18 10:00 12:00 pm Sunday, Nov 19 10:00 12:00 pm Monday, Nov 20 9:00 11:00 am Note: No reports this month from Finance Team or Children s Team 2

3 News from the Congregational Life Committee Congregational Life Committee Meeting October 3, 2017 We are well into fall and will soon be enjoying snow! Take time to enjoy and give thanks for the beauty in our changing seasons! Our Fall Sunday school picnic went well. We served about 75 people and had a variety of delicious potluck dishes along with our grilled burgers and hot dogs. Roadside clean up was held September 26th. Thank you once again to Lyle and Cathy Frerichs for hosting. We would like to involve more of our youth and will continue to look at options. We will have 10 Confirmands on Sunday, October 29th. We will have a cake reception afterwards. New member Sunday is November 19th. We will continue with our Sunday evening bonfires, weather permitting. Senior luncheon was hosted by Faith Comforters on October 17th. Thank you to the speaker, Dave Zumberge. Our team will host Senior luncheon on November 14th, and will be serving a Thanksgiving meal. We continue to encourage others to bring in Sunday morning treats. Thank you to all that do. Just a reminder, you do not have to serve them or stay to clean up if you are not able to. We would be happy to serve them for you. Just contact anyone from our team. Lois Erickson, Patricia Fernelius, Bev Larsen, Jean Stowell, Julie Shelstad, Beckie Ottman, Becky Boody December 2nd is our Christmas Boutique and Bake Sale!!! We would love to see more crafts, gift baskets, and baked goods. It will be here soon. We are excited to see all your ideas. Our Boutique is such a fun time for all!! Sign up sheets will be out soon. Please save your gently used items for our Spring garage sale. We are blessed with a full team and awesome council reps. We have a special family here at Faith. Thank you all, for being part of our family! Becky Boody, for the Congregational Life Team Mission & Outreach Team The Mission and Outreach Ministry authorized donations for hurricane relief, discussed this year s Operation Christmas Child, discussed the dates for the Jamaica trip, made a donation to Terebinth Refuge, an organization providing support for victims of sex trafficking and discussed other local and regional mission opportunities at its October 4 meeting. Faith Lutheran will be donating $2,000 to Thrivent Financial s hurricane relief matching fund, earmarking our gift to Samaritan s Purse. Thrivent will match up to $3 million in donations to the fund. In addition, the team authorized a $500 donation to the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) Texas District. Faith is once again serving as a host/drop-off site for Operation Christmas Child, which will be held Nov In addition to the shoe box supply we have on hand (approximately 200), an additional 100 boxes were ordered. The drop-off schedule is as follows: Monday and Tuesday (Nov ) - 9 a.m. to noon; Wednesday and Thursday (Nov ) 5 to 8 p.m.; Friday (Nov. 17) 9 a.m. to noon; Saturday and Sunday (Nov ) - 10 a.m. to noon; and Monday (Nov. 20) 9 to 11 a.m. Volunteers will be needed. Please contact Kim Mielke if you can help out. The trip to Sunbeam Home in Jamaica will take place from Feb Gene Hyatt is this year s trip organizer. Currently, approximately 8-10 people have shown an interest in going. See Gene for more information. Maureen Miller discussed the issue of sex trafficking and how the problem is expecting to be an even bigger problem in Minnesota this year, given the fact that the Super Bowl will be held in the Twin Cities next February. A new Twin Cities ministry, Terebinth Refuge, is trying is trying to raise $100,000 in order to open a second home for women/girls who are victims of sex trafficking. The second location is in St. Cloud. The team decided to donate $500 to the project, pending church council approval. Bev Hinrichs and Pat Rioux discussed to other local/regional ministries Beginning Experiences, a support group for divorced and widowed individuals, and New Pathways, which provides temporary housing for families in Little Falls. Bev will be presenting more information to the team in November and Pat is arranging a visit to Faith by the New Pathways director in the coming weeks so that Faith members can decide how we might best support the ministry. As always, congregation members are welcome and encouraged to provide the names of organizations/ministries they would like Faith to support to Mission and Outreach Team members. 3

4 October 2017 Youth Director Report There s a scene in Leap Year where a guy asks a woman, If your house was on fire and you had 60 seconds, what would you grab? I d like to challenge our youth to consider, If you had 60 days left of your life, what would you do? As parents, if we knew our son or daughter had 60 days left to live, what would we want to see those days hold? In essence, what matters most? With jobs, sports, homework, hunting, etc., there s a tug-o-war for our youth s time and attention. This of course is no different for us as adults... doesn t it seem that sometimes church gets in the way ; like, we just have so much to do and when we don t, we desire some down time to relax and just be instead of having to go, go, go all the time? The enemy uses the quick passing of time against us to try & hinder our relationship with Jesus, our Christian fellowship, and yes, even time spent in worship. It comes down to choices we make, all day, every day. Time spent praising the Lord and in Christian service and fellowship is not time we ll wish we could recoup or time we ll regret. It is why we were created. To become more like Him, I need to spend more time with Him. The more time we & our kids spend with Him, the more others will see Him in us. Knowing schedules are so crunched is why I cherish the times the kids are able to carve time out for youth group or Sunday school. It is a very tough challenge in today s warp-speed world Earlier this month, nine of Faith s youth attended the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) event on the Flyer football field. They witnessed peers praising the Lord; some were hurting and seeking attention; and others were just out to learn what this faith stuff is all about. Hopefully the experience left them knowing there s a spectrum out there; from non-believers to on-fire believers and in between are the questioners and seekers and even some just plain lost souls--& a clearer commitment to their role as Christians in a lost & sinful world. Upcoming: We re going to focus on not what they want for Christmas, but on what do they want to give for Christmas? --details on this to come. And, we may be participating in the 30-hour famine this coming spring, still learning more about that. The International Day(s) of Prayer for the persecuted Church is Nov. 5 th & 12 th. A film featuring Richard Wurmbrand s life story is scheduled for release in spring of I d like to take the youth to view this if it will be in a theater nearby. I ve also purchased a few copies of the book, Tortured for Christ to have available for any youth who would like one. For details you can visit and also If your son or daughter hasn t attended Sunday school, we d love to have them. They can bring one of the books home and catch up on what they ve missed at their leisure; or just join us where we re at in the books now. Regardless, with this study they will come away with knowledge that helps build their faith foundations, even if they haven t been there since we started the book. In His Service, Becky Youth & Family Team 4 Mission Statement As Children of God, we are called to love, glorify and submit to the Living Christ, ministering to others by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:16 Faith Lutheran Church th St. SE Little Falls, MN faithlutheranlittlefalls.org secretaryfaithlutheran@gmail.com

5 October Council Minutes Faith Lutheran Church Council Meeting, October 19, 2017 Present: Rich Collins, Kelly Olson, Pat Rioux, Ally White, Randy Wolbeck, Dave ZumBerge, Pastor Nate Absent: Kennard Fellbaum, Justin Juelke, Jason Leibold, Noel Guerard, Mark Pugh, George Sandy The meeting was called to order by Randy Wolbeck. Opening Prayer was led by Ally White. Secretary s Report: Rich Collins moved and Dave ZumBerge seconded to accept the Secretary s report. Motion carried. Treasurer s Report: Sarah reported that an additional $15,000 mortgage principal payment was made this week. Pat Rioux moved and Ally White seconded to accept the Treasurer s report. Motion carried. Pastor s Report: There have been several members with health issues so Pastor Nate has been doing visitations. Wednesday evening worship has been going for about a month and seems to be going well. We are consistently getting at these services although Wednesday, October 18 was much less with MEA weekend and the local football game. Several council members have also heard good feedback about the Wednesday services. Pastor Nate and the Youth Ministry Team will be meeting Sunday, October 22 after worship. Ally White suggested the concert by Rend Collective in St. Cloud at Calvary church on November 3rd might be a good activity to recommend to our youth. Old Business: Faith Lutheran Strategic Planning: The team assigned to this project is continuing to work on their mission statement and have created an outline of steps they will take after the mission statement is set. Active Shooter Plan: Dave ZumBerge has created an initial outline and hopes to have Sheriff Shawn Larsen look at it and make suggestions before they continue. Pat Rioux also suggested the Christian Law Association as another potential resource. They have a sample security policy/plan available at no cost to churches. New Business: Mission & Outreach Request: The Mission & Outreach team proposes to send $500 to the Terebinth Refuge in St. Cloud which works with victims of human trafficking. Ally White moved and Kelly Olson seconded the motion to send $500 to the Terebinth Refuge. Motion carried. Movie Night: Faith Lutheran will be hosting family movie nights the first Saturday of the month, beginning with The Case for Christ on November 4 at 7:00 p.m. Pat and Cheryl Rioux are organizing these events. Mission & Outreach New Pathways: John Klopfleisch from New Pathways will be speaking Sunday, October 22 about their program, which provides temporary housing to families who are homeless. The meeting closed with prayer. The next meeting will take place November 16th, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. Submitted by Sarah Kalkbrenner, Faith Lutheran Church Secretary Attendance & Offering Week of October 1: 201 $ 5,224 Week of October 8: 222 $ 5,546 Week of October 15: 200 $ 4,360 Week of October 22: 194 $ 3,574 Week of October 29: 277 $ 3,902 5