November. A Word from Elder Roccy Raymond. Upcoming Events. Hello from the Elder Board:

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1 Maranatha Evangelical Free Church November 2012 November Upcoming Events Sunday Worship Times: 8:00, 9:25, and 11:00 AM in the sanctuary Awakening at 10:30 AM in the Soul Garage Nov. 3 Saturday, Children s Christmas Program Auditions at 9 AM at Maranatha Nov. 3 Saturday. Circle Unbroken Southern Gospel group at Maranatha at 6:30 PM in the sanctuary. Nov. 5 Monday Night Prayer at 6:30 PM in copy room. Nov. 7 Wednesday, deposit due ($70) for Youth District Conference (Jan. 4-6 in Green Bay) Nov. 9 Friday, MOPS meeting at Maranatha 9:00 AM-Noon. All mothers with preschoolers welcome. Nov. 10 Friday, Youth Garage Games, 7-10 PM, showing film October Baby Nov. 14 Wednesday, Young at Heart (Age 55+) Thanksgiving meal in the fellowship hall (provided). Al & Aynur Larson will share about their trip to Turkey earlier this year. RSVP at the bulletin board inside the fellowship hall so we can prepare accordingly. Nov. 16 Friday, s White Elephant Party in the Tree Room of the Ministry Center. Potluck dinner begins at 6:30 PM with games following at 7:00 PM. RSVP to Shannon Severud at Nov. 18 Sunday, Thanksgiving Worship Services with communion at Maranatha. Nov. 22 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! (Church office is closed) Nov. 30 Friday, ARISE Concert for all students and adults in the Soul Garage, 7-10 PM. Contact Don Stiver ( ) for further information. A Word from Elder Roccy Raymond Hello from the Elder Board: I am Roccy Raymond and my wife is Diann. I am in the first year of this term as an elder; thank you for allowing me to serve our church. We have been members of Maranatha for over 30 years and are very happy to be a part of this congregation. It is a great place to be members and a great place to learn more about faithful service to our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Diann and I are extremely happy with all that is happening at Maranatha. We really appreciate our pastors, our ministry volunteers, the progress Maranatha has made in meeting the needs of our attenders and the programs we presently offer. Before I talk about what has been happening at the Elder meetings, I want to let you know that both Diann and I appreciate all of the cards, calls and prayers that have come our way since my father passed away and Diann had surgery. She is doing very well in her recovery and hopes to be back to her regular activities very soon. Much of our last Elder meeting was spent discussing our church finances. Discussion centered around our budget, our faithful volunteers on the finance team, faithful giving by our congregation, where Maranatha is financially and our need to keep on top of meeting the annual budget that God has given us. Bill McClain is our elder liaison to the finance team this year. The team has had meetings to discuss items that will make them more efficient and able to keep up with the demands of week to week financial tracking. We are trying to expand the team in order to give our volunteers an occasional break from the weekly requirements. Just as with all of our volunteers, we value the gifts and time commitment of each of the members of this team. Each month the elders spend time reviewing spending by each of the ministries of our church to be sure it is in line with the budget projections put together and approved by the membership. We want to be good stewards of the gifts that God s people give for his work at Maranatha. We also look at the results from our dollars spent. We want the ministries of Maranatha to be effective as well as cost effective in serving the Lord s purposes. This month we looked at the timing of completion of some of the building maintenance projects that need to be done. We are trying to complete projects as giving allows so we do not get ahead of God s people. We know that the people of Maranatha are extremely faithful in providing the financial means to complete the work God has called

2 us to do. This includes keeping up our facilities to be safe and comfortable so the message that people take away when they leave is that God loves us, He sent his Son to die for us and He wants us to live for Him. One other area needs to be mentioned when we discuss Maranatha finances. We are so thankful for those who still faithfully give sacrificial offerings to help reduce the debt we have from construction of the ministry center. Without that building we would not be able to do so many of the things that we do with our youth and children s ministries. Our Awakening service continues to bring many people each week who want to attend an alternate service. God has truly blessed us with these facilities. He has also blessed us with people who made a three year pledge to help make the construction project a reality and are still giving, three and a half years after the pledge period was over. This is true devotion to reducing our debt so we can be ready when God shows us the next step He wants us to take in ministry to His people. Even while our economy has been in the worst condition it has been in for 80 years, while locally people have been without jobs and suffering many personal economic issues, we have reduced the debt from $1,494,000 to $775,000 because of faithful giving over and above our general fund tithes. Thanks be to all of God s people whose designated special gifts continue to reduce the principal amount of this debt. These gifts are in addition to the amount we have in our annual budget for payment of interest. One final note that you have heard before is to remember to vote on November 6 th. This is a very important election for the long term of our country. The elders are planning to give rides to the polls for those who need one. You can contact the church at to set up transportation to your polling place. There is literature that explains how candidates stand on various issues available at the Connecting Point in the church. Serving Christ, Roccy Raymond Mothers Celebrate Time Together through M.O.P.S (Mothers of Preschoolers) MOPS has had a very successful start to our first year of ministry, with 33 moms and over 46 children. Of those moms, over 30 % come from outside of Maranatha. Some are part of other churches, but many did not list a home church on their registration form. We anticipate that number to continue to grow this year as more moms find out about us through word of mouth. Thank you to all the women of Maranatha who have supported this ministry through prayer, financial support, breakfast, and providing childcare! We do not want to turn any moms away, but if we do not get more child care volunteers, we will be forced to say that our MOPS group is closed to additional members. We could use at least three to five more volunteers and ideally, we would like to get a few men involved. If you or anyone you know would be available for just one Friday a month, please mops@maranathafree.com. Volunteers do not have to be part of Maranatha, though all volunteers will be subject to our screening process. We also want to thank all of those who helped to make our MOPS kickoff a success! Our leadership team is: Michelle Nord, Khristeen Carlson, LeAnn Shilts and Samantha Graese. Women providing breakfast included: Sandy Hodge, Shirlee Lucken, Julie Henningsen and Cindy McClain, and serving were Aynur Larson, Cindy McClain and Joyce Triplett. Childcare support was Bobbi Jo Fornell, Sandy Hodge, Shirlee Lucken, Joyce Mohr, Tressa Hobein, Tony Nord, Carla TePaske, Sam TePaske, Atticus TePaske, Lexi Graese, Patty Smith, Sarah Miller, and Melinda Zurn. Thank you!

3 Maranatha Youth participate Feed My Starving Children 2012 Maranatha Youth participated in helping to pack the food boxes for Feed My Starving Children on September 22nd at Rice Lake High School. Those who participated include Susan Haack, Meredith Miller, Faith Hultman, Collin Johnson, Gary Haack, Tressa Hobein, Michelle Nord, Marjie Peterson, and LeAnn Shilts. Pictures courtesy of LeAnn Shilts.

4 Friendly Faces Celebrate Family Fall Festival at Maranatha Children of all ages dressed up and came out October 20th for the annual Family Fall Festival. Pictures courtesy of Ginny Proffitt, Shari Pinkerton and Tony Nord. Thank you, volunteers, for your help to make it a success!

5 Family Fall Festival Fun Continues with Games, cookie decorating and Face-Painting Thanks again to all volunteers for helping out! Pictures courtesy of Shari Pinkerton, Ginny Proffitt, and Tony Nord.

6 Laying and Preserving a Firm Foundation On May 12, 1803, a sermon was preached in Hartford, Connecticut on the text: If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:3, KJV) The preacher was Matthias Burnet, the pastor of The First Church in Norwalk. The occasion was an anniversary election on that date. Burnet would not be popular in America today. He was a preacher who was not afraid to dabble in politics. He boldly stated: If government is destroyed, every human barrier to the corrupt lusts and passions of men is broken down, and we have no security for anything we possess. The hand of every man will be against the hand of every man, and the stronger will oppress the weak. People are prone, he said, to commit crimes which their own conscience and the judgment of all mankind condemn. He believed that such crimes would be far more frequent without a strong government. He asked rhetorically: Will the man who has persuaded himself, if such a persuasion there can be, that there is no God... for any of his conduct in this [life] will he abstain from any crime to which his inclination leads...? Burnet considered religion and government as fundamental and important, to the order, peace and security of society. He proclaimed that the people of God are responsible for securing both a godly society and a government which preserves order, peace, and security. He did not leave the people of God without guidance in this great calling. First, our children must be properly educated. Alluding to Proverbs 22:6, Burnet proclaimed: Trained up in the knowledge and in the habit of performing the duties they owe to God, their neighbor and themselves, they will be less likely to depart from or break the order and peace of society by any improper conduct. This is an obligation placed upon parents and not upon a public education system in Deuteronomy 6. Second, Burnet proclaimed that a weekly public assembly for the worship of God, including prayer, praise, and religious instruction is the most excellent method... [to] spread and perpetuate the knowledge of God and religion in the world [and] is the only method that can maintain a public regard to religion, which without it would be quickly lost and forgotten. Public worship is the means to many cultural benefits including [making] rulers rule in the fear of God, and the ruled submit and pay all proper obedience, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake. (Romans 10:14-18; 13:1-7) Third, alluding to Exodus 18:17-26, Burnet advised citizens to take care to elect godly men to office. [A] man who does not believe in the being and providence of God, or is not actuated by the fear and awe of him, has... no bond or restraint upon his conduct, and... is not fit to be trusted with a nation s wealth, which he will not scruple... to sacrifice to his lust or ambition. Burnet s fourth admonition focuses our attention on the need for unity in Christ. He warns: [W]hen men enlist themselves in parties and range themselves under particular leaders, they too often lose sight of the public good and yield themselves up implicitly to their directions.... They consider not the truth, the reasonableness, or the justice of the cause, but what will promote the views and interests of the party to which they attach themselves. The teaching on this point reflects Romans 15:1-7 which instructs the people of God to have the singular purpose of pleasing Christ rather than themselves so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (v. 6, NIV) Burnet s fifth and final admonition is a call to the citizens to be virtuous, sober, industrious and lovers of order. His supporting text is Proverbs 14:34: Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. (NIV) Our Lord taught, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6, NIV) Self-control stands as a fourth pillar, along with remembering the past, discovering the truth, and respecting others, upon which American liberty stands. Charles Colson repeatedly taught, in our generation, that our politics are a reflection of our culture and our culture is the incarnation of our beliefs. Burnet and our founders knew that only a righteous and virtuous people could remain free. John Adams, our second president and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote in a letter to his cousin, Zabdiel Adams on June 21, 1776: [I]t is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue. On another occasion two decades later, Adams wrote: Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. Many other quotations from our founding fathers also attest to the importance of a virtuous people in securing liberty. They are available here: Looking through God s window to the world, Burnet gives us five solid rocks upon which the foundation of our country is to be laid and preserved. He concludes: To God and posterity you are accountable for them. See that you preserve them inviolate and transmit them to posterity unimpaired. Let not your children have reason to curse you for giving up those rights, and prostrating those institutions which our fathers delivered to you as a sacred palladium (safeguard).... Burnet s sermon is available in its entirety here: By Lawrence D. Anderson

7 But God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me! Psalm 66:19-20 Congregational Care - Prayer Concerns Please include these people in your prayers: Don Frolik, Phyllis Buck, Marv Oftedahl, Stan Oftedahl, Darlene Strohmeyer, Ray Caldwell, Don Murley, Pat Swanson, Gerry Ehmke, Nancy Peters, Marjie Peterson s husband Lynn, Paul Green s step-brother Tom, Bob Lindner s sister Linda Schatz, Gladys Ellison, Julia Sisko s grandfather, Esther Swan s brother David, Patti Aune s sister Betty, Bob Lindner s sister Linda, Kathy Johnson s mother Irene Vaughn, Fran Reich s children, Lillian Bjugstad s son Mark, Elfriede Harwart s children, Eva Condon s daughters, Connie Blix s family, Larry Hawley s sisters, Paul Goin s grandmother, Don & Bernadette Park s son Bruce, Harold & Marilyn Edward s son Steve, Violet Fossum s cousin Karolyn & cousin Fred and friends Orland & Emma, Sandy Hodge s sister Jo & friend Ann, McClain s daughter-in-law Sandy, Leah Margan s niece Leanna, Steve & Janet Johnson s brother-in-law Leigh Livermore, Yvonne Hansen s cousin s husband Carl, Kathy Wasmond, Carolyn Swanberg s son Brent, Mary Graese s sister Corinne, The Stanley Family s daughter Tara, Candace Randall s friend Anita, & Carol Montgomery s brother Ronnie. Residents of Nursing Care: Thomas Landing: Ruth Fredrickson-Olson, Knapphaven (Chetek): Lois Carlson; Rocky Knoll (Sheboygan): Gloria Ehren; Serving in the military: Dave & Darlene Strohmeyer s daughter Dawn, Steve Blihovde s son Grant, and Keven Jensen s nephew Jordan are serving in Afghanistan. Praises: Successful surgeries and recoveries. The turn-out and support for the Family Fall Festival on Saturday, October 20th. Small Groups are meeting regularly and available to all who are interested.

8 November 2012 Maranatha Evangelical Free Church 3340 S. Main Street Rice Lake, WI Phone: We re on the Web! November Announcements Children's Christmas Program The Secret of Snowflake County Auditions: Saturday, November 3rd at 9:00 AM in the Sanctuary and fellowship Hall. If you have children who wish to participate, please pick up script and CD s from the Connecting Point. Circle Unbroken Southern Gospel Group (Borstad family of Cameron) will perform in Maranatha s sanctuary on Saturday, November 3rd at 6:30 PM. Free will offering will be taken. Refreshments will follow in the fellowship hall. Our church Is powered by prayer Please join us Monday, November 5th at 6:30 PM for Monday Night Prayer at Maranatha. If you are unable to attend but have a special request, please contact the church office at Forest Lakes District Youth Conference: Youth are reminded to have deposits ($70) in to Pastor Tony by Wednesday, November 7th if you wish to attend the District Conference on January 4-6th in Green Bay. Final Payments are due by November 28th. If you wish to participate please note these dates so you can attend! MOPS will meet on Friday, November 9th at 9:00 AM at Maranatha. All mother of preschoolers are invited to join us. For further information please visit our website wws.maranathafree.com, click on Ministries and check the MOPS link. MOPS Play day is November 23rd s White Elephant Party If you are between ages and wish to participate, we will meet on Friday, November 9th at 6:30 PM in the Ministry Center Tree Room for a potluck dinner, followed by games and a white elephant gift exchange at 7:00 PM. For more information or to RSVP contact Shannon Severud at Young at Heart (Age 55=) will meet Wednesday, November 14th at noon in the fellowship hall for lunch (provided) Followed by A presentation by Al & Aynur Larson about their recent trip to turkey. Please sign up at the bulletin board to the left inside the fellowship hall so we can have an accurate count for lunch. For questions, Contact Lee & Shelby Wohlk at ARISE Concert (Campus Crusade outreach): Young adults to elderly are invited to Join us in the Soul Garage from 7-10 PM on November 30th for great live worship, food, fellowship and time praising the Lord. For further information contact Don Stiver at Fall Men s & Women s Sermon-Based Studies meet on Thursdays at 7:00 PM. Men meet and divide into groups in the ministry Center under the direction of Bill McClain. Women meet in the conference room by the church offices with Cindy McClain. For further information, contact the McClains at Fall Women's Thursday Morning Bible Study: "A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place" by Beth Moore, is Thursday mornings with childcare available. Contact Mary Holmes, with questions. remember our Missionaries Visit our website: and click on the link for MINISTRIES which will take you to where you can click on missions. Monthly updated prayer requests will be posted there. If you do not have access to the internet, please pick up a copy of the Missionary Prayer Sheet from the Connecting Point (desk) in the Welcome Center Lobby) each month as we update it. Service Times : Sunday services in the Sanctuary at 8:00 AM, 9:25 AM and 11:00 AM, Awakening Service times are 10:30 AM Sunday Mornings in the Soul Garage. Children s Sunday Hide and Seek is at the ministry Center from 9:25AM-10:25 AM.. Nursery is available for infants through 36 months in the main church for all services.