Bethany Lutheran. July 2017 Newsletter. Think Vacation! Bethany Lutheran Church. Longview, WA Parkview Drive

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1 B July 2017 Bethany Lutheran Church 2900 Parkview Drive Longview, WA God's Blessings to... Think Vacation! B July 2017 Newsletter Bethany Lutheran Bethany Lutheran Church Church: Parkview Drive Fax: Longview, WA Cell: Bethany website: Office Hours 9:00 3:30 Tues, Weds & Thurs Secretary office secretary@bethanylongview.org Worship Time 9:30 Worship 16 1

2 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. ~Acts 1:8 NIV It s July! Can you believe it? I m not fully sure I can yet. Summer is in full swing and boy is it busy! I know so many of us are traveling and enjoying the weather when and where we can, and our church home is busy this month too! We have so much happening with our children s programs, Small Seeds and Vacation Bible School are right around the corner! I m so excited to get to spend time talking about God, singing, and playing games with our amazing kids! This month begins our next coffee hour education series, and I m super excited to talk about Acts, particularly during this season in our church. We have been talking a lot about Renewal, about growing as disciples of Christ, and as we dive into conversations about the early church, we can t help but share the ways in which the Holy Spirit has touched our lives, and the places God might be calling us to. So as we dive into this season, I invite you to imagine the places God might be calling you to, to imagine the places God might be calling our church to, and to bring your wonderings, your dreams, with you on Sunday. Let s be witnesses of God s love and mercy to our community together! 2017 Church Council 2017 Tori Gosch / President goschrae@gmail.com Barb Clausen/ Vice President bjclausen@comcast.net Pam van den Driessche vancepam@msn.com June White junebug98632@msn.com Karen Langworthy / Secy langworthy@outlook.com Barb Wilson longbabs@aol.com Joyce Croy jmchgc@icloud.com Carol Lane dlane@iinet.com Bob Reistroffer/ Treasurer BReistrof@aol.com Don Wallin / Treasurer Dew2@q.com Megan Filer/ Pastor pastor@bethanylongview.org Our Mission Statement: BETHANY LUTHERAN CHURCH IS A COMMUNITY SHARING THE LOVE OF CHRIST THROUGH WORSHIP, OUTREACH, AND FELLOWSHIP Our Vision Statement: A dynamic Christ-centered church that reaches into our community and world in loving service ~Pastor Megan 2 15

3 Meetings At Bethany! Sunday Study Group The Church Begins A Study in Acts! Scripture tells us so much, it gives us God s promises and commands, it shows us God s love and grace, and it also gives us so much history of the saints who came before us, and where God might be leading us now! Join us this summer as we look at the book of Acts, as we discuss all these incredible things God has done in God s church, and is still doing! We will be meeting after coffee hour at about 11am in the Faith room. July 9th, 16th, 23rd, August 13th, 27th Women s Bible Study -OFF FOR SUMMER The Women s Bible study not be meeting on Tuesday morning during the months of May through September 12th. We will resume our classes again on September 19th. Hope you have an enjoyable summer! Kathy Newton Teddy Bears - NO Meetings Walking Group Walking group meets the first and third Wednesday of the month at 2:30pm. We meet at Bethany and get some light exercise, and sometimes a light workout. A great way to exercise and a little fellowship at the same time. Contact Pastor Megan for more info! The meets on Thursday mornings at 9am and are the fix it crew at Bethany. This group of men and women repair, clean, install, mow and do many other things to keep our church beautiful and up and running. If you have ever used duct tape and like donuts, you are highly qualified. Come join us at 10am for coffee. 14 SUNDAY S MINISTRIES FOR JULY 2017 July 2nd Sunday - Worship/Music - NO Communion/ER Fund Ushers: 9:30 Judy Bailey & Bob Baldwin Readers: 9:30 Judy Bailey Communion Asst: 9:30 NO Communion Communion Setup: 9:30 NO Communion Coffee Hour: 9:30 Newton & Schauer Financial Secy 9:30 Barb Price Powerpoint 9:30 Don Wallin July 9th Sunday - Pastor Megan - Small Seeds! Communion Ushers: 9:30 Rick Loewen & Don Wallin Readers: 9:30 Chris Engebo Communion Asst: 9:30 Gail Obermeyer Communion Setup: 9:30 Ardyth Loewen & Dot Blair Coffee Hour: 9:30 Foslien & Zimmerman Financial Secy 9:30 Barb Price Powerpoint 9:30 Carol Thompson July 16th Sunday - - Communion Ushers: 9:30 Bob & Pat Reistroffer Readers: 9:30 Karen Langworthy Communion Asst: 9:30 Barb Clausen Communion Setup: 9:30 Ardyth Loewen & Dot Blair Coffee Hour: 9:30 Obermeyer & Oyloe Financial Secy 9:30 Powerpoint 9:30 Rick Loewen July 23rd Sunday - - Communion Ushers: 9:30 Lee & Shelly Limpach Readers: 9:30 Barb Clausen Communion Asst: 9:30 Barb Clausen Communion Setup: 9:30 Ardyth Loewen & Dot Blair Coffee Hour: 9:30 Limpach & Lee Financial Secy 9:30 Powerpoint 9:30 Don Wallin July 30th Sunday - - NO Communion Ushers: 9:30 Barb Clausen & Chris Engebo Readers: 9:30 Dana Hughes Communion Asst: 9:30 Pat Reistroffer Communion Setup: 9:30 Ardyth Loewen & Dot Blair Coffee Hour: 9:30 Lane & Loewen Financial Secy 9:30 Powerpoint 9:30 Robin 3 Siragusa **Please find a substitute, if you can t volunteer for a Sunday you are signed up for.

4 Susan Johnson will be our prayer chain contact. You may contact her with your prayer concerns at or her at with any prayer requests. Griffith family Croy family Gansler family Barb Clausen Guerra family Judy Bailey Thompson family Continued Prayers & Healing JULY BIRTHDAYS 4 Takko family Utto family Spriggle family Dick Drummond Limpach family Janni Stevens Archer family 01 - Duane Thompson 25 - Chris Cotten 03 - Kyle Rahn - Jean Miller 07 - Emmett Croy 26 - Barb Price 09 - Dean Takko 29 - Donna Zimmerman 22 - Greg Filer Bethany s Corner Birthdays & Anniversaries JULYANNIVERSARIES 01 - Buck & Joyce Croy 01 - Bruce & Barb Utto 06 - Chris & Kelly Engebo 25 - Walt & Norma Oyloe 25 - Wayne & Delores Spriggle 26 - Rick & Ardyth Loewen CARE/HOSPITALITY: Tori Gosch and Joyce Croy did the Mother s Day coffee hour. Pastor s appreciation Day is June 11. Cake and Ice Cream will be served at coffee hour as a thank-you to all pastors dedicating their service. October fest is being planned and will be for members and guests. We will not need a permit for this. Brats, beer and sauerkraut is planned to be served. We will be watching the Luther movie. We will call it October feast 500 celebration. BUILDING/GROUNDS: 4 yards of bark dust was put down and the Spring cleanup went great. All the signs were taken down for the rummage sale. YOUTH/SERVICE: Small Seeds is going well and we currently have 9 children. Bible School is July The curriculum was purchase and they have $ in their account. STEWARDSHIP: Working on the rummage sale. In September we will be working the rest stop. We will be having our Pledge Drive which is Sunday, October 1. Temple talks are Sept. 10, 17, and 24. WOMEN OF BETHANY: Held a meeting to see if we could combine WOB and Hospitality. They will meet on a trial basis. First joint meeting is August 3rd before Council meeting. MEMORIALS: A request for kneeling pads for the front of the church has been made. Joyce Croy is making arrangements to have them made. FISH: New members came to help and enjoyed it enough that they want to come back. 20 family's received food and the next FISH is July 3. Chili Dogs and Potato salad will be served. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: First Sunday of August is the church picnic. Service will be at 10:00 instead of 9:30. Discussion of an information table at the Highlander Festival and an application has been submitted. Stewardship is working on the Rest Stop Fundraiser scheduled for September. Hospitality had a discussion on ordering what types of beer and food would be needed for the October fest. Hospitality would like to have a Free Will Offering at all of our functions and these funds would be used for other events in the future. Department of Aging and Disabilities may be interested in using our facility for classes and training for respite and caregivers. NEW BUSINESS: Church credit cards. A motion to change the charge cards to Columbia Bank and have one made for both Rhonda and Pastor. Pam van den Driessche seconded it. Motion passed by all. No June Executive Committee Meeting is scheduled Next Council Meeting Thursday, August 3rd, 2017 at 630pm. **This is a rough DRAFT Copy** 13

5 Council Briefed Minutes of June 1, 2017 DRAFT PRESENT: Tori Gosch, Don Wallin, Joyce Croy, Karen Langworthy, Bob Reistroffer, Pam van den Driessche, Barb Wilson, and June White. Staff: Rhonda Archer Absent: Barb Clausen and Carol Lane DEVOTIONS and PRAYER: Don Wallin led us in devotions and provided the refreshments. CALL TO ORDER AND PRESIDENTS REPORT: Meeting was called to order by president Tori Gosch at 6:35. Evaluations on Pastor Megan and Rhonda Archer were made. SECRETARY REPORT; There will be no WOB meetings for June or July. There will not be any Bible study from June thru August. Rhonda will let us know her dates for her vacation. Rhonda now has 10 hours of Flex time, and she accumulated 1 hour on June 22. The Rest Area Fundraiser volunteer sign-up sheets will be up by the end of August. TREASURES REPORT: May 2017 budget - offerings were $8, and exceeded May expenses of $8, by $ The church loan balance is $62, as of May 31, Designated Funds/ Savings as of May 31, 2017 are $28, YTD offering of $51, exceeds YTD expenses of $43, by $7, It was moved and second to approve financial report as printed. Motion carried. MINISTER'S REPORT; Pastor talked of a website, Sound Cloud, which has the capability to store more sermons. Thus opening up more room for our website, the cost is $ per year. A motion to sign-up for Sound Cloud was made and June White seconded. It was passed by all. Each month a different Bethany Ministry will be observed for their hard work and dedication. Pastor s vacation will be Nov.28 thru Dec 4. Pastor will be out of the office July 2. A motion to roll over pastor's continuing education fund of $ to next year so she can have $ was made. Joyce Croy seconded it. Motion passed by all. Theological education will be Nov Pulpit supply is needed for Nov 19. It was discussed to get new church brochures at $20.00 and member brochures at $ A motion was made to get them. Joyce Croy seconded it. Motion passed by all. Motion was made to approve new membership as of June 25 for Shelly and Lee Limpach, Bill and Donna Zimmerman, Mary Lynn Praiser, and Susan Johnson. Motion was second by Joyce Croy. Motion passed by all. WORSHIP AND MUSIC: Volunteers to fold the bulletins are: Dana Hughes, Alice Snyder, Ruth Sieler, Marlene Rhan, and Kathy Newton. Council okayed to take pictures down and put in album. June 25 th is new member Sunday and 6 new members will be joining. July 30 is Lay Service with Dana as leader. August 20 is Hadley Filer's baptism with Bishop Assistant Kim Latterell preaching. They received great feedback from Susan s music survey. EDUCATION/EVANGELISM: No Report 12 Small Seeds Children s Ministry Bethany has been looking for different ways to care for our small ones, and we are beginning with our Small Seeds Children s Ministry. Small Seeds Saturday Giving our young ones space to grow in their faith, to play, and to get to know each other, Small Seeds Saturday is two hours of games, Bible, crafts, & fun! Mark your calendar: July 1pm Small Seeds Sunday Knowing that part of planting small seeds for our children is helping them to see how Worship can be for them too! These special worship services will have the usual litany simplified, song choices familiar to our young ones (and the young at heart), a children s message, as well as an invitation to our children to help lead through lighting the candles and ushering. Mark your calendar: July 9:30am Big 99th Birthday! Jean Miller will be turning 99 years old on July 25th, what an amazing event! We can only be amazed at the changes she has seen in her life and oh, my what stories she could tell us. We hope that you will join us in sending her a card or calling to wish her a Happy Birthday! Below is her address and phone number if you would like to contact her: Jean Miller c/o Canterbury Inn 210 Hudson, #502 Longview, WA Phone: Wanted Office Volunteer Help Our incredible secretary, Rhonda, does so much to keep our church running smoothly! We are looking for volunteers to come in an occasional Tuesday afternoon to help with answering phones, proof reading or other odd office jobs. Signups are in the narthex, or you can contact Rhonda more info! 5

6 Upcoming Events Vacation Bible School God s Galaxy! Vacation Bible School at Bethany will be July 25 th, 26 th, and 27 th 9am-11:30am and our theme will be God s Galaxy! Invite your young ones for songs, games, Bible lessons, snacks and more! To register, parents can the church office at : secretary@bethanylongview.org or or they can sign up online at Special VBS Kids Worship As part of our week of Vacation Bible School, our July Fifth Sunday Service will be a special Vacation Bible School Small Seeds Worship! We will be singing the songs we learned during our week celebrating God s Galaxy! Mark your calendars for July 30th Mark your calendars! Sunday August 6th will be our church picnic! Worship will begin at 10am and we ll gather together after for a delicious meal! Contact Hospitality for more information! Buck & I would like to thank everyone who attended our 50 th wedding anniversary reception on Saturday. It was a wonderful attendance of family and friends. Thank you for all the blessings and cards and a special thank you to all our helpers; who did setup/cleanup, who also served and prepared food as well. You helped to make this very special and you are truly appreciated. In Christ s Love, Council Notes: Buck & Joyce Croy Women of ELCA The 10 th Triennial Convention & Gathering will be July 10-16, in Minneapolis, MN. Kathy Newton will be one of four representing our SW Washington Synod. Over 2300 women from across the 50 states will be attending. With worship, bible study and workshops, Kathy will be kept very busy. If you would like to donate funds as a special Thank Offering, drop off or mail your check to the church office. Please make checks payable to Women of the ELCA. These funds help with the continuing education, speakers, workshops and help to send representatives like Kathy Newton to these ELCA conventions. Offerings will be mailed off later also. Your donation is greatly appreciated. It s almost that time of year again, so start checking your calendar and watch for our sign-up sheets in August. It is a great fundraiser and it is a lot of fun to work. We have the opportunity to meet travelers from all over the world and they have told us numerous times how much we are appreciated. So in turn, we get to serve Council completed Pastor's annual review with many positive remarks, and together felt that many of her first year goals around have been completed. Pastor Megan's goal for this year is to continue to participate in the Covenant of Transformation and Renewal process as we grow together. Rhonda s review was also completed and received some positive remarks. Some of her upcoming goals are to get the office records archived and update all the records in the filing cabinet. them a cup of coffee and send them 6 off with a cookie and a smile. 11

7 FISH REPORT- Update Bethany s FISH that was scheduled for Monday, July 3rd. was cancelled due to the 4th of July holiday. Our next scheduled FISH will be Friday, September 1st. It is a blessing to serve and share fellowship with these community members in need. We are incredibly grateful for the continuous support of the many volunteers needed to be able to serve the community this way. Your time and food donations allow us to serve twenty families each time we host FISH. Thank you. Marge Yockey and Barbara Price Bethany Lutheran - Online! Our website is continuing to grow and change! Pastor Megan has been posting weekly articles under Pastor s Blog you can catch up on our weekly announcements, sermons or our monthly newsletter. You can find all this and more at Make sure to like our Facebook page at: LutheranChurch Longview/ for weekly prayers, events, and other updates. You can share posts from the page, share the page itself, and share a piece of Bethany with your friends and family! We have begun recording sermons each Sunday. You can find recordings on our website at Steering Committee Meeting What s is a Steering Committee? This is the group of church members and pastors from 6 ELCA churches in our area that gather regularly to discuss how to serve our community, as well as create planned events like the joint Reformation service or the Soup-er Game Day. Think you might have a voice to share? Chat with Pastor Megan or Dave Foslien for more information! Our next meeting will be July 23 rd at 2pm at Trinity Lutheran Church. Thank you for your generous support of our mission. We thank you for the 4 rolls of quilt batting; we appreciate your generosity. Our quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief as well as local needs to the Women s Shelter and local Community House and Salvation Army. May God Bless you all as we continue his work. Event Updates Synod Assembly Update Ever wonder what the greater faith community is doing? Curious what your money funds once we send it to the synod? Then synod assembly is where you should have been. This last synod assembly on June 16th and 17th was a time of hearing from great speakers and to meet with church leaders for workshops on different topics. We heard from a religion professor at PLU, who talked about Romans, and from a female theologian who talked about the theology around climate care. It was a time of fellowship and learning with some synod business as well. Baby Hadley was a big hit on the evening of the first night where we had a beer & hymn sing with PLU unveiling the beer they partnered to create based on Martin Luther's wife's recipe. It was an amazing time to get to know and build community with church members from other congregations who are also working towards similar goals (and I may or may not have skipped out a bit early to play cards). We did pass the budgets and elect new representatives for the 2017 and 2018 years but that took a minor amount of time compared to the rest of the weekend. Pastor Megan has signed on to be our synod council representative starting in In the next newsletter, I will be talking more about the synod assembly by going into the workshops that I attended as part of the weekend. Greg Filer Rummage Sale - Update Thank you to everyone who worked so hard or donated items for the Rummage Sale! We made over $1, This was a great success and we hope to do it again next year! So if you see Barb Wilson, Tori Gosch & Carol Lane give them a hug for making this fundraiser a great success. Imagine Retreat - Update June was a busy month! We met together with the other congregations going through the renewal process to discuss community organizing, one-on-one s, and transforming conflict. Watch for our updated strategic planning goals, mission and vision statement. Member Sunday - Update! What a wonderful gift to be able to welcome six new members to our Bethany family! On June 25th we celebrated Susan Johnson, Lee & Shelly Limpach, Mary Lynn Praiser, and Bill & Donna Zimmerman! In His Love, Trinity Quilters 10 7

8 Bethany Lutheran Church Calendar JULY 2017 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 2 Sunday Service Worship & Music ER Fund 9:30 Worship Service 9 Sunday Service Small Seeds & Communion 9:30 Service 11:00 The Church Begins Study 16 Sunday Service Communion 9:30 Service 11:00 The Church Begins Study 23 Sunday Service Communion 9:30 Service 11:00 The Church Begins Study 12:30 Stewardship Meeting 2:00 Steering Trinity 30 - VBS Sunday Service NO Communion 9:30 Worship Service 11:00 The Church Begins Study th of July :30 Vacation Bible School 5 9:000 Edu & Evangelism 2:30 Walking Group 6:00 Cub Scouts 12 11:00 Service & Youth 6:00 Cub Scouts 19 10:30 WOB Meeting 2: :30 Walking Group 6:00 Cub Scouts 26 9:30 Vacation Bible School 12: :00 Exec Cmte Mtg 6:00 Cub Scouts NOTES: NOTES: 6 9:00 Pastor Text Study 10am Coffee with NO Council Mtg 13 9:00 Pastor Text Study 10am Coffee with 4:30 Worship & Music July 6th - NO Council Meeting 20 9:00 Pastor Text Study 10am Coffee with 1:00 Pastoral Care 27 9:00 Pastor Text Study 9:30 Vacation Bible School 10am Coffee with 9 1 FH Reserved 7 8 1:00 Small Seeds Saturday 14 NO WOB July 18th -Sept 12th - NO Women s Bible Study