FROM THE PASTOR S DESK

Transcription

1

2 FROM THE PASTOR S DESK DEAR MEMBERS & FRIENDS Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! November has seemed more like winter than December has. I don t mind. I m not near as much of a fan of winter as I was when I was younger. I did not even mind not having a white Christmas. Of course, I would not have minded if we did have a white Christmas. After all, it was Christmas the birth of our Savior. Jesus birth was certainly more important than whether we have a white Christmas or not. As the common saying goes: Jesus is the reason for the season. A colleague of mine took offense at that statement saying that Jesus is not the reason for the season. You are. Jesus did not come to pay for his sins, but for yours. So, you are the reason for the season because Jesus came for you. Jesus lived a perfect life in your place and Jesus took your place on the cross. Jesus did not come for himself, but for you. You are the one who has forgiveness. You are the one who has a Savior. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord! (Luke 2:11) Christmas always brings with it Christmas shopping, Christmas baking, Christmas gifts, Christmas cards, Christmas music, Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Christmas concerts, Christmas dinner, and so on and so on. Christmas also brings a whole bunch of Christmas movies on television. It s a Wonderful Life or The Christmas Story probably top most people s list. The Christmas Story played for 24 hours straight, back to back for 24 hours on TBS. There also a lot of Christmas movies playing on television stations like The Hallmark Channel, the Lifetime network, and some other channels. Most of these movies center around a storyline about some sort of lost love, single parent trying to find love, or someone whose spouse has died and is having trouble in finding anyone new. Of course they nearly always have a happy ending, because that is how these movies work. While they always seem to have a happy ending, that happy ending does not come until the movie has tugged at your heart strings. The other thing these movies have in common is that, in one way or another, they all center around the Christmas season. There is something about Christmas that brings the two people together. Some movies call it Christmas magic, or the Christmas spirit, or even Christmas cheer. Once the Christmas spirit has worked its magic, the two main characters find love in each that will last a lifetime. While these Christmas movies are usually set in the Christmas season, there is usually no mention of Christ or of the Savior s birth. In other words, everyone is supposed to believe in Christmas, but it really is not necessary to believe in Jesus to have Christmas. Christmas, or Christ-time, is all about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ; unless you are talking about Christmas movies. There was even one movie about a guy named Chris Claus, you know Santa s son. He came down from the North Pole and played a mall Santa. His mission was to find a wife by midnight Christmas Eve. That was the deadline because, of course, then he had to return to the North Pole so he could help his father get all the gifts out around the world before Christmas morning. Of course right at the stroke of midnight, he succeeded. More important for us is that: When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law. (Galatians 4:4) In Christ s service, Pastor Lloyd Schlomer

3 BUILDING UPDATE It was decided not to move forward with our new addition this past fall. This decision was made in part because the bids came in well above what we had anticipated and in part because we did not want to borrow the amount of money needed to move forward with the building. In November an anonymous donor offered to match 50 cents to a dollar up to $200,000 for any money given to the building fund through December 15. We received almost $80,000 to the building fund and the donor matched with an additional $40,000. About $120,000 has been added to the building fund and we now have around $450,000 in our building fund. We will discuss the future of our building project at our annual meeting on January 18. Continue to remember our building project in your prayers and continue to use your building fund envelopes! ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY Anniversary Sunday is the third Sunday of January each year. This year we will be celebrating our 50 th anniversary on Sunday, January years of God s grace to Ascension! We will have our annual ham and baked potato dinner at 12:00 noon. Our annual meeting will take place between the worship service and the anniversary dinner. We will have another celebration of our 50 th anniversary on June 14 th. Pastor Martin Schulz, the first resident pastor at Ascension, has agreed to be the guest preacher for our June celebration. We have also reserved the Dilworth Community Center for the dinner and celebration following the service. Mr. Earl Nelson is head of the anniversary committee. Other details of our 50 th anniversary celebration in June are being worked out. The 52nd Annual LWMS Convention will be held in Rapid City, SD, June 25-28, The convention will be held at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, located near downtown Rapid City. Registration information will be available on the convention website in January: lwms.org and will also be posted on the bulletin board in the Nartex once available from the LWMS website. Stay tuned!

4 Martin Luther College Ladies Auxiliary The annual meeting was held on Saturday, October 5, 2013 at Martin Luther College. The projects for the year shown below were adopted by the Ladies' Auxiliary. They have been blessed with the challenge of funding a record number of items submitted by various departments at MLC. Curriculum Library Teaching Aids IPads for Assistive Technology Class Projects $1,200 $1,096 FUNDED New Teacher Video Observation Equipment Caribbean Christian Training Institute Grant Learning Chinese Culture through Experience Chromebooks for Teaching with Technology Fitness Center Stair Stepper Infant and Toddler Outdoor Play Toys IPads for Student Teaching Supervision Preschool Sandbox Wireless Hearing Assistance System for MLC Auditorium Outdoor Activity Equipment for Students Mobile Audio Unit Music Center Lobby Redecorating Infant and Toddler Outdoor Play House Spanish Immersion Grants Advent/Christmas Banner for Chapel of the Christ Wireless Microphone System Campus Seating $2,250 $2,000 $700 $3,000 $3,650 $1,000 $1,797 $1,029 $1,704 $350 $2,373 $1,435 $4,185 $3,000 $1,950 $2,020 $475 FUNDED BY AN INDIVIDUAL

5 January 2015 Update from Board for Home Missions (BHM) A REVIEW OF THE MISSION AUTHORIZATIONS At the spring 2014 Board for Home Missions (BHM) meeting, seven requests were authorized two requests for enhancing ministry at an existing congregation and five to start a mission congregation. Redeemer, Tucson, Ariz., and Bethel, Menasha, Wis., will both receive funds to call a second pastor. At Bethel, the second pastor will help with Hispanic outreach ministries. The five new mission starts are: Goodyear, Ariz. (west side of Phoenix): Rev. Lincoln Albrecht was installed as pastor in July. Vancouver, B.C., Canada: Rev. Geoff Cortright was installed as pastor Sept. 14. This urban mission will also reach out to the area s Chinese population. Ashley Mozak was also installed as staff minister on Sept. 14 to help coordinate this aspect of ministry. Fulshear, Tex. (west side of Houston): 2014 seminary graduate Ben Reichel was assigned to this mission. He was ordained and installed in August. Watertown, N.Y. (90 miles north of Syracuse): Rev. Aaron Goetzinger was installed as pastor in July. Maryville, Tenn.: This location will be served by Rev. Dave Panitzke, who also serves as pastor in Knoxville, Tenn. Through a children s ministry, the goal is to build a nucleus of new members in Maryville over the next two or three years and then to call a pastor to serve full time in Maryville. Since the spring of 2013 Home Missions has authorized a total of 17 missions. Remember these missions, their pastors, and families in your prayers. BWM Promotional Video in Spanish We wish everybody from our congregations could see that video, two pastors told Board for World Missions (BWM) Administrator Rev. Larry Schlomer at the South Central District convention in Dallas, Tex. They had just watched the most recent promotional video, Missions Around the World, produced by the BWM. The two pastors explained to Schlomer that both their congregations had sizeable Hispanic groups who spoke little to no English. So, Schlomer put things into motion so that now the video will soon be available in Spanish. Contact the BWM if you want a copy.in either English or Spanish. Martin Luther College is now accepting applications for one Administrative Assistant to the Director of Continuing Education and Graduate Studies. A comprehensive description of this position and application can be secured by visiting Applications will be accepted through 12:00 pm (noon) on Wednesday, January 14, Additional information and details can be obtained by contacting the Martin Luther College Human Resources Office at , ext. 399.

6 If there is any information that you would like included in the monthly newsletter, please either drop a note in Trisha Dominguez s mailbox or send an to: stdominguez@outlook.com ***The February newsletter will mostly be comprised of 2014 Annual Report. Info for February is due by January 26 th ***