The Peace Messenger. The Changing and the Changeless. Peace Lutheran Church 2090 Commerce Drive North Mankato MN Newsletter May 2018

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1 The Peace Messenger Worship Schedule Sundays 8:30 & 10:45 a.m. Sunday School & Adult Bible Class at 9:45am Serving Peace Pastor Tim Hartwig Cell Pastor Matt Moldstad Cell Office - Karen Wold Phone karen@peacemankato.com Church Council President: Brad Wosmek Vice President: vacant Secretary: Greg Miller Spiritual Leadership: Paul Fries Christian Education: Bob Paulsen Property Management: Matt Bindert Stewardship: Jason Westman Gospel Outreach: Greg Vandermause Jesus Lambs Preschool Joslyn Moldstad joslynmoldstad@gmail.com Crossed - Youth Group crossedyouth@gmail.com Special Interest Dates 1 st Bd of Education meeting. 6 p 3 rd Board of Education Mtg 6 p 4 th, 18 th Men s Bible Study 6:30a 4 th Confirmation Examination 6p 5 th Women s Paint Night 6:30p 6 th Confirmation Sunday 10:45a 7 th Ladies Fellowship Flow 7 p 15 th Council Meeting 6:30p 11 th Family Night 6 p 20 th Voters Meeting 12 p 22 nd Stewardship Meeting 6:30p 25 th Preschool Graduation 9 a 27 th One Worship Service 9 a 30 th Wed. Evening Worship 6:30p Peace Lutheran Church 2090 Commerce Drive North Mankato MN May is a month of change. The weather starts to warm up, the grass turns green, the leaves return, and signs of life return as the last signs of winter disappear. May also brings a close to another school year as students pack their bags and head home for the summer. Big changes that occur throughout our lives, whether they are the ending of a school year, a change in career, or even the addition of a family member, these things cause us to look back as well as ahead. This is an important thing for us to do in our lives as Christians as well. Paul writes to the Corinthians and says, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. As Christians, we look back and see our sin. We see all our actions that have caused sadness or hurt in our lives or in the lives of those we love. But through the blessing of the Gospel, we also look back at the good news of our Savior, who took our sin upon Himself to redeem us. We see that someone has paid for every evil deed we ve done and given us the credit for His perfect life. When faith is created within our heart, our old sinful nature is drowned and buried with Christ. What rises up then is the Newsletter May 2018 The Changing and the Changeless new creation, made to serve our Lord. What a change this is within us! We look ahead with a clean slate, a clear conscience knowing that God sees us as innocent since we wear the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We look ahead to ways we can serve Him out of love and thankfulness for the grace and mercy He has shown us. Change can be scary. It is leaving the comfort of the familiar for the opportunity of the unknown. In all things, Christ is our rock and our foundation. Through all the changes and uncertainty that this life throws our way, we know that God has given us something that will never change- His perfect, Holy Word. We rest in His promises knowing that He will guide us and protect us whatever may come our way, and that He will work through every situation to bring us closer to Him. What a blessing it is to be able to bring this message of peace and joy to a world that needs it so desperately! How blessed we are to stand on such a firm foundation upon which we build our lives. May God, through His Word and Sacrament, continue to strengthen us in our faith and joy as we look back at how He has kept His promises, and as we look ahead to His continued faithfulness! - Board for Home Outreach

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3 Our Mission The purpose of our congregation is to worship God, who gives life through Word and Sacrament; to serve one another in love and fellowship; and to proclaim forgiveness and salvation to all through Jesus Christ alone. Council Meeting Minutes April 10, 2018 The Mission & Ministry Coordination Council (MMCC) meeting of Peace Lutheran Church was held on April 10, Council members present were: Pastor Hartwig, Pastor Moldstad, Brad Wosmek President, Paul Fries Spiritual Leadership, Bob Paulsen Christian Education, Jason Westman Stewardship, Greg Miller Secretary, and a seminary student observing. Absent and excused: vacant Vice President, Greg Vandermause Gospel Outreach, Matt Bindert Property Management. Devotion: Pastor Moldstad on Acts 3: Announcements None. Agenda MMSP to approve the agenda. Minutes of Previous Meeting MMSP to approve. Pastor s Report (Pastor Moldstad) Worship & Adult Education 1.) The regular Adult Bible Study on Sunday mornings will conclude on May 20 th. 2.) We are thinking of offering a family Bible Study over the summer on Sundays from 8:15 to 8:45 in the sanctuary. 3.) Will confirm eight youth at the 10:45 service on Sunday, May 6 th. 4.) Planning to start a group to take care of planning and putting up the decorations for our special services throughout the year. 5.) Pastor Moldstad vacation dates are: May 29-31, June and July ) Vicar Roger Emmons is scheduled to preach on Wed. May 30 th since both pastors will be gone that day. Spiritual Growth/Nurturing/ Fellowship 1.) Next family night is Friday, April 13 th. 2.) The Women of Peace are planning a paint night on May 5 th. 3.) Denise Woller was able to take pictures of 127 out of 200 family units. Karen Wold is working with her to get the pictures uploaded and to begin putting together the directory. Goal is to complete it by June. Stewardship/Service 1.) Karina Clennon is organizing a Kids Clothing Exchange for our members and the community on April 28 th. 2.) Adie Harstad is organizing a Benefit for Haiti on April 21 st to raise money for both physical and spiritual needs of the people at the WELS mission there. 3.) Sergio Salgado has a group leader meeting planned for April 11 th. Pastor/Circuit/Synod 1.) The pastors will be attending a Pastor s Great Plains Conference at BLC on May 23 rd. 2.) Synod Convention is June with a special program at Our Savior s Lutheran in Albert Lea and Lime Creek Lutheran in Lake Mills, IA on June 16 th. Pastor s Report (Pastor Hartwig) Our Holy Week and Easter Service attendances were very strong. Our attendance at Lenten services averaged 161 this year. The Open House went well even though the weather did not cooperate. We had visitors come and see the facility and one family has attended church 4 times since coming to the Open House. Pastor Hartwig will be working with Gospel Outreach to plan the next event. Completing our website is a high priority in the coming weeks.

4 Future events: Synod Convention is June Camp Indianhead is July Pastor Hartwig attending. LYA is July Neither pastor will be attending. Spiritual Leadership (Coordinator ~ Paul Fries) Will be meeting next Tuesday. Mmsp to approve the transfer in of Cecilia Wold. Gospel Outreach (Coordinator ~ Greg Vandermause) No report. Christian Education (Coordinator ~ Bob Paulsen) Met on April 3 rd with Pastor Moldstad, Bob Paulsen, Matt Lukasek and Mike Madsen present. Opened with a devotion by Pastor Moldstad. Preschool Report: No report. Sunday School Report: The first call for a principal was returned and a second call has been issued. Mt. Olive School Report: A call has been issued for the school principal. School is working on security updates. They are anticipating a large kindergarten enrollment of students for next fall. Youth Group Report: no report. Old Business: None. New Business: 1) Vacation Bible School will be June Preliminary coordinating meetings are underway. Denise Woller and Kristin Lukasek are co-leaders with help from Mike Madsen. 2) The first Wednesday service this summer will be May 30 th. 3) There was discussion about possibly starting a summer program for children while their parents are working. Will contact other churches like King of Grace in Golden Valley that are currently doing this type of outreach. A coordinator would be needed. Meeting closed with the Lord s Prayer. Next meeting is May 1 st at 6PM at Peace. Stewardship (Coordinator ~ Jason Westman) Currently our offerings are $41,000 under where we need to be to meet the budget. Meeting with the budget committee is a priority right now. Property Management (Coordinator ~ Matt Bindert) No report. An from Jennifer Stadler, the janitor, was discussed. She requested a second vacuum and a custodial style broom with the standing dust pan for the building. Someone requested rubber mats under the water fountains because water spills on the floor around them making it slippery. MMSP to approve all reports. Old Business Summer Council Retreat agenda discussion: It will be Friday night June 8th and Saturday June 9 th. We would like to have all current board members and all newly elected members present. Friday will be discussion of big picture items and all boards and committees are encouraged discuss potential big ideas to present to the council for discussion at the retreat. Also, new members will be informed as to what duties are under their jurisdiction in their respective boards. Saturday morning will be a business meeting which will take the place of the normal August meeting. Nominating committee current status presented. A second meeting will be called to work on finding more candidates. The goal is to have two candidates for each position if possible. Budget Committee status: meeting again Monday. Discussion on names for new areas of the church building. New Business Discussion of janitorial supplies request. Mmsp to approve $700 from the Property Management budget for Jennifer Stadler to purchase the janitorial supplies she requested. Controlling Mt. Olive tuition costs: There will be a $ increase from our budget due to the increased number of Peace children attending Mt. Olive School. We will have approximately 70 Peace students attending Mt. Olive next year. We need to develop a compilation of past numbers and future

5 projections, so we have something as a basis for discussion with Mt. Olive. Keith Wiederhoeft and Jason Westman will work on this. Next Voters Meeting date set for May 20, Next council meeting Tuesday, May 8, 6:30 pm. (changed to May 15, 2018) Motion made to adjourn with the Lord s Prayer. MMSP. Respectfully Submitted, Greg Miller Worried About Giving? When it comes to giving to the Lord, many say, I would like to give more, but But what? What s stopping us from giving generously to the Lord and his work? Most of the reasons we give come down to the same thing, worry. We are worried that if we did, maybe even if we gave a good percentage of our income to the Lord, we wouldn t have enough to survive or enough to provide for ourselves and our families. When the apostle Paul was encouraging the Corinthian Christians to give toward a special offering in the church, he reminded them that they need not be worried about giving generously. He said, And he who provides seed to the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed for sowing, and will increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you may be generous in every way, which produces thanksgiving to God through us (2 Cor. 9:10-11). If you think about it, our God already has made us rich in every way. He has blessed us with the greatest gift of all, the forgiveness of sins through his Son Jesus Christ. This same God has also provided for our earthly needs in abundance. He has provided for us far more than the basic necessities of food and clothing. He has enriched us not that we might be worried, but that we might be generous with what he has given, providing for his work and for the needs of others. So what are we so worried about? Are we worried that the same God who has richly provided for us really doesn t give us quite enough to give a good offering to the work of the church? What foolishness! This same God who has provided for our earthly needs, and more importantly for our spiritual needs though his Son, has provided us with plenty with which to be generous. So give generously, in thanksgiving for all he provides. Amen. The Lord has blessed Peace in tremendous growth over the past few years. This growth has necessitated an expansion of our facility and our staff. Last spring we approved an ambitious budget for this fiscal year, with a 32% increase ($127,000) over last year s budget. The members of Peace are cordially invited to a special worship service at which Dr. Michael K. Smith will be commissioned to serve at Asia Lutheran Seminary (WELS). The service will take place on Sunday, May 20, at 3:30pm in Trinity Chapel on the campus of Bethany Lutheran College. The Rev. John Petersen will preach for the occasion and the Rev. Jonathan Leach (WELS) will perform the rite of commissioning.

6 Serving the month of May: Altar/Communion preparation 8 th??? & Joni Wiederhoeft 25 th Terri, Jessie & Hannah Fries 13 th 27 th 6 th 13 th 20 th Communion Assistants 8:30am 10:45am Paul Fries Brad Wosmek 9:00am 8:30am Ushers Rob Paulsen Matt Riehl Ethan Urtel Phil Wels Josh Ringen Pete Schuch Tom Schulz John Tetzloff Eric Theiste Keith Wiederhoeft Philip Wels Jason Westman Matt Bindert Jason Westman Paul Fries Greg Miller 10:45am Rob Pipal Sergio Salgado John Moldstad Jonathan Stadler Need Eric Woller Mark Zenk Al Clennon Terry Field Need Chris Harstad Ron Lorensberg Isaiah Allen 27 th Paul Bunkowske 9:00 am Matt Hartung Brandon Evers Counters 1 st Sunday: Norman Madson & Todd Olsen 2 nd Sunday: Jon Stadler & Brad Wosmek 3 rd Sunday: Chris Harstad & Brian Koch 4 th Sunday: 5 th Sunday: Ernie Geistfeld & Karen Wold The following was taken from Martin Luther s Little Instruction Book : PRAYER OUR LIFEBLOOD To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. Happy Birthday! Isaac Hinkel 5/02 11 years old Elijah Olsen 5/02 6 years old Katelyn Novak 5/03 6 years old Sam Merritt 5/04 16 years old Kaylee Wolff 5/04 3 years old Gage Ohotto 5/05 15 years old Judah DeWitt 5/11 7 years old Corbin Ohotto 5/11 14 years old Harrison Smith 5/15 5 years old Henry Smith 5/15 5 years old Morgan Paulsen 5/17 14 years old Renee Geving 5/18 14 years old Mara Hartung 5/19 4 years old Caleb Hartwig 5/26 10 years old Harrison Jones 5/27 1 years old Gemma Lin 5/29 7 years old Oliver Harding 5/30 11 years old Also Jessica Fries, Jordan Smith, Aaron Merritt, Daniel Mundahl, Helen Harstad, Rebecca Novak, Caitlin Heyer, Emily Cook, Greg Vandermause, Warren Kassuelke, Samantha Ely, Dana Gates, Harvey Loe, Rebecca Schmeling, Ciara Beitlich, Micah Wiley, Joel Kom, Joni Moldstad, Malia Wiley May the Lord bless you, today and always. Anniversaries: Phil & Becky Novak 5/03/08 10 years Brian & Jami DeVos 5/05/07 11 years Tom & Connie Schulz 5/13/78 40 years Tim & Annette Schmeling 5/22/99 19 years Greg & Sara Traylor 5/22/04 14 years Paul & Lynnea Bunkowske 5/25/13 5 years Ben & Haley Lundsten 5/28/11 7 years Congratulations! May the Lord continue to bless you and may your Christian marriage serve as an inspiration to others.

7 Jesus Lambs at Peace Preschoolers enjoyed a Happy Easter and all of the wonderful Bible stories that surrounded our Lord s passion, death and resurrection. One memorable occurrence happened in our afternoon class during our Bible time. Before telling the Bible Story, the children made mention of all the things that were special to them surrounding the Easter celebration. At the end of our Bible story about Jesus Appearance to the Women at the Tomb and subsequent pictures of Jesus appearing to them and another of the happy women running through the streets of Jerusalem, I asked, Are these women so happy because they are running to get candy? (You see, candy had been a big item with them when I asked what was important to them at Easter time.) I received a loud collective, NO to my question. The children correctly explained that the women were so happy because Jesus rose from the dead! They were running to tell everyone the good news! they all chimed in. They were not running for candy, Mrs. Moldstad! We are so happy when they understand! As our 14 th year as a preschool comes to a close, we ask you to pray for our graduates as they continue on toward Kindergarten. We ask for your thankful prayers to God, our heavenly Father, that He has kept us safe through this school year. We ask you to pray for returning students and new students, that the light of the gospel would continue to shine in their hearts and in the hearts of their parents, that all would see the importance of Sunday school and church for these little ones! It has been a busy school year. We thank Mrs. Stephanie Wentzlaff and all of our substitute teachers for so much help with the children. Special thanks to Pastor Hartwig and Pastor Moldstad for supplying weekly chapel for our students and learning all our student s names!! Special thanks to Karen Wold in the office who does all our billing and to Amanda Madson who so faithfully plays the piano for us on so many days. Lastly, we thank our parents for bringing their children to our preschool, for supplying us with daily snacks and coming so often to help drive for field trips. Please keep in mind our Graduation Day of May 25 at 10 a.m. Come and support our preschool! If you would like to register your child for next year, call Joslyn at Spring time fun!?

8 The students enjoyed tumbling indoors Start a Tradition of Daily Devotions Growing up in a house with a lot of kids, I always remember suppertime as that one time of day when everyone could gather for a meal. Despite our different school and work schedules we d usually all be home for supper. It was a great time each day to be together as a family, but, more importantly, it was a great time each day to study God s Word together. I remember after supper we would say a prayer of thanks and Dad would open up a devotion book. It usually was one that covered the basic Bible stories or one that applied Scripture to modern family life. We would end by saying the Lord s Prayer and singing a hymn. It was a great tradition, in fact its one that I ve continued with my own family today. I d encourage you to start such a tradition in your own family, whether you are single, married, or have a house full of kids, why not designate time after supper or before bed to study God s Word? If you re looking for some help with devotional material checkout our New Christian Bookshelf at Peace. There are some great materials available to get you started. For families, I would recommend: A Few Minutes with Jesus or At Home with Jesus, both written by our preschool teacher, Joslyn Moldstad. For young people, I would recommend: Cling to the Cross I & II by the ELS Youth Board. For adults, I would recommend: Meditations or Together with Jesus by Richard Lauersdorf. Pastor Matt Moldstad

9 May 5 th at 6:30 PM Join us on May 5th at 6:30pm for a Ladies Paint Night. Carol from Carol s Painting Party will be guiding us in painting a work of art! The cost of the event is $20 per person and all painting supplies will be provided. The event will be available to those 16 and older and to the first 40 who register and pay by May 1 st. Joni Moldstad will be gathering names and payment. Please contact her at Joni.Moldstad@blc.edu with any questions. Please bring an appetizer to share. Coffee and tea will be provided. Mt. Olive Lutheran School Open Position Mt. Olive will is looking for a Hot Lunch Coordinator for the school year. If you are interested, please contact Matt Lukasek at mattlukasek@yahoo.com or Mr. Rude at lrude@mtolivelutheran.org. We could use more men willing to be Ushers, especially from those who attend 2 nd service. If you are willing to serve your church in this way, please contact Nick Peters at petersfamilyfarm1@gmail.com. Membership Directory is Now in the Cloud - Recently the church updated its records management software enabling us to utilize the cloud. Included in this new upgrade are advanced features permitting members to update their family information and view our church directory via the cloud. An was sent to our members entitled: Peace Lutheran Church Member Portal Access. You can enroll through the link provided in the . If you did not receive an and would like to have access, please our secretary at karen@peacemankato.com. The member portal can be accessed at: the church if you need a new invitation sent to you. Our online church directory is available at: the church if you need the password re-sent to you. Are you unable to care for your feet? Your church home is offering a service to help you care for your feet and toenails. By appointment, a registered nurse, using sanitary equipment, will soak and wash your feet, trim toenails, and finish with a lotion foot massage. If the nurse feels further medical attention is needed, she may suggest an appointment with your health care provider. This service is free; however, donations will be accepted to go to a church cause. For more information, or to set up an appointment, please call Amy Jo Reiner at To watch our services live, go to: or our Facebook page. The service will start automatically when it is live (8:30AM). For recorded services, go to: and you can choose which service you wish to watch. We are currently only streaming and recording during the 8:30 service.

10 See bulletin board for registration forms and ways you can help with VBS 2018! Who: Children ages 4 through those going into 6 th grade When: Mon-Wed, June 11-13, from 9am to 2pm, bring a sack lunch Where: Peace Lutheran Church, North Mankato, 2090 Commerce Dr. What: SCIENCE LABS! SONGS! CRAFTS! GAMES! SNACKS! JESUS!!! Cost: $5 (includes t-shirt) Registration forms due May 27, 2018!! No registrations accepted after deadline. Registration forms available at peacemankato.com

11 Good News for Your News Feed! Peace Devotions are video devotions with a focus on the gospel. These short videos are posted daily to Facebook and YouTube. Devotions are from pastors in the ELS, (you probably know them). We provide full text transcripts for each devotion on the Peace Devotions blog and an option to receive these devotions in form. Visit PeaceDevotions.com for transcripts, links to social media, or to sign up for s. Volunteers are the reason that New 2 You Family Thrift is able to make quarterly donations for Christian Education to MVL and New 2 You association churches (we are one of five churches). Volunteers can be anyone high school age and older. Normal Volunteer time slots are 9:00am-1:00pm & 1:00-5:00pm weekdays, 5:00-7:00pm Mondays and Saturdays 9:45am-12:30pm & 12:30-3:00pm (other times can be arranged). You can volunteer once or twice a month or weekly if you wish! If you are able to volunteer, please either stop by the store at 1838 Commerce Drive or call them at The New 2 You Board of Directors and the store staff thank you! Also, remember that donating items to the store and shopping at New 2 You are additional ways that you can help support New 2 You's donations for Christian Education. Give Using Your Phone - Our congregation recently registered for a few different ways to give to Peace using your phone. 1. Text and Give - Text a dollar amount to The first time you text it will link you to a secure website to register your debit/credit card information. Afterward, whenever you text a dollar amount to that number, it will ask you to confirm your donation and the transfer will be complete. 2. Giving App - Another way to use your cell phone to give is through a giving app called, GIVE CHURCH. Download that app, type in our zip code 56003, select Peace and either set up an account or select give now. If you register, your information will be kept securely and make it simple to give again using the app in the future. Just a reminder of the option you have of using electronic giving for making your regular church offerings or special fund offerings. Contributions can be debited automatically from your checking or savings account or processed using your credit card (Peace is charged a percentage of your donation) or debit card. The electronic giving program offers convenience for you and much needed donation consistency for our congregation. If you are currently giving on a weekly basis, you will no longer need to write out 52 checks a year or prepare 52 envelopes. And, when travel, illness or other circumstances prevent you from attending services, this program will allow your weekly offerings to continue in an uninterrupted basis. It is now possible for you to set it up yourself by going to our website, clicking on the Give now box and putting in your information. You can choose how often you donate (weekly, monthly, certain date(s), etc.).

12 **Peace will pay half of the cost for our members**

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14 Vocal and instrumental music study, performance, and recreation for current 9-12 graders. Directed by Bethany music professors Dennis Marzolf, Mark DeGarmeaux, and Benjamin Faugstad. Cost: $275 covers tuition, housing, meals, activities, and instruction. Cost for campers traveling 400+ miles to attend is $175. The closing concert on Thursday, June 21 at Noon is free and open to the public. Download application forms at: #.Wt9yrS7waot

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