Monthly Newsletter July Community in Action. Family Cookout and The Faith Playbook Webcast. To see all of July s events, please visit:

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1 Community in Action Family Cookout and The Faith Playbook Webcast A great time was had by all at the Family Cookout and Webcast held here Sunday, June 10. We cooked out on the church lawn, thankfully the weather held out, and after dinner we then joined the webcast. We heard from some NFL stars, including Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, quarterback Carson Wentz and many others as they discussed their faith in Christ and how it has impacted their lives. It was amazing to hear how faith has shaped these players, and also how our faith can shape our lives too. Feeling liked you missed all the fun? Not to worry. Join us for Part 2 on July 29 at 6:00pm. Still no cost, invite a friend. Please RSVP by signing up in the parlor or contact the church by phone or . Looking forward to seeing you there! To see all of July s events, please visit:

2 Grow Your Faith Pastor TJ Turner On his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official [he] was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. Philip ran up to the chariot... Do you understand what you are reading? Philip asked. How can I, he said, unless someone explains it to me? Acts 8:26-31 Have you ever gotten lost? You started out knowing where you were going. Maybe you had directions or a map or even GPS, but somewhere along the way you took a wrong turn and you found yourself trying to figure out how to get back on course. Maybe you stopped and asked for help. In Maine there s an expression you might hear if you ever have to do that: you can t get there from here. That s not a very encouraging thing to hear when your lost. Of course, it s not really true. There s always a way to get back on course. Knowing Jesus can be like this. We know he has promised to be with us always, even to the end of time (see Matthew 28), but sometimes we struggle to see him. Maybe it s when life is hard and things have gone wrong; maybe it s when life feels so ordinary that we can t image the God of the universe is doing anything; maybe it s just when the busyness of life has overwhelmed us. Whatever the reason may be, there are times when we lose sight of God s presence with us. The real struggle is, sometimes we don t even know it. Like driving blissfully for hours on the wrong road, we sometimes drift through life unaware that we have lost our connection to God. Eventually, though, we arrive at an unfamiliar intersection in life and we realize just how lost we ve become. When that happens, we often look for help, for something to lead us back to the joy or peace of knowing Jesus. But sometimes, we feel like the only answer we find is, you can t get there from here. In those moments, we need help. We need something more than directions; we need a guide, someone to help us find our way back. In Acts 8 we find a man who s lost. He traveled a long way looking for God, for answers, and now he s on his way back home. He hasn t found what he s looking for, but there s good news. God has sent him a guide, someone to show him the way. Look at what happens next: Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized? When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Acts 8:35-39 God sent Philip to show him the way home, to lead him to God. Because of Philip, this man went home rejoicing, knowing that God is with him. God has sent someone to us to help us find our way back to him too. In fact, he has given us a whole community of people to help us do this, the church. We are all called to help each other recognize that Jesus is present in our lives, to guide each other home when we feel lost. So listen to the people who are pointing you to him. If you do, you ll be able to rejoice again, because Jesus has come to seek and save the lost.

3 New Bible Study A Big Screen Perspective Saturday, June 30 - September 1 11:00am, in the parlor This will be a follow-up to the How We Got the Bible series. We will start to dig a little deeper into the content beginning with how the Bible is structured. Some of us know bits and pieces of the Bible, but not how they fit together to make a whole. If you can imagine a children s puzzle, we will learn how the big pieces of the Bible fit together. After this class you will be able to summarize the Bible so it makes sense to anyone. The Bible, after all, is the way God has provided for us to know Him. We will go through a ten part video lecture series by Dr. Bert Down, Western Seminary. There is no homework. You do not have to bring anything. Just come as you are. Mission Trip Prayers For our first multi-generational mission trip, we ll be heading to The Cross Church in Erie PA, July 22 through July 27. Thanks to the congregation for supporting the mission work of the church. Please keep us in your prayers, specifically for: Safe travels. Deepening the relationships among the generations attending, being a team. Growing our faith through activities we ll be engaging in. To be very real examples of God's love in action. For God to help us be a blessing to the ministries we serve while there. For the seeds that we ll plant will continue to grow after we ve gone. For Pastor Chuck and his mission team to be blessed and trusting of God's plan for the week. For God to make His will for the week apparent to all; before the week, during the week and in the time when we return. We can't wait to share our experiences!

4 likely die after this final act of bravery? Lying there on a rock after 14 months of intense travel while lava floods around them, saying: Here we are, at the end of all things. I think for many of us, we feel like Frodo. We pushed and pushed and now here we are - at the end of all things - worn out, exhausted, feeling a little hopeless, but nevertheless thankful that the quest has been completed. Waiting on Gandolf to send the eagles. (Sorry if you re not a Rings fan...you re really missing out!) Free to Exhale I have an announcement: School is over, we are free to exhale! Time for flip flops, cookouts and last minute trips to the beach. No more multiple practices and games to get to, lunches to pack and forms to fill out. For many (myself included), summer is a mental break. Our last few weeks of school seemed to be so jammed with a ton of final events. Final parties, final games, final celebrations, camp deadlines, and last minute details.all to be completed in June. I felt like I was holding my breath in a final push to the finish line. I was never a runner, but I imagine those last steps of a marathon are the peak of intensity, laserfocused, holding your breath, pushing harder onward towards that finish line. You break through the line, legs burning and then you stop. Or in our case WHOOOOA NELLY! So how did YOU finish? Did you end the year confidently, like this: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; - 2 Timothy 4:7 Or did it feel more like the end of Lord of the Rings when Frodo (and Sam) threw the ring into Mount Doom, slowly realizing they would most I have good news - I m pretty confident none of us had to destroy a ring of power being chased by Orcs. We ve had some trials, but we made it. We can open our mouths and exhale. We can rest. We can sabbath. Even if you don't have kids in school, you can probably relate. Maybe it s an intense doctor visit, or visiting relative, or something at work - there is quite possibly some sort of trial that you ve gone through that you felt you would NEVER make it through. Maybe you re in this trial now - looking for an escape, for hope. I d suggest you stop and consider Jesus. Look to him for hope in your trial, a place to exhale. God never promised life would be easy or simple - but he did promise hope and peace in the midst of those trials. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

5 Sunday School For the past few months our Sunday School has been leading the congregation in singing, two worship songs once a month. They ve been accompanied by Doug Carlen and Mike Scarpineto on guitar and Diana Reif on vocals. Sunday School Superintendent Kim Schmidt has a heart for Christian worship songs, and along with weekly Sunday School she sees learning and singing these songs as a way for the children to deepen their faith in a more creative way. Sunday School Celebration On June 17 th Kim Schmidt thanked our Sunday School volunteers for their dedication to teaching our youth about the love of Jesus and the gospel message. Sunday School runs year round for children from birth through 8 th Grade, with the assistance of volunteers from the congregation. If you think you have a gift for teaching our youth, please let Kim or Julie Lutz know. In addition to thanking the volunteers all the children received age and gender appropriate journals to encourage them to stop and reflect daily on their faith and the Bible messages. They also received age appropriate Bibles over the course of their faith and age development. The Sunday School ministry team would like to thank the congregation and the church leadership for their support of this important ministry.

6 Ministry Updates and Coming Events Shipwrecked VBS will be here soon! July 16-20, 6:00pm - 8:45 pm Setup Meetings All are Welcome! June 19 6:00-9:00 June 21 6:00-9:00 In the meantime... what can you do? PRAY for Gods provision, for His Spirit to Guide the process, pray for participants and for willing helpers to show up to share God s love. MARK the dates July SIGN UP your children and your grandchildren. SIGN UP yourself if you would like to help. (PLEASE NOTE IF you are 18 or over please fill out a permission for a background check form found on the VBS table in the parlor.) STOP BY at any of the set up meetings listed on the back of this announcement and join in the fun of transforming our church into a fun place for kids to learn about God. June 22 6:00-9:00 June 23 3:00-7:00 June 26 6:00-9:00 June 27 6:00-9:00 June 28 6:00-9:00 June 29 6:00-9:00 June 30 3:00-9:00 July 3 6:00-9:00 July 4 9:00 noon July 5 6:00-9:00 July 6 6:00-9:00 July 7 9:00-3:00 July 10 6:00-9:00 July 13 6:00-9:00 July 14 9:00-5:00 July 15 12:00 to finish

7 Who is a Church Greeter? Submitted by Finn Mauritzen Well, everyone, of course. Romans 15:7 is quite clear about that: Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. The problem is that when it is everyone s job, it is pretty much no ones. Everyone else s job, not mine, is probably closer to reality. Even worse, the longer you have been around or the higher up you are in the leadership hierarchy, the more likely this is your situation. When someone comes to a church for the first time, they may have thought about it for as long as a year. Not only that, it is quite likely motivated by some sort of void in their life aching to be filled. Such a person is incredibly fragile. It would not take much to discourage them. They might be polite and not turn around immediately, but they are not likely to return. So what do you do to avoid that? Clearly, it cannot be left to chance or whoever happens to be available. Some stores (although motivated by dollars) do this better than churches. A few steps inside, you are greeted with a cheerful hello. As soon as you get to the first aisle, someone immediately stops what they are doing and asks you if you need help with finding something. Not only that, they do not just point you in the right direction, they take you there and locates the item for you. They may even offer to help you carry it if it is a large or heavy item. Does that make you feel like you matter at that store? Of course it does. Who is a greeter at your church? If your answer is whoever is available, chances are that no one really is. Wouldn t it be true that everyone thinks someone else is more available than they are? With that in mind, it might surprise you that I am here to tell you that everyone is a greeter. Yes, but not in the sense the world sees it. How does the Bible tell us to live our lives? Totally yielded to Him is the correct answer. Your remember Romans 15:7 mentioned above, don t you? Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. In other words, we do it, not for us or for them, but to glorify God. The trouble is that we constantly get distracted and turn away from Him. Fortunately, He gives us two ways to prevent that from happening: His Word and prayer. Study the Bible daily and pray continually.

8 TJ Turner, Pastor, Donna Rassner, Church Administrator, Deacons: Katrina Blunnie Jeanne Carle Janet Gangitano Molly Lutz (alternate) Finn Mauritzen Jane Throwe Walt Vogel Family Ministries Coordinator: Julie Lutz Sunday School Superintendent: Kim Schmidt Women s Ministry Leaders: Ann Otten, Nancy Bosseckert, Youth Group Leaders: Donna Aliperti, Dina Jones, Kerstin Turner Food Pantry: Carolyn Baier Joe Baier Craig Baier Trustees: trustees@wadingriverchurch.org Curtis Barnes Janice Elliott Chris Jones (co-chair) Joe Nocerino Mike Scarpinito Diane Schembri (co-chair) Judy Schroeder Nancy Swenk Michael Wing Welcome Ministry: Ann Otten, Finn Mauritzen Worship Ministry Diane Hanwick, Piano & Organ Mike Scarpinito, Doug Carlen, Diana Rief, Praise Band Treasurer, Bill Radonavitch Assistant Treasurer, Lana O Toole Clerk, Ann Otten Assistant Clerk, Molly Lutz 2057 North Country Road Wading River, NY