The Messenger. St. Matthew Lutheran. Baptism Scheduled for May 15. Worshiping God, Growing in Faith, Serving Neighbors--near and far

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Britney Higgins
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Trinity theme with Pastor John May 29 Memorial Day theme with Pastor Travis We will begin a new sermon series in June.

1 The Messenger 2016 St. Matthew Lutheran Ithaca, OH Worshiping God, Growing in Faith, Serving Neighbors--near and far Through May 15, we will be continuing our Sermon Series, The Clubhouse. May 1 May 8 The Church s Purpose: The Club with Pastor John The Bible The Bylaws with Pastor Travis May 15 Baptism The Pledge with Pastor John May 22 Holy Trinity theme with Pastor John May 29 Memorial Day theme with Pastor Travis We will begin a new sermon series in June. Baptism Scheduled for May 15 On May 15, during worship, Brendin Martin Gillem will become a child of God and a member of St. Matthew Lutheran Church! Brendin is 16 years old and lives with his parents, brother and step-sister. He has three dogs, and three cats. He is a friend of Julia McCullough and is a student at Arcanum High School. He plays the clarinet in the band and is an Honor Roll Student. His favorite subject in school is music. Please join us in welcoming Brendin to our family of faith.

2 A Note From the pastor: Changes! Truth is, none of us like them. Most of you should have heard by now that Judy and I will be relocating in July to Walker, Louisiana (right outside of Baton Rouge) to be closer to our daughter Molly and her new husband Chris. Judy and I want all of you to know that we will miss you very much. We have made good friends at both churches and you have all blessed us in ways you probably don t even know. We will be leaving with great memories that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. Our leaving, however, may raise some questions in your minds. What s next? What about the partnership? I think that St. Matthew has thrived under the partnership. There s a new sense of excitement and possibility in the air. You can feel the Holy Spirit among us on Sunday mornings and the warmth and friendliness of the congregation is apparent to members and visitors alike. The plan is for the partnership to continue under Pastor Travis as Lead Pastor. Bishop Palmer has appointed Pastor Travis to Gordon UMC as a Licensed Local Pastor. As a Licensed Local Pastor, Pastor Travis has sacramental privileges at the churches he serves. The ELCA recognizes this designation as a step towards ordination and Bishop Dillahunt has extended sacramental privilege to Pastor Travis for St. Matthew. Bishop Dillahunt will be meeting with Pastor Travis for a formal interview, just as she had to meet with me before I was approved to serve at St. Matthew, to finalize this process. This meeting is being arranged by Pastor Travis and Assistant to the Bishop, Jeff Wick. Bishop Dillahunt also said that, since Pastor Travis was part of the congregational vote taken to create the partnership, she did not see the need to have a special congregational vote to confirm his change to Lead Pastor. As the partnership continues, a search committee made up of members from both churches will be put together to find a new Director of Family Life for St. Matthew and Gordon UMC. This person will pick up the duties that Pastor Travis has been doing as he worked with Pastor John. The goal is to have a new person selected by August. If you have questions or concerns please feel free to talk to Pastor John, Pastor Travis or members of Council. I see great things on the horizon for St Matthew. I think maintaining the partnership is key to a bright future for both churches. A future that sees these churches thriving, growing and making a difference in the communities they serve. I hope you can see that future as well. Take Care, Pastor John 2

Congratulations, Graduates Class of 2016!

Please contact Shannon at 884-7006 or skmccullough@earthlink.net with your name, graduation date, school you are graduating from and a hint of what you plan for your future!

! Needed: Wheelbarrow s, Shovels and Garden Rakes During Arcanum High School Serve Arcanum Day on May 6 (rain date: May 13), eight High School students will be serving us by doing some work in our

3 Congratulations, Graduates Class of 2016! We would like to publish a list of all graduates in the next Newsletter, whether it be high school, vocational school, technical school, college, or otherwise. Please contact Shannon at or skmccullough@earthlink.net with your name, graduation date, school you are graduating from and a hint of what you plan for your future! We would also like to include a picture, if you d like!! Entries are needed by May 23!! Needed: Wheelbarrow s, Shovels and Garden Rakes During Arcanum High School Serve Arcanum Day on May 6 (rain date: May 13), eight High School students will be serving us by doing some work in our cemetery (supervised by the Trustees). We have been asked by the school to make sure they have the equipment needed to do the job. If you have a wheelbarrow, shovel and/or garden rake that you are not using on that day, please bring them to the church before 8 a.m., or, if you bring them the day before, please store them in the basement. Open House The public is invited and encouraged to come out and see the House of Hope Ithaca facility on May 15 from 1-4 p.m. House of Hope is a non-profit, nondenominational, residential home reaching out to hurting teens between the ages of Read more at Adult Sunday School In May, the adult Sunday School class will continue our study of Luther's Small Catechism. May 1 - Holy Baptism May 8 - Holy Communion May 15 - The Office of the Keys and Confession Any adult (or teen!) who would like to know more about our Lutheran faith or if you just would like to review what you learned years ago, please join us in the sanctuary at 10:30 on Sunday mornings. If you have a Small Catechism, please bring it. If you need one, we will have one for you. 3

size bars of soap for Lutheran World Relief. Monetary donations can be given to: Sherry, Anita, Jane, Rhonda or Mary Lou.

4 WELCA Our monthly WELCA meeting will be held on May 11 at the home of Earlene Morris Gordon. We will continue our bible studies from the Gather magazine with the May lesson Mary and Elizabeth: Sisters across the generations Through the month of June, we will continue our collection of bath size bars of soap for Lutheran World Relief. Monetary donations can be given to: Sherry, Anita, Jane, Rhonda or Mary Lou. We will also begin our collection of monetary gifts for Wernle Home between Mother s Day and Father s Day. Please look for the Wernle house to make your donation. ONE Ministry Castine Food Bank item of the month: SUGAR MEN S FELLOWSHIP MINISTRY All men are welcome to join!! Our next meeting is at Gordon UMC at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 21. Come and see what we re doing to serve our neighbors! Please consider a donation to one or more of the following projects. All you need to do is place your donation in an envelope and earmark it for one of the following: Communion Wine Just $5 will buy a bottle of wine. Sidewalk Project Although the sidewalk has been finished and paid for, some of the funds from the project came from our general budget. If you would like to help replenish the money taken from the general fund, please give toward the sidewalk project. The general fund is still in need of $ Basement Chairs A new fund has been started in order to replace the tables and chairs in the basement. Tables will cost approximately $60 each and chairs are $20 each. Media Fund We are continuing to update our church with new audio and visual equipment. If you would like to help pay for this project, just mark Media fund on your envelope. Restroom Project As long as our handicapped restroom is still a possibility, we would like to continue to allow this fund to grow. 4

5 Youth News from pastor travis It s hard to believe that in just a few weeks the school year will be ending and summer vacation will be upon us. Our last official weekly youth group meeting will be Sunday May 15 th at 6:30. Even though youth group will be on break for the summer, our summer is packed full of exciting opportunities for both youth and children. Here are just a few of the coming attractions for this summer. Youth Camp Youth Camp will be from July 1-3. We will be heading to Bellefontaine to join the Covington Presbyterian youth group just like last year. This 2 day camp experience only costs our campers $40 each and that includes lodging, food, and all activities. Come and enjoy camp food cooked over the fire, swimming, archery, paddle boating, games, and daily devotionals and worship. Students who have finished 5 th grade to those who have just graduated from high school are invited and encouraged to join us. Please see Pastor Travis for more details. (Opportunity to earn majority of camp fees by working during the preparation and serving days at the Gordon ice cream social) May 1 st Youth Group 6:30pm to 8:00pm May 8 th NO YOUTH MOTHER S DAY May 15 th Last Youth Group of the school year 6:30pm to 8:00pm June 3 rd Confirmation Camp Day 1 9 am 4 pm June 12 th Youth Dartball - 6:30pm to 8:00pm June 15 th Help make Ice Cream for Ice Cream Social June 26 th Youth Dartball 6:30pm to 8:00pm July 1-3 CAMP at Camp Wesley in Bellefontaine, Ohio Confirmation information This summer we will begin a new program for confirmation. Confirmation will consist of (2) day camp style, full day sessions taking place in June and August, followed by a family retreat in November. These 3 sessions will be a combined effort between Gordon and St. Matthew, and will cover most of the basics of our Christian faith. Starting after Christmas, the groups will split and will meet weekly to become more fully aware of denominational and church specific traditions leading into an Easter 2017 confirmation. We are very excited for this new program and look forward to a new group of confirmands. If you have any questions or are interested in being a part of this year s confirmation classes, please contact Pastor Travis at Pastortravis@smlc-ithaca.com or (937)

6 May Birthdays 4th Janet Ehlers Joel Kress 9th Faye Harman 10th Devon Eley 11th Liam Qualls 12th Carol Castello 20th Gary Brown 30th Sue Mills May Anniversaries 5th Mike & Charlotte Delong 15th Dave & Barb Shoemaker 31st Duane & Janet Ehlers April Prayer Concerns SMLC & GUMC Steve & Barb Marker Ralph Stutz Beth & Mike Hart Delbert Hofacker Rebecca Lewis Fred Zimmer Rhonda Peoples Sandy Thompson Marna Levin Gloria Scheiding Lars Genssen Annette North Tad Fitzpatrick Harvey Hinshaw Ms. Lauer Ron & Norma Bruner Carol Caplinger Craig Farrenkopf Judy Fourman John Solt Jason Couvutsakis Carol Jean Ary Ron Bucholtz Tim Means Lori Stone LeRoy & Anna Blumenstock John Sturgill Jennifer Womak Marna Levin Prayers of sympathy and healing for the families of: Kevin Jacobs Keith McDowell John Swihart Mike Schulze Jamie Brown Toby Besecker Hazel Yeomans Kelli Hein Blessings: Rebecca Lewis Steve Resor Gloria Scheiding Ralph Stutz Pastor John & Judy Matt & Suzanne Lammi To reach us for the prayer chain, please call Rhonda Kress at or Do you shop on amazon.com??? Consider logging into smile.amazon.com/ next time! You use the same login and password and get the exact same low prices, selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, BUT here s the good news. items marked Eligible for AmazonSmile donation will allow you to designate.5% of each eligible purchase to your favorite charity at NO COST TO YOU!! (We hope you would choose St. Matthew s, but there are one million 501(c)3 organizations to choose from). And remember, all the donations made to St. Matthew, either through AmazonSmile or Thrivent Financial, go directly to our Because We Care fund to help others! 6

May 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 6 Easter - Communion 6:30-8 Youth at GUMC Lector: Jessica Pahl Acolyte: Hailey Pahl Children s Sermon: Jane Brown & Quilt team Bread: Neva Birt 2 3 4 5 6 Pastor

7 May 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 6 Easter - Communion 6:30-8 Youth at GUMC Lector: Jessica Pahl Acolyte: Hailey Pahl Children s Sermon: Jane Brown & Quilt team Bread: Neva Birt Pastor John s day off Easter pm - WELCA Pastor John s day off 14 Lector: Donna Miller Acolyte: Karr Stump Children s Sermon: Linda Holt 15 Pentecost Brendin Gillem Baptism Communion 1-4 pm House of Hope Open House 6:30-8 Youth at GUMC (Last one) Lector: Julia McCullough Acolyte: Josie McCullough Children s Sermon: Pastor John Bread: Shannon McCullough 22 Holy Trinity Communion 1-4 pm Girl Scout Sewing Day pm - Council Meeting 23 Newsletter entries due Lector: Rhonda Kress Acolyte: Alysson Pahl Bread: Anita Schneider P a s t o r T r a v i s o n v a c a t i o n Children s Sermon: Christopher Stump Pastor John s day off Pastor John s day off 21 9 am - Men s Fellowship meets at GUMC P a s t o r T r a v i s o n v a c a t i o n t h r o u g h M a y Pentecost 30 May Greeter: 7 Lector: Mickie Ary Acolyte: Carter Qualls Children s Sermon: Pastor Travis Duane Ehlers

Church Address 6825 St. Route 722 Ithaca, OH 45304 Office Address: 7820 State Route 722, Arcanum Office Phone/Fax: 937-884-7006 E-mail: skmccullough@earthlink.

8 Church Address 6825 St. Route 722 Ithaca, OH Office Address: 7820 State Route 722, Arcanum Office Phone/Fax: Pastor: John Gilmore Phone: Director of Family Life: Pastor Travis Qualls Phone: Wheelchair accessible + Elevator on premises + Holy Communion celebrated - 1st Sunday of every month- major church festivals Find us at: Facebook: St. Matthew Sunday Worship services: 9 am Traditional worship 10 am Coffee Break (food & fellowship) 10:15 am Sunday School for all ages St. Matthew Lutheran Church Ithaca 7820 State Route 722 Arcanum, Ohio Dated Material 8

Affirmation of Baptism Confirmation

The Messenger May 2017 St. Matthew Lutheran Ithaca, OH Affirmation of Baptism Confirmation On Sunday, May 7, four of our youth (our largest class since 1991) will be received into our confirmed membership