AUGUSTANA LUTHERAN CHURCH

Transcription

1 THE EPISTLE AUGUSTANA LUTHERAN CHURCH Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 1025 Second Avenue P.O. Box 5 Cumberland, Wisconsin Phone: Fax: Pastor Randy Skow-Anderson Cell Phone: pastor@augustanachurch.com Brad and Jackie Novak, Custodians Home Phone: custodian@augustanachurch.com Jene Morey, Office Manager Home Phone: office@augustanachurch.com Website: Like Us on FACEBOOK SUMMER WORSHIP AT AUGUSTANA Sunday at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. 1

2 FROM THE PASTOR Dear friends in Christ, Grace to you and peace in the name of Jesus. Amen. Our theme for the next few months is Experiencing God. It may be hard to see how God is active with all the difficult and challenging news that we see each and every day. I want to challenge you to put on some new glasses. These have the type of lenses that invites us to see God s activity all around us. Let s call them God sightings. It may be the caring touch of a friend, the beauty of creation, the sacrifice of a neighbor helping a neighbor, or the surprise thought found in a book. And if you feel comfortable I invite you to simply share that on at Sunday or Wednesday worship. Summer Series Experiencing God June 11 Caution: God at Work - God is always at work around you June 18 God is love, REALLY - God wants a loving relationship with you that is real and personal. June 25 God is handing you a paint brush and invites you to become involved in God s work 2

3 July 9 God Speaks to you, REALLY God speaks through the Holy Spirit, the Bible, prayer, circumstances and even the church. July 16 God invites you to move out of your comfort zone God s invitation to do God s work always leads to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action. July 23 You can t stay where you are and follow Jesus Adjustments in your life (change) could happen. July 30 God is that you, really? You come to know and experience God as you experience God as you follow, listen and act in faith. God bless our continuing journey together. Pastor Randy Wednesday Worship Outdoors on South Side (Weather Permitting) Come, Bring a Friend and Bring a Chair or a Blanket 3

4 Church in Society Celebrate Jesus, Live the Love A big thank you to those who volunteered for Augustana's time at Ruby's Pantry on May 6. A wonderful turn out of willing volunteers. Thank you to all for your generous donations to the Piggy Bank ELCA World Hunger/Malawi drought collection. Over $1, was collected. BLOW DISASTER OUT OF THE AIR June Noisy Offering The Church In Society Committee and Church Council are challenging Augustana members to collect over $2, for the Chetek Tornado Disaster victims. In December, Augustana collected $2, to buy a water well. We can meet this challenge and do even better for our neighbors to the south. This collection will be sent to the Red Cedar Church in Rice Lake to be included in the $1 million Challenge Grant. Foster Freiss has committed to donate up to $1million (Dollar for dollar) for the Chetek Tornado Disaster relief fund. This is a win, win for the tornado victims and also for Augustana as our donation will be doubled. I have some questions for you. Do you know where your billfold is? Do you know where your drivers' license is? This is an identification item. In listening to an interview of one of the victims, he was so glad that his brother and friends helped him find his billfold the day after the tornado hit his trailer. He said he was a person again. 4

5 Also in that billfold could be insurance cards, medical cards, and social security cards. For some those items will have to be replaced. Do you know where your safe deposit key is? Do you know where your insurance papers are? All these things give you an identity. They could be blown away in a second. For many of these victims, they do not have a home now but bills continue to come in-- the cable bill and no TV, the cell phone bill, the house payments, the insurance payments, medical bills and the list goes on. We don't give these a thought until they are gone. It may be time to think about where your important papers are and maybe one needs to have duplicates. June's noisy offering will be designated to this disaster relief fund. Checks should be made out to Augustana Lutheran Church, with Tornado Relief on the memo line. At the end of the month a check will be sent to Red Cedar Church to be matched. Please be generous. Let's blow disaster out of the air. Carol Halverson Church In Society FAIR TRADE COFFEE AND COCOA WILL NO LONGER BE SOLD at Augustana. The Church and Society Committee has decided to discontinue this for 2 reasons. 1) When we started Fair Trade, it was not so easy to buy. You can now purchase it at many different places. 2) Lutheran World Relief will no longer purchase products through Equal Exchange. The coffee will be bought through a new LWR Venture called LWR Farmers Market. At first there will be only coffee and we have no idea how it will taste. There also will be no cocoa. Cocoa and chocolate bars have been a fairly big seller. If there is interest again later, Church and Society will be happy to review their decision. Thank you very much to all the buyers over the past years. VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED TO HELP MOVE GARDEN MULCH at church on Tuesday, June 6, at 6:30 p.m. If you have any questions, call Curt Johnson at

6 Bluegrass Gospel Music Comes to Augustana Augustana Summer Bluegrass Concert Series Schedule Saturday, June 10 th 7:00 p.m. Midnight Coal Company This band plays and values the traditional bluegrass music of the 1940 s, 50 s and 60 s. Their instrumentation and singing are Influenced by the likes of Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Flatt and Scruggs and the Stanley brothers. You will enjoy this all male band! Saturday, July 15 th 7:00 p.m. Highview This band hails from Siren and plays traditional and contemporary Bluegrass as well as Gospel and Old-time music. They are led by husband and wife, Bob and Kelly Andrewson, who both sing lead and harmony vocals. You ll enjoy Kelly on the 5-string banjo, as well as the old-time claw hammer banjo. Saturday, August 12 th 7:00 p.m. Kings Countrymen Based in west-central Wisconsin, this well known band performs at fairs, festivals, concerts, nursing homes, retirement centers, Bible camps, and churches to share the love of God and bluegrass gospel music with audiences of all ages. Their message of God's love is mixed with a touch of humor and testimony. Saturday, September 16 th 7:00 p.m. The Stringsmiths The Stringsmiths are a hard driving bluegrass band that keep audiences tapping their toes. Based in Cumberland, and including Barb and Chris Landstrom from Augustana, these fine instrumentalists also add a blend of two, three, and four part vocal harmonies to their performances. They look forward to closing out the concert series on a high note! *The concerts will be held in Augustana s Great Hall. There will be no admittance charge for the concerts, but your donation will be appreciated. The Cumberland area community is welcomed to attend this great musical event! 6

7 7 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 26 At the recent Northwest Synod of Wisconsin Assembly we were challenged to think about the vision we have for our church, our congregation. Is it to keep the doors open, pay the bills, and keep everybody happy? Or does our vision focus on Jesus, and what he asked us to do: Go and Make Disciples. Tell others about Jesus and His Love. God is at Augustana, He is here and moving in our congregation. Jesus wants us to tell others about Him, His Love for them, His gift of salvation. A highlight of the Assembly were TED Talks by pastors sharing what happened in their congregations that impacted growth in their membership. Brad from Trinity in Boyceville thought it important to be Authentic be aware of who we are, who we are not; and be who you are; be friendly, be welcoming; worship is serious business, that does not always need to be done seriously. Ned from Living Water in Cameron said they focused on their mission statement: Serving Others Through Christ. And Relentless Hospitality; realize visitors make a decision whether to return within seconds of their first arrival. Paperless worship and ministry are working for them. Recently were awarded grant to partner with other small churches to connect using technology, such as Live Stream worship and ministry. Keith from Zion in Woodville found Sunday School youth were unfamiliar with the Apostle s Creed and Lord s Prayer (parents faithful to bring children to Sunday School, but not attending worship). Openings for Sunday School started to include those faith foundations, as well as fun and music; kids invited their parents and this grew to be a 20 minute Family Connect Worship time.

8 Amelia from First Lutheran in New Richmond declared that importing programs from other congregations doesn t work. Instead, have Expectations. Expect God to be moving in our congregation; figure out how God is moving and how we can partner with Him. Then expect the unexpected; expect push-back because God is in it. Expect bumps. Also expect the Holy Spirit to be with you. Have Great Expectations. Census data found that 60% of people in Barron County report they do not belong or attend church. Yet only 2% of us that do attend church, have invited a non-member to come to our worship service. What would it take for us to invite someone to visit Augustana? Would you be willing to invite at least one person, sometime in the next year, to come to worship with us at Augustana? Other Notable Notes: Northwest Synod of Wisconsin has 198 congregations. With 93,000 members. 358 voting delegates were at the Assembly. Karyn Hullinger was re-elected to Northwest Synod Council. Thank you, Karyn, for your service. Are there ways Augustana wants to share the Good News about Jesus with our community? Outreach and Evangelism Grant applications are being accepted for projects. $500 - $5000. Applications due June 1. Talk to anyone on Church Council or Pastor Randy if you have an idea. Luther Rose LEGO Mosaic Project - Use Legos to build a model of Luther Rose. Great youth and/or family project. Can sign up to borrow from Synod Resource Center. We are the Church. We are Lutheran. We are Church Together. We are Church for the Sake of the World. Respectfully submitted by Tim and Mary Jean Jergenson, 2017 Synod Assembly Delegates 8

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10 JUNE BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES Happy Birthday to 1 Ann Bergmann Kala Green 2 Laurie Sutherland 4 Cody Elfers Andrea Jerry 5 Nate Anderson Evelyn Brown 6 Doug Brown David Hile Makenna Olson 7 Lindsey Koser Cory Nelson 8 Val Anderson Rob Barker III Rebecca Carlson Brian Horton 9 Erik Carlson Kate Erickson 10 Paul Bucher Eric Harding 13 Tia Olsen 14 Madie Ritchie Alisyn Stevens 15 Brooke Chafer Laurie Skow-Anderson 16 Tess Duncan Claire Johnson Susan Jungerberg 18 Eric Hallingstad 19 Hunter Anderson Bruce Jungerberg Darcy Paffel 20 Terri Brown Barb Sandve BJ Brenna Lydia Chafer Julie Erickson Lisa Erickson Reeve Feidt Ethan Sandman 24 Mark Koegel 25 Gaitlyn Johnson Sandi McHenry 27 Arland Oleson 29 Camille Bohn Mason Bohn Marilyn Dierks 30 Heather Friess Zoe Hopkins-Hile Happy Anniversary to 2 Ryan and Janell Bohn Mark and Terri Ruppel 4 Eric and Debb Hallingstad 8 Nate and Val Anderson Phil and Betty Anderson 10 Andy and Barb Bangsberg 11 Jack and Wendy Stetler 12 BJ and Amy Brenna Dan and Ruth Shoemaker Jeff and Holly Thomas 13 Graham and Kellsey Ruppel 15 David and Shirley Anne Evenson Brian and Michelle Stevens 21 Randy and Laurie Skow-Anderson 25 John and Peggy Lloyd 26 Keith and Sheri Johnson 30 Brett and Christy Moravitz Jack and Diane Strickland

11 NORTHWEST SYNOD OF WISCONSIN LAY SCHOOL OF MINITRY If you are desiring a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Lutheran Faith and a deeper spiritual growth in your own faith, the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin Lay School of Ministry is a great place for you. It has the reputation of being the best Lay School in the country with teachers from Colleges and Seminaries all over the country. Classes are held September through May for one weekend a month. On the second weekend of the month, classes are on Friday night from 7:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. and Saturday morning worship at 8:30 a.m. and classes from 9:00 a.m. -12:00 noon. The school is for lay people only and you work with a mentor pastor of your choice. Supper, breakfast and lunch are available for a fee. Host families offer free overnight lodging. Scholarships are available for the tuition. Check out the website for the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin at for details about subjects being studied, instructors, tuition, scholarships and enrollment forms. If you would like to see what Lay School is like, you can attend as a guest for just Friday evening or Saturday morning or both. Overnight accommodations and meals will be provided by the Lay School. Questions? Check the Northwest Wisconsin Synod website or contact Janice Ahneman or tjahneman@charter.net. REMEMBER AUGUSTANA S NEW COOKING WITH LOVE ministry. If you would be willing to become one of the cooks, or if you know someone who should receive one of the meals, please contact Ann Bergmann at or abergmann@centurytel.net. 11

12 Trafficking: A Community Response Preventing child sexual exploitation requires a multi-faceted effort to raise awareness as well as change attitudes and behaviors. First Lutheran Church of Barron is hosting a program about trafficking on Wednesday, June 7, at 7:00 p.m. Amy Hartman, Deacon with Cherish All Children, is the guest speaker. A free-will offering will be accepted and donated to Cherish All Children. Cherish All Children is an ELCA ministry that equips congregations to prevent child exploitation. 12