The Echo UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN CHURCH 2122 University Avenue Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203

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1 JULY 2013 The Echo UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN CHURCH 2122 University Avenue Grand Forks, North Dakota In my office at church I have two Minnesota Twin Homer Hankies from 1987 and These are the two years the Twins won the World Series and were baseball world champions. The hankies were used both years during the playoffs for fans to wave and show their support at the home games in Minneapolis. It was quite impressive even on television to see over 50,000 baseball fans creating a sea of white at the Metrodome stadium when they were waving these hankies and encouraging their favorite team onto victory. The Homer Hankies are in my office simply because I love baseball. The Twins are favorite team for sure, but I love baseball in general. Over the past number of years, I have been to baseball games in 17 different major league ballparks. Now some of you, especially those of you who are not baseball fans, probably feel my hobby is a waste of time and money, and you probably think, Baseball, how boring, but for me it has been just plain fun. I love everything about baseball: the traditions, statistics, strategy, stadiums, uniforms, and even the hotdogs. One thing I really enjoy when I attend a baseball game is keeping score. I have taught both my wife and son to keep score too, so they usually like to help me. What I find so interesting about keeping score is that it helps me pay attention to all the important details of a game. I can see who is having a great game, who has struck out three times, who has made an error, who has stolen a base, and so on. These details, which might seem unimportant and even boring to the casual observer, are what keep the game fascinating for me. So what has this to do with faith in God? You knew I would get there somehow, didn t you! This whole first page couldn t be just about baseball. It s a church newsletter after all. Well, as I just mentioned, one of the things that makes baseball fascinating for me is keeping score so that I pay closer attention to all the details of a game. I think the same is true with our faith in God. It is paying attention to small details about God in our lives and in this world which keep things fascinating for us who have faith in God. Let me explain what I mean. What if God were to come down to earth with a huge megaphone today and say, Hey you guys, it s me. I m here with you, and I love you. That would be fascinating. I bet it would create quite a stir in the world. I bet it would even make the nightly news here in Grand Forks: This just in. God is real. Tune into WDAZ channel 8 at 10:00 tonight for all the details. It sounds funny to say this, but I actually believe that if we pay attention to the small details of any given day in our lives, we can actually already see and hear God as I just said. For example, how can we let sunrises or sunsets go by without seeing and hearing God in the world? How can we watch someone comfort a grieving person who has just lost a son or wife without seeing and hearing God in the world? How can we drive west and see the beauty of the Badlands without seeing and hearing God in the world? How can we help starving children eat without seeing and hearing God in the world? How can we listen to children sing Jesus loves me, at the top of their lungs without seeing and hearing God in the world? What I am suggesting is this. If we were to keep score a little more in our lives, not of the right or wrongs that people do, but of the many and various ways we see and hear God present in our daily lives and in this world, all of a sudden a boring day, a long week, and even a bad month becomes fascinating. This is possible because when we pay attention to what is going on around us, we can see and hear God every day of our lives coming to us in the world and saying loud and clear, Hey you guys, it s me. I m here with you, and I love you. Is there anything more fascinating than that? You are in my prayers,

2 Picnic and Praise Wednesday Evenings at ULC Please remember that we are meeting at 6:00 p.m. for worship each Wednesday with a 5:00 p.m. picnic style supper in the fellowship hall ($1/person). We are in the midst of a sermon series called Teach Us to Pray. We are using the Lord s Prayer to talk about our own prayer lives. The July prayer topics are: July 17: Life is Forgiveness July 24: God Shall Overcome July 31: In Jesus Name Holden Evening Prayer will continue to be our liturgy on these evenings July 10, 17, 24 and 31. We will worship outside on Wednesday, July 31, weather permitting. Bring your favorite blanket or lawn chair. Some chairs will be provided. Come to worship and see if you can find Antoine! F e e d the Body. F e e d t h e S o u l. Picnic & Praise --- I ll be there. Will you? Picnic Menu for July Includes: July 3: BBQ chicken sandwich, red, white & blue Jell-O salad, & sugar cookie July 10: Tatertot hot dish, fruit, and brownie July 17: Chicken salad sandwich, baked beans, fruit & cupcake (Don Roberts, chef) July 24: Hamburger, coleslaw & dessert July 31: Hot dog, pasta salad & dessert Worship on the third of July Yes, indeed, we will have worship on the third of July, and it will be our Fourth of July celebration as a community of faith. There will be supper at 5 p.m. first, and worship at 6:00 p.m. The liturgy this night will be patriotic hymns and we will have a sermon that is titled, We God s People. Join us and we will make some fireworks of our own! Come Worship on the Lord s Day Sunday Worship Worship on Sunday in July is the cool place to be, and University Lutheran Church is a welcome place for everyone to come to worship. We hope you will come and we also encourage you to invite a friend! July 7: July 14: July 21: July 28: Lay led worship Service of God s Word ELW, setting 3 with Holy Communion Chicago Folk Service with Holy Communion ELW, setting 3 Service of God s Word Please notice we will have Holy Communion on July 14 and 21 this month. On July 14 and 28, we will use traditional Lutheran liturgy from our ELW hymnal, and on July 21 we will use in full an old favorite friend, Chicago Folk Service.

3 ADULT EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES WELCA Bible Study: Do We Have Enough? Our summer Bible study, All Who Hunger, Gladly Gather continues in July with our new topic, Do We Have Enough? In this session, we will discuss how people, even the people of God, often feel like we don t have enough food, money or whatever. This study is about our very human feelings of insecurity and scarcity in the world, and the challenge we have to trust God to provide for us in the best and worst times of life. Please join us on Friday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. in the lounge. Calling All Men: We Have Faith like David ULC men are on a faith journey this summer with some men from the Bible. This month we are traveling with King David. Please join us on Saturday, July 20, 8:30 a.m. in the fellowship hall. We will enjoy breakfast pizza and conversation before our study time. During our study time we will focus on two stories; first, David and Goliath, and second, David and Bathsheba. We will catch David at his best and his worst. Come ready to discuss your faith in light of the strong yet flawed faith of David. Mission Endowment Moment - July 2013 Phil and June Nelson Did you know we support a missionary family in Africa? Their names are Phil and June Nelson. They live in Cameroon but serve the people of both Cameroon and the Central African Republic (CAR). You may remember that the CAR is the companion synod for our Eastern North Dakota Synod. Phil and June have been to ULC on two occasions to share stories about the work they do in these two African nations. Phil is the administrator for missions for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the CAR. This means he helps and supports the other missionaries who serve in these two synods, and he assists any visitors coming to visit these two synods from the ELCA. June is a Registered Nurse and she serves as a nurse in the Pan African Academy of the Christian Surgeon s Clinic. Some other fun facts about Phil and June: Phil grew up as the son of Cameroon missionaries. Phil and June served for 17 years in development and evangelism in the CAR. June has used her nursing degree and talent wherever they have served, often in areas without medical facilities. Phil and June have four adult children. Phil is a private pilot and loves to hunt and fish. June is a ham radio operator, and loves photography and sewing. Phil and June s home-base is North Dakota. Phil s birthday is May 13 and June s is July 2. Their anniversary is March 5. Please keep Phil, June and their ministry in Cameroon and the CAR in your prayers. You can contact Phil and June through this juniethenurse@aol.com We send $2,500 as a congregation in support of Phil and June each year, and we always need your help! This money does not come from budget funds but from designated giving from ULC members. Please consider designating such a gift this summer! Members of the Mission Endowment Committee are: Betty Bloomquist, Les Howard, Teresa Kuhens, Cory Lien, Dave Masterson, Clarice Urness, and Pastor Tom.

4 Summer Stewardship News General Fund Shortfall Summertime is usually our slow time for monthly income at ULC. We tend to have less income in this season and hence a greater general fund shortfall. As of the printing of this ECHO we have such a shortfall of $19,364. While this is about $5,000 better than last year, we still need your extra help this summer. Please Help Us Catch Up Enclosed in this ECHO is a Catch Up envelope. We ask you to make an extra gift or two in July to help us reduce our shortfall. The good news is the bills are paid thanks to our excellent reserve fund. We do, however, have to pay it back to ourselves. Thanks for your very generous giving time, talent and money, all year long! Blizzard Bingo is Back Elsewhere in this ECHO is information about our second summer fun fundraiser. We will be playing Blizzard Bingo. Join us as we play Bingo for Dairy Queen Gift cards on the evening of Sunday, July 28 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the fellowship hall. We will have hot dogs for supper and receive a free will offering for the ULC general fund. ULC Church Council Summary June 20, We are starting a Catch-up campaign for the General Fund. 2. Karaoke Night will be Sunday June 23 rd at 6:00-8:00pm with ice cream sundaes served. 3. Blizzard Bingo will be on July 28 th at 5:30pm with Hot dogs and fixings served. 4. Rhubarb Festival was a success Thanks to all who helped out! 5. Picnic and Praise has been going well meal at 5pm with worship at 6pm. The last Wednesday of the month will be outdoors (weather permitting). 6. New gutters and downspouts were installed on the north side of the church. Financial Report: 1. Our income was down. This is the second month in a row with low income. 2. Expenses are holding fairly level for the year. 3. We did slide back another $6,800 in May. 4. We are using about $19,363 of reserve funds. We need to begin to replenish our reserve. We are calling on our entire Church Family to help us Catch-up the General Fund. We hope you will check to make sure you are current with your planned giving and we ask you consider any extra gifts you might make to keep the wonderful ministry we have at ULC vibrant and strong. We have faith that when we all pull together we can and will improve our financial situation as we continue to spread God s Love to each other, our community and the world. ULC Church Council Les Howard, Debbie Watts, Paula Cox, Dan Melberg, Lauri Shimpa, Gary Urness, Amanda Denman Dave Masterson, Kevin Meyer, Bonnie Solberg, Brian Strom, Kay Torgerson, and Pastor Tom Colenso

5 Please join us for University Lutheran Church BLIZZARD B I N G O Games & Hot Dogs/Chips for supper. Sunday, Prizes include Dairy Queen gift cards. July 28, 2013 Free will offering will go to the ULC General Fund. 5:30 P.M. EVERYONE WELCOME!! Highlights from Karaoke Night Thanks for your participation!!

6 Education Update July 2013 Adults and youth are needed to help with VBS. Please call Jen if you are able to help! It is important that we know you are coming to help, so we will have a t-shirt for you. Thursday evening (8/8) at 6:00 p.m. is our VBS Celebra on picnic at ULC. Bring a salad, chips or dessert, everything else will be provided! EVERYONE is invited! Youth helper orienta on is scheduled for Sunday, August 4 th from 6:30-8:00 p.m. If you are a youth 7 th -12 th grade and are volunteering to help with VBS, it is very important that you a end this mee ng. We will pass out your t-shirts, go over your responsibili es for the week, and we also may do a li le decora ng that night. The VBS program for all the children will be on Wednesday (8/7) evening at 6:00 p.m. Come and see what the kids have learned & enjoy the music! Stay for refreshments a er the program. Our VBS offering is going to the 100 Wells Campaign. We will be helping people in Africa get clean drinking water. Every $35 provides clean water to one resident for a lifetime! Bring some change every day to VBS. We CAN make a difference!!

7 Vacation Bible School August 5 th -8 th, 2013 University Lutheran Church Join us for music, games and Bible stories that will be age appropriate and entertaining for your children. VBS is a faith building experience for everyone involved. 3 year olds-kindergarten: Monday-Thursday: 9:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. 1 st -6 th grade: Monday-Thursday: 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. (Pack a lunch!) (Refrigeration and milk provided) Please note that the grade your child just completed is the grade used for VBS. Please call Jen at the church office at if you have any questions. VBS Fees: 3 year olds-kindergarten: $ st -6 th Grade: $20.00 $35 maximum per family. Scholarships are available. All children receive a free t-shirt. Please call in your registration or fill out a form at the church. It is VERY important that we get your information by July 26th for t-shirt ordering. Get updates and contact information by liking us at: And visit:

8 ULC Women of the ELCA July 2013 News and Events Proverbs 16:3 says, Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed. I prayed often for our Rhubarb Festival to succeed so that we will be able to carry out the goals we set to serve Him, which we planned for at our past December meeting in the setting of our benevolence commitments. He answered my prayers! WOMEN OF THE ELCA Purpose Statement As a community of women created in the image of God, called to discipleship in Jesus Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, We commit ourselves to grow in faith, affirm our gifts, support one another in our callings, engage in ministry and action, and promote healing and wholeness in the Church, the society, and the world. Rhubarb Festival What a success! In the words of Judy Larson and Lynn Kulack, Festival Co-Chairs, and the ULC WELCA Board, Thank you to the many volunteers and participants who helped make the Rhubarb Festival so successful. It takes many willing hands and many hours of prep work to complete the tasks associated with the Festival. We are grateful to all of you for sharing your time, talents and financial support with us. Check out the fun picture display in the narthex. We are pleased to let you know that the successful total for the event was $ This wouldn t be possible without all of you and the Lord. Mind, Body and Soul If you were unable to attend this event, you missed a good one! There were about 20 women who got to learn how to do stretching and strengthening exercises from their chairs led by Bonnie Peterson, have a lesson on healthy eating choices from Jen Hanson, learn about our walking program from Lara Dando and be inspired spiritually by Pastor Kristen Larsen-Schmidt as she reflected on the story of Mary and Martha and their time with Jesus. To top off the afternoon, we enjoyed some healthy and delicious food and drink. BODY MIND SOUL ULC Women Walking With God Program Our walking group has been meeting for some time now and would like more of you to join us. We meet at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for an hour of exercise. We walk outside unless the weather (rain) dictates walking inside - which means meeting at the Alerus Center. Lara Dando introduced us to the Stepping Across America Challenge : Grand Forks, ND to Charlotte, NC. Why there? Because that is where the WELCA National Convention will be next July. Can you help us get there? The WELCA bulletin board is where you can find a packet of information which includes procedure, prize and benefit information, how to keep track of your steps, supplemental wellness activities, a step conversion chart and a sheet to record your steps. Many of your daily activities can be converted to steps. After week three of the program we have logged 298 miles. Call Lara Dando ( ) if you have questions. Bible Study Did you know that the WELCA Bible Study with Pastor Tom is for all women? We meet the second Friday of each month at 10:00 a.m. in the lounge. We do the lesson which is in the Gather magazine - the magazine of the Women of the ELCA. The magazine subscription is $15 a year for 10 issues. We have interesting, thought provoking and sometimes emotional conversations. Join us sometime! I pray each of you has a fun and safe summer whether you are staying close to home or traveling. Evelyn Clark, WELCA President

9 Everything Rhubarb...Yummmm! Rhubarb Pies All Rhubarb Bake Sale Rhubarb Festival Luncheon Rhubarb Shakes Rhubarb Desserts Rhubarb Cookbooks UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN CHURCH 2122 University Avenue Grand Forks ND Rhubarb Contest Judges Phone: Ministers: Every Member of the Congregation Chapel Choir Director: Mary Splichal Our Cameroon Missionaries: Philip and June Nelson Organists: Lauri Shimpa and Jane Traub Pastor: Thomas W. Colenso Custodian: Cindy Stoller Education Coordinator: Jen Hanson Stephen Ministry Leaders: Bonnie Peterson, Wayde Anderson Evelyn Clark, Jane Traub Youth Minister: Heather Kallestad Administrative Assistant: Seanne Voracek

10 July Youth News Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17 Middle School Youth Bowling event on Tuesday, July 16th from 5pm-7pm at Liberty Lanes in East Grand Forks. This event is for all youth in 6th-8th grade. Please come and invite friends. We will have pizza and pop for supper. The cost is $5.00 per person. Youth can be dropped off and picked up at the bowling alley. If you are planning on going please sign up on the FYI Board in the narthex. High School Thunder Road Event - Sunday, July 21st. We will be spending the day at Fargo s Thunder Road playing mini golf, riding go-karts, laser tag, etc. We will be car pooling and leaving the church around 12pm. More information will be in the bulletins and a mailing will be sent out. Please sign up on the FYI board if you are interested in going. This event is for all youth in grades Any questions please let me know. (218) Kindergarten-5th Grade Movie and Splash Park Day will be held on Sunday, July 28th from 1:30pm-4pm. Youth will meet at church for a bible study on baptism and afterwards will walk to University Park where we will enjoy a cool snack and play at the splash park. Youth should bring a swimsuit, sandals, and towel. Sun block will be provided. High school youth will be helping supervise youth at the park. I am looking forward to this fun summer event. Hope to see everyone there. Please invite friends. If you have questions please let me know. THANK YOU to everyone who helped make the youth rummage sale such a success. We raised $1,200. All proceeds will go to the 2015 youth gathering trip to Detroit. Thanks to everyone who donated items, helped price, and who worked at the sale. Your help is greatly appreciated. Heather Kallestad, Youth Minister

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12 UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN CHURCH 2122 UNIVERSITY AVENUE GRAND FORKS ND NON-PROFIT US POSTAGE PAID GRAND FORKS ND PERMIT #330 Return Service Requested «Mailing label» «Address1» «Address2» «City State» «Zip code» Check out the July newsletter for: Your Summer Catch-up Envelope Everything Rhubarb Highlights from Karaoke Night Vacation Bible School - He Reigns Summer Worship Opportunities UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN CHURCH United by faith, we lift high the cross of Christ through worship and service.