BETHEL BEACON. Friday, March 7. 1:30 p.m. Worship Service. First Lutheran Church S U N D A Y W O R S H I P. Fellowship time following

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1 BETHEL BEACON BETHEL LUTHERAN CHURCH, NALC 5232 Irvine Avenue NW Bemidji, MN March 2014 Bethel Lutheran Church North American Lutheran Church 5232 Irvine Avenue NW, Bemidji, MN Church Office bethelbemidji.org Child Care Center Office Rev. Mark Kindem Pastor Home Phone # pastorkindem@hotmail.com Patti VanCamp Office Admin./Fin. Manager adminsec@bethelbemidji.org Abe Hanson Custodian Prayer Chain - Day - Bob & Vi Evening - Judy From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. To all of God s people who belong to Jesus Christ at Philippi and to all of your church officials and officers. Dear everybody Paul says. Everyone hearing this letter is included in the greeting. Now some of us may object to being identified alongside of pastors and deacons and bishops, but wouldn t object to our identification as God s people. That is indeed who we are! For you are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God s own people! We are forever named and being named is important. Often times our names get a little twisted. Maybe they are mispronounced, or misspelled. Maybe they are nicknames that we don t particularly like, but can t get rid of. Sometimes we are addressed by computer to names such as: Occupant, Box holder, Subscriber. Paul reminds us here that of all the different names that we could be called, and often are; what really matters is that God knows who we are: we are his people. But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. Isaiah 43:1 As God s people we have a particular responsibility. When we fill out the calendar for the next month, our names are being called! When opportunities for our God given gifts come along, our names are on them! When we count our resources, we hear our names joined to the needs. Think about the things that God is asking us to do in our community, our world, and our congregation. Which one s have your name on them? Pastor Mark Kindem S U N D A Y W O R S H I P 9:00 AM Worship Service 10:00 AM Fellowship Hour 10:15 AM Sunday School Friday, March 7 First Lutheran Church 1:30 p.m. Worship Service Fellowship time following 900 Bemidji Avenue N., Bemidji, Minnesota World Day of Prayer is an ecumenical celebration of Christian prayer and prayerful action. This year will focus on the Christian women of Egypt.

2 Page 2 WHO DO YOU TRUST Have you ever found yourself in a discussion with friends who say at one point, Well, who can be trusted anymore these days? This remark came out of a discussion on national health care issues and referring to our Presidents statement to voters that if you like your health care program you can keep it, period. Many people have lost their trust in our President over this controversy. In our everyday lives we make judgments on people who serve us in varied ways and sometimes we make conflicting choices. We want so Council Highlights February 2014 Mike Fiske and Alice Sadek will be heading up the Evangelism committee. They will be putting together a volunteer interest survey for the congregation. Please contact them if you would like to help on this or any other evangelism project. New signs for the front of the church have been ordered and should be installed soon! (weather permitting of course) The Bethel Foundation Board will withhold approving grants until late From the Council President much to believe that things said to us are true even in the face of evidence to the contrary. As Christians we are warned against placing our trust in the wrong places. In Psalm 118 it says It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Yet another verse says Trust in the Lord and lean not on thine own understanding. Our holy scriptures which have been with mankind for summer to allow the reserved funds to build up. Kirt Dreyer will be at the March meeting to discuss the new church constitution. Paul and Ida Martinson are planning to attend the national NALC meeting in Charleston, S.C. in late July. They would be willing to share travel costs with another couple. The BCCC will hold another Garage Sale May 10 th. If you would like to donate anything, you can drop it off at the church to store in the garage. Submitted by, Sally McIntyre thousands of years give us all the formulas for having an abundant life. All we have to do is get into the Word and get its message for us either individually or with group study. Here at Bethel we are indeed fortunate to have an excellent Bible teacher in Pastor Mark. Every Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. sixteen of us meet around the Word for an excellent study. Please consider joining us for this stimulating hour, and bring along a friend. I know you will be blessed as we all are. Duane Christensen Council Chair 2014 The senior fellowship group will meet 3/11/14 at 12:30 p.m. in the fellowship hall following the Lenten service. This month we will journey to Guatemala to see how a community project started by a Bethel group is faring after twenty four years. Come, bring a friend and a dish to share.

3 Bemidji Community FOOD SHELF During the month of March our congrega on is joining people from across the state to help alleviate hunger. Our Foodshelf will receive addi onal funding according to the amount we receive in dona ons during the month of March. This is the largest food drive in the state, and congrega ons like yours are the heart of the campaign. There will be bulle n inserts every Sunday during March to remind you of this great cause. So, if each family would donate one canned item each Sunday in March, think of the possibili es! If a cash dona on is your preference, don't forget to indicate the church name on the memo line. All monies donated in Feb. and March will go towards March Foodshare, and will be reported in April. Thank you in advance for your dona ons. Please take a handout from the table near the grocery cart, and take a minute to look at new posters on the tripod. Jan Beil 2014 Fact Sheet: The Far Reaching Effects of Hunger There are many measures that reflect the impact of hunger. Here are just a few: More than 554,000 Minnesotans in 2012 received federal food assistance one out of every 10 people in the state. A third was children. Another quarter was elderly or disabled adults. The total is more than the combined populations of Minneapolis, Rochester and Apple Valley. The number of Minnesota children eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has increased 150 percent since December 2006, making children the fastest growing population of SNAP participants in the state. The 2013 Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign, raised more than $8.3 million and almost 4 million pounds of food. That is the equivalent of a year s worth of meals for more than 7,700 families of four. In 2012, more than 8,500 people per day used a food shelf in Minnesota. Out of families with children suffering from food insecurity and hunger in the United States in 2012, 68 percent contained at least one adult working full-time, 10 percent had at least one adult working parttime, seven percent had an unemployed adult actively looking for work, and seven percent were headed by an adult with a disability. Since the recession, food stamp use has skyrocketed in suburban and rural counties. As of August, 2013, there were 183 percent more people on food stamps in Scott County than in 2007, before the recession hit. SNAP use is up 165 percent in Carver County, 144 percent in Sherburne County, 132 percent in Wright and 102 percent higher in Anoka County. The Minnesota FoodShare March Page 3 Campaign raises more than half the food distributed annually at 300 food shelves statewide. The three main programs of hunger relief in Minnesota food stamps, food shelves and subsidized school lunches all saw record levels of use in Forty percent of food is thrown out in the United States every year, or about $165 billion worth. This uneaten food could feed 25 million Americans. In 2011, 50 million Americans, including nearly 17 million children, lived in households that couldn t afford enough food. That means that one in six Americans and one in five of the country s children lived in homes that directly face, or lived at the brink of, hunger in It costs 25 cents per day to provide a child with all of the vitamins and nutrients he or she needs to grow up healthy. A study on suburban poverty in America ranked the Twin Cities metro area as ninth in the nation in terms of growth of suburban poverty. According to the study, the number of suburban poor living in the Twin Cities area increased from about 90,000 in 2000 to more than 204,000 in That 128 percent increase greatly outpaces the study s national average increases for poverty growth in the suburbs (53 percent) and inner cities (23 percent). During the 2013 Legislative session, a group of Minnesota lawmakers challenged one another to try to eat for a week on the average SNAP budget of $1.29 per meal. Not one of them made it. A grassroots food and fund drive, the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign is the only statewide effort where every dollar donated goes directly to food shelves to purchase food for the hungry. Hunger is not an issue of charity. It is an issue of justice. - Jacques Diouf

4 Page 4 You Are Invited! What: Workshop for Congregational Leaders Who: Clergy & congregational leaders from LCMC & NALC churches. When: Saturday, April 26, 2014 Where: New Life Lutheran Church, Duluth, MN Presenter: Rev. Mark VanDer Tuig, LCMC Service Coordinator 02 Pastor Mark Kindem 03 Berklee Anderson 05 Alva Drusch Darrel Lauderbaugh 12 Harlan Charon 17 Roy Blackwood 18 Jeanne Muirhead Dennis Zeto 21 Sally Becker 24 Louise Hoyum 25 Arlene Nissen 27 Dorothy Bakken Linda Schramm 27 Gerald Fenske This workshop is designed to help congregational leaders, along with other interested members, understand the importance of their roles for a healthy, vital and faithful congregation! Topics for discussion will include: The Purpose of the Church The Great Commission and Council s Role The Function of Vision and Mission Leadership and Unity in the Body of Christ Growing Together, Accepting our Differences Maturing together into the fullness of Christ Sponsored by: The Lake Superior Area LCMC/NALC Clergy Association For more information, please contact: Pastor Deborah Lunde at (218) Pastor William Pohl at (715) MAR 10 Dennis & Judy Sundvall 1973 MAR 18 James & Kim Westrum 1995 MAR 21 Lennard & Marlene Bergstrom 1964 MAR 31 Paul & Ida Martinson 1962 MAR 31 Art & Judy Reese 2001

5 Page 5 Sunday 10:15 a.m. March 2nd ~ 9th ~ 16th ~ 23rd ~ 30th 7th - 9th Grade 6:30-8:00 p.m. March 5th ~ 12th ~ 19th Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday, March 9, 2014 MARCH 05 WORSHIP NIGHT: ASH WEDNESDAY (SPECIAL ART PRESENTATION) MARCH 08 ALL CHURCH FAMILY SKI DAY AT BUENA VISTA THIS IS AN ALL CHURCH FAMILY SKI DAY! PLEASE INFORM RANDY IF YOU ARE COMING SO HE CAN MAKE RESERVE TIONS. MARCH 12 FELLOWSHIP ACTIVITY: VISIT WITH SENIORS (GROWING PAINS) MARCH 19 STUDY NIGHT: HOW DO I UNDERSTAND MY PARENTS? MARCH 26 YOUTH RALLY AT THE COVENANT CHURCH

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7 Page 7 Church in Mission This Christmas season I heard parts of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and was once again struck by Barbara Robinson's message that some mes those with the least exposure to the church (the Herdman children) can come up with the most profound response to the Gospel. They bring a ham to the family in the stable. The irony is lost on them but the call to open hand and heart to the weary travelers is not. In the story we also see a cri que of the church in their concern for the place and the proper embodiment of the holy family - some children were right for the parts, some were not. But mostly what comes through in that story is how the Gospel good news is needed by so many and how both teller and hearer are blessed by its message even as it is seen through different eyes. Opportuni es abound to share the good news. "Be not hearers of the word only, but doers." Habitat for Humanity ~ The third annual Bell Choir concert was held February 15 with four groups performing. The money raised will go to the construc on of a Faith Build home this summer. Look for opportuni es to par cipate as the build season approaches. The Habitat Gala will be held at Sparkling Waters April 13 from 4:30 on. This is the largest fundraising event for Habitat. Tickets are $75 and available by calling Habitat. The annual soup luncheon will be May 19 and a hard hat breakfast to kick off the Blitz build will be June 7. There are five families currently working on their hours needed. Habitat plans to build two homes this summer with a possible third family moving into a vacated Habitat home. SOS ~ Sheltering the homeless con nues through the month of March. One of the greatest needs this year has been for a place or places for people to go during the day especially when severe weather forced the closing of many services. The Nameless Coali on for the Homeless is mee ng to discuss and search for solu ons to the needs in our community. The group meets the second Tuesday of the month at 2:00 p.m. Interested folks are welcome to par cipate. Call Village of Hope for the loca on of the mee ng. SOS was started as a church based and biblically driven response to homelessness. Please keep the program and its users and providers in your prayers. Food Shelf ~ March is Food Share Month. It is a great opportunity to make your dona ons go further. Cuts in the SNAP program will force many more people to seek food aid from the Food Shelf. This winter's fuel costs have sapped the cash reserves of many families too. The need is great. Please do what you can. Soup Kitchen ~ The soup kitchen and food shelf con nue to work together to provide emergency food resources. Volunteers are needed to prepare, serve and clean up at either Mt. Zion or United Methodist. Contact Pa Church to volunteer. We rejoice that we leave the sanctuary each week excited to "Go in Peace, Serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!"

8 Bethel Lutheran Church, NALC 5232 Irvine Avenue NW Bemidji, MN Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Bemidji MN Permit No. 60 Return Service Requested BETHEL BEACON Monthly Publication - Volume # Issue # 03 MARCH 2014 Wednesday, March 5, :00 Ash Wednesday Service with potluck following noon service 6:00 p.m. Wednesday Meal 6:30 p.m. Ash Wednesday Service Wednesdays March 12, 19, 12:00 noon April 2 & 12:00 noon with potluck following each service