Gleaner. The. Immanuel Lutheran Church

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1 The Gleaner Immanuel Lutheran Church The Gleaner is a publication of: Immanuel Lutheran Church 320 S. Bradley St. Mount Pleasant, MI Phone: (989) office@immanuelmp.com Website: immanuelmp.com Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Summer Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Memorial Day-Labor Day) Pastor: Dana Hendershot Layout and Editing: Andrea Redmond Mission Joyfully Christian. Humbl bly Serving. Boldly Loving. Letter from Pastor Dana I was trying to finish a sermon and I had the worst writer s block! It was Saturday night and I had about ¾ of the sermon done. I finally gave in and did something I have never done before, which was read the sermon to my friend, Dave. Now this may seem like a given, to share a sermon with someone who s close to you, but he falls in the category of un-churched. So I don t automatically think, I should ask Dave about a sermon. However, I was at the end of my creative streak and knew he would give me his full attention. I finished what I had written and he said, It makes me think of that song by Katy Perry, Firework. That was it he said one sentence and the last ¼ of my sermon was done. I had been struggling with it for a week, and he inspired me with one sentence. It is a strong reminder that the community in which we worship is vital, and sometimes the people we least expect, help us the most. I always assumed the people with whom I worshipped were those who joined me every Sunday morning in the pews. What a limited understanding! The community expands outside of the walls of the church and into our living rooms, work places, grocery stores, local parks. God s Spirit is not limited to a worship service at 10 a.m. God s Spirit flows into every aspect of our lives. As we see the Spirit s movement we give praise and thanks at 10 a.m. together. That is what happens in the church service setting. Katy Perry s lyrics are powerful. If you don t know the song I d recommend looking up the lyrics or watching the moving YouTube music video. Here s a small glimpse: You just gotta ignite the light, And let it shine Cause baby you re a firework, Come on show em what your worth Come on let your colors burst I would like to widen an understanding of the lyrics to include: The light of Christ within us is what shines and as the brightness radiates to others the Spirit bursts forth into all aspects of our lives! Watch for that movement, that light! Pr. Dana Hendershot

2 Ministry with the Community and World Compassionate Hearts Endowment Fund Remember Compassionate Hearts Endowment Fund is for the special need of members of our Immanuel congregation. General contributions can be made using the pink or red envelopes in the Narthex and depositing the envelope in the door slot of the church office. Remember to use the Compassionate Hearts Endowment Fund for memorials, at Graduation time, Anniversaries or other significant milestones/ occasions in your family life! We can t give until you give! Thank You, Carole Heydenburg & Kathy Gallaher (989) LWR School Kits are Here It s that time of year.immanuel has over 100 backpacks that we would like to fill for Lutheran World Relief. These are located outside of the office and have a list of supplies on the inside of the bag as to what specific supplies should be stuffed into each bag. Backpacks are due back to Immanuel by Sunday, October 4th. Let s make a difference to children across the world!!! SAVE THE DATE! CROP Walk 2016 will be held on Sunday, October 11th at Island Park. More information to follow! NOISY OFFERING The Noisy Offering, on September 27, will go toward the Isabella County Restoration Home. Contributions may be made in the Noisy Offering jar in the Narthex throughout the month. Immanuel Lutheran Church is pleased to offer an electronic option for making regular offerings. Contributions can be debited automatically from your checking or savings account. Our new electronic giving program offers convenience for you and much-needed donation consistency for our congregation. If you are currently giving on a weekly basis, you will no longer need to write out 52 checks a year or prepare 52 envelopes. And, when travel, illness or other circumstances prevent you from attending services, this program will allow your weekly offerings to continue on an uninterrupted basis. Visit our website, click on the money sign ($) and sign up! Please contact the church office if you have questions.

3 JC s Cafe Kick-Off JC's Cafe will be meeting at church on Sept 20 at 2:30 to go to the Eversole's for our kickoff to youth group. Will return at 6pm. Please call Beth Mundwiler at if you have any questions!!! Rest of September schedule: Sunday, Sept pm at church Receiving The Gleaner Online: If you would like to receive The Gleaner by , please call or the office. It s also available on Immanuel s website and Facebook page. Gleaner Submissions: The deadline for submitting articles and information is the 20 th of each month. Blessing of the Animals Pr. Dana invites you and your furry and feathery friends to join for a special Blessing of the Animals service on Saturday, October 3 rd at 3pm. Please be sure to bring your pets leashed or caged! This service will be held in the pavilion (or in the Fellowship Hall, in the event of bad weather.) We hope to see you there! Tuesday Bible Study The Tuesday morning Women s Bible Study will begin meeting on Tuesday, September 8th from 9:30-11am in the Capital Room. We d love to have you join us! Theological Discussion with Pastor Dana Wednesdays at 10:30am PLEASE JOIN US!!!!! We will resume on Wednesday, Sept. 16. All are welcome to attend!!! Thursday Bible Study The Thursday morning Women s Bible Study will begin meeting on Thursday, September 10th from 9:30-11am in the Capital Room. Mary Cross will lead us on a study of the book of Job entitled, How should the Righteous Suffer. New members are welcome! Praises and Pinches Form As a congregation, we are committed to voicing our praises and not sitting on our pinches! To be a healthy, faithful community, we need to be open with one another about what we expect in all areas of our life together. If there is anything in our community life that brings you joy or causes you to be concerned, please share your feelings and questions. Thank you for taking the time to communicate about ways we are doing well in our ministry together at Immanuel, and the areas that need attention. Your Mutual Ministry Team needs your feedback In order to best respond to your needs. If you would like a personal response to your praise or pinch, please be sure to sign this form at the bottom. To discuss a concern directly with the Mutual Ministry Team or one of the Team members, please indicate below. Praises: Pinches: Desired Outcome: Is it OK to publish in Gleaner? Yes No (Name must be posted if you wish for this to appear in Gleaner.) A specific question I would like answered: Name (If you would like a direct response to your Praise or Pinch) Please return this form to the Praises and Pinches Box located in the Narthex.

4 Thank you for all your prayers and help to make our adventure to the ELCA Youth Gathering in Detroit an awesome experience! Here are a few stories from the youth... At the gathering we helped lots of people. We painted a mans porch and a family's garage. We also cleaned up a yard. We met lots of very nice people in Detroit. Emily Little I'll admit, going to the gathering I was a little nervous, the sheer amount of people just seemed so crazy. However, once we got there my nerves slowly vanished. It was crazy to see just how friendly and cheerful everyone was. Walking down the street and just getting high-fives and endless friendly greetings was incredible. You could tell God was with everyone there, creating a friendly and fun environment that made everyone, including me, feel welcomed and loved. Haylee Geisthardt One of my favorite things about the Gathering was when we were worshipping at Ford Field and they were playing all of these bands and songs that I never heard of, and I started to get a little bored. But then a band called the Motown Allstars came on out of nowhere, and my head exploded! I've never been so excited in my life and I sang every word of every song and danced the whole time! To me, I took the band appearance as a gift from God because he was probably looking down in the crowd and saw me getting board and decided to send out what I consider to be the greatest band and show in the history of music and the National Gatherings! Dan Keller God was working in the lives of our young people as we shared our faith stories and learned how we fit in Gods story. We learned that there are many people who believe and worship the same as we do from around the country and had fun meeting and serving those who live in Detroit. Together we learned how to bear burdens, build bridges, break chains and bring hope as children of God in a community.

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6 Prayer Around the Cross The Tuesday night Worship service that took place weekly throughout the summer, will continue throughout the school year on the first Tuesday of the month. The next Tuesday worship service will be held on Tuesday, October 6 th. Mark your calendars! On September 13, 2015 we'll God s Work, Our Hands. be joining the whole ELCA in the celebration of God's Work. Our Hand's. Sunday. Please remember to wear your yellow t-shirts and if you don't have one you'll have the opportunity for you to sign up to get one. Come to church with a heart for being God's hands in the world Stephen Ministries We had three members of our congregation (Fred & Chris Schuster and Rose Prasad) attend a Stephen Ministry training in August. These three members have returned with a renewed passion to get this ministry back up and running. This is a ministry that helps us to care for one another and our community! If you don't know what it is you will soon. 1 st Paul Clise 3 rd Beth McGuire 4 th Tara Eversole Matthew Chilcote 6 th Minerva Alvarez 7 th Mark Strandskov 8 th Gary Bugh Sandy Davidson Brandon Wegener 9 th Doug LaBelle Matt Tilmann 10 th Kim Boulier 11 th Mark Johnson Deb LaBlance 13 th Tim French 14 th David Sprang 15 th Sue Foote Kyle French 17 th John Keller 18 th Larissa Schwerin Hannah Shellenbarger Kate Henry 19 th Kay Riley Shirley Faleer Karl Fetting Jacob Robinson 20 th Tanner Goodrich 21 st Bill Reader 24 th Bart LaBelle Dan Digmann 25 th Katrina Piatek-Jimenez 26 th Nolan Kaiser Spencer MacGregor 28 th Jodie Mitchell-Beach 29 th Carolyn Hoffman Faith Jurick 30th Jacque Jackson Sandy Deaton Alyssa Hammond Shelley Tomko

7 Cantors 6 John Lorand 13 Amy Powell 20 Bill Gallaher 27 Dennis Marshall September Worship Helpers Counters 6 Jacque Jackson & John Lorand 13 Jodie Mitchell-Beach & Harry Plouff 20 John Emmons & John Warriner 27 Chuck McCollom & Sue French Ushers list not available at time of printing Greeters 6 (11:00) Deb & Pete LaBlance 13 (11:00) Rose Prasad 20 (11:00) Sue French 27 (11:00) Fred & Chris Schuster Nursery Attendants list not available at time of printing Altar Guild 6 Kathy Gatten & Pat Podoll 13 Linda Wicander & Billie Plouff 20 Sandy Warriner & Marilyn Zorn 27 Jan Kruska & Ann Ferguson Projector 6 Gabe Goodrich 13 Amy Powell 20 Dan Keller 27 Gabe Goodrich Assisting Ministers 6 (10:00) Rose Prasad 13 (9:00) Dan Digmann (11:00) Meaghan McCollow 20 (9:00) Dan Eversole (11:00) Cheryl Geisthardt 27 (9:00) Linda Wicander (11:00) Chuck Clise Lawn Mowing 4 The Caleca Family 11 Sam Staples & Barry Shellenbarger 18 Steve Podolsky & Gabe Goodrich 25 Paul & Jan Kruska On Sunday, September 13 th, we will return to our regular worship times. We will hold a traditional worship service on Sundays at 9am and a contemporary service on Sundays at 11am. Please be sure to make note of these changes. 2 nd Service Ushers Needed We are in search of people willing to help usher at our 11am services on Sundays. No prior experience is necessary. Usher duties will be reviewed in a training session for anyone interested. Ushers help our worship service to be welcoming and help it to run smoothly. If you would be willing to commit to serve once a month (or more, if desired), please contact Kathy Gallaher at or her at gallaher4bess@charter.net. Come be part of the team! Assisting Minister Training We are looking for people who interested in being part of our Assisting Minister Team! A training/ refresher session will be held in between services on Sunday, September 20, led by Dan Eversole. If you have any questions, please contact Kathy Gallaher at