LEAVES FROM THE FOREST

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1 VBS 2018 Special Edition Sunday Worship 9:30 am Communion 2nd & 4th Sunday of each month Sunday School 10:45 am Bible Class 11:00 am Our Hero Central: Find Your Strength in God Vacation Bible School 2018 July was Super with almost 50 children registered and over 50 volunteers participating! The theme verse for this year s Vacation Bible School was Do good. Seek peace and go after it. Psalm 34:14b We learned how God s heroes have heart, courage, wisdom, hope and power. Our Super hero groups of Heart Hulks, Courage Captains, Wisdom Warriors, Hope Heroes, and Power Protectors, were agebased this year and our stations were geared to the ages. We had an action-packed 5- day super hero training camp where we discovered our strength in God. After opening each day with Captain Tony and Super Cindy announcing our theme for the day, we grabbed our capes and flew to each station of powerful music, spectacular films, super crafts, champion games, and fantastic Bible stories before gathering together for lunch. Sunday Worship and Bible Class Closed Captioned for the Hearing Impaired Pastor: Rev. Glenn E. Fischer Founding Pastor: Rev. Milton Lehr Church Office Hours: Monday to Friday 9:00 am - 1:00 pm (352) forestoakslutheran.com Food Pantry - Tuesday 9:00 am - 12:00 pm for Hernando County Residents

2 Page 2 Hero Central Opening: God is Super! All of the groups gathered each morning in the Sanctuary to learn about our Hero Code and the super and heroic activities for the day from Captain Tony and Super Cindy. Spectacular Films: One of our favorite stations was Spectacular Films, where we watched a video and discussed our Hero Code for the day with Mr. Ed Wright and Mr. Tom Marshall. Each day we received our Hero Code Theme Card for each lesson.

3 Fantastic Storytelling: This is where God s life-giving Word was taught at VBS! Ms. Bonnie Wright and Ms. Marlene Kuhn led the storytelling, and we learned about God s heroes. One way we can discover our strength in God is by learning Bible stories about people God saw as heroes. Their examples show how we can also live as heroes of God. Day 1: God s heroes have heart! Samuel anoints David (1 Samuel 16:1-12). God wants us to look beyond appearances and see the Page 3 hero inside. This story demonstrates how our actions reflect a heart for God. Day 2: God s heroes have courage! Abigail saves the day (1 Samuel 25). We should have courage to seek peace, pray when we are afraid, and show by our actions how God gives us the courage we need to help others. God gives us courage to use our own resources to be peacemakers. Day 3: God s heroes have wisdom! Jesus goes to the temple (Luke 2:41-52). Jesus had wisdom at the age of 12. He showed us how to use our knowledge with wisdom to do great things. We can be heroes by following the example of Jesus. Day 4: God s heroes have hope! Beatitudes (Matthew 4:23-5:12). This story was about hope in Christ and having hope in all circumstance. The Beatitudes teach us how to treat others, how to be kind, and to seek peace. Jesus encourages us that we can always have hope, because better things are coming! Day 5: God s heroes have power! Pentecost (Acts 2:1-41). Today s Pentecost story showed us how God gives us power to share the good news of Jesus with others. Our Heroes experienced God s love, explored God s mission for their lives, learned ways to be God s Heroes, and discovered their strength in God.

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5 Page 5 Super Crafts: Crafts is where we received our hero capes and used our God-given creative gifts to remember God s presence in our lives and to share it with others! Ms. Ann Mielke, Ms. Alex Dean, Ms. Audrey Dean, Ms. Kimberly Lineback, Ms. Alyssa Stilwell, and Ms. Dani Villarrubia helped us make hero masks and headbands; prayer boxes, prayer journals, and a heroes medal of valor for courage; mighty refrigerator magnets, prayer chain links; shields of faith; friendship frames and a power beads wrist bracelet.

6 Page 6 Powerful Music. For thousand of years, the people of God have used music to sing God s Word and praise His name and mighty deeds. This year was very exciting as Ms. Lonnie Benmore taught us to play songs on bells. Captain Tony and Super Cindy, with the help of Super Stan, taught us several songs. The song One of a Kind which taught us about the strength of God, was so much fun, it was chosen as our song for the Sunday worship service.

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8 Page 8 Champion Games: The heroes loved powering up, using the strength and skill of the bodies God created and blessed. Mr. Larry Schmitz, Ms. Christine Henson, Mr. Dennis Dix and Mr. Gary Emke lead us in a wide range of fun activities. The Florida sunshine was not always cooperative, so we had to move indoors. This proved to be a blessing in keeping us out of the heat.

9 Page 9 Lunch Headquarters: We gathered here to celebrate strength in God and for nourishment and conversation. Mealtimes for Christians are always a great time for prayer, conversation and growing in faith and fellowship. Our leaders awarded our groups stickers each day. The Wisdom Warriors received the most stickers for the week and were awarded some special prizes and everyone received beads at the end of the week.

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11 Page 11 Our Hero Central Sunday Program: The children did a wonderful job praising God through handbells and song. They played Jesus Loves Me and Ode to Joy on the bells and sang One of a Kind. Check them out on our Web page! After our performance, they were treated to an ice cream sundae party and games.

12 Page 12 Registration Kitchen Helpers Thank you to our many volunteers for being Superheroes at Hero Central VBS. Everyone is busy and has to make choices about how they spend their time, energy and resources. We are so grateful that our volunteers followed God s call to serve His children and His church with us and to tell the Good News through Vacation Bible School. Thank you for making our VBS a wonderful experience. The following contributed to the success of Vacation Bible School this year: Lonnie Benmore Debbi Holbrook Karen Postel Stan Benmore Tony Holbrook Lynn Postel Bob Boyd Judy Hornfeldt Marge Pritchard Cindy Braun Kathy Hougen Trudy Ray Kelly Clark Amy Hunter Larry Schmitz Nancy Clark Marlene Kuhn Alyssa Stilwell Alex Dean Amber Little Alyvia Stilwell Audrey Dean Betty Marshall Diane Trumbauer Ashley DiFrank Tom Marshall Dani Villarrubia Dennis Dix Alma Martin Jess Ward Gerry Ellis Roy Martin Judy Ward Ellouise Emke Sharon McKenna Lavonne Weinkoetz Gary Emke Ann Mielke Donna Williams Pastor Glenn Fischer Norma Miller Bonnie Wright Jocelyn Fischer Lyla Mock Ed Wright Florence Glimpse Colleen Mueller Jessica Wright Christine Henson Herta Oglialoro Lauren Wright Keith Higgins Hannah Phillips Parents, Grandparents, other relatives and especially to all our members who contributed cookies, juice boxes, money, and requested Thrivent funds: thank you all for bringing children to Christ and being good stewards and giving whatever time, talent, or treasure you did.