Home Improvement Basics Build a Stronger Marriage

Transcription

1 From the Pastor s desk... April, 2008 Home Improvement Basics Build a Stronger Marriage For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:24 NIV We ve all heard the joke about the wife who hauled her husband into marriage counseling and complained He doesn t love me anymore. To which he responded I do. Again she complained You never say so, you never show it no you don t. To which the husband answered, I told you I loved you on our wedding day and if that ever changes I ll let you know! While some of you may be chuckling others are not. The fact of the matter is, marriage is not a business deal done when the contract is signed. A good marriage like a nice home takes lots of care and upkeep. Like a home most marriages while strong and solid in some areas often need work in other areas. And once those areas are in good repair, some other aspect of the relationship is in need of attention. Like a home the care and investment of time, energy, funds and affection is constant in a healthy and growing marriage. But unlike a home a marriage is a living thing shared by two persons made in God s image and is intended to help them grow more like him as they learn day by day better how to love one another. Beginning the last Sunday in March and continuing though most of April, I invite you to join us Sunday mornings as we take a closer look at some solid Biblical principles for building a healthy marriage and a stable home. Whether single, married, divorced or remarried there will be principles that can be applied to all of us. This just might be the most significant home improvement advice you ll come across this year! Pastor Garry S.A.L.T. for April 2008 Seven Areas of Life Training March 30 Two Becoming One Genesis 2:24 April 6 Psychological Intimacy 1Peter 3:8 April 13 Spiritual Intimacy Ephesians 4:3 April 20 Restoring Intimacy Ephesians 4:2 April 27 Parenting Styles Psalm 34:11

2 Page 2 Grebel & Coffee 8 a.m. 10:00 a.m April 5 Pre-Orders for Grebel are welcome! Any and all help would be appreciated! Sign up at the Welcome Center. Interested in becoming a member at Zion??? NEWS FROM ZION UPCOMING APRIL EVENTS : Saturday, April 5 - Grebel & Coffee 8 a.m a.m. Saturday, April 5-85th Birthday Open House for Ann Wolski 2-4 at the church Friday, April 11 - AWANA Grand Prix 5:45 Saturday, April 19 - Home Business Show in Ministry Center 8:00-3:00 Friday, April 25 - Circle of Praise Movie Night 6:30 p.m. Sunday, May 4 AWANA Jamboree We are still recycling printer cartridges and cell phones - just bring them to the church office and we will do the rest! Contact the church office at or Pastor Garry during the month of April if you are interested. Communion will be served April 6th in the Chapel following the 10:30 service. Mission Prayer Partners for April, After a devastating car accident, Baptist minister Don Piper is pronounced dead at the scene. During the next 90 minutes he remembers hearing beautiful music, meeting those who had a spiritual impact on his life, and experiences deep peace until he is suddenly brought back to real life through another minister s prayer in this amazing true story. 6th - Zion Sunday School 13th - Zion Tape Ministry 20th - Bud and Dot Acord 27th - Tom and Alfreda Claus; CHIEF

3 NEWS FROM ZION Page 3 Our KCMI Broadcast The 2008 broadcast schedule is available if you are interested in sponsoring a broadcast in honor or in memory of someone. Months that are available are: April, May, July, October and November. Call the church office at To my church family, Thank you all so much for your continued prayer support. Thank you, also, for all of the encouraging s. I (and those I live with) really appreciate it all. God is really working and doing some amazing things here. I wish I could write everything that's been happening. Please continue to pray for - health and safety: Things are beginning to return to normal, but we are still in the middle of war. Pray for peace in Chad. - opportunities for us to grow with our YWAM (Youth With A Mission) students: Right now, the family I live with is running a YWAM Discipleship Training School for a group of ten students. They will begin outreach soon. - continued financial support: I am looking forward to staying in Chad longer than was originally intended. I'm in the process now of changing my tickets home. And I am really excited about what the Lord will do during these extra months. Thank you all, once again, for all of your support. As I am now living in a country where people struggle to raise twenty dollars, I know how truly blessed I am because of all of your support. I pray God blesses each of you for your faithfulness and readiness to be involved in this ministry! In Him, Andee Trook andeetrook@hotmail.com BP 166 Sahr, Chad, Africa Congratulations to George Knaub on his 80th Birthday... Stan Stricker on his 80th Birthday... Katie Wiedeman on her 95th Birthday... Harry and Helen Maier on their 60th Wedding Anniversary Sympathies and Condolences to......the many family and friends of Martha Ott.... the family and friends of Holli Siegfried... the family and friends of Katherine Zier... Don & Carol Loos and Wilbur & Ruth Markheim on the passing of Elmer Heilbrun... Peg & Jerry Ross on the passing of their niece, Debrah Osborn GREAT NEWS! We reached our goal of $100,000 in receipts. Keep those receipts from Coop and Main Street Market coming! Thanks to all who faithfully bring in or mail in their receipts! Keep em coming! WE WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME OUR NEWEST MEMBERS TO ZION CHURCH: These students became members as they were confirmed on Palm Sunday. Cutler Busch Andee Grentz Jade Ourada Samantha Phillips Mark Pieper Kayleigh Schadwinkel Lindsey Schanaman Aimee Stricker Alexandra Stricker

4 Page 4 Christian Ways to Reduce Stress An angel says, Never borrow from the future. If you worry about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn t happen, you have worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice. 1. Pray 2. Go to bed on time. 3. Get up on time so you can start the day unrushed. 4. Say NO to projects that won t fit into your time schedule, or that will compromise your mental health. 5. Delegate tasks to capable others. 6. Simplify and unclutter your life. 7. Less is more. Although one of often not enough, at times two can be too many. 8. Allow extra time to do things and to get to places. 9. Pace yourself. Spread out big changes and difficult projects over time; don t lump the hard things all together. 10. Take one day at a time. 11. Separate worries from concerns. If a situation is a concern, find out what God would have you do and let go of the anxiety. If you can t do anything about a situation, forget it. 12. Live within your budget; don t use credit cards for ordinary purchases. 13. Have backups; an extra car key in your wallet, an extra house key buried in the garden, extra stamps, etc. NEWS FROM ZION YOU VE GOT MAIL!!! This is the eleventh month of sending the newsletter via . It s not too late to sign up! If you would like to try the newsletter for one month via and then decide you would rather have a paper copy, we ll be happy to switch you back. Give it a try. Let us know - us at... zion@vistabeam.com General Fund for February, 2008 INCOME: Fundraisers 4, Other Income Sunday Offering 15, TOTAL INCOME $20, EXPENSES: Bldg. Payment $ 1, Bldg. & Grounds 1, Fund Raising Ministry 1, Office Special Expense Staff Benefits 4, Staff Salary 5, Utilities 1, TOTAL EXPENSES: $17, TOTAL INCOME/EXPENSE $ You are invited to an OPEN HOUSE celebrating Ann Wolski s 85th Birthday Saturday, April Zion Evangelical Church Building a Successful Stepfamily Conference Mitchell Berean Church Saturday, May 3rd 8:30-4:30 ~ Lunch provided Cost: $50/couple, $30/single Designed for stepfamily couples and pre-marriage couples Single parents & dating couples Ministers, lay leaders & church leaders Step-grandparents, extended family members Special Speaker: Ron L. Deal President and Founder of Successful Stepfamilies.com

5 NEWS FROM ZION Page 5 PRAYER FOR AMERICA ONE MINUTE EACH NIGHT During WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every night at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace. This had an amazing effect as bombing stopped. There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America. If you would like to participate: each evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (8:00 PM Central, 7:00 PM Mountain, 6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the up-coming election, and for the revival of Christianity in this great country. Someone said if people really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have. Thank You. Please pass this on to anyone who you think will pray. Are We Just Lucky Mud? From CSE Creation Science Evangelism Creation in Common Sense March 13, 2008 Imagine pulling the lever of a slot machine and the only way to win is to hit the jackpot two hundred and fifty times in a row. The odds are against you. Yet, these are the same odds that would have to be overcome for the simplest life-form to evolve and form each of the two hundred and fifty proteins by random chance. It s seemingly impossible. Little was known about the complexities of a single cell when Darwin birthed his theory of evolution. Microscopes weren t yet powerful enough to observe below the cellular level of life; and thus, the concept of a single cell was like that of a mud hut very simple. Today we are learning more and more about what it takes for life to form. Beyond the statistical improbabilities of evolution, we ve learned that the single cell is not at all like a mud hut; but rather, more complex than a galaxy. In fact, for a dinosaur to evolve a single wing, all five systems in a cell would have to change identically at the same time something that Darwin could never have imagined. So, the complexities of the single cell quickly lead us beyond Darwin, or so that s where research scientist Dr. Richard Sternberg thinks the evidence leads. Yet, when he gave credit to intelligent design in a Smithsonian science journal, he found himself the object of a massive campaign to smear his reputation. But Sternberg s not the only one: multitudes of scientists who begin questioning Darwin s theory of evolution are quickly shut-up by their employers, the media, the educational system, and even the courts. Ben Stein, former Presidential speech writer, public speaker, and game show host sought to uncover why scientists are losing their jobs, can t get tenure, or are denied publication in scientific journals when Darwinism is questioned. He quickly found that evolutionists would rather believe we are nothing more than mud animated by lightning than to believe humankind carries the spark of the divine. Disturbed by his findings, Stein is going on record with a major theater release, interviewing numbers of scientists who were openly ridiculed and ostracized for even suggesting intelligent design. The film, fittingly titled Expelled, is scheduled for a wide theater release in April. Creation Science Evangelism was recently given the opportunity to prescreen the film and believes it is a must see. Viewers will be stunned by the admissions of evolutionists whose strategies are focused solely on injecting Darwinian doctrine into everyday life. We ve created a resource center at where you can find more information about the upcoming film, view trailers, download leaders guides, and win free tickets to see Expelled in your area. Please do all you can to support this film and blow the whistle on the suppression of intelligent design and academic freedom. ~ AWANA NEWS ~ On Saturday, March 8 th some of our Sparks, T&T Girls and Boys and quite a few Staff members were out at WNCC for our annual AWANA Games. We are so proud of all of the clubbers that competed! They represented Zion well. The Sparks and T&T boys took home 3 rd place ribbons and the T&T Girls placed 2 nd on their Game Circle. A BIG THANK YOU, also, to all of the Zion AWANA Staff that worked at the Games... coaching, keeping score, timing, officiating, taking money at the admission table, working in the store, etc. You are very much appreciated and your service does not go unnoticed! Clubber of the Month: My apologies to January s Clubbers of the Month as I failed to recognize and congratulate them in last month s article: Sparks Anna Schick & Quinton Janecek; T&T Gabriel Holub & Kyle Burton and Trek Kayleigh Schadwinkel & Alexandra Stricker. Congratulations to the following for being February s Clubbers of the Month: Sparks Jade Walker & Tyler Fedorchik; T&T Tiersa Darley & Josiah Ashford and Trek Timothy Herman. Keep up the great work, Clubbers!!! Easter Breakfast: The AWANA Staff sponsored the Easter Breakfast again this year with some manpower help from our Church Council and their wives on the set-up, clean-up and take down. We added a variety of Breakfast Casseroles to the spread this year and it seemed to be enjoyed by all that attended. Thank you, Zion Congregation, as always for your support of AWANA. A special thank you to Martha Stricker for spearheading this event. With her leadership and the many helping hands, it made light & quick work for everyone. May God bless you all for your faithful, committed service to the Lord!!! Grand Prix: We are still selling kits for Grand Prix cars for this event that is quickly approaching on Friday, April 11 th. The cost is either 50 cents or 4 shares. Grand Prix is for kids in 3 rd grade up to 100 years old!!! Adults in the Congregation are invited to buy a car kit, build your car and check in on the 11 th beginning at 5:45 p.m. Races will start at 6:30 with the Sparks and their Hotwheel cars. The Pit Stop will also be up and running with a variety of food items available for your race-watching appetite! As of this writing, we have one club night left in March, four in April and then our end of the club year Jamboree is on Sunday, May 4 th. WOW!!! The Staff is also making plans for sometime in May/June to have a celebration of the completion of 25 years of AWANA here at Zion Church. Watch for details in next month s article and/or flyers. Please pray for our club as we finish up this club year. And, thank God with us that... HE IS IN CONTROL!!! Cheryl Rose, Commander

6 Page 6 NEWS FROM ZION CIRCLE OF PRAISE - The Circle of Praise will meet on Friday, March 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the Oasis. Terry and Dave Erdman will be serving dinner after which all will have a chance to "Name that Tune". Make sure you sign up at the Welcome Center for this fun-filled evening. Peg and Jerry Ross Ladies Guild - The March meeting of the Zion Ladies Guild met on March 3 at 7 PM. 18 ladies and 2 guests were present. Elaine Kling led the ladies in the opening prayer. Songs were led by Joyce Kautz. They were Since Jesus came into my heart and Turn your eyes upon Jesus. A program was presented by Bethany Wurdeman on Congenital Heart Disease. She gave a very interesting program about her son Brody who has the disease and told that March 31, 2008 has been designated at Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness Day. The secretary s report was read and changes were approved. Correspondence was read from students who had received Valentine baskets and from the family s we provided funeral dinners for. Treasurer s report was given by Donna Reifschneider with a balance of The report was approved as given. Old Business: Wanda gave an update on the craft fair. It will have more home based business attending. The mother-daughter tea was discussed. A privacy Screen was discussed for the bathrooms in the Ministry center. It was decided to go before the board and see if it something that needs to be addressed. New business: The call list for funeral dinners, who can help JaneAnn with calling as her backup in case she is unable to do the calling. Sharon Lemley said that she could be her backup. The drain in the kitchen need to be cleaned out as it has overflowed during activities when the kitchen has been used lately. Will discuss with the church board to see what could be done. A kitchen clean-up day will be held on Tuesday, March 11 starting after 8 am for anyone who can help. As there was no other business the meeting was closed with the Lord s Prayer. Refreshments were provided by Noni and Joyce. April s meeting will be led by Elaine Kling and Cheryl Rupp. Secretary, Teri Erdman Night (Mothers of Preschoolers) Thank you to everyone who supported our recent cabbage burger fundraiser. We appreciate your purchases and hope you enjoyed the cabbage burgers! We baked nearly 1200 cabbage burgers so we were very busy ladies for a couple of days. For our March meeting we enjoyed a salad supper with LOTS of desserts! We heard the life story of Maranda Coop who shared with us how God loved and accepted her even after she had lived a life full of mistakes and bad decisions. She reminded us that ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD. A special thank you to Don Schmidt who donated carpet squares for our creative activity. We painted the squares to make welcome mats for our homes. Everyone proudly painted the mats, with most people placing their family name on the mats. In April we are excited to hear from Shari Roberts who will be talking to us about our love languages. Shari is a dynamic speaker and we will have a fun meeting. Alena Haun has been in charge of our MOPPETS (childcare) program this year! She provides a meal for the kids so that moms don t have to worry hurrying home after work, fixing supper, and then getting to MOPS by 6:30. She has had lots of FUN activities for the kids. A special thank you to her and to EVERYONE who volunteers their time to watch our kids. The MOPPETS program is what provides moms with a little time to share and fellowship with other moms without kids interrupting - it is so nice to be able to finish a conversation! We will soon be bringing our MOPS year to a close with only April and May meetings left. We have a very, very dedicated team of ladies on our Steering Team and I appreciate each person s gifts and talents. Our ministry would not be possible without each woman giving of her time and talents. We know there are LOTS of working moms who could use a BREAK! However, it is SO hard to go one more place after working all day, juggling duties at home and kids activities. We continue to pray that God provides us opportunities to let other moms know about our night group and leads more moms to our MOPS group. Please help us spread the word. If you know any moms with children from birth through Kindergarten, please let them know about MOPS. There is information in the foyer that you can pass on to a mom or feel free to provide a name to Jenn Jackson and she will give the person a phone call for personal invitation. Jennifer Jackson, Coordinator jeffnjenn@im4god.org

7 NEWS FROM ZION Page 7 Jeremiah House: The kids enjoyed a meal of chicken rice casserole, corn, peaches and chocolate pudding with cool whip and a graham stick in it. There was nothing left. They made sure they ate everything so they got the pudding. Some ate two helpings. It is hard to believe next month is the last meal until next fall. Pastor Jim is moving to New Mexico this summer. Pastor has served the Jeremiah House for six years. He has been very devoted. The kids will miss him. We need to pray that whoever takes his place, will keep the House running. It is a wonderful way to bring Jesus into the kids lives. I know God will lead the way. A special thanks to the people that donated the food and to the committee that served. Allison Stricker took a special project for Girl Scouts to help the kids at the Jeremiah House. When Allison sold Girl Scout cookies, she asked her customers if they would like to purchase a box for the Jeremiah House. She gave us a case of cookies. The cookies will be served at the next meal. Anything left will go to the pantry. I am sure the kids will think of the cookies as a special treat. Thank you Allison, for your generous heart. In Jesus love, Terry Martin * * * * * * * * * * * * * MISSIONS REPORT: As I mentioned previously, Tom and Sandy Hofmann were working toward a goal of having their ministry with Awana International. Due to their hard work and experience they were accepted to the International Ministry sooner than the thought. They were very excited. This will mean they will have a bigger area to serve. It also means Zion Church will not be keeping their financial books. I will still be receiving their contributions from our congregation though our missions. I will then send them to Awana International in their name. Keep them in your prayers as they serve Awana in a larger scope and wish them safe travel. Serving in Jesus Name, Terry Martin * * * * * * * * * * * * * SUNDAY SCHOOL: We want to wish everyone a Happy Easter. Congratulations to our Sunday School young adults who were confirmed on Sunday: Cutler Bush, Andee Grentz, Jade Ourada, Samantha Phillips, Mark Pieper, Kayleigh Schadwinkel, Lindsey Schanaman, Amy Stricker and Alexandra Stricker. We are proud of your accomplishments. Parents as we sat and watched our young confirmands and heard their personal testimonies, we heard over and over that they all accepted Jesus at a early age, in Sunday school, Awana, Church and Camp Rock, it blessed our hearts, they are listening and learning, keep bringing them to these important things. We want to thank everyone who donated Easter candy for our Easter egg hunt, we appreciate you so very much, and it is so much fun for the kids. We wish you a very Happy Easter. God Bless, Sharon, Robin, and Amy YOUTH: With the arrival of spring, we begin a transition in youth ministry at Zion. As our eighth grade students have been confirmed, I look foreword to seeing them join our senior high youth group for activities and Bible study. Already in March we have begun this process as several of our eighth graders joined us for Bible study. Also since the weather has turned warmer, we have taken advantage of the opportunity to get together with students and enjoy the outdoors with a couple of hiking trips. This time of year is also when we begin to plan our summer activities, and it appears this summer will be structured quite a bit differently for me. I'm getting close to having a plan for how our summer ministries will be set up. Please pray for me as I think through how best to use the opportunities this summer will present to minster to our students. In April, I am excited to get back on track with our regularly scheduled, weekly ministries which understandably get put on hold as we celebrate with extra services leading up to Easter. One thing I have missed greatly in the month leading up to Easter has been getting together with our senior high students who are leaders in our Awana program on Sunday nights. Each week during the school year after Awana we have been having supper and spending time with this group of students. This has been put on hold due to the Sunday evening services celebrating Lent. The only other special event I have planned for April is a trip to Evan's Plunge that I had promised to take our seventh and eight grade students on last spring. We did not get the opportunity to go last spring, so I am planning to take them during their spring break at the end of this month. Other than that, I hope to get back to doing ministry as usual for the remaining two months of the school year and then to having a exciting summer of ministry with the students I have the privilege of serving. Thanks for all your prayers and support, Andy It s a Garden Party! Zion Ladies Guild invites all the ladies of the church to a garden party on Monday, April 7th at 7:00 p.m. in the Oasis. Bring $1.00 in pennies for the event.

8 Page 8 NEWS FROM ZION Zion Evangelical Church Calendar 2008 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 30 8:30 Worship & Praise 9:30 Prayer Team III/Chapel 10:30 Worship & Praise/Scout Sunday 6:00 Together for the Gospel 31 Office closed in the morning 6:30 Cub Scouts 7:00 Church Council Meeting 1 2 7:00 Young Adult Bible Study Wedding Rehearsal Andreas/ Knopik 3 Andreas/ Knopik Wedding 4 GREBEL & COFFEE 8 A.M. 10 A.M. Open House 2-4 Ann Wolski 85th Birthday 5 8:30 Worship & Praise 6 9:30 Prayer Team IV/Chapel 10:30 Worship & Praise 10:30 KCMI Broadcast 11:30 Communion/Chapel 7:00 Ladies Guild 7 6:30 Cub Scouts 8 9 7:00 Young Adult Bible Study Bridal Shower 8-1 8:30 Worship & Praise 9:30 Prayer Team V/Chapel 10:30 Worship & Praise 4:45 Vespers/Residency :00 Jeremiah House Home Business Show Ministry Center 8-3 8:30 Worship & Praise 9:30 Prayer Team I/Chapel 10:30 Worship & Praise 2:00 Vespers/ Beverly 4:45 Vespers/Residency :30 Night 23 7:00 Young Adult Bible Study :30 Circle of Praise Movie Night and Potluck Dinner May :30 Worship & Praise 9:30 Prayer Team II/Chapel 10:30 Worship & Praise 7:00 Young Adult Bible Study