F A L L V I S I O N I N G E V E N T

Transcription

1 F A I T H L U T H E R A N C H U R C H A U G U S T, For More Discover the many things God is doing at FLC on our website at: Subscribe to our free weekly E-pistle Ezine, and be a part of our PrayerNet by sending your address to flc@faithsd.ne. Get details from our FLC This Week printed announcements at worship services. S P E C I A L P O I N T S O F I N T E R E S T : Faith Lutheran Church has a median age in the low 40 s. We encourage the presence of children at worship. We also provide free professional child care. Our worship and ministry building is designed in a California Craftsman style. F A L L V I S I O N I N G E V E N T Winter is coming! And, right now, we have an opportunity to prepare by considering what outreach God is calling us to do this fall: A multi-generational Excellent Adventure themed event, building on Bill and Ted s, adding Martin Luther as a historical character and a trip to Circle K and San Dimas Football references? A community history Citrus and Avocado festival celebrating our longer-than-western- Days roots with Mexican food and mariachi? Spontaneous pop-up Bible Studies announced on social media? A community service project coordinating local organizations and celebrating the meaning of vocation and service? A Family Advent Event? An Alternative Christmas Faire? Something else? Come for an informal visioning event considering what God has gifted us to be doing at FLC this fall on Saturday, August 26th at 10:00 a.m. in the Parish Hall. Light refreshments and child are will be provided. H E L P F E E D T H E H U N G R Y We set a goal of giving 5,750 lbs. of food and hygiene items (with produce from our Seeds of Faith garden), to our local emergency food pantry in 2017! We have given 1,872 lbs. so far, or 33% of our goal at 60% of the year, so we have a ways to go. We seek to help the people who need our help in the name of Jesus Christ with a little extra food throughout the year. Food that does not need cooking, small water bottles, canned food, staple food, easy-to-prepare food, diapers and personal hygiene items are especially needed. Or, you can contribute funds and volunteers will shop for you. Please give generously to help us feed the hungry.

2 Page 2 B R I N G Y O U R F A I T H I N T O F O C U S SUNDAY SCHOOL BEGINS A NEW YEAR IN SEPTEMBER Our Sunday School classes will resume September 17th. Are you called to teach? Please be praying about whether God might be calling you to help in some way in the fall. ROMANS ON WEDNESDAYS Come and worship at our evening service on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. We are currently studying the book of Romans, celebrating Holy Communion, and focusing on prayer each week. Explore the depth of the Christian Faith. SPECIAL OFFERING FOR EMILIE FAIELLA Emilie Faiella has been the lead singer in our worship band, bringing beauty and inspiration to our common worship for many years. We are receiving a special offering for her on Aug. 20th, her last Sunday with us before going to work on a masters degree at Boston University. N E W M E M B E R S R E C E I V E D I N J U L Y Four new members of Faith Lutheran Church were received in July. Pictured (l-r) with Pastor Berkedal (and celebrity guest Martin Luther) are Mark Carter and Jen Johnson and her two sons, Evan and Dylan. We welcome our newest members of the Body of Christ! Our next series of classes starts in September. Come and learn about the Bible as a single story, Christian Church history, Spiritual Gifts, and our life together at FLC. Free professional child care will be provided if requested. Come and be a part of our mission to introduce people to new life in Jesus Christ that grows into enthusiastic Christian living. Contact Pastor Berkedal at or at dberkedal@ faithsd.net to participate, or with any questions. W O M E N O F F A I T H The Women of Faith group are off for the summer, but will resume their gatherings on Saturday, September 9th at 9:00 a.m. for Bible Study and to finish planning for Rally Day on September 10th. Contact Nancy Brewster at for more info on the activi- ties of the Women of Faith. M E N O F F A I T H The Men of Faith normally gather the second Saturday of each month at 8:00 a.m. in the church parking lot. They go out for breakfast together and return to do work projects. This month, however, they will gather on August 19th. Come and share the fellowship and the work. Contact Jerry Bain at for info about the Men of Faith.

3 I N T R O D U C I N G P E O P L E T O N E W L I F E I N J E S U S C H R I S T... Page 3 L I F T LIFT is a group for post-confirmation through high school youth. They host movie nights, community service projects, Bible study, and more. They currently gather Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Contact Candace Martinez at martinez. candace000@gmail.com or at for other activities. Find them on Facebook at LIFT (Living in Faith Together). C I A Our Christians in Action (C.I.A.) group is for young adults (from approximately years of age). All young adults are welcome. They gather for Bible Study, brunch, community service projects, beach trips and more. They are planning a book drive for the Prison Library Project. Contact James Berkedal (jberkedal@ gmail.com) with questions. Check the group s Facebook page, Christians in Action, for more info. U R T H E C H U R C H M I N I S T R Y O P P O R T U N I T I E S BRING JOY TO WORSHIP IN OUR ADULT CHOIR Come on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. in the worship space and sing a new song to the Lord! Contact Dan Ambrosini at or at (909) to participate in our Adult Liturgical Choir! SUNDAES ON WEDNESDAYS Come for build-yourown Sundaes on Wednesday nights in August at 7:45 p.m.-ish, following our Wednesday night worship service. Invite your friends for this cool way to beat the heat and build Christian relationships. FLC CONGREGA- TIONAL RETREAT Save the date: Saturday, February 3rd, 2018 for our next congregational spiritual formation retreat. The one-day event will be held a the Serra Retreat Center in Malibu. Contact retreat leader Rev. Sally Welch at for info. F L C P O L O S H I R T S Looking for an effective way to start a conversation and share your love of Jesus and of your church? Sample FLC Polo Shirts are on display at FLC with order forms for $12 each in a variety of colors and sizes. A form is also enclosed and it is available on the opening page of our web site at Help share the work that God is doing at Faith Lutheran Church. J U L Y 4 T H P A R A D E T H A N K S Our thanks to all who provided, contributed to, decorated, and rode on our FLC float in the La Verne Independence Day parade. We had a great time, and handed out lots of water, candy, and church info on a hot day. Our special thanks to organizers Matt and Cindy Klenske (who also provided the classic truck) and Doug Halvorsen!

4 Page 4 C H U R C H I N T A N Z A N I A E V A N G E L I S M P H O N E C A L L S We are receiving a special offering to help our brothers and sisters in Christ of Dakawa, Tanzania in East Africa build a structure for worship, learning and missions. We sent $2, at the end of July. It is now nearly complete, but worship services for students and locals are being held, and the church is growing. Three weddings have already taken place! We will soon be moving on to the construction of our seventh church. Thank you for your generous support. Please mark a white pew envelope Tanzania for this purpose, or mail your gift to the church. We are planning activities and projects for the next year, so Sam Kamler will be calling all homes to collect data. If you want to call first, please call Sam at (909) The survey only takes 4 minutes. The questions are about military service, both active and other, shut-ins and people that need visitors or help, and any prayer re- quests. Sam will not ask you to volunteer, donate money, join the choir, or even help wash dishes. The survey is only for FLC internal use. So start thinking of what you would like to see, and pick up the phone! - Sam Kamler T H R E E M O R E T H I N G S 1.) FLC MINISTRY FAIRE SEPT. 10TH All FLC groups are invited to have a display and sign-up sheets for their organization on Rally Day Sunday, Sept. 10th (see page 5). Help promote and grow your group! Discover new opportunities to be a part of what God is doing at FLC! B Y T H E N U M B E R S People received as members in 2017: 7 Worship attendance at this point in 2017 compared to 2016: -9 Giving to our General Ministry Fund at this point in 2017 compared to 2016: +13% 2.) CONFIRMATION ORIENTATION Young people who are going into 7th grade or above and their parents are gathering for our 2017/18 Confirmation Class Orientation on Thursday, September 7th at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Room. The class will be blessed on Rally Day, Sept. 10th. Giving to our Mortgage Fund in 2017: $56, (64.22% of need at 59.62% of year) Emergency Food Pantry giving in 2017: 1,665 lbs. (33% of our 5,750 lbs. goal at 60% of the year.) Students enrolled in our pre-school: 62 (+1, 3.) SHARE YOUR FAITH STORY What s your story? Share your spiritual biography or just one story from your life of faith this summer. Share it live during worship, or film it for showing during worship. Contact Pastor Berkedal at to get started. summer enrollment normally is down) Faith Lutheran Church Fan Page likes on Facebook: 929 (+12) Average daily faithsd.net web site visits in past 30 days: 24

5 ... T H A T G R O W S I N T O E N T H U S I A T I C C H R I S T I A N L I V I N G. Page 5 S O C I A L M E D I A C O N N E C T I O N S You can connect to all our social media on the Media tab at Check out our page at Faith Lutheran Church San Dimas on Facebook. Click on like to become a fan. And, you can friend Pastor Berkedal on Facebook by doing a search for David Berkedal. Follow us on Twitter by going to twitter.com, from our Media tab and signing-in, Pastor Berkedal s Blog posts short articles periodically. Check it out through our web site Media tab. Check out our YouTube channel at and get your free subscription to FLC videos. Find pictures of our events on our Faith Lutheran Church Fan Page on Facebook. Skype Pastor Berkedal at david.berkedal. Username on Instagram: flcsd. #FLCpens Review us on Yelp.com on your phone Find special opportunities for giving at Come in and get connected. R A L L Y D A Y C O M I N G R. C. Q U A K E S G A M E Rally Day will begin our new program year at FLC on Sunday, Sept. 10th. Our celebrations will include a picnic, with games and activities for children and Ministry Faire (see pg. 4) starting at about 11:15 a.m. Sign-up on the announcement wall in mid- August to bring a salad, side-dish, or a dessert. The Men of Faith will cook hamburgers, hot dogs and brats, the Woman of Faith will organize, and the LIFT and CIA groups will lead games. The Jem City Jazz Cats big band will be our musical guests! We had a great time of community building at the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes game in July. We definitely want to do it again. Our thanks to all who made the event possible! A N O T E F R O M T H E P A S T OR Some say we are now in a Golden Age of TV. Shows on a multitude of channels, commercial and cable, Netflix and Amazon, and YouTube, and emerging platforms, are drawing huge volumes of viewers. Sometimes, though, there s nothing on. And so, I found myself watching a TV evangelist the other day. What interested me most was how often he said, The Bible says He was teaching from a story of King David and the bad treatment of his Mighty Men (think special forces), and his theme was how the Bible teaches us to deal with opposition. The Bible text itself, however, was about how God works among God s people. Popular culture defines Christianity as a self-help therapy to make us feel better about ourselves. The Bible says we need a Savior. I ll go with that. For life-coaching, I ll swap a Golden Age for The Golden Rule, anytime. Find an expanded version of this story and comment on it at

6 F A I T H L U T H E R A N C H U R C H THE VISION CORNER F A I T H L U T H E R A N C H U R C H 505 East Bonita Avenue San Dimas, California P F E flc@faithsd.net W David Berkedal, Pastor E dberkedal@faithsd.net August Connect to WiFi at FLC. Password: welivebyfaith1 (all lower case, ending with the # 1. Discover more news, photos and info at our web site: faithsd.net. What if we provided the funds to pay our mortgage, support all our existing ministries, and call an associate pastor and a minister of music? What gifts and strengths would we want those persons to have? What new ministries is God calling us to do? Who could we reach toward realizing our mission to introduce people to new life in Jesus Christ that grows into enthusiastic living? Send your thoughts to flc@faithsd.net or call them in to the church at , or speak with Pastor Berkedal or a member of our Church Council about them. Pray about how you can help realize our mission. I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : M E M B E R S R E C E I V E D 2 I N T R O D U C I N G P E O P L E T O N E W L I F E I N J E S U S C H R I S T T H A T G R O W S I N T O E N T H U S I A S T I C C H R I S T I A N L I V I N G. P H O T O O F T H E M O N T H F L C P O L O S H I R T S C H U R C H I N T A N Z A N I A F A I T H S T O R I E S R A L L Y D A Y 2017 C A L E N D A R A N D F Y I I N- SE RT Jerry Dade, our award-winning official photographer, took this self portrait from the back of a side mirror on our 1948 vintage truck float in the La Verne Independence Day Parade. (story on page 3)