Immanuel s Insights. April 2019

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1 Immanuel s Insights Immanuel Lutheran Church and School Lutheran Church Missouri Synod 2820 Woodruff Road Simpsonville, South Carolina Growing in Faith to Share God s Grace Office: April 2019

2 + Holy Week Service Schedule + Sunday, April 14: Palm Sunday Service at 10:30 AM Palm Sunday Procession Thursday, April 18: Maundy Thursday Service at 7:00 PM Holy Communion Stripping of the Altar Friday, April 19: Good Friday Service at 7:00 PM Tenebrae: The Service of Darkness Saturday, April 20: Holy Saturday Service at 8:00 PM The Great Vigil of Easter Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd Sunday, April 21: Easter: The Resurrection of Our Lord Sunrise Service at 7:15 AM Festival Service at 10:30 AM Breakfast served at 8:45-10:00 AM Easter Egg Hunt following Breakfast

3 Adult Bible Class 9:00 AM Adult Bible Class meets Sunday mornings for adults to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. Children/Youth 9:30-10:15 AM Elder Dennis Clark leads a Weekday Bible Study. Opening: Age 3-Grade 4 9:30-9:50 Room 109 A/B Class: Age 3-5 9:50-10:15 Room 104 Class: Grade 1-2 9:50-10:15 Room 109 A/B Class: Grade 3-4 9:50-10:15 Room 102 Class: Grade 5-8 9:30-10:15 Room 101 B (Library) Class: Parents 9:30-10:15 Room 103A/B/C (Fellowship Room) GENESIS This Study on Genesis began on March 25 and will last about four months. We meet at 7:00 PM Mondays in the Library. All are welcome. For more information, call Dennis Clark or dsmclarksc@aol.com.

4 Planning Process Update Immanuel, God With Us, serving our neighbor and one another with His love and forgiveness. As we pass the mid-point of Lent and begin to prepare for the events of Holy Week and Easter, progress is also being made on Immanuel s Planning Process: 1) Rev. Billy Brath (LCEF Planning Facilitator) was on-site Wednesday, February 6, to work with us on Step Two (Ministry Mapping) and Step Three (StewardPath) of our Planning Process. Since the meetings that day, a Working Group of Congregation & School leaders met 3 times to map (list) all the current ministries of the Church & School. 2) Pastor Brath will return to Immanuel on Tuesday, April 2, to work with us on Step Two of our Planning Process: a. He will lead us through a Ministry Mapping Workshop: a process of examining our ministries in order to add, subtract or enhance them and continue to grow the mission and ministry of the Church & School b. This will be an all-hands-on-deck Workshop. All Council members and all members of all Boards are asked to participate. c. Workshop time will be 6:00-8:30 PM. Dinner and Childcare will be provided.

5 3) An important piece of the Planning Process puzzle is an evaluation of our current resources, including land and facilities. As the last Master Plan for Immanuel is nearly 20 years old and many changes have come to the church, Five Forks and our Woodruff Road corridor in the last two decades, it is important to have a current update to guide future growth and development. A proposal passed the March Council and was put before the Voters at the March 31 meeting to enlist the services of an outside firm to help us put together an updated Master Plan: a planning document and conceptualization of how Immanuel Lutheran Church & School might exist in the future. 4) Step 3 of the Planning Process will begin when we have completed much of the work of Ministry Mapping and have a clear sense of the future direction of the Church & School. The timing for Step 3 is to be determined.

6 7 Worship April 2019 Fifth Sunday in Lent Isaiah 43:16-21 Philippians 3:(4b-7)8-14 Luke 20: Palm Sunday Deuteronomy 32:36-39 Philippians 2:5-11 Luke 22:1-23:56 18 Maundy Thursday Exodus 12: Corinthians 11:23-32 John 13:1-17, 31b Good Friday Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 John 18:1-19:42 21 The Resurrection of Our Lord Isaiah 65: Corinthians 15:19-26 Luke 24: Second Sunday of Easter Acts 5:12-20-(21-32) Revelation 1:4-18 John 20:19-31

7 Immanuel at a Glance and if you are really tight for time, just check out the TOP 5 HOT TOPICs Hot Topics: Quarterly Voter s meeting is scheduled for March 31 shortly after our service. Please mark your calendars and I hope to see you there. Don t forget to complete your time and talent survey! Survey to be closed on 3/25/19. Our Day School is planning their 25 th Anniversary Celebration to be held on 9/22/19. Entire Church Council to meet with Pastor Brath the evening of 4/2/19 for Ministry Mapping workshop. ILC Yard Sale to be held on 4/13/19. Great opportunity for Spring Cleaning. General Items: Church Council was held our monthly meeting on 3/17/19 typically last about 90 minutes. Each Chairperson presented their committee reports listing their activities and what is on the horizon for input and discussion from the other Council members. There is a tremendous list of activities that are ongoing which help support our congregation and community. Stay tuned for updates and how each of you can get involved! Next Council meeting is 12:15 pm, Sunday April 14 th. The good Lord continues to bless us as our giving continues to be in excess of our needs. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. In God s Service, Dana Emberton

8 God s Blessings to You! April Devon Eggert 02 Glen Nelson 05 Debra Weathers 06 Ann Danielson 06 Rosemary Smith 07 Will Buckley 07 Adam Benson 08 Nicholas Fuhler 08 Matthew LoGrippo 09 Mason Rubenstein 14 Jeff Schulenburg 15 Jessie Buckley 15 Connor Rubenstein 15 Patrick Dreiding 16 Jill Enge 19 Tracy Taylor 21 Leah Johnson 23 Preston Rubenstein 23 Karen Butner 25 Sue Albers 25 Beth Connolly 26 Colin Pulley 26 Doug Stowell 27 Olive VanUffelen 28 Tiffany Gentile 28 Dan Thelen 05 James & Elizabeth Patti 20 Jim & Cathy Moore 20 Richard & Christine Hitchcock 20 Rich & Deborah Lemke 23 Patrick & Nancy Dreiding 26 Robert & Sarah Owens

9 The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod LCMS Stewardship Ministry Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out (Deut 28:3-6). This is God s promise to the Israelites as they stood beyond the Jordan outside of the Promised Land. He promises blessing to His people. He will make them prosper, whether they are in the city or the field. He will make their fruit of their work to prosper, whether from the ground or their wombs, their flocks or their herds. He will make them to prosper in all things, whether upon their coming in or their going out. But there s a catch. He would do this for Israel only if you obey the voice of the Lord your God (Deut 28:2b). If they did that, He would cause that all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you (Deut 28:2a). If they didn t obey the voice of the Lord, if they didn t keep the commandments of the Lord and walk in His ways (Deut 28:9), they would be met with curse and woe. The blessings would be replaced with curses. Everything that the Lord promised to prosper and bless would be cursed and fail. Thanks be to God that our Lord Jesus Christ has come into our flesh, fulfilled the law for us in in our place and for our benefit; died for us in our place and for our benefit; and is risen from the dead for us in our place and for our benefit. By this we have justification before God. We are forgiven, clean, holy, and righteous. The blessing of God is promised to us in Christ Jesus. It depends upon His work and not ours. All this is ours in Holy Baptism. For in Holy Baptism, God claims us as His own, makes us His children, His heirs, His holy people. And so it is that the work of our hands and its fruit is holy because we are holy in Christ. It is pressed into His service, and thereby it becomes a blessing to us and to our neighbor. For this great gift, our reception of the blessings of God because of Christ Jesus our Lord, it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is not in order to receive blessings but because in Christ we already have. It is with this in mind that we sit down on the first day of the week and set aside as He has prospered us to give to His church for His work of blessing in our midst (1 Cor. 16:2).

10 Upcoming Yard Sale April 13, 2019 IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH Proceeds will help support our Braille Ministry and other local ministries. START YOUR SPRING CLOSET CLEANING NOW! Gently used household goods and clothing may be dropped off as follows: Braille Center on Monday, April 1 or 8 from 9 to 1; Church on Wednesday, April 10 (before/after Lent service at 7:00) or Thursday and Friday from 9 to 1; We will need workers on the following days to sort and organize all items: Thursday, April 11 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, April 12 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 13, 7 to 8 a.m. Set up (Men needed to move all heavy tables outside and women to organize for sale.) Work the sale from 8 to 1 or come by to fellowship with the community. Saturday 1 2 p.m. Clean up. PLEASE CALL ALVINE PALOTTA TO SIGN UP TO WORK: OR CELL

11 Screen Time Adds To Sedentary Time Being sedentary has been identified as the fourth leading risk factor for death world-wide. The lack of physical activity is a risk for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. The average person spends less time exercising and more time sitting in front of a screen. Discover if your overall screen time is out of line (as compared to your active time) by journaling for several weeks. Then set a goal to slowly improve active time and decrease screen time. To help reduce screen time, consider these tips: Make one night each week screen free. Go for a walk, bike ride or kick around a soccer ball with your children. Set daily screen time limits and curfews, such as shutting down all devices one hour before bedtime. Establish your bedrooms as screen-free zones and charge your devices outside your bedroom. All these devices and the technology behind them can be useful for our lives but like any blessing, technology has the potential to be misused. Blood Pressure screening will take place at 10:00-10:20 am and again at 11:30 am. Everyone is encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity. Marilyn Hall, Health Ministry

12 Mark your Calendars for MIRACULOUS MISSION Jesus Saves the World Sunday, June 9 Thursday, June 13 Crafts Bible Stories Music Food Outdoor Fun Our Youth Group meets at 7:30 PM on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. We participate in other activities during the month and invite you to come and be a part of the Immanuel Youth. Youth Leader: Patrick Danielson

13 Attendance for February 2019 Date Divine Service 10:30 AM Adult Bible Class 9:00 AM Sunday School 9:30 AM Christian Education Staff will be April 14 for May 2019 Immanuel s Insights due to Holy Week Schedule.

14 Return Requested Dated Newsletter Immanuel Lutheran Church and School Adult Bible Class 9:00-10:00 A.M Woodruff Road Sunday School 9:30-10:15 A.M. Simpsonville, South Carolina Divine Service 10:30 A.M. Gray Heirs The Gray Heirs will meet at 12:00 noon at church on Wednesday, April 17, for a German- International Potluck. For more information, contact Dennis Clark ( ) or dsmclarksc@aol.com.