St. Mark Lutheran Church SIGN APRIL Pastoral Reflections. Dear members and friends of St. Mark,

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1 St. Mark Lutheran Church 1135 Oliver Street North Tonawanda, NY St. Mark Lutheran Church SIGN APRIL 2016 Pastoral Reflections Dear members and friends of St. Mark, During Easter we remember the great commitment of Jesus to forgive our sins and bring us new life. Many people love Easter with the positive focus on the resurrection of Jesus that brings hope and possibilities of a better life. Hope and new life is made possible by the love and commitment of Jesus. For that we give Him thanks and praise. I am sure you greatly appreciate a person who demonstrates great commitment. They keep their word. You can depend on them. You know where they stand and what to expect. Such a person has commitment as a Christ like characteristic. Commitment is what makes marriages and families strong. Commitment is what makes companies and organizations succeed. I believe Commitment is necessary for success is a true statement. Easter was the beginning of the Stewardship process for St. Mark. Your support of this process is greatly appreciated. A letter will be distributed at church asking you to provide St. Mark with an Estimate of Giving for August 1, 2016 July 31, 2017 and to review and update the Time and Talent information we have on record. This is being requested for ministry and budget planning purposes. Maybe your thought is nothing has changed so you do not need to provide this information. It is not wise for me and the leaders of St. Mark to make that assumption. Circumstances in life change. The way the Lord is moving in your life changes. The only way we know what is appropriate for planning the upcoming ministry year is if you inform us. This is the process I ask everyone to use to communicate to me and the leadership your commitment to this ministry for 8/1/16 7/31/17. Maybe your thought is that you do not know what you will be able to give as you have little control over what is going to happen in the next year. Are any of us in control of all aspects of life? No. We live by faith. Even while living by faith we are called by God to be good stewards or managers of the gifts the Lord brings our way. So we plan to the best of our abilities with the information we have available. By providing this information you are helping St. Mark plan its ministry work and to organize as a living resurrected body of Christ. Remember this is really about the Lord Jesus Christ and the new life He is working through His people. Pray about what you believe the Lord is leading you to do. The ministry of St. Mark is the work the Lord empowers and leads His people to plan, develop and accomplish in His name. The Lord is at work at St. Mark as we step out in faith with intentionally planned and developed ministry activities. Please pray for the Lord to lead us in our work of Reaching All People with the Good News of God s Love and Salvation through Jesus Christ. As we work together we grow as disciples and reach people for Christ. Your input and support are greatly appreciated. In the Grace of Jesus, Pastor Keith

2 Memorials & Membership changes MEMORIAL: Given to the Unified fund in memory of Paul Krull from Jack & Evelyn Hanes MEMORIAL: Given to the Pew Cushion fund in memory of Esther Greinert from Richard Schreck MEMORIAL: Given to the Pew Cushion fund in memory of Carlton Roberts from James & Carol Rung MEMORIAL: Given to the Front Lawn Sign fund in memory of Paul Janowsky from Judith Janowsky, Brian, Cara, Cole & Audrey Janowsky & Michael, Nicole Jarrett & Kaylin Janowsky TRANSFER: Ellen McCutcheon transferred to St. Paul Lutheran Church Scrip Cards If ordering script, please make sure that you have an updated form. Please do not use an old one as changes were made at Christmas time. You will know that you have a new one if the single Regal tickets have gone up to $10.00 and Kentucky Fried Chicken is no longer available. Study and discussion on Worship Many people have opinions about worship. Others have questions about worship. All are invited to participate in a study and discussion on Worship. Topics include "The God We Worship", "Why We Worship", "The People Who Worship", "The Way of the Church", "Elements of Christian Worship", "Christian Freedom", "God's Will" and "The Bible in Worship". It will begin on Sunday, April 10 at 9:15am in the gym. Save the date Sunday, June 5, 2016 is St. Mark s 125th Anniversary ( )! Dr. Dale Meyer, President at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis will be our guest speaker at our 10:30 a.m. worship service followed by a catered meal and activities. North Tonawanda Food Pantry The North Tonawanda Food Pantry is requesting food donations for people in need. Your contributions are valuable in our community effort to distribute food and other necessary personal items to the less fortunate citizens of our area. Last month we collected 8 boxes of food This month s request is: Canned fruit Please consider bringing items as we continue to reach out to our community. You may drop the items off at the church. Your donations are greatly appreciated!

3 Stamps for Mission Lutheran Women s Missionary League collects cancelled stamps and sends them to a Sister Congregation in Canada, where they are sold for $5.00 a pound. It takes 2001 stamps to make a pound (give or take a few). The $5.00 is used to purchase and send 1 bible to a foreign country in that language. You can see this is a project that goes on and on. It is important that a 1/4 of paper be left around the stamp, since they are sold to stamp collectors. If the whole corner of the envelope could be cut or torn off, the envelope can be opened out to make more margin. You do not have to trim them, just bring them in and put them in the box in the resource room. What a wonderful way to spread God s word! Thank you for all your help. LEGO Club The next Lego Club meeting will be Wednesday, April 20th from 6:00-7:30 p.m. in the church basement for ages 6 and up. Come show off your building skills and learn some very cool stuff! Chicken & Rib BBQ The Chicken and Rib BBQ Fundraiser for our Youth and Family Life Ministries is coming up Saturday, April 2 nd 4-7.p.m. in the Narthex after every service and in the church office We are in great need of Leaders in each area so if you are interested please let Liz know. You don t want to miss this!! *Chicken BBQ: $9.50 Adult/$7.50 Child *Ribs: $15.50 Adult only If you have any questions, please contact Liz Burkett

4 Treasurer report Actual Income was above Budgeted Income and Actual Expenses were below Budgeted Expenses for seven months of the new fiscal year beginning August 1, Feb Budget Feb Actual Envelopes/Simply Giving $132, $136, Special Envelopes 1, , Evangelism (expected in 2016) Family Life Ministries 16, , Miscellaneous Income 23, , Total Income $174, $179, Total Expenses $193, $172, St. Pauly Textile Shed Received $9.35 in March for a YTD total of $ Take your bottles and cans to Bottle Junction at 3050 Niagara Falls Blvd. Just give them our church name when you take your own or please call Marty Held at if you need pick-up at your house. Deb Dexheimer has gift cards for immediate purchase after church services, no waiting. Dunkin Donuts, Little Caesars, Burger King, Panera Bread, Lowe s, Bob Evans, Subway, Time Horton s, and Tops Markets. Young Professionals Group Join us! We meet twice a month: once for an activity event and once for brunch to plan details for the activity events. We have a lot of fun things in store for 2016 and would love to have all year olds join this group, whether you're in town and can participate in-person whenever you have time or are out of town and can participate virtually to stay in touch. If you haven't already joined our Facebook group, visit to join. If you're not on Facebook, you can connect with us at StMarkYP@gmail.com. Connect with us either way to stay up-to-date. We hope to see you at our next event! Dorcas Quilters & Stitchers We are awaiting information for delivering our Lutheran World Relief utilitarian quilts to a Niagara Falls location. Recently we were blessed to get a large donation of quilting fabric from a former quilter in Lockport! Also blessed that some of our members do so much in their homes over and above coming to our quilting sessions... thank you, ladies!! And thanks to Mike Crouch for getting us the boxes needed to pack the quilts! To others interested in our endeavors, please remember that we gather each Thursday at 10:30 in the lower level of the church for two hours. There is always a "spot" for you to help, come and see for yourself!

5 Preschool He is Risen! Alleluia! We have had a lot to celebrate in Preschool! We paraded around the room with Hosannas and now we get to yell Alleluia! We spent March going through the events of Holy Week and now we will spend April talking about the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. It's so fun to see little faces light up when they learn that Jesus is alive! Thank you to all of you who came to Paint Nite! It was a great success! We raised money for Preschool and had a lot of fun as well! In fact, there are already some great new toys in the Preschool room that were purchased with a portion of the fundraiser money. I purchased some new vehicles and some new play kitchen items. They are already a hit! Thank you again for your support! We will be hosting another Open House on April 13th from 6-8pm. Please encourage friends and neighbors with Preschool age children to come check us out! In Christ, Jessica Neuman Preschool Open House Preschool will be hosting an Open House on Wednesday, April 13th from 6-8pm. Mrs. Neuman will be on hand to answer questions about the Preschool program as well as show preschoolers and their families around the room. Women s Ministry of St. Mark The next meeting of the Women s Ministry of St Mark will be on Thursday, April 7. Included in the meetings are reports by the LWML (Lutheran Women s Missionary League), and the Dorcas Quilters. If possible, we hope to see you on that date, and ask you to bring your ideas and support to help us to continue our plans for The Women s Ministry of St. Mark business meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month in the lower hall of the church, with the exception of January and February. The meeting starts at 1:00 pm, but members bring a sandwich, and gather for lunch at 12:30. Dessert and coffee/tea are provided. We are also working on an Events Calendar which will be a listing of dates and times for all of our events. After being approved at our upcoming meeting, they will be available at the Welcome Desk,..so look for them. We are hoping that you will put the dates which interest you on your personal calendars. While we know that many of you cannot attend daytime meetings, the generosity and willingness of so many of those who cannot attend becomes visible whenever we have an event and you step up and help. This is always very welcome. We thank you ALL for your help in doing our Lord s work! Submitted by: Phyllis Phillips, President

6 LWML (Lutheran Women s Missionary League) LWML Eastern District 36 th Biennial Convention will be held at the Holiday Inn, Binghamton, NY on June 10-12, The theme is Take My Hand and Lead Me based on Psalm 25:4-5. Keynote speaker Mrs. Kay Kreklau, LWML Immediate Past President. *Our society here at St. Mark is eligible to submit the names of two voting delegates and two alternates to the convention by April 15, 2016 to the Eastern District. Voting conducted at the Convention will be on Mission Grants, new Officers and Bylaw changes. 1)I distributed some registration forms in mailboxes; and put some on the narthex welcome desk if you need additional forms or did not get one. Please let me know if you plan to attend this Convention and whether you would be interested in being a delegate or alternate. [Or visit LWML eastern district on goggle, choose current events the registration form is there]. The event is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about what LWML does in the local and international community. This event also includes worship, Bible study and fellowship, servant events as listed below to name a few: -Gifts from the Heart are Mothers and Babies a perinatal network dedicated o making change in health outcomes for mothers, infants and families. We will collect Diapers (all sizes), Baby wipes, Diaper Genie Refills, Food, non-perishable, Craft supplies, Cleaning Supplies, Children s Clothing, shoes, boots, coats (newborn to child size 8), Fisher Price Dollhouse furniture/accessories; Barbie and Ken & Doll clothing, monetary donations for New Microwave and New Vacuum. -Mite Walk to raise MITES for Mission Grants, local, regional, national and international to our Eastern District LWML (New York-Pennsylvania-Maryland). Plan to sponsor our walkers. 2) Spring Gathering Saturday, April 30, 2016 at St. Peter (North Ridge), Lockport. Come share the day together under the theme Bread of Life. The day will include a Bible Study with the topic, I Am the Bread of Life based on John 6:35. Pastor Keith and Laurie Bauch will be leading this study. We will have a business meeting, lunch and special guest Chet Fery, otherwise known as the Breadman in Rochester, NY will entertain and inspire us with his presentation on Bread Time Stories and More. He will overview his Free Bread project and share many experiences. Word on the street is that there may be loaves of bread and/or samples to share that day. For this we need an accurate count of registrants for that day. Please RSVP to me ASAP so we can provide Barb Williams, Niagara Zone President by April 15, 2016.

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