Church Newsletter Issue #3 March 2016

From the Desk of Pastor Travis Fellow Missionaries in Jesus, Have you ever stopped to think about Easter? To really think about it? The last Sunday of this month we will once again celebrate the joyous resurrection of our Savior from the dead, and in so doing we celebrate our resurrection as well. You see, Easter truly is the pinnacle of the church year. The whole liturgical year, the seasons we celebrate such as Advent and Lent, and all the rest of them are based upon Easter and the day it is celebrated. In fact, the church year itself is really a journey through the prophecy, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Easter truly sets the tone of the whole year. As St. Paul boldly states, if Christ, who once was dead not burst His three-day prison, our faith would be in vain! So true- so very, very true. The fact is our whole faith, including the crucifixion of our Savior would be all for naught if Jesus had never been raised! It is in His resurrection, His victory over death and the grave, where we find the final guarantee, the seal of God s promise that we will live forever! In this light, we as Christians now celebrate Easter each and every Sunday! That s truly what Sundays are- mini Easters. Every time you and I Church Newsletter Issue #3 March 2016 gather together we do it in the light that shines forth from an empty tomb where Jesus once was laid. For this reason, we worship as victors- victors over sin, over death, and over the devil. As Jesus came forth in life He gave us His victory. Martin Luther calls the crucifixion of Jesus a joyful exchange. For there Christ took on our sinfulness and in exchange gave us His righteousness, His perfection! I like to think of the resurrection as the miraculous rebirth! What do I mean by that? For that, let s take a look at Baptism. Once again, St. Paul points out to us that in baptism we die and are buried with Christ is in His death- here the joyful exchange happens as we meet Jesus in His death. We also know that when we rise from the waters of Baptism we are raised to new life in Jesus just as He was resurrected from the dead. So in this miraculous rebirth we are made an entirely new creation in Christ: the old has gone away and the new has come! In baptism as we enter death and rebirth with Jesus our old Adam, our old sinful nature is as good as dead (notice I said as good as dead! Think of it this way- try swimming across a river with the weight of a dead body wrapped around your waist. You can do it, but it s hard, it wears you out and sometimes you stop to rest thinking you ll never get to the other side. So too in life! Our old sinful nature still clings to us with its weight. It is no longer powerful over us, just a burden we bear that every so often seeks to pull us under. But Jesus living within us gives us the strength and endurance through forgiveness and life to carry on!) As we come out of Baptism we truly have a new life- one that is covered with, immersed in, and lives through and in Jesus Christ Himself. So, as we once again celebrate Easter, as we journey then from Easter and once again through the life of Jesus in our church year, our focus now has changed. For this journey is one of greatest importance, life giving News! For each and every Sunday, in fact every time we worship- including and most certainly funerals- we do so in the light, peace, joy, and life that Jesus imparts to us because the women found an empty tomb on that very first Easter morning. In light of this I want to shout ALLELUIA! BUT, that will have to wait until we worship together on Easter morning! Jesus loves you and so do I! In the shadow of the cross, Pastor Travis

2 Thank you to all of those who made a contribution to this campaign. We praise God for His goodness and thank Him for the $76,140 received in donations through Feb. 21 from 36 families in the congregation. Our current remaining balance on our loan is $55,172.96. Celebrating Our Past Rejoicing in Our Future Debt Elimination Campaign Update by Carol Boehnke Our goal is to pay off our mortgage so that we can free up monies in our 2016 Operating Budget to be used for new ways to serve and minister to our community. We have some exciting news about this campaign that will be shared at the upcoming Voter s meeting, which will be held on Sunday, March 13 th after worship. Please note: the figures in this article are prior to Sunday, February 28 s offering collection. Additional funds were received on that day which are not included in this total. If you are looking for a fun way to serve Christ Lutheran, be outdoors, and free up significant $$$$$$ for the Church s other missions, join those faithful servants who keep our Church grounds looking good. We need some new members to replace those who have had to retire for health reasons or have moved away. We are organized into teams of four to five people per Coming April 2: Christ Lutheran Restoration Festival! Watch for more details in the bulletin as it gets closer. team. In the past, we have Join the Team by Ken Harvell had four to five teams which means that you would be committing only a few hours once a month. Each team takes a week and you can work anytime that week that fits your schedule. We have had women as well as men on the teams. If you are on vacation, the other team members take care of that week. We have accomplished a lot over the winter. The trees and bushes are trimmed, so the main tasks will be mowing and edging. If you like speed, our commercial grade, zero turn radius, SCAG mower makes covering the ground fast and easy. For those who prefer a more traditional riding mower, we have a John Deere. If mowing is not your thing, there are other lawn care tasks that are needed. The way we maintain our property lets the public know that we care about our church. To join CLC s Mowing Ministry or if you have any questions contact me (817) 504-1345 or talk to me at church.

The High School Youth Update 1 Corinthians 1:4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. (NIV) 3 THANK YOU! On behalf of the youth and their families, thank you all for your wonderful support! We enjoyed the Valentine's Day Dinner at Christino's Bistro and trying all the chili at the Chili Cook-off. Both were great successes thanks to our wonderful and generous congregation! The youth will continue to serve and clean up at the Lent Dinners and provide the Easter Breakfast in the coming weeks. As part of our fundraising efforts, we also track money earned by our youth for work outside of church functions that will go towards their trip costs. Since we experienced a relatively mild winter, outdoor chores and spring cleaning are quickly approaching. If you have a job around the house (lawn care, weeding, etc.) or you need a babysitter or maybe a house sitter while on vacation, please consider hiring one or more of our youth to help out. Of course, we will have to consider each job and the abilities of our youth, but there have been many successful home projects in the past handled by our youth to help them pay for trips. If you have a chore or a need and would like to consider the youth, please bring your request to the Pedersens. We will try to match jobs by youth need, availability and talent. Be prepared that we may not have someone available or capable to handle your request, but allow us the opportunity to determine if it is feasible and to see if we can provide a youth/family an opportunity to assist in deferring their costs. National Youth Gathering will be in New Orleans July 16-20, 2016. The theme is "In Christ Alone We Stand: Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Scripture Alone." Jennifer Probst reflects on the Nancy Harvell Trevor Baker 19 20 theme and the Lenten Season: "Although our Lenten worship is more focused on the passion of Christ, we know the story Edmund Auger III 21 does not end with the cross but leads to the empty tomb. All of the sin that is a part of our lives and this world finds its release in the resurrection of Jesus. We live in confidence that Christ has conquered everything. We can stand because of Christ alone! The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Tom Wilson Jr. Alexandra Dunn Garrett Ferguson 22 23 25 Christ shape our lives. When this Lenten season is ends, the journey from cradle to cross moves heavenward. The hope of the resurrection points to Christ s ascension. Like the disciples, we look to God s Word and anticipate Christ s glorious return. This is what we will celebrate at the 2016 Youth Gathering." We are honored to guide our high school youth through this experience. - Matt & Melanie Pedersen March Birthdays Roger Duescher 01 William Dou 02 Krista Gehlhausen 02 Susan Staples 02 David Martin 06 Clement Candelaria 08 Robert Walters 10 Jeff Fossmeyer 11 EJ Auger 14 Elgie Johnston 17

4 MARK YOUR CALENDAR! Worship Every Sunday 9:30 Sunday School & Every Sunday 10:45 am Adult Bible Class Men s Breakfast Every Wednesday 7:00 am at Rise and Shine Women s Bible Study Every Wednesday 9:30 am Choir Rehearsal Every Wednesday 6:00 pm Barnabas House Every Mon, Wed, Fri 11:30 am Braille Workers Tuesday, March 1 8:30 am at St. Paul s Lenten Supper Wednesday, March 2 6:15 pm Lenten Worship Wednesday, March 2 7:00 pm Men s Network Saturday, March 5 7:30 am Restorative Exercise Tuesday, March 8 9:00 am Senior Luncheon Tuesday, March 8 11:30 am Lenten Supper Wednesday, March 9 6:15 pm Lenten Worship Wednesday, March 9 7:00 pm Voter s Meeting Sunday, March 13 After worship Elders Meeting Tuesday, March 15 7:00 pm Lenten Supper Wednesday, March 16 6:15 pm Lenten Worship Wednesday, March 16 7:00 pm Restorative Exercise Tuesday, March 22 9:00 am MMB Meeting Tuesday, March 22 7:00 pm Maundy Thursday Worsh Thursday, March 24 7:00 pm Good Friday Worship Friday, March 25 7:00 pm Easter Celebration Sunday, March 27 Various see next page for details

5 Easter 2016 is March 27!!! Order your Easter Lily by March 20 th the cost is $9.00 payable to CLC Easter Sunday at Christ Lutheran 7:00 am Sunrise worship in the Peace Garden Easter Breakfast in the gym between services (this is a youth fundraiser, serving breakfast casseroles and fruit) 10:00 am Worship in the Sanctuary Easter egg hunts for children following service Please bring candy to donate for the church Easter egg hunt as well as for Neighborhood Needs.

6 THE BIG RABBIT As you walked in you may have seen a large rabbit, and wondered, Why?! If you have been coming to Christ Lutheran for more than 18 months you may have remembered it was Lent and Baxter has come out of hibernation. If you are not familiar with Baxter, let me introduce you to him and Why. Baxter collects your gifts to support the Youth Ministry of our congregation. He is part of the Church Extension Fund (CEF) Ministry of our church and all gifts collected go to the Youth portion of our congregation. These Gifts provide us with resources to offer a starter CEF Stamp book to all new born or baptized children in our congregation. Stamps are offered in recognition for Confirmation. We also place stamps inside Easter Eggs for the Children s Easter Egg Hunt each year. Your support of pocket change or some silent folding currency (dollars), will insure the continued Youth Support with CEF. FROM THE PRESIDENT Spring.A time of year when landscapes come alive and grow. A few weeks ago we had temperatures in the 80 s and people were outside enjoying the nice weather. But now it changed back to a hint of winter. How many times a week do we check the TV or radio station for a weather report as to what we should wear or how to prepare ourselves for the day. We then find out the next day the reports were wrong. How frustrating.who can we trust? A lot of us read the word of the Lord to get us through the day. This good news is true and we can trust the word today, tomorrow and forever. We have the assurance of eternal salvation. With the upcoming celebration of the resurrection of our Lord, this is such great news that we can be assured is true and will happen. Please join us in preparing for this great celebration, not only on Wednesday evenings but also Holy Week which includes Maundy Thursday, March 24 th, Good Friday service, Friday 25 th. On Easter Sunday, March 27 th, we will have two services, which includes Sunrise service at 7:00 am and Celebration Service at 10:00 am. Gary Markgraf Please remember. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3: 5-6

ALTAR GUILD March: El Ortiz & Kate Kolman April: Trish Houchin, Shirley Peper, and Jean Markgraf SUMMER CAMP FOR AGES 8-14 Camp Shiloh in Pittsburg, TX June 12-17, 2016 Transportation provided Applications are available in the church office. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Jean Markgraf. We will get the greatest discount if we enroll our church group by March 14 th, so register soon! NEIGHBORHOOD NEEDS Thank you for supporting our Neighborhood Needs mission. Last month we collected cereal, peanut butter and jelly - it was very successful. For the month of March we are collecting all things baby...baby food, baby cereal, diapers, clothes, etc. Please continue to support Neighborhood Needs with your donations and your prayers. Also, if you are able to do so, please bring Easter candy for Neighborhood Needs. I know that we are collecting for the Easter Egg Hunt at church too, but with our awesome God and congregation, we should have no problems coming up with more than enough for both events. Please make sure to place the Neighborhood Need candy in the cabinets in the fellowship hall. Again - thank you all for your generosity and love for our neighbors. 7 Dear Church Family, My family and I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your many kindnesses. Thank you for all the food, calls, visits, prayers and cards. John loved you and I know he is grateful too. Let us rejoice in the knowledge that our beloved Savior has redeemed us and we will be reunited in heaven. In His Service, Sharon Coulborn How to get the word out All newsletter submissions for April need to be in to Stephanie Pittock (stephaniep@christfortworth.com) by Tuesday, March 29. Announcements on the screens are put together by Stephanie as well. Info must be in by noon each Thursday to be included in Sunday s slides. For announcements that are printed in the bulletin, please submit to Chris Larkin (office@christfortworth.com) by noon on Wednesdays to ensure time for printing.

8 In This Issue Birthdays page 3 Calendar events page 4 Debt Elimination Campaign Update page 2 Easter Sunday page 5 High School Youth Update page 3 Church Newsletter Issue #3 March 2016 Letters from Pastor page 1 Congregational President page 6 CEF Rep page 6 Mowing Teams page 2