Ma ra n a t h a E va n ge li c a l Fr e e Ch u rc h August Upcoming Events A u gu s t 2 0 1 2 Learning About Jesus in the Rainforest at Maranatha s VBS Sunday Worship Times: 8:00, 9:25, and 11:00 AM in the sanctuary Awakening at 10:30 AM in the Soul Garage August 5 Sunday, Wedding Shower/Potluck for Cheyenne Clark & Luke Neraason. All church potluck in the fellowship hall at 12:30 PM August 6 Monday Night Prayer for all church attendees at 6:30 PM in the conference room by the offices at Maranatha. August 7-8, Tuesday & Wednesday, Maranatha s Annual Red Cross Blood Drive. Tuesday, 12:30-6:30 PM, Wednesday, 8:00 AM-1:00 PM. Donors needed, please contact Linda Barta at 715-458-2321. August 15 Wednesday, Young at Heart will meet at church at 5:30 PM for a light dinner then go to North Star Theater at 7:00 PM to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. Please RSVP on the bulletin board inside the fellowship hall or on the Blue Sheets in the bulletin so we may secure your tickets. Contact Lee & Shelby Wohlk at 715-458-2925. August 15 Wednesday, Youth Bonfire at Abraham s. Contact Pastor Tony for more information (tony@maranathafree.com) August 19 Sunday, Annual Baptism Service and AllCongregation potluck at 12:30 PM at Silver Lake. August 22 Wednesday, Pie with the Pastors in the Soul Garage at 7:00 PM August 26 Sunday, Hymn Sing at 6:00 PM in Maranatha Sanctuary with refreshments to follow. Pictures courtesy of Ginny Proffitt and Stacey Wenzel The children were delighted to accept Pastor Tony s bring your friends challenge and the consequences were whip cream and water balloons for him. He was not the only one who got wet & sticky!
I love Maranatha. God has been good to Maranatha and has blessed this body. Maranatha recently had its Annual Church Business meeting. It was a reminder of God s goodness and provision. I personally thank God for the influence and effect Maranatha has in my life and in the life of this community and communities around our region, nation, and around the world. This influence is produced by the many ministries of Maranatha. Let me share how some of them affect the life of my family. My wife and I attend service at Maranatha each Sunday. We are greeted at the door by a greeter. The greeter is from our Usher/Greeter Ministry. These people take time to open the doors and welcome people as they enter our church. In the lobby we stop at the Connecting Point. Here are volunteers from the Connecting Ministry, who are able to help us find sign-up sheets and flyers for different upcoming events. We head down the hall and drop off our daughter Kate at the church nursery. Volunteers from the Children s Nursery Ministry are waiting to hold, feed, change, and play with our daughter so that we can attend a service and be able to concentrate on the worship and message. As we wait in the hall to check Kate in, we see the missionary board. We are reminded of the Missions Ministry who communicates with our missionaries, prepares a budget for mission support with a portion of your tithes and offerings as well as supports them with prayer. We also see down the hall a class meeting in the Conference Room and are reminded of the many Bible studies, support groups, men s and women s groups that meet throughout the week at Maranatha. We then walk through the Fellowship Hall. Here the Hospitality Ministry and their volunteers have laid out a table of donuts and treats, along with juice and coffee. People are mingling and enjoying each other s company and fellowshipping with each other. We grab a donut. We walk our son Cole over to the Ministry Center. Again volunteers from the Children s Ministry greet us and check Cole in. As we pass classroom after classroom, we see volunteer teachers and helpers, singers, musicians and puppeteers there to give our son a meaningful learning experience about God and His love. Before leaving we see people heading into the Soul Garage for the Awakening Service again another group of volunteers giving of their time to serve our body. We head back over to the church to enter the worship service. Before entering the sanctuary, we are giving a church bulletin, Carmen our church secretary and her team have typed, copied, and folded all the bulletins. We find a seat and the service begins. Early that morning, musicians and singers have shown up to practice a second time this week, the songs that we will sing in worship. These volunteers will sing and play for all three services. It is a five hour commitment of time for the Worship Arts Ministry. Someone has taken the time to type all the words to show up on the screen in front of us the words to the songs we will sing. Members of the Technical Team are there running the sound and visual equipment. The ushers collect our offerings and the Financial Team counts it and records it. We sit back and are able to hear God s message given to us by Pastor Dan. We are thankful for Maranatha and its ministries. Obviously not every ministry has been mentioned. There are prayer teams praying for our church, janitors keeping restrooms and floors clean, people who visit the sick and elderly, just to name a few.
As a member of the Elder Board and on behalf of the Elder Board, I would publically like to thank all the ministry teams who volunteer to serve our church body and beyond. I would like to thank them for prayerfully considering their ministries and asking God for vision for the coming year. The ministry teams put together ministry budgets based on the vision that God gave them. At the Annual Church Business meeting in July, those visions were presented in reports and a budget was adopted to support those ministries and the vision God has placed on their hearts. I desire that you each prayerfully consider how you can support the ministries of Maranatha. Is it through volunteering your time and talents? Is it through faithful prayer? Is it through giving of your money to further the cause of Christ? We are one body, but we are made up of many parts. Each part works together for the glory of God. If you have been blessed by one of the ministries of Maranatha, consider how you can give that blessing back. Jay Proffitt Watching Them Grow Community Gardens in June June 2012 August 2012 Community Gardens in August Community Gardens first fruits are being donated to food pantries in Barron County and to the Benjamin House Homeless Shelter. We want to thank Lee Wohlk, Paul Hodge and the rest of the team for their hard work.
Playing Like Champions Rice Lake Division III Men s Softball League doesn t know what hit them. Maranatha s team, made up of (front row, L R, Pastor Tony Nord, Josh Hultman, Matt Shilts, Lee Heinecke, Tom Heinecke, and back row, (L-R) Andre Abraham, Gib Salm, Josh Tomsovic, Bob Lindner, Pastor Paul Green, Jim Johnson, and Craig Severud finished their season with a 12-1 record. Playoffs were July 31 and August 1st. Our guys now have a plaque and trophy to show for their team effort. Thank you, fans, for all who showed up to support them each week.
Support in Time of Need Members of Maranatha gathered together to provide a benefit dinner to help raise funds to support the Steve Edward s family. Harold & Marilyn (Steve s parent s) and Mark (brother) & Chris Edwards were on hand to see love in action. Over $5,000 was raised to help Steve s family. (Pictures courtesy of Glen Wegner and Cliff & Dube Culver.) But God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me! Psalm 66:19-20 Congregational Care - Prayer Concerns Please include these people in your prayers: Don Swan, Don Frolik, Marv Oftedahl, Stan Oftedahl, Darlene Strohmeyer, Ray Caldwell, Don Murley, Pat Swanson, Amy Pavick, Rod Flohr, Gerry Ehmke, Marjie Peterson s husband Lynn, Paul Green s step-brother Tom, Esther Swan s brother David, Patti Aune s sister Betty, Kathy Johnson s mother Irene Vaughn, Fran Reich s children, Julie Erickson s brother Jason, Lillian Bjugstad s son Mark, Elfriede Harwart s children, Eva Condon s daughters, Connie Blix s family, Larry Hawley s sisters, Don & Bernadette Park s son Bruce, Harold & Marilyn Edward s son Steve, Keven Jensen s cousin Rob, Vicky Heldt s friend Brenda Espeseth, Sandy Hodge s sister Jo & friend Ann, McClain s daughter-in-law Sandy, Leah Margan s niece Leanna, Rich Robinson s cousin Stephanie, Joan Neidermire s friend Tami Erickson, Kathy Wasmond, Mary Graese s friend Leah, Yvonne Hansen s friend Sue, Laura Hill s friends Ardis & Shannon, Leslie Jaastad s friend Dee, Candace Randall s friend Anita, & Carol Montgomery s brother Ronnie. Serving in the military: Dave & Darlene Strohmeyer s daughter Dawn, Steve Blihovde s son Grant, and Keven Jensen s nephew Jordan are serving in Afghanistan. Praises: Children & parents from our VBS have raised support for 822 children to receive year-round Christian curriculum. Praise the Lord for good attendance and all the volunteers and children who participated in VBS! Worship Arts Pastor Anthony and wife Andrea Hubin have joined us at Maranatha. May the Lord bless their time here.
August 2012 Maranatha Evangelical Free Church 3340 S. Main Street Rice Lake, WI 54868 Phone: 715-234-8313 mefc@chibardun.net We re on the Web! www.maranathafree.com August Announcements Our church Is powered by prayer Please join us Monday, August 6th at 6:30 PM for Monday Night Prayer in the new conference room by the church offices.. Bring requests and pray. Wedding Shower/all-church Potluck for Cheyenne Clark & Luke Neraason on August 5th, Sunday, in the fellowship hall at 12:30 PM with wedding shower following. Families with last names beginning with the letters a-h please bring a hot dish to pass, I-P bring vegetables, salads or fruit, and Q-Z bring condiments (chips, dips) or Desserts. Chey & Luke are registered at Target but are also looking for support to return as missionaries to Thailand for a longer term visit to believers there. For further information, contact Renee Abraham at 715-651-6855. MARANATHA BLOOD DRIVE TUESDAY, August 7th, 12:30 6:30 PM and Wednesday, August 8th, 8:00 AM-1:00 PM. Volunteers needed, so please sign up on the sheets at the connecting point for set-up, take-down, greeting, or if you can bring bars, cookies, or muffins. For appointments to give blood, contact Linda Barta at 715-458-2321. Young at Heart will go to a local theater one evening this month. Please check Sunday bulletins or the bulletin board inside the fellowship hall for details. For questions, Contact Lee & Shelby Wohlk at 715-458-2925. Fall Women's Bible Study: "A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place" by Beth Moore, starts Thursday morning, September 13. Sign up at the Connecting Point to reserve your workbook.. This study of the book of Exodus has been recently updated with new video and member book. Contact Mary Holmes, 715-418-9761 with questions. Pie with the Pastors for new attendees (those who have started attending church here in the past 6-9 months) is Wednesday, August 22nd at 7:00 PM in the Soul Garage. Come meet the pastors and have the opportunity to ask questions about Maranatha. Please RSVP at 715-234-8313 or on the back of the Blue Sheet in Sunday s bulletin if you have not already done so. Maranatha Hymn Sing Join us at Maranatha on Sunday, August 26th at 6:00 PM to sing hymns and meet Pastor Anthony Hubin and his wife Andrea. Refreshments will follow in the fellowship hall. remember our Missionaries Visit our website: www.maranathafree.com and click on the link for MINISTRIES which will take you to where you can click on missions. Monthly updated prayer requests will be posted there. If you do not have access to the internet, please pick up a copy of the Missionary Prayer Sheet from the Connecting Point (desk) in the Welcome Center Lobby) each month as we update it. Please remember our new summer Service Times : Sunday services in the Sanctuary at 8:00 AM, 9:25 AM and 11:00 AM, with Children s Sunday Program at the ministry Center from 9:25AM-10:25 AM.. Nursery is available for infants through 36 months in the main church for all services. Awakening Service times are 10:30 AM Sunday Mornings in the Soul Garage.