APRIL 2017 NEWSLETTER Lutheran Church of Our Savior But be doers of the word, and not hearers only. James 1:22a Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, In a little over a week, we will gathering to celebrate the most important event in all of history: Our Lord s victory over sin and death at His resurrection. This Word of promise enters our soul and grants us eternal life by creating and sustaining our faith in Jesus. We are a new creation, purchased and won from sin, death and Satan by Jesus precious blood, shed for us on the cross of Calvary. What difference does that make in your life? You have been granted a place in the family of God; Jesus is your Brother and Savior. Would your life be any different if you did not have that truth in your life? Is your life outwardly any different than your unchurched neighbor? All too often the obligations and pleasures of this world distract us from the calling of our Lord. In His great commission, delivered moments before His ascension, Jesus called us to go out into all the world, preaching the Gospel and making disciples by baptizing and teaching. The original Greek strongly suggests that this making of disciples happens as we go into the world. In other words, the whole reason we are in the world is to make disciples! Whatever your vocation is, whether inside the home or out, it is the means by which we spread the Word of God. St. James explains how this is accomplished in the first several chapters of his epistle. It is not a matter of standing on a street corner and screaming out Jesus loves you. It usually does not even begin with any words at all. St. James writes, If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (James 2:15-16 NKJ) With these words, he is showing that we are called to care for both the body and soul of those around us. Witnessing the love of Jesus begins by helping your neighbor with his physical needs. As we show him Christ s love in such a manner, our Lord will open up opportunities for you to share your faith and defend the hope that is in you, (1 3:15) This task can seem daunting. It requires putting yourself out there. Two promises of our Lord help us in this endeavor. First, salvation is already ours. No matter the outcome of our actions, Jesus has won for us a place in heaven by His death and resurrection. Second, Jesus will use our efforts to bring about good, whether we see them as good or bad. He has sent the Holy Spirit into our lives to lead and guide us in this endeavor. St. James calls us to be hearers and doers of word. We hear the Word of God as we gather for the Divine Service, which leads us to be doers of the Word in our daily lives. The question may remain, What exactly should I do? I encourage to ask others to find out. Ask those in your neighborhood and work place, What can our congregation do to help you out? Some answers may be a pie in the sky, but others could lead to ideas for our congregation to share Jesus love in our community, state, and nation. In Christ, Pastor Sabol
LYDIA CIRCLE Lydia Circle will meet on Tues. April 11th at 9:30am at the church. Janet Schonrock is our hostess.the Bible Study will be More Precious Than Silver on pg. 20 in the Spring quarterly. LWML SPRING EVENT The LWML Blue Earth Zone Spring Event will be held on Tues. April 18 th at St. Paul s Lutheran in Blue Earth. Registration and a light supper will be at 5:00pm followed by a program at 6:00pm. The theme is Adopted By Grace and the speaker will be Marlys Ubben from Horizons Adoption Agency. Gifts from the Heart will be for the Adoption Agency. Check the poster on the Bulletin Board for more information and a list of the items they need. THANK YOU LWML! We want to thank the LWML for their recent donations. They gave $500.00 to the General Fund, $100 to Coins for Christ and $375.50 to the Carpet Fund. We appreciate all they do for our church EASTER BREAKFAST We will be having an Easter breakfast after the 6:30 am Sunrise Service on April 16 th. We need a few more servers and kitchen help. Please sign up if you are able to help. ELECTRONIC GIVING Electronic giving is a way to automate your regular weekly offering. This offers members the convenience of simplifying their giving and provides much-needed donation consistency for the congregation especially during the summer months. Direct giving through the Simply Giving program transfers funds from your checking or savings account to the church s bank account. Also available is giving by the use of a credit or debit card. If you are interested in signing up for this program contact Don Selvig for a registration form. CALLING ALL MUSICIANS! The Church Structure Committee met and discussed ideas for contemporary worship. We would like to have a small group of musicians to lead the music. Do you like to sing? Do you play an instrument? If this is something you would like to participate in, please talk to Jeremiah Schutt or Annette Jenkins soon. We will follow up with a meeting to discuss what your commitment would be. We welcome your ideas. LUTHERAN CHURCH FUNFEST SUPPER Our Savior s will be serving a Supper and Pie and Ice Cream Social on Friday, June 16 th at our church as part of the Funfest activities. This could be a really good fundraiser for us, as there are many events going on that evening in town. A chairman, co- chairman and planning committee are needed. Any member; women and men, can help! A sign up sheet is on the bulletin board. Please consider how you can help plan and carry out this event so it is successful. FAMILY NIGHT Everyone is invited to attend our first Family Night on Wed. April 26 th from 5:30-7:30pm. This is a time for us to gather for food, fellowship and fun! All ages are welcome. A light supper of brats, hotdogs, salads, and bars will be served from 5:30-6:30 followed by a variety of games to be played by all. There is no charge for the meal. A NOTE FROM THE SECRETARY I would like to thank the congregation and the council for allowing me to be the secretary for the past 3 years. Due to obligations at my job as Music Instructor at Genesis, I no longer have the time it takes to effectively do the secretary duties. Beginning April 1st, Dalene Annen will be filling in until a person is hired for the long term. I have enjoyed working at the office and have learned a lot in this position. - Annette Jenkins LOOKING AHEAD TO MAY Recognition Sunday will be May, 7th. We will honor our confirmands and graduates with a reception after the worship service in the Fellowship Hall. Our confirmands are Kylie Johnson & Danniel Gleason. Our graduates are Ethan Hurn, Dylan Herfindahl, Chris Jenkins, Chandler Pettit and Dalton Potter. All members are invited to join us for fellowship and to congratulate these young members in their milestones. THRIVENT ACTION TEAMS Thrivent Financial benefit members are eligible to sponsor 2 action team events per year. These events can be a service project, fundraiser, or educational activity. Application can be done online. Approved events will receive $250 of funding to go towards the project. To learn more go to Thrivent.Com/Livegenerously or contact Don Selvig. If any member has not sponsored an event this year, would you consider sponsoring our church supper during Funfest in June? If so, please contact Don Selvig. MARCH HAPPENINGS CONGRATULATIONS to Caden Ochsendorf for qualifying for the State Wrestling Tournament! Caden is the son of Terry and Naomi. He joined 4 other BEA wrestlers and competed at state March 3 rd and 4 th. Ryan Sabol traveled to Chicago with the Mankato Children's Chorus. While there, this chorus joined other choirs from around the country to perform 8 pieces of music as a mass choir. They performed at Chicago's Symphony Hall on Saturday, March 18th. Meredith Jenkins, daughter of Greg and Annette, is a member of the Chamber Singers at USD. In March, the choir went on tour performing at high schools and churches in Iowa and Illinois. The theme of their concert was The Circle of Life If you have any events that you would like to share in future newsletters, please let the office know.
Judy Golly April 2 Bentley Schrader April 3 Yvonne Hanks April 5 Abigail Berndt April 7 Linda Evenson April 7 Madeline Jenkins April 7 David Jordan April 7 Kathie Meinert April 8 John Nowak April 8 Nicole Gleason April 9 Evallee Evenson April 11 Rick Gilreath April 11 Gary Bell April 14 Makenzie Jenkins April 14 Everett Pettit April 15 Deloras Schutt April 15 Kylie Southworth April 15 Helena Theuer April 15 Dustin Anderson April 18 Gwen Skjervold April 18 Carter Langford April 20 Ronald Schenk April 22 Matthew Hoppe April 26 Eric Pederson April 26 Dustin Pettit April 26 Adam Wiederhoeft April 26 Matt Johnson April 29 LuAnn Lepp April 29 2017 Lent & Holy Week Schedule All services at Our Savior unless noted with SP for St., Easton April 5 Wed 7pm April 9 Sun 10am April 13 Thurs 7pm April 14 Fri 5:30pm April 14 Fri 7:30pm April 15 Sat 5:30pm Congratulations to Colby and Shannon Swanson on the birth of their daughter, Lindsey Adele! Lindsey arrived on Sat., March 11, 2017. We welcome Kody Matthew Schonrock, son of Matt & Kristi Schonrock, to our church family! Kody was baptized on March 5, 2017. Kody s sponsors are Brad & Jamie Anthony. Vespers w/ Questioning of Confirmands Palm Sunday and the Rite of Confirmation Maundy Thursday Good Friday Tennebrae Service (SP) Good Friday Tennebrae Service Easter Vigil w/ Communion April 16 Sun 6:30 am Easter Sunrise Service w/ the Lord s Supper April 16 Sun 8:30 am Easter Festive Service w/ the Lord s Supper (SP) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Pat & Clem Burkett April 2 Dick & Mavis Royer April 11 Randy & Patti Nowak April 27
Recap of Council Meeting, March 22, 2017 Meeting was called to order by Chairman, Herb Pederson. Eleven council members were present. Pastor Sabol gave the opening prayer. Secretary s minutes of February 15, 2017 were approved. Treasurer, Kim Wendt, presented expenses and checking account balance from February 22 thru March 22, 2017. This is the first time in several months that we have had a positive balance. Thank you congregation members for responding to our needs. Financial Secretary, Don Selvig, presented his report. Don stated that we have received to date $560 for the Genesis Classical Academy Mission of the Month fund. He also reported that there have been some enrolments into the Simply Giving program. Don will be mailing out the weekly church contribution envelopes and 2016 contribution receipt summary to members that have not picked them up. Trustees are still working on bids to solve the parsonage basement seepage problem. Jeremiah Schutt reported that we have a sewer pipe leaking at the parsonage. The estimated cost of repair is $300-$500. Council approved a motion to get this repaired as soon as possible. Deacons: No report to council at this time. Board of Education: Members were in attendance at a Youth Committee meeting being held at the same time as the council meeting. Pastor s Comments: Pastor outlined confirmation service schedule. He asked for council approval for him to teach a class at Martin Luther High School during the next school year. The class is 12 weeks long from 8am to 9am. He will return to Winnebago by 9:30am. Council approved. New Business: A letter of resignation from Annette Jenkins, Church Secretary, was presented to the council. Her resignation will be effective March 31 st. Annette will be increasing her teaching duties at Genesis Classical Academy and will not be able to spend the time necessary to do the secretarial work at our church. Resignation was accepted. We thank Annette for her faithful service the past three years. Pastor will be seeking some interim help for the next few weeks and determine what we want to do in the future to fill this position. Council voted to establish an Outreach Committee. We need to create a We Care attitude with all of our members. We will start by visiting members that we haven t seen on a regular basis. If there is a problem we want to fix it. Michael and Rose White will be taking on this responsibility. If you have information that could help them in this endeavor contact them or Pastor. Council approved a request from Aiden Murphey for a scholarship to attend Camp Omega in June. Funds are provided by the Arlo Malherek Scholarship Fund. Students will be awarded a scholarship for one half of the tuition to Camp Omega. Aiden will receive $70. We encourage students of our congregation that wish to attend Camp Omega this summer to send a written request to the council. You may also give the request to Pastor. I gave an update on our Move Forward program. The four committees (Structure, Communication, Youth and Finance) have all had at least one meeting and are working on items to reach our goal of Moving Forward. Steve Schonrock reported on plans being made for a Family Night event on Wednesday, April 26 and Wednesday, May 24. Watch for more information. Steve reported on the Youth Group meeting/board of Education that was going on the same time as our council meeting. Plans were being made for changes to our Sunday school program that they feel will improve Sunday school attendance. These changes will redesign the Sunday school program structure by being more appealing to the students, parents and teachers. Upon completion of this plan and approved by council and Pastor more information will follow. The goal is to have this in place by this fall. Several plans are going to be looked at by the Youth committee. All committees are open to all members of the congregation. Feel free to participate at any time. Our Move Forward program has had great congregation interest and support since our initial meeting on February 22. We received several ideas on how to improve and meet the needs of our congregation. We plan to approach these suggestions with open minds, open discussions and welcome everyone to continue with suggestions and willingness to help us implement them. We will continue to inform you of our progress. Thank you for your support. Pray for our congregation. Council meeting closed with The Lord s Prayer.
Treasurer s Report : Feb. 15, 2017 Checking Account #300-564 (bldg maintenance) $ 7,635.54 Checking Account #300-556 (general) $ 9,194.89 EXPENSES FROM 02/16/17 Through 03/22/2017 Pastor Sabol (salary) 3,500.00 Pastor Sabol (mileage) 362.05 Waddell & Reed (This is actually Pastor s Personal 300.00 contribution to IRA Deducted from his base salary) Health Savings Account ($200 is pastor s personal 450.00 Contribution deducted from his base salary) Concordia Health Ins/Retirement 2,223.50 City of Winnebago 154.92 BevComm 83.23 CenterPoint 370.22 Benco Electric 297.00 Organists 245.65 Janitor 392.49 Secretary 207.79 One Office Solution (copy paper) 54.47 Concordia Publishing 147.49 KBEW 10.40 Our Savior s Lutheran Financial Secretary s Report February 2017 General Fund - Wk 1 1577.00 Wk 2 1357.37 Wk 3 4236.00 Wk 4 2316.00 TOTAL $9,486.37 LCEF Transfer 3250.00 St. 1792.43 Missions : General 120.00 Backpack Program 10.00 Youth for Christ 65.00 Building Maintenance Fund 278.90 Martin Luther High School 35.00 Fellowship Time 35.00 Transfer from Gunderson Endowment 910.00 for 2016 education expenses TOTAL $16,020.70 First Financial Bank Accounts: Passbook $ 7173.37 Parsonage Escrow 4,092.53 Coins for Christ 129.72 TOTAL $11,395.62 Good News Bookstore 19.99 Roerig Hardware 58.98 Post Office 19.60 Pastor Sabol (batteries) 16.82 ** Winnebago Backpack program 15.00 (add l door offering) **Youth for Christ-Blue Earth (door offering) 65.00 TOTAL EXPENSES $8,914.60
~ April 2017 ~ Ushers: Don Selvig M/M Dale Wiederhoeft Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat M/M Ron Howe Deacons: Karl Grubbs-Sat Ron Howe Bob Meinert Altar Guild: Vickie Wiederhoeft 1 Acolyte Kylie J 2 Danniel G Holy Communion 10a Divine Service 9 Kean H 10a Confirmation 3 10 4 5 Bailey A 10a St Luke's Chapel 4p OS Confirmation Class 5:30p SP Confirmation Class 7p Lent Vespers 8p Deacons 11 9:30a Lydia Circle 8p Praise Singers 12 10a St Luke's Chapel 6 Pastor Study Day 13 Cooper O Holy Communion 7p Maundy Thurs 8p Praise Singers 7 Pastor's Family Day 14 Good Friday Acolyte Ryan S 5:30p Good Friday Service - SP 7:30p Good Friday Service 8 Acolyte Lily C Bevcomm ch 7 15 Acolyte Bailey A 5:30p Easter Vigil 16 Easter Acolyte Cameron Holy Communion 6:30a Easter Sunrise Service 8a Easter Breakfast 17) 18 9a Food Shelf Meeting 19 5:30p SP Confirmation Class 7p Council 20 Pastor Study Day Pastor at Winkel 21 Pastor's Family Day 22 Acolyte Cooper O 9a Men's Breakfast Bible at Huntley Cafe 23 Acolyte- Ryan S St. Paul Truman School Choir 10a Divine Service 24 25 11a Luther Memorial Home Devotion 26 10a St Luke's Chapel 5:30p Family Night 27 Pastor Study Day 28 Pastor's Family Day 29 Danniel G 30 Acolyte Kylie J 10a Divine Service Greeters: April 2 & 9 April 16 April 23 April 30 M/M Herb Pederson M/M Ben Espeland M/M Del Tupper Lowell Borgos