The book begins, The process of transformation almost always begins with a pastor. I am secure in my calling as pastor to First Lutheran Church, Fergus Falls and I am willing to take risks for the good of the faith community as we see the Holy Spirit prompting us to do so. I believe God has gifted me with the gifts and the ability to ask for help when I see that I do not have the necessary skills to move the congregation forward. For instance, I am not an expert in Stewardship; however, through networking with the Northwestern Synod I found a stewardship workshop offered for the pastor and up to 4 other congregational leaders, which I hope we will consider attending as a team. I ask you to prayerfully consider attending this workshop entitled: Cultivating Generous Congregations: an interactive seminar of the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving that demonstrates how pastors and ministry leaders can energize congregational generosity. First Lutheran Church September 2018 Starting Sept. 9th: Worship Sun. 9:30 am Sunday School 10:00 am Listen on the radio 1020am or FM 97.7 www.channel 977.com Transformation The course is intended for those who: * Believe in their congregation s capacity for greater generosity* Have a desire to become more comfortable with money conversations* Are willing to redefine giving in their congregation *Understand giving to include service, social networks, and the sharing of ideas and professional expertise. The goals of the Course are: * to map the new landscape of generosity and giving * to provide you with the tools to help you navigate this landscape * to help you build a culture of generosity unique to your congregation s needs, challenges, and opportunities. The details of the course are 3 one-day gatherings, coaching conversations between gatherings and coaching for 12 months following the third gathering. Dates for the gathering are October 13, 2018; November 17, 2018; and January 12, 2019, 9:00-3:00pm Atonement Lutheran Church, St. Cloud. The cost is $1,300 per congregation and we received a $650.00 grant for First Lutheran Church, if I can get up to 4 congregants to join me in attending the course. Will you join me in this venture? The risk that I am taking is telling you I am interested to be about the business of transformation, but I need YOUR involvement to begin the process. 402 South Court Street Fergus Falls, MN 56537 Phone: 218-739-3348 www.firstlutheranchurchff.org office@flcff.org Sharing Christ s Service, Pastor Gretchen What s new this Fall!!! Communion will be EVERY Sunday 9:30 Worship followed by coffee & fellowship 10:00 Children K-8th will be dismissed from worship for Sunday school Adult Education (Oct. 7, stay tuned!)
Hooked on Jesus Starting September 9 10:00 11:00 A.M. And he said to them, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. -Matthew 4:19 This month s happenings 9th Rally Sunday Preschool Milestone in worship Butterflies 10:00 am in Fellowship Hall 30th Sunday School sings at worship 2nd grade Bible This year s Sunday School theme is Hooked on Jesus. We will become fishers of people just as Jesus told his first disciples, who were fishermen, to be. During the Spring Parent Meetings, parents expressed the desire to move Sunday School to the worship hour. This year, we will be excusing the children after the lessons in worship to the Chapel for Sunday School. The curriculum we will be using is the SPARK Lectionary curriculum. The weekly lessons will follow the same stories that will be heard during the gospel. Grades 3rd through 6th will be taught in a large group setting, but the younger grades will stay with their age groups. I will be helping out with FLY K-7 this year to make our Wednesday program more structured, engaging, entertaining and following our Sunday School curriculum. I know these are a lot of changes, but these were all ideas expressed by parents at First Lutheran Church. I am looking forward to an exciting year of teaching, learning, and getting to know the children and families at FLC. Let s all get Hooked on Jesus! Milestone Class (with parents) In change we find our direction, Kristy Wicklund 2 Sunday School Superintendent
Rally Sunday September 9 is Rally Sunday, we are going to celebrate the new Sunday School year with a book drive. We are installing a Little Free Library box on our property. For Rally Sunday, we ask that you bring a book to share in the Little Free Library. Adults, we invite you to join us in this. We need books of all types to inspire readers of all ages. Our book drive will be held in the Narthex. Thank you for your support! Remember change in time for Sunday School to 10:00 a.m. CONFIRMATION KICK-OFF! Wednesday, September 12 6:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. All 8th & 9th grade Confirmation students and their parents are invited to attend. Butterflies Come and join Miss Vicki and all her friends in the Fellowship Hall for some playing, singing, Bible stories, and lots of fun! Butterflies is a class once a month for children ages birth through Preschool years of age and their favorite adult(s). September 9 NEW TIME 10:00 a.m. What s New in the Library Thanks to the support of the Foundation, the Library Committee ordered a number of new selections. Several of the new materials are on the library cart in the Narthex for easy checkout. The new materials include: LARGE PRINT books Audiobooks and CDs for inspiration and devotions New adult fiction series including one set nearby in Pomme de Terre New children s books, including board books for the younger set, and DVDs A number of nonfiction books for devotions and inspiration Come and check out these selections as well as others already on the shelves. The library is open whenever the church office is open. Sunday mornings, after worship, the Library Committee staffs the library and can help you find what you are looking for.
SCHOOL KITS FOR LWR (LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF) The quilters have made drawstring backpack style cloth bags and the following supplies are needed to fill them: 4 tablets 8 ½ x11 ruled spiral notebook, 70 sheets 1 box of 16 or 24 crayons 1 blunt scissor 5 black or blue ball point pens 1 30 cm metric ruler (inches on one side, cm on the other side) 1 pencil sharpener 1 eraser 2 ½ long Your help is appreciated. There will be a collection basket in the Narthex. Monetary donations are also welcome. The Community Benefit for Meals by Wheels Fellowship Hall, Thursday, Sept.27 starting at 5pm. Supper of Underwood Lions grilled pork chops, baked beans, coleslaw, beverage, and dessert for $9.00. Take outs welcomed. WELCA Love Days Quilters Mondays 9 am 3 pm Stop by anytime to see how you can help! WELCA Board Tuesday, Sept. 11 10 a.m. Kairos Room Circles Meet Wed. Sept. 26 Sarah 9:30 10:30 a.m. at Pioneer Pointe Hosanna Handbells begins Sept. 5th at 6 pm (Sanctuary) directed by Linda Mellon Adult Choir begins Sept. 5th at 6:30 pm (Choir Room) directed by Janel Trosvig Children s Choir begins Sept. 19th Choir Room) directed by Kelsee Macintosh-Ellig ATTENTION OWLS If you order off the Senior Menu at Perkins, you qualify to be an OWL (Older, Wiser Lutheran). Café 116 Tuesday, Sept 11- ll:30 to 1:30, side room. Gather for food, fellowship and program. Order off menu. Sign up at the Counter in Narthex. Questions?? Call Margaret Kratzke at 736-3697. Chanhassen Dinner Theatre Saturday, Oct 27, 50th Anniversary Show a stunning showcase of over 20 Irving Berlin classics such as Cheek to Cheek, Be Careful, It s My Heart, Blue Skies, Heat Wave, and the unforgettable White Christmas. More details on Kiosk. Load coach at First Lutheran parking lot (lower level) 8:00 a.m. and we ll leave promptly at 8:10 a.m.. Dinner 11 a.m., Show 1 p.m. Cost $70 includes dinner, show and gratuity. Thank you to First Lutheran Foundation for sponsoring the coach bus. Please sign up and pay by check after Sept. 2 and before Monday, Oct. 15. Check payable to First Lutheran Church (Chanhassen on memo line).
Youth Happenings September 2018 Attention 8 th -12 th graders: School is quickly approaching, which means Rally Sunday is right around the corner! Join your fellow youth on Sunday September 9 th from 1:00 pm- 7:30 pm for fun at Thunder Road in Fargo, ND. The event costs $20 and includes transportation, tickets for Thunder Road, and dinner. We will meet at FLC at 1pm. Please eat lunch beforehand. RSVP to Magen by September 2 nd at magen@flcff.org Any questions? Want to be involved with youth ministries? Contact Magen Riestenberg at magen@flcff.org FLY K-7 will begin on Wednesday, September 19 th. Kristy will meet kids at Kennedy with the church van and we will have the Otter Express also. This program will run from 3:30pm-4:25 pm with children s choir following from 4:30pm-5:15pm. FLY K- 7 will be in conjunction with Sunday School, bringing fun and enjoyment while learning about the gospel. FLY 8-12 will also begin on Wednesday, September 19 th from 7:30pm-8:15pm. During the first couple months we will be focusing on servant leadership and working on projects to help our community. This program will be fun with many activities and ways for our youth to get involved. Important Upcoming Events: Sunday School Starts Sunday September 9th NOTE time change to 10:00 a.m. 2018 First Lutheran Youth Group (FLY K-7 and FLY 8-12) Every Wednesday starting September 19 th FLY K-7 3:30-4:25pm K-7 Choir 4:30-5:15pm FLY 8-12 7:30pm-8:15 pm FLY Breakfast (grades 10-12) Held the first Thursday of every month starting on October 4 th. Café 116, 7:00 am. Breakfast and coffee included. Children s Choir Kindergarten through 7th grade, bring your voices and join us in Children s Choir at our new time! Wednesdays after FLY K-7, we will be getting together and using our voices to experience different types of music, play with pitch and volume, and learn to work together to make something beautiful all while praising God. Starting Wednesday, Sept. 19 4:30-5:15 During the month of October, FLC youth will be hosting a food drive! We will be collecting nonperishable food items, personal hygiene products (like hotel shampoo), and plastic grocery bags. Please start setting aside these items to help out our local food shelf, October is one of their busiest months and we want to do what we can to help.
A Sound System Repair/Upgrade Over the last year, we started having troubles hearing worship and music well in our sanctuary. If you listened over the speakers in another part of the church or even on the radio, the sound was okay, but not in the sanctuary. We decided to call in the experts. With their help and documentation, it was determined that the current sound system is 30+ years old and one of the original speakers up in the peak was not working. It s time for an upgrade and replacements. The speakers in the center of the sanctuary will be replaced and smaller speakers will be installed for the choir loft and the bells. We are replacing the choir and vocal microphones. The pastor s microphone will be replaced with microphones that actually go over the ear rather than being clipped to a robe. An exciting new addition, is a hearing assist system. This system allows for people that are a bit hard of hearing to check out a unit with earbuds. Each unit has a volume control allowing for the wearer to adjust their own volume. This project is estimated to be around $23,000. Work will start in September! If you have any further questions about this project., please contact LeAnne Jaenisch. Roof Project You may have noticed some leaks this past Spring after the snow thaw and heavy rain. These leaks have been occurring in the office complex, Sunday school wing and Narthex for some time now, but this last Spring, it was significantly worse, especially in the Narthex. We had two quotes performed by local contractors and the project estimated $78,000. Council moved to split the project in half and took care of the more urgent leaks bringing the project down to $34,000. The entire flat roof over the Narthex and office was replaced with a type of rubber coating. In a few years, we will be looking to replace the Education wing. If you have any question regarding this project, please contact Mark Hermes. Phones & Network Our phones were 30+ years old. They where making it impossible to answer calls on occasion and voicemails stopped working. The system only had used, expensive, replacement parts. After months of research and quotes from three companies, a new system was decided upon and we received our new phones early July. Along with that, phones were moved to better accommodate emergencies and access to the congregation. You will now find a phone by the AED and in each of the education hallways. During the research, it was found that our computer network was a home system vs a business and was unsecure. To make our members financial records and church documents more secure, we moved to an upgrade. We now have a private, secure wi-fi and a guest wi-fi (password: Lutheran1), and now have the ability to back up our files. You will find wi-fi signal in Fellowship hall and the entire Sanctuary. This projected totaled about $13,000. For a questions regarding this project, contact Katrina. Katrina@flcff.org or 218-739- 3348.
WANTED Your Photos! We are looking for photos of church activities to post to our new website. Please send your recent photos (email to office@flcff.org or hard copy) to the office. Prize for favorite photo? DQ treat with Pastor Gretchen!! LOOKING AHEAD New Member Classes New members are asked to attend one of these two classes. October 14, 2018, 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. at church (includes lunch) please call to register by October 8 November 1, 2018, 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. at church please call to register by October 31 218-739-3348 or office@flcff.org SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2018 New Member Sunday will be celebrated in worship James 5:13-15 13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committee sins will be forgiven. What is a Prayer Warrior? A prayer warrior is someone committed to praying for others. Would you be interested in joining one of our prayer chains as a Prayer Warrior? There is no cost, no test, and you can work from home! The chains are being reorganized, and you can be placed on a group that is notified by phone, or by email or text. Your choice! When a request is received, the chain is notified, and you start praying. Simple. But powerful. If you are interested, please contact the office at 739-3348 or office@flcff.org before the end of September. Once the chains are organized, you will be contacted. Thank you for considering to be a part of this important ministry at First Lutheran Church.
Moving Mountains You are invited to join the Thursday morning Bible Study (10:30-11:30) in the reading and study of a book by John Eldredge entitled Moving Mountains beginning September 13 th. The course consists of eight sessions including a weekly dvd and short preparation study to be done in the comfort of your own home. The cost for the complete series including a workbook is $15.00. Please prayerfully consider this opportunity to deepen your prayer life. In Luke 11:1, the disciples asked Jesus, "Teach us to pray!" Most of us want to know more about how prayer works. While we are used to offering up prayers, we wonder if we are praying in the most effective way or if we are approaching the throne of God in the "right" way. We ask ourselves: How do I listen for God? How do I pray for healing? How do I pray when I am under spiritual attack? How do I pray to break through strongholds of habitual sin? How do I pray for protection? How do I pray for my lost friends and family? In Moving Mountains Study Guide, bestselling author John Eldredge shows how we labor under the misconception that prayer is asking God to intervene instead of partnering with him to get things done. This faulty assumption leads to untold confusion and grief when we ask of God but can't sense He hears us or even cares. Rather, Jesus says, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19). When we operate from this position, we approach prayer with far greater confidence. We understand we have a role in making change happen and are not victims of circumstance that we are sons and daughters of God bestowed with tremendous authority. Sessions include: There Is a Way Things Work The Cry of the Heart The Prayer of Intervention The Prayer of Consecration Listening Prayer Warfare Prayer Healing Prayer Holding the Heart in Unanswered Prayer Houston, we have a Gathering! And it was going to change everything. What are these massive gatherings like you may ask? Well, let me tell you. The ELCA Youth Gathering: previously called the National Youth Gathering, but now it includes congregations from more than just the US. They happen every 3 years and the next one will be held in Minneapolis, MN! Mass Gathering: held at NRG Stadium where all 14,000+ youth and leaders gathering to sing, worship, and listen to speakers. Very high energy. Some people wait outside the doors for 4 hours before they open just so they can get floor seats. This Changes Everything: the theme of the 2018 Youth Gathering. The primary scripture was Ephesians 2:8, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. Wednesday s theme was God s Call Changes Everything with the story of Moses and the burning bush. Thursday we learned about how God s Love Changes Everything by reading about the woman at the well. Friday we heard about Phillip and the Eunuch for God s Grace Changes Everything. Saturday we learned that God s Hope Changes Everything as it did on the road to Emmaus. And finally, by Sunday, we KNEW that JESUS Changes Everything reading about the hemorrhaging woman and the raising of the little girl in Mark. Synod Day: the day when the entire Northwest Minnesota Synod gathers in a large hotel ballroom, where there are no chairs so you sit on the floor, to sing, play games, read bible passages, meet the Bishop of the synod, and interact with other youth from nearby areas to praise God together. Service Learning Day: on this day we head to NRG Park to load busses and head to an unknown destination to do an unknown service project. Our particular service opportunity was at an extremely small church Union Memorial United Methodist Church. There was a group there the day before us who cut down trees, so it was our job to haul away the branches and clean up the inside of the church. Members of the church met us there and shared moving stories of the church s, and Houston s, history. Interactive Learning Day: we had one day dedicated to this, but could go during any large chunks of free time. Anything you can imagine here. This is where we donated our funds raised during the church bake sale to the ELCA s World Hunger Global Farm Challenge and where two of our girls donated their hair to Children With Hair Loss. Thank you again to everyone who supported us both financially and emotionally. We hope this trip changed everything for the youth lucky enough to go and that the congregation will be just as supportive in 2021 to help a new group of youth experience the Gathering right here in Minnesota. God s love. Written by Emma Clark