Week of VBS Concludes Thursday
A second week of LIFT VBS concluded on Thursday evening, incorporating the Thursday evening worship at St. John's. The first week was held at St. Mark, and led by Pr. Paul and members at St. Mark. They decided to offer a VBS week this year to better serve Fremont's east side community. Pr. Paul joined leaders at Grace and St. John for LIFT VBS week 2 at St. John's with our "Compassion" based theme. Our numbers were down a bit, as we didn't have kids from Faith and Hayes as we did last year. Pr. Paul put together a nice video, and Heather posted it on the Grace FB page with an evaluative comment, which you can view HERE.
Pastor Paul will preach August 21
Maureen and I met with Pastor Paul this week to schedule his next preaching assignment at Grace, which will be the weekend of August 20-21. This was Maureen's weekend to preach at Grace, so she will preside and preach at St. Mark instead. She and I are rotating on who covers for Pr. Paul when he comes to Grace. Next time will be my turn!
Backpack buddies update
Pastor Paul provided the following update about our new LIFT ministry, Backpack Buddies:
LIFT will be starting a new backpack program at Lutz Elementary School in early September. This is an exciting chance to partner in the community and meet some real hunger needs—filling gaps for kids to eat on the weekends when there is no school lunch program. It involves sending a backpack home on weekends with some healthy snacks and food that kids can prepare on their own. School staff identifies students with food insecurity issues at home. We would provide backpacks and food, assemble them and deliver them to the school. School staff would distribute them to students. To help fund this project, we are seeking financial contributions and donations of kid-friendly food items in individual servings. Look a basket in the sanctuary. Grace members are specifically encouraged to bring lunch items:
- Individual mac & cheese
- Canned pasta
- Apple sauce
- Peanut butter
- Crackers in sleeves
The next gathering for planning will be at St. John’s on Tuesday, August 9 at 10 AM. For more information, contact Pastor Paul Bailie (bailiepaul@gmail.com, 440-477-3641).
LIFT Leaders Meet
LIFT leaders met for our monthly meeting on Wednesday. We use this time to find out what our individual congregations are doing, especially those ministries we don't have as much contact with, such as Emmanuel, Faith, and Camino Da Vida.
Endowment Fund Report
Al Mehlow sent the 2nd quarter financial report on the Grace Endowment Fund, and it should come as no surprise that the value of holdings is down since the beginning of the year. But the portfolio also has some dividend producing funds which help to offset the decreases in value. Ending value June 30, 2022 is $1,152,592.60
Roots of Our Faith Sessions Continue
There will be two more sessions of the class I am leading during Sunday School hour (9:00 - 9:45 am) which I'm calling "Roots of Our Faith." So far, we have been looking at the biblical story, and in the two remaining sessions, I'll be presenting some of the unique ways that Lutherans understand and approach the Biblical story. On Sunday we'll be talking about "Up versus Down Religion." It is our responsibility to climb the ladder to reach God, or does God come down to us? We'll also be covering Lutheran basics like justification by grace through faith, law and gospel, and Luther's Two Kingdoms teaching. Come and join us in the dining room!
Osterholm Update
Dr. Michael Osterholm, founder and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, continues to deliver solid scientific analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic in his weekly podcasts. With cases declining, the podcast has scaled back to posting an episode every other week. The latest episode, posted on Thursday, July 8, is entitled "Living With Covid." In this episode, Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss the state of the pandemic in the U.S. and internationally, the rise of the BA.5 subvariant, and what living with COVID currently looks like for Dr. Osterholm. You can listen to or download this episode HERE.
Pastor Paul on Innovator Leaders Academy Weekend
For the past couple years, NWOS has been partnering with Rev. Dr. Michael Adam Beck, who is the co-pastor of Wildwood UMC in Wildwood, Florida, where he leads his traditional parish and also supports the growth of small groups in the community known as fresh expressions. These groups are little new Christian communities led by people of faith that spring up in the neighborhood as “Fresh Expressions of Church.” A fresh expression is a form of church for our changing culture, established primarily for the benefit of those who are not yet part of any church. It’s a really neat model of discipleship and engaging our community beyond the walls of our church buildings. Those participating in the program attend several weekend events over the course of the year to learn about and experience this new way of approaching ministry and outreach. Heather participated last year, and Pastor Paul a member of this years cohort. This is one of their weekends, and Pr. Paul has reported from Faith Lutheran in Metamora. You can read more about Innovator Leaders Academy HERE.
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