Shepherd's Gate
VISION OF MINISTRY
Caring for the whole person in Christ’s name.
Volume 16 Issue 10
Table of Contents
Notes from the Pastor
Birthdays
Anniversaries
Board of Elders
Sunday School
MDO
Ladies Guild
Scrip Cards
Stewardship
Thrivent
Greeters
Ushers
October, 2014
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No matter how much we'd like to, the one thing we cannot change is the past. It's kind of a hard
truth if you think about it.
Some time ago, I noticed the phrase "things I regret" trending on twitter. People were expressing
regret over all sorts of strange decisions. Wearing skinny jeans, watching Twilight, tweeting
about watching Twilight. Others were a bit more personal. Things like not being honest, trusting
the wrong person, hiding an addiction, or hurting someone they love.
The truth is, we all have a list like this. A list that speaks to the painful residue that lingers from a
broken relationship, a secret sin, or a destructive habit. Save the occasional tweet, these are not
the stories we like to share with others. And yet they are part of our lives nevertheless, even if they
have been tucked away somewhere deep in our hearts.
I travel a lot and inevitably, bags are lost. I hate it. So I recently found myself back at the airport
baggage claim surrounded by bags that had been left behind or remained unclaimed. It reminded
me of how much I wish there was a place where I could drop
off or leave behind all the "baggage" from life and live freed from pain or regret.
Unfortunately, that's not how the grace of God works. The Bible doesn't promise that God will
make all new things. What it promises is that God can make all things new. That means that
while God does not erase our past, God can redeem it, no matter how much baggage we have
accrued. The Bible is filled with stories of people with redeemed baggage. Abraham's fear,
Jacob's deception, Judah's affair, Ruth's background, David's adultery, Peter's betrayal. The list
goes on and on and on. As we celebrate the Reformation we thank God for a man named Martin
Luther who brought us back again to Christ, His cross, His death and resurrection as the only
means of salvation. Luther, with all his baggage of sin, knew he could not on his own drop them
off. He knew he needed a Savior. As he opened the word of God, he discovered the amazing
message that we are saved by Grace alone through faith by the amazing death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. At the cross our bags of sin have been dropped and paid for by the blood of Christ.
This truth changed Luther and Christianity and brought us back again to the clear teachings of
scripture.
So why not you? Why shouldn't the next great story of redeemed baggage and life transformation
be yours? God does not want this year to be just a repeat of last year. He wants this year to be the
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turning point. The time when you find true forgiveness for that sin, true freedom from that habit,
true healing of that hurt.
But to get there you have to stop ignoring the past or burying it away inside. You have to bring it
to Jesus and ask him to make something new and redemptive and beautiful through it. Will this be
easy? No. Will it require a pride-swallowing, help-seeking, God-trusting attitude? Absolutely.
But if you take the call of Jesus seriously, it means you won't be the same person a year from now
that you are today. AND… it means the baggage you're carrying from the past--no matter how
heavy or painful--need no longer define your present or determine your future.
Dr. Salminen, Pastor
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OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS
NAME
DATE
Chelsea Connolly
Marylu Boettger
Wendy Hoskins
Amanda Hicks
Jessica Beaufore
Brennon Rommeck
Blake Roll
Joyce Caulkins
Ryan Randolph
Sandy Henry
Hunter Long
Gary McCallister
Nichole Thornton
Camden Armbrustmacher
Max Wardin
Megan Brandt
Ginni Brzak
Becky McKean
Eunice Teidt
Dick Miller
Mary Rappuhn
Andy Deveau
Alexis Ernst
Haylie Gingrich
Marilyn Miller
Dylan Seidel
Amy Anderson
Amy Davis
Carol Andrews
Tammy Baumgardner
Abigail Brewer
Chuck Nobis
Bruce Biship
Rebecca Park
Aaron Mitchell
10/3
10/5
10/5
10/6
10/8
10/9
10/9
10/10
10/10
10/11
10/11
10/12
10/12
10/14
10/14
10/15
10/15
10/15
10/18
10/20
10/20
10/21
10/21
10/21
10/22
10/22
10/23
10/23
10/24
10/25
10/25
10/27
10/28
10/28
10/30
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OCTOBER
ANNIVERSARIES
MARRIED
Douglas & Krista Heyer
Matthew & Amanda Buck
Bruce & Barbara VanVleet
Lisa & Thomas Roy
Carl & Patricia Seidel
Jamie & Sarina Rincker
Scott & Rebecca DeWitt
Chuck & Constance Nobis
Mike & Debbie Paradise
Jeff & Jamie Armbrustmacher
Michael & Stephanie Boettger
David & Sharon Zell
Chris & Victoria Zell
Wm. Scott & Dana Flegler
Michael & Sandra Henry
Kenneth & Liz Nobis
Jerry & Nancy Pacholke Sr.
DATE
YRS
10/1
10/2
10/2
10/3
10/3
10/4
10/11
10/11
10/12
10//16
10/21
10/22
10/23
10/25
10/25
10/28
10/30
20
4
54
27
44
11
11
34
12
21
8
48
10
17
17
48
30
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Board of Elders
By: Duane Davis
If you have any questions or concerns, or would like a visit or any spiritual care, please let your
Elder know.
In addition, Duane is also available to answer any questions or concerns.
Contact Elders on 989-224-6796
Elder Family List
Duane Davis, Head Elder
Triantaflos, Michelle – Zimmerman, David
Allen Bebow
Brewer, Joshua – Dunigan, Richard
Darrell Buck
Martens, Sara – Motz, Jan
Dan Harry
Kartes, Jessica – Martens, Elwin
Al Hayes
Anderson, Earl – Bower, Al
Bill Mayers
Griffith, Patty – Johnson, Jennifer
Robert Mitchell
Duquette, Lloyd – Griffith, Joan
Matt Nobis
Motz, Nicole – Reed, Becky
Eric Thompson
Rickman, Kris – Sherrill, Eugene
Aaron Park
Smalldon, Harold – Tiedt, Eunice
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Sunday School by Judy
Roll
Our Sunday School program, Knights and Roses, is once again in full swing. The
program started with a special craft designed to help the children understand the capital
campaign. Each child has decorated a jar to keep at home and used to collect change. Once
a month, all the children can come forward during offering and put their “Building for
Jesus” money in a container we will station at the front of the church. Our hope is that the
children can feel a part of this great event in our church, while at the same time working
towards their mission patch. If you would like to have a jar in which to collect the spare
change in your household, we have extra jars. See Judy Roll for your “Building for Jesus”
jar.
MDO (Mother’s Day Out) by Judy Roll
Mother’s Day Out resumed on Tuesday, September, 9th. This year’s program includes the
familiar face of Stephanie Boettger, who joined the team last January. New to our kids, is
Debbie Paradise who recently retired from RESA. Each comes with the experience required
to provide our Mother’s Day Out children with the love and nurturing environment that will
help the little ones to grow as little lambs of Jesus.
We look forward to all the fun and activities that are sure to take place this fall at St. John’s
Lutheran Church’s Mother’s Day Out program. Please invite everyone you know who has a
toddler/preschooler to consider enrolling their child in MDO. We will once again focus on
early childhood socialization skills, turn taking and letter/number recognition. These
activities are accomplished thru independent and organized games, art and play. Classes are
on Tuesdays and Wednesday from 9:30 am to 12 pm.
Visit our website at
www.sjlutheranchurch.org for registration forms or contact Judy Roll at the church office
for more information.
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Ladies Guild & LWML News
By: Nita Terpening
LADIES GUILD NEWS
The regular meeting of the Ladies Guild was held on September 8 with seven ladies present. We
appreciate the dedicated ladies who continue to come to the meetings. At the same time, we
continue to issue an invitation to all the ladies of the congregation to join us in the Fellowship Hall
on the second Monday of each month. We meet at 10:00 and are usually finished by 11:30. Our
meetings are casual and friendly. Won’t you think about coming?
FAREWELL TO OUR FRIEND, JOAN GRIFFITH
Joan seldom attended our meetings but she did contribute to the success of our Cookie Walk. She
made so many great cookies over the years, and it was help like this which we appreciated so
much. Without the help from people like Joan, we would never survive because our group is so
small. Joan was one of our “silent Ladies Guild members” and we will miss her a great deal. Our
condolences to her family.
MITES COLLECTION DATE CHANGED
The new date for MITES collection is OCTOBER 19. It had originally been scheduled for Oct. 5.
Please put October 19 on your calendar as the date to bring in your MITES boxes.
THANK YOU
Thank you to our anonymous donor who gave us $100 for quilting supplies. Your generosity is
greatly appreciated. Incidentally, this is the third time that this family has given a donation to the
Ladies Guild to be used for quilts.
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LAYETTES FOR LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF (LWR)
We completed 28 layettes to be sent to LWR with our quilts in October. This will be the last year
we do the layettes because LWR is getting very picky as to what they will accept. In the past, we
had several ladies who would garage sale and find gently used baby items which we used in the
layettes. However, we are down to just one or two ladies going to these sales. Baby items are
getting very scarce to find so we have had to either buy or make these items. Plus, we must
enclose four cloth diapers in the layettes and these diapers are getting very expensive. Often we
can’t find them in the stores.
Therefore, we will no longer be accepting items for baby layettes. We suggest if you have
anything you wish to donate, you contact the Baby Pantry or give it to Safe Center.
QUILTS
Our 100 quilts are completed for Lutheran World Relief for this year and are ready to be shipped.
In addition to the quilts, we also have three blankets that will be sent.
We have already started working on quilts for next year so if you are interested in helping, please
come to the church on Monday mornings. We meet in the basement and would welcome help in
cutting blocks, sewing, or tying off the quilts. No experience is necessary, we will give you
training in doing these jobs.
We are in need of material and thread for making the quilts. Also, if you have any sheets, we
would appreciate receiving them. We never turn anything away.
NEXT MEETING
Our next meeting will be October 13 at 10:00 in the Fellowship Hall. We will be discussing our
Cookie Walk/White Elephant Sale which is scheduled for
November 15. We hope you have been searching your recipe boxes for some good holiday
cookies to bake. If you aren’t into baking fancy cookies, we welcome any other kind. The
community response to our Cookie Sale has been wonderful and cookies of any kind are snapped
up.
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Scrip Cards by Judy Roll
What is Scrip? Scrip is a fundraising program currently being used by our church for our
education programs. All you have to do to get on board is purchase gift cards for things you
would normally buy. In turn, our congregation receives a rebate for those cards ranging from 1%
to as much as 16% of the face value of the card. Paper order forms for scrip are available at the
church or for those of you who are more computer savvy, simply go to www.shopwithscrip.com
and check out all of the participating retailers. There are just under 700 to choose from. If you
would like to place an order online, simply enroll using our organizations enrollment code
BB99516D3418L and order away!!!! Cards ordered by Wednesday AM will be in the church
office by Friday and can be paid for by check, cash or thru online prestopay. Also, check out our
list of “In Stock Scrip Cards”. These cards are in stock and ready for purchase at the church office
Monday thru Wednesday from 9 am to 3 pm. In addition to those times, cards can also be
purchased after each Sunday morning worship and following Monday evening worship.
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Stewardship by Marilyn Miller
Giving Sacrificially
During this Capital Campaign we are being asked to consider sacrificial giving. Our ordinary
support of this congregation is through tithes and offerings, but sacrificial giving is something
much more extravagant. Makoni described sacrificial giving as “the act of strategically giving
something precious and costly or something one can barely afford as an act of worship and
devotion to God. It is well considered but painful giving, giving up something, time, talent, life,
treasure…often marked by extravagant and reckless abandon—cannot be frequent!”
Sacrificial giving
 May come out of scarcity more than abundance
 May not make much difference in funding God’s work but
 Makes a huge difference in the life of the giver.
 Giving sacrificially can only be occasional or you will become negligent in some
responsibilities!
 Is driven by intense love, and yields uncommon harvests.
 Is intended to be a blessing, rare, costly, strategic under the leadership of the Holy
Spirit.
 Strengthens faith and promotes spiritual growth.
From T. Makoni
nurturingchampions.com
Genesis 35 and 36 describes a time when Moses shared God’s instructions for his people,
including their offerings for construction of the Tabernacle. The response was overwhelmingly
generous; leaders went to Moses and asked him to tell the people that gifts were so plentiful they
could not use or store them. Moses had to ask the people to stop giving!
Prayer: Father, it’s so easy to say that we trust in you and in your provision for us and yet we
so often find our deepest security in what we own or in our savings. Help us to distinguish
between our wants and our needs. Teach us to simplify the former and trust you for the latter. Set
us free from any financial bondage that we may suffer from, that we might be free to give as you
graciously provide. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. Jeff Marian,Prince of Peace Lutheran Church,
Burnsville, MN
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Thrivent submitted by Marilyn Miller
Thrivent members can make a calendar note of November 2, when the Annual Chapter Dinner
and election of leaders will be held at 4 pm in Smith Hall at the 4 H Fairgrounds. Reservations
may be made anytime by calling Marilyn at 224-2549. More information will be mailed soon.
Change is on its way. The new lodge model pioneered in the Rocky Mountain area is being
implemented in our area and elsewhere. The transition promises to involve more members in
relevant, meaningful activity that strengthens families, neighborhoods, churches and communities.
The Action Team concept is expected to function with quick, uncomplicated responses which any
member can negotiate.
In order for the chapter board to exist and function in 2015 at least 2 new member leaders must be
identified. It is time consider whether you might serve in this capacity, as a way of strengthening
local access to Thrivent resources. A minimum of about 5 hours each month are needed, and
currently the board is meeting on the first Tuesday evening of each month, about nine or ten
months of the year. Email is required for communication and use of the internet is essential to
Thrivent information, policies and procedures.
Thrivent members and friends who supported the annual Pancake Breakfast in August brought in
$750 dollars as a match for the $1740 net proceeds of the breakfast. This brings the total for this
annual Ladies Guild fundraiser to just under $2500, for the purpose of funding commercial kitchen
appliances in 2015.
Thrivent benefit members who have Choice Dollars assigned this fall need to pay attention to
how to use them. Nationally only one in four eligible members “uses” their Choice Dollars. They
can be assigned to any participating non profit, and last year the total of Thrivent Choice and
Community Cares dollars reaching our congregation totaled almost $7000. We CAN make a
difference by exercising our options!
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For the third consecutive year, Thrivent has been named to a very special, honored list of the
“World’s Most Ethical Companies.”
The prestigious list is made up of organizations that
demonstrate ethical leadership and corporate behavior. "As a membership organization of
Christians, we strive to conduct our organization with highest ethical standards," says Teresa
Rasmussen, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary for Thrivent Financial. "This
award acknowledges that commitment, and we are proud to again be named to this prestigious
list."
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Greeters for October by Jan Workman and Doris O’Connor
8:00 a.m. Service
October
5th
12th
19th
26th
Jim & Doris O’Conno r
John & Carolyn Beck
Russ Wright
Jan Workman
10:30 a.m. Service
September
5th
12th
19th
26th
Jan Workman
Darrell & Darlene Buck
Darrell & Darlene Buck
Shirley Bebow
Ushers List for October by Al Hayes
10:30 a.m. Service
October
5th
12th
19th
26th
Ron & Michelle Welch
Richard & Norma Crowell
Terry & Pat McDonald
Rachel & Carmen Hicks