1 February 2015 “God’s Work, Our Hands.” The MESSENGER What’s INSIDE A publication of Peace Lutheran Church ● Rosendale, WI Pastor’s Pen pg. 1 Our Monthly Message from Pastor Chuck Movie Night pg. 1 This years Lenten Series - "Tree of Life” Health Team News pg. 1 Special Dates for Special People pg. 2 Annual Meeting Results pg. 2 Mission of the Month pg. 2 LWR Projects pg. 2 Youth News pg. 2 Tickets Available pg. 2 These Are My Wishes pg. 3 Ash Wednesday & Lent pg. 3 Calendar Cover Ministry Schedule Insert HEALTH TEAM MAKES A NAME CHANGE! The members of the “Health Team” have decided to change their teams name to the “Fellowship Team” because it better describes their purpose and goals as a group! Team Members include: Leah Reichhoff, Penny Tebo, Luke Zimmerman, Jan Meier, Mike & Faith Bednarczyk, Rose Rentmeester & Julie Mauermann Should you have any “fellowship” ideas you wish to share, please feel free to contact any member. www.peacerosendale.org This month the season of Lent will begin. Lent is intended to be a time of reflection, repentance, and renewal. These 40 days are a golden opportunity for us to look at our lives and remember our daily need for Jesus’ love and forgiveness. The season begins on Ash Wednesday, February 18th with a service of imposition of ashes and holy communion. With the ashes we are reminded of our mortality and our dependence upon God. Then we will be conducting 5 Lenten services Wednesday nights beginning on February 25th at 6:30 p.m. These will be preceded by soup suppers at 5:30 p.m. The suppers have been great opportunities for service and fellowship. This year we will once again be participating in a “round robin” with area ELCA churches. Each week a different pastor will be leading worship based upon the theme “Tree of Life.” The participating pastors are: Pastor Bob Rosenberg from Emanuel in Brandon, Pastor Clay Salmela from Grace in Ripon, Pastor Kimberly Stowell from St. Stephen’s in Rogersville, Pastor Shari Routh from Zion in Fairwater, and myself. We hope you will join us as we participate with our sister and brother congregations in this inspiring series of how God brings life and growth even in the darkest times. See you in Church! Pastor Chuck The “NEW” Fellowship Team presents: FEBRUARY 15----6:00 p.m. FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT “Finding Nemo” Bring a comfortable chair and a snack and enjoy a movie with your church family! 2 The MESSENGER Special Dates for Special People FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS 1 - Joan Fude 6 - Alexus Fry 6 - Randy Julka 7 - Jacob Meier 8 - Dorothy Gransee 8 - Scott Wittchow 10 - Julia Pierstorff 11 - Rick Smit 12 - Kevin Madigan 15 - Christy Madigan 17 - Benjamin Julka 17 - Chris Stolper 19 - Nathan Gillett 19 - Renee Martin 20 - Kelli Bunnell 21 - Wanda Pitt 21 - Eric Thompson 23 - Faith Thull 23 - Barb Warmbier 27 - Tammy Pflum FEBRUARY ANNIVERSARIES 16 - James & Barbara Warmbier ELECTION RESULTS FROM THE ANNUAL MEETING YOUR NEW CHURCH COUNCIL Executive Officers Rebecca Westphal - President Cheryl Roberts- Vice President Faith Bednarczyk- Secretary Patricia Abbs Tammy Pflum - Treasurer Glenn Becker Michael Gierach Henry Miller Conference/Synod Assembly Fred Mattheis Rose Rentmeester Many thanks to our council and committee members who have accepted the call of Stewardship! May God provide you guidance as you each serve this church. Copies of the 2014 “Annual Report” are available either in the Narthex on the wall display rack or in the office. PENNY A DAY COLLECTION Collections during the month of January - $116.34 All of the change collected in our Penny Jar goes toward World Hunger. A penny jar is located in the narthex for your contributions. Together we CAN make a difference to many! February’s featured MISSION is: Brandon Food Pantry You are asked to please consider making this fund the recipient of your “monthly mission offerings”. www.peacerosendale.org Endowment Committee Randy Julka Jay Wittchow Nominating Committee Michael Bednarczyk Ben Gillett Jim Gillett Lynn Moon Leah Reichhoff Ken Schwandt Lutheran Home Delegates Elizabeth Crook Darlene Drews Dear Peace Members, Thank you all so much for your prayers, cards and memorials given in our mother Dolores “Ma” Becker's name. Your thoughtfulness, generosity and support were very much appreciated. Kathy Towne, Glenn Becker & Marcie Waterworth On behalf of myself as your church office manager, I like to especially thank Julie Mauermann for filling in on the bulletin detail and Marcie Kunkle for doing the Monday morning financial work, as well as being there for so much more! Thank you Rebecca for working so hard to get the Annual Report completed and staying on top of all the little details that the office is involved in. Council and Pastor Chuck, thank you for your support and understanding! Blessings to each and every one of you! - Marcie W. LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF - Health Care Kits BATH SIZE Towels (dark colored) ADULT TOOTH BRUSH STURDY COMBS METAL NAIL CLIPPERS At this time we have lots SOAP, so would like to use that up before collecting more! Please remember those in the world who have none of these things! Any items can be dropped in the collection box. Monetary donation are always accepted! - Julie Mauermann 3 Offering Choices  YOUTH GROUP NEWS & the 2nd Half Year in Review “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35 TEC "Teens Encountering Christ" is coming Feb. 6-8th. We have 5 youth serving again on team along with Pastor Chuck. So far we have 7 youth scheduled to attend. That's outstanding! ______________________________ General Fund Ministry To Others Brandon Food Pantry Crossways Camping Ministries Disaster Relief ELCA Synod Good Samaritan Fund Lutheran Campus Ministry Lutheran World Relief World Hunger Youth For Christ (High School) “In House” Funds Bible Study Choir Endowment Scholarship Fund LWR Projects Landscape/Memory Garden Library Operation Christmas Child Flower Fund Sunday School TEC/Camper Scholarships Youth Group (RAD) (All monies undesignated will go into the General Fund) Then coming up February 21 & 22nd is JYG 2015 in Neenah. This year we have Rachel Kurtz providing music and the keynote speaker is Leslie Hunter. Along with this we are firming up our plans for the senior high students trip to the National Youth Gathering in Detroit this summer. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge made the rounds this summer and we decided to help out one of our own with an Ice Bucket Challenge. After church one Sunday we had almost 20 people doing the challenge and our church responded with over $800 to give to Maddie's Hope. Just outstanding! As fall arrived, we had SYATP which is See You At the Pole; where the students circle the flag pole at school and pray for all the teachers, students, and leaders of our country. We have finally begun normal meeting times on Wednesday nights and have added the 3rd. Wednesday as a joint middle and high school night. SYG in November brought Visible Worship in as musical artist and keynote speaker Mark Cornelison who was a contestant on Biggest Loser and has a life changing story. Again we did a fund raiser for family pictures in November to raise money for purchasing Christmas presents for our community. This year we raised just over $800 and were able to help a few different families with something very special. Lots of tears were shared as the gifts were handed out. There are still Large Print Cookie Cookbooks available in the office. The cost is $10 should you want any. They would make a great fill in gift for Valentines day! The puppets are back! They have come back and began to share songs with our congregation. We will expand their role as we go but the younger kids just love them, about as much as the high school kids. So there is a 2nd half of 2014 Youth Group Summary! I thank the people of Peace for all of your support. God is good, ALL THE TIME! In His service, Mark Kottke Youth Director THE “CHURCH BASEMENT LADIES” COME TO OSHKOSH The Church Basement Ladies present “The Last (Potluck) Supper”, the final chapter; at the Grand Opera House in Oshkosh on March 3rd. This is “a heavenly plate full of Music & Comedy!” There are some ladies are the church that plan to purchase tickets for the 2 p.m. show. If you would be interested in attending, please contact Julie Mauermann asap for more details on ticket purchases. 920-539-2407 www.peacerosendale.org There is also a 7 p.m. showing. If interested, please go to www.grandoperahouse.org 4 THESE ARE MY WISHES LET’S HELP BY VOTING! During this season of Lent, we focus not only upon our sins, but also upon our mortality. That is, we recognize that we are humans, made from dust and destined to return to dust. This is why ashes are placed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday. We are reminded that we are not perfect, but dependent upon God. As we face our eventual deaths, we do not need to be fearful or depressed, because we have the promise that Jesus died and rose again to bring us eternal life with him. As we look to the future, it is wise to be prepared. We all know how important it is to plan ahead. It makes life a lot easier. We plan our weddings from start to finish, we plan birthday parties for the children, graduation parties, surprise anniversary parties, Thanksgiving dinners, retirement celebrations. So why not plan our funeral arrangements in advance to control the final details of our lives and lessen the burden on our loved ones? That is why we are including in this month’s newsletter a pre-funeral arrangement form. This is intended to help us to make sure that our wishes are honored, as well as make things easier for our loved ones when that time comes. The forms may be returned to the church office when they are completed. If anyone has any questions about the forms, please feel free to ask the pastor and he will be happy to give guidance. ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE Save This Date! February 18 Service time: 6:30 p.m. Lenten Soup Suppers will again take place on Wednesday evenings prior to our weekly Lenten Service. The first date will be February 25 at 5:30 p.m. Please watch you weekly announcements for more details! Plan to join in the weekly celebration of the assurance that Jesus died so we may live! Julie Wittchow’s class at the SAGE School she teaches at in Fox Lake was named 1 of the 10 finalists in the Scotties Trees Rock Video Contest. The winning school will receive $10,000 in prize money for a sustainable project at their school. We can all support Julie and her class by voting for their video. Here’s how to vote for anyone wanting to get in on the “action!” How to Vote During the Voting Period, enter by visiting www.scottiestreesrock.com and following the instructions to complete the online registration form and submitting a vote for SAGES. Voting is open to legal residents of and currently residing within, the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry. LIMIT one (1) vote per grade category, per person/email address, per day during the Voting Period (January 12 - February 6, 2015). ATTENTION ALL HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS & COLLEGE STUDENTS One of the requirements for any scholarship applicant is to commune 6 or more times. Please be aware that this mean in a calendar year, not a school year. It is your responsibility to report these to the office either through signing a communion card or through notification if visiting another church. Thank you! Peace Lutheran Church P.O. Box 177 Rosendale, WI 54974 www.peacerosendale.org (920) 872-2216 PASTOR Charles R. Thompson (920) 273-5105 [email protected] YOUTH DIRECTOR Mark Kottke Phone: (920) 948-0969 [email protected] February 16 The MESSENGER A “HEAVENLY EXPERIENCE” at PIZZA RANCH IN FDL! Did you know that Pizza Ranch is a Christian establishment? One of their newest ways to give back to the community is if their guests bring in their Church Bulletins while eating at Pizza Ranch in FDL. on Sundays only. They will accept one bulletin per transaction made. For every 1-2 guests per transaction, $2 will be donated and for 3+ guests per transaction, $5 will be donated. Peace Lutheran was unaware of this program until we recently received a $10 check from Pizza Ranch. So thank you for dining at Pizza Ranch! Check it out: www.pizzaranchserves.com