St. John's Lutheran ChurchWarrenton, MO: 07/20/15

Revised: Monday, July 20, 2015

UPDATES TO CALENDAR:
NEWSLETTER DEADLINE WAS LAST WEDNESDAY
HENDERSHOT BIBLE STUDY WAS LAST FRIDAY
DON NOLTE IS GREETER FOR 8:30 SUNDAY

DEVOTION: Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears before you.  Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.   Isaiah 60:1-3

I read just yesterday that 25% of the Christians in the world live in Africa. The Christian church in that part of the world is growing at such a rapid rate that we are sending pastors over there just so they will have people there who are able to teach the faith to all the new Christians.    That's what our last two guest preachers, Pastor Rabe and Pastor Clausing, are going to Ethiopia and Kenya to do. They are going there to teach the faith.

It is projected that 40% of the world's Christians will reside in Africa by the year 2030. The fact is that there are more Christians in CHINA who are going to church and worshiping on any given Sunday than there are in the United States. AFRICA has more Christians worshiping on any given Sunday than all of the USA and Europe combined.

This should cause us to rejoice, and it does. Any time God is bringing people to faith it is a most wonderful thing! We are blessed to be a part of a generation that sees such growth.   THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IS GROWING! PRAISE THE LORD. Just not here in the good ole USA.

It makes pastors like me jealous. I want that kind of growth here in Warrenton. I want people to get baptized in mass baptisms. I want our sanctuary to be overflowing every Sunday. I want to plant more churches in Warren County. I want the problem of not having enough teachers to teach the faith to new believers.

Many have said that pastors like Rabe and Clausing should stay here and be missionaries in the United States. What would that look like?  How would you react if a missionary came to Warrenton? Would you accept that missionary with open arms? Would you support him and work with him? How would the people react when he began to try to do his mission work in public places and went door to door to share the good news? What if he came to your door?

The trouble is that people in this nation seem to have hearts that are calloused and even closed to hearing and receiving the Gospel. There is also the trouble of apathy within the church. Just look at the decline of worship attendance in almost every church body over the last ten years. A lot of Christians don't care about the church and in turn are caring less and less about Christ.

At the same time, it is God who opens hearts and minds. it is God who caused faith to be planted and to grow in your heart, and it is no different for anyone else. If we are to have success in mission work here in Warrenton and throughout our nation it will begin and end with the Lord. He is the creator, sustainer, and finisher of faith. We need to rely on him to change our hearts and minds to be better at sharing the love of Christ, to get to worship ourselves so that we are filled with Christ and are prepared to be missionaries and evangelists to our friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers.

And so I pray for our community and our nation today. Lord, bless us with increase. Increase our faith. Increase our worship attendance. Increase our offerings. Increase our ability to share the Gospel. Increase the amount of open ears and hearts in our community. Increase our hearts for the lost. Increase our willingness to serve you. INCREASE YOUR KINGDOM! Amen.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
LAST TIME'S QUIZ:
Approximately what time period was Isaiah alive? 740-681 B.C.

_________________________________________________________________________________________
TODAY'S QUIZ: Where is Zion? (and no I'm not talking about Zion Lutheran church in Harvester)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
CALENDAR:
Mon- FAMILY NIGHT 6pm! Bring a dish to share!
Tues- Quilting 9-2; Bible Study 11:30-12:15; Council meeting 7pm
Sat- Worship 5
Sun- Worship 8:30 and 11; Sunday school 9:45
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
WORSHIP WORKERS:
Acolyte- 8:30- Dawn Sherman; 11- Kailyn Blechle
Ushers- Marv Hendershot, Don Luebke, Dave Callies, Don Nolte
Altar- Set up- Marilyn Foster and Sue Ruhl; Clean Up- Don and Ann Panhorst
Communion Assistants- Sat- John Hachtel; 8:30- Rich Talbert; 11- Jim Rahn
Greeters- 8:30- Don Nolte; 11- Dan and Lisa Rausch
Lay readers- Sat- John Hachtel 8:30- Allan Dreyer  11- Jim Rahn
Sat. Pianist- Molly Hendershot
Sun Pianist- none
Projectionists: Sat- ?????; Sun- 8:30- Schaumberg; 11-??????
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NEWS:
FAMILY NIGHT RESUMES TONIGHT AT 6PM!!
Come and join us for some food, fun, and fellowship! Just bring a dish of any kind (entrée, side dish, dessert, salad, etc) and yourselves!
________________________________________________________________________________________________
IT'S ORGANIST, MELISSA PETERSEN'S LAST SUNDAY THIS SUNDAY
Please feel free to bring cards, letters, and gifts of thanks for her faithful service to us over the last three years.

She is moving to Fort Dodge, Iowa to resume her full time teaching career.

Rachel Fischer will begin as our new organist on August 9.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

THANK YOU AND SUPPORT LUNCHEON FOR DENISE SCHLESSELMANN SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 AT NOON!!

Everyone is invited, but we'd like you to either sign up on the sheet in the narthex by this coming Sunday or call the church office to let us know you are coming so we have a good idea of who will be there.

Denise will be sharing what she has experienced in her ministry over the last year and what she will be doing in the year to come.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

SEVENTH ANNUAL GOLF OUTING WILL BE HELD ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 8 AT COUNTRY LAKES!!! SIGN UP TODAY!!

Cost is $50 per person

Format is a 2 TWO person scramble this year.

Registration at 7am

Shotgun start at 8am

Lunch and prizes at 1pm

Holes can be sponsored for $50 each.

All proceeds go to benefit our wonderful Little Lambs preschool.

Flyers are available on the counter in the narthex for those wishing to participate.

Call Alan Hofeldt at 456-3070 or the church office at 456-2888 to sign up you and

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVE HERE AT CHURCH ON TUESDAY, JULY 28!!

Volunteers are needed before the drive to make calls and set up appointments and the day of the drive to help out. DONORS are also needed of course! If you can help in any way call 456-2888 to let Marilyn know.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

CALLING ALL BAKERS!!!
If you have never been involved in one of our church activities (and even if you have), here is a new challenge for you!! There will be a cake/dessert booth at the carnival on September 12! The carnival will be open from 11am until dusk! Donations of baked good and workers to man the booth will be needed!! Desserts needing refrigeration cannot be accepted. Work shifts will be for two hours beginning at 10am and will go till closing time. To eliminate many, many phone calls, a sign up sheet has been placed on the narthex where you can volunteer!!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DO YOU HAVE A KROGER CARD? ENROLL IT IN THE COMMUNITY REWARDS PROGRAM!!!
Register online and have it swiped each time you shop.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
SAVE THE DATE!!!! OUR FIRST ANNUAL FALL CARNIVAL WILL BE HELD SEPTEMBER 12, 2015!!!
We are looking for ideas for carnival games and also donations of carnival game prizes for the event. Please donate prizes into the cardboard box in the narthex. Also, if any one has an idea for a carnival game, or a game itself they would like to donate please contact Joanna Hoelscher at 636-485-0635 or Karla Christophene at 314-397-1375.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PRAYER REQUESTS:

For DICK PETERSON, I was mistaken when I said that he was recovering from surgery. His surgery was canceled due to his continued heart troubles. It is hopeful that he will have surgery soon.

For MARIANNE LINKE as she continues to recover slowly from weakness. shortness of breath, and severe arthritis troubles.

For DENISE SCHLESSELMANN as she is in the USA for a short furlough and as she travels to gain more support for her mission work.

For CORA CLUVER'S DAD, who is recovering from a severe motorcycle accident that paralyzed him from the neck down.

For DAVE AND CAROL KOHRS, who are BOTH on hospice care.

For OUR DCE INTERN, KELSEY OVERBECK, that the Lord's will is done concerning her call to a church to be a full time DCE.

For WILMA WEIGLE as she continues to deal with the after effects of a severe stroke almost two years ago.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "St. John's Group Email" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to stjohnswarrenton+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Monday, July 20, 2015

DEVOTION: Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears before you.  Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.   Isaiah 60:1-3

I read just yesterday that 25% of the Christians in the world live in Africa. The Christian church in that part of the world is growing at such a rapid rate that we are sending pastors over there just so they will have people there who are able to teach the faith to all the new Christians.    That's what our last two guest preachers, Pastor Rabe and Pastor Clausing, are going to Ethiopia and Kenya to do. They are going there to teach the faith.

It is projected that 40% of the world's Christians will reside in Africa by the year 2030. The fact is that there are more Christians in CHINA who are going to church and worshiping on any given Sunday than there are in the United States. AFRICA has more Christians worshiping on any given Sunday than all of the USA and Europe combined.

This should cause us to rejoice, and it does. Any time God is bringing people to faith it is a most wonderful thing! We are blessed to be a part of a generation that sees such growth.   THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IS GROWING! PRAISE THE LORD. Just not here in the good ole USA.

It makes pastors like me jealous. I want that kind of growth here in Warrenton. I want people to get baptized in mass baptisms. I want our sanctuary to be overflowing every Sunday. I want to plant more churches in Warren County. I want the problem of not having enough teachers to teach the faith to new believers.

Many have said that pastors like Rabe and Clausing should stay here and be missionaries in the United States. What would that look like?  How would you react if a missionary came to Warrenton? Would you accept that missionary with open arms? Would you support him and work with him? How would the people react when he began to try to do his mission work in public places and went door to door to share the good news? What if he came to your door?

The trouble is that people in this nation seem to have hearts that are calloused and even closed to hearing and receiving the Gospel. There is also the trouble of apathy within the church. Just look at the decline of worship attendance in almost every church body over the last ten years. A lot of Christians don't care about the church and in turn are caring less and less about Christ.

At the same time, it is God who opens hearts and minds. it is God who caused faith to be planted and to grow in your heart, and it is no different for anyone else. If we are to have success in mission work here in Warrenton and throughout our nation it will begin and end with the Lord. He is the creator, sustainer, and finisher of faith. We need to rely on him to change our hearts and minds to be better at sharing the love of Christ, to get to worship ourselves so that we are filled with Christ and are prepared to be missionaries and evangelists to our friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers.

And so I pray for our community and our nation today. Lord, bless us with increase. Increase our faith. Increase our worship attendance. Increase our offerings. Increase our ability to share the Gospel. Increase the amount of open ears and hearts in our community. Increase our hearts for the lost. Increase our willingness to serve you. INCREASE YOUR KINGDOM! Amen.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
LAST TIME'S QUIZ:
Approximately what time period was Isaiah alive? 740-681 B.C.

_________________________________________________________________________________________
TODAY'S QUIZ: Where is Zion? (and no I'm not talking about Zion Lutheran church in Harvester)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
CALENDAR:
Mon- FAMILY NIGHT 6pm! Bring a dish to share!
Tues- Quilting 9-2; Bible Study 11:30-12:15; Council meeting 7pm
Wed- Newsletter deadline
Fri- Bible study at Hendershots 7pm
Sat- Worship 5
Sun- Worship 8:30 and 11; Sunday school 9:45
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
WORSHIP WORKERS:
Acolyte- 8:30- Dawn Sherman; 11- Kailyn Blechle
Ushers- Marv Hendershot, Don Luebke, Dave Callies, Don Nolte
Altar- Set up- Marilyn Foster and Sue Ruhl; Clean Up- Don and Ann Panhorst
Communion Assistants- Sat- John Hachtel; 8:30- Rich Talbert; 11- Jim Rahn
Greeters- 8:30- Terry and Lynn Russell; 11- Dan and Lisa Rausch
Lay readers- Sat- John Hachtel 8:30- Allan Dreyer  11- Jim Rahn
Sat. Pianist- Molly Hendershot
Sun Pianist- none
Projectionists: Sat- ?????; Sun- 8:30- Schaumberg; 11-??????
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NEWS:
FAMILY NIGHT RESUMES TONIGHT AT 6PM!!
Come and join us for some food, fun, and fellowship! Just bring a dish of any kind (entrée, side dish, dessert, salad, etc) and yourselves!
________________________________________________________________________________________________
IT'S ORGANIST, MELISSA PETERSEN'S LAST SUNDAY THIS SUNDAY
Please feel free to bring cards, letters, and gifts of thanks for her faithful service to us over the last three years.

She is moving to Fort Dodge, Iowa to resume her full time teaching career.

Rachel Fischer will begin as our new organist on August 9.