Christ Communicator

June / July 2010

Pastor’s Message

“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1: 8

Dear confessors of Christ,

“Why are you standing around?” yells the lieutenant to his platoon after giving orders to advance and flank the enemy. “Why are you standing here looking into the sky?” asked the angels of the disciples at Jesus’ ascension. We are Christ’s ambassadors who have been given our marching orders to proclaim Him as Savior to lost souls. Is there any good reason for us to be standing around looking into the sky? The work of rescuing the lost world from its sin and its course to hell has been completed by Jesus. Now he has given to you the task of being his “witnesses to the ends of the earth”. -- No time for standing around; not when you know that Christ will return and that countless souls need to hear that he is the only true Savior from sin and hell. “In season and out of season” - At any time we need to be working the fields of harvest with our message. This summer, you can invite a friend to special worship services, to our Festival of Friendship on July 11, and to our Family Bible Week. This summer, we welcome our associate pastor who begins his work among us in the Word of God. One of his areas of ministry will be outreach ministry. With eager and glad hearts, we will join with our called pastors in the task the the Lord has given to his believers. It carries with it a ironclad guarantee: God will bless the sharing of his gospel. “Why are you standing here?” With the confidence that we have the best news of all time to share and with the promise that God’s Word will not return to him empty, let’s step out and go to work.

Serving you with Christ Jesus,

Pastor Philip Gieschen

SUGGESTIONS FOR MEMORIALS

At times memorials are received without any designation of the gift. Following are a list of approved memorials as suggestions for your memorial gifts.

Radio Fund

Living Nativity Fund

We extend our thanks for the memorials and gifts that were received in the past month.

Special Worship Services in June/July

A REMINDER: THE SUMMER LATE SERVICE WORSHIP TIME IS 10:15AM. THIS RUNS FROM JUNE THROUGH THE SUNDAY OF LABOR DAY.

Our worship service is broadcast on am radio 950 am WERL every Sunday at 10:30am

OUTDOOR SERVICE & CHURCH PICNIC – JULY 11

This year our Festival of Friendship will be held with on Sunday, July 12, with a special outdoor service at 10:15am AT RIVERSIDE PARK. Mark your calendars and start to identify someone whom you would like to invite to hear the message of God’s love in Jesus Christ at our Festival of Friendship. Following our Festival of Friendship worship, we will enjoy a nice picnic dinner for our friends and our family of faith. This special service and dinner will serve as the start of our Family Bible Week.

MONDAY WORSHIP – EACH MONDAY AT 6:30PM

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE WILL BE NO MONDAY EVENING WORSHIP ON JUNE 14 DUE TO PASTOR AND VICAR’S ATTENDANCE AT DISTRICT CONVENTION AND JULY 12 DUE TO THE HOLDING OF FAMILY BIBLE WEEK. PLEASE NOTE THE DATES ON YOUR CALENDAR.

EDUCATION

Family Bible Week July 11-15

July 11 - July 15 from 6:30-8:00pm will be the dates and time for our Family Bible Week. Parents and Children, Adults and Youth are invited to join us as we gather for five evenings of hearing the Word, sharing Christian faith and enjoying our Christian fellowship. Our guest presenter for our Family Bible Week is Pastor Tim Mueller who serves an outreach ministry in Watertown, WI. Pastor Mueller along with Pastor Gieschen will speak to the adults on various aspects and times of Christian parenting. Vicar Bodden will also have a Bible study for our youth. The theme for Vacation Bible School is “Circle J Ranch” (with the J standing for Jesus!). Lessons and activities will also be offered for children in the school classrooms. We start with a group devotion and song then go out to different rooms for our sessions. We hope that you will reserve the week and evenings to be with us. Come for all or a few.

Called into public ministry:

Joshua Odell of Newburg, WI was called to serve as our associate pastor for Christ Ev. Lutheran Church and St. John’s Ev. Lutheran Church, Phelps. His areas of focus for ministry to our dual parish will be youth, family, outreach and nurture ministry. We thank the LORD for answering our prayer for another called shepherd to guide us by His Word. We are pleased to receive this servant of the Word with honor and respect and to work with him in the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. May the Lord of the Church bless these and all his servants who proclaim the gospel as pastors and teachers. May He also grant patience and wisdom to those who await callings to serve in the public ministry.

LWMS News

July is our congregations “Befriend a Missionary” month. Watch the bulletin in coming weeks and the bulletin board for information on how we can show our support for WELS missionaries.

Upcoming Events

Second Quarter Voters Meeting- WED. July 21

Voters of Christ Lutheran are reminded to be present for our second quarter voters meeting to be held on WEDNESDAY, July 21 at 6:30pm. We will review ministry reports as well as act on any new recommendations for the congregation.

SHARING CHRIST IN OUR COUNTY SURVEY AT LAND O LAKES – June 27

The Board of Evangelism invites any members to join in locating the unchurched in our area. A community survey has been planned for Sunday, June 27 at Land O Lakes. You are invited to join us for worship at the Land O Lakes Fire Hall at 11:00am. We will gather at the fire hall at 12:30pm for some brief training and begin our survey at 1:00pm. We should finish in about 1-2 hours. This survey will help us to identify people in the Land O Lakes area who have no church home and might desire the news of Jesus offered at Land O Lakes Lutheran Outreach.

SPRING CLEANING -JUNE 3

Included in your newsletter is a listing of families and areas to clean between our church and school. The Stewardship Committee will again host our Spring cleaning on Thursday, June 3 from 5:00 - 8:30pm. Please bring your own cleaning supplies. If you would like to clean your area at an earlier day and time that is fine. Just leave a note saying that your area has been cleaned. Thanks to everyone for beautifying our facilities to God’s glory.

A LISTING OF AREAS TO BE CLEANED AND FAMILIES DESIGNATED FOR EACH AREA IS INCLUDED IN THIS NEWSLETTER. PLEASE SEE THE CLEANING SCHEDULE FOR FURTHER DIRECTIONS.

DAILY WALKS WITH OUR LORD

Please see the WELS website for daily devotions and meditations.

A Message From Pastor Odell

Hello Everyone! It certainly was a blessing to hear that I will soon be calling the beautiful north woods of Wisconsin my home. I cannot wait to meet all of you, to learn from you, and to serve you with the awesome Word of God. Here’s a little bit about myself: I have a wonderful family: my parents Bob and Barbara and my three brothers Daniel (older), Peter, and Jacob (both younger). My dad works in human relations for the United States Postal Service, and my mom has worked a variety of jobs, not the least of which was being a full time mom for many years. Daniel is married and lives in Louisiana with his wife, Courtney, and child, Logan, where he works as a restaurant manager. Peter is currently working hard at two jobs and living in West Bend, and Jacob is a student in his third year at Valparaiso University in Indiana. I am also blessed to have been dating a fantastic Christian woman, Emily Mayer, for about a year. She is currently serving as a tutor and Spanish teacher at Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw, Michigan. I am originally from Louisiana, but my family moved to Wisconsin when I was still relatively young. For the last 18 or so years, my family has lived in the West Bend area. I attended Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School, Martin Luther College, and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. I enjoy pretty much everything: from reading to playing baseball to hunting and fishing to traveling. (I was actually very blessed to have spent one year away from the seminary as a WELS Kingdom Worker in Albania, teaching English and working to establish a small church in Tirana, Albania’s capital city.) In closing, I would just like you to know that I find nothing more important than having a strong relationship with our Savior, and it is my sincere prayer that all of you will grow in your relationships with him through me, as I’m sure I will through you.

Your brother in Christ,

Pastor Odell

June 2010

July 2010