We hope you enjoy this edition of The Pines, our monthly newsletter!
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What's happening this month
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On
Friday, October 19th
we will be going to PIK–N-PIG BBQ restaurant in Carthage, NC. After lunch we will be going to
Seagrove Pottery, the largest gallery of Seagrove Potters, located in the Heart of Seagrove NC. The bus leaves at 10:30 AM. A $3.00 fee for the bus trip. Lunch is at your expense. (
Please note: PIK-N-PIG restaurant only takes cash or checks.)
It should be a lovely fall day and maybe we will see some fall foliage along the way. Please sign-up at the Welcome Center or call the church office 692-2662 to make reservations.
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We are collecting school kits for Lutheran World relief. There is a box under the member mailboxes for you to place your supplies.
Only items listed are needed:
- Notebooks—70 pages
- Rulers (30 cm with 12 inches on one side)
- pencil sharpeners
- blunt children’s scissors
- pencils/unsharpened
- pens/black or blue (no gel pens)
- crayons (boxes of 16 or 24 only)
- erasers 2 1/2 inches
The backpacks will be provided.
Supplies due by October 18th
. As a service project the Sunday School and Confirmation students will be filling the backpacks.
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The Trunk or Treat will be on
Saturday October 20th
from 5:30-8:30. It will include food, games, contests, and music! Feel free to bring your favorite treat or beverage! All generations are welcome. There will be something for everyone!
-Trunk Decoration contest
-Costume Contest (all ages can dress up- Bonus for Lutheran or Oktoberfest themed costumes)
-Corn-hole tournament for all ages
-Dessert potluck for all other festive desserts, homemade or store bought. (Please provide ingredients for those with allergies!)
-Bring your favorite fall beverage (water and apple cider will be provided)
Trunk or treat will take place in the parking lot of Our Saviour Lutheran Church. Rain location is in the fellowship hall.
We will need volunteers:
-Decorated Trunks (minimum of 10)
-Help with food set up and clean up (about 5-6 people for each)
-Welcome table attendant
-Matthew 25 Table attendant
-Corn-hole tournament referees
-Bring a dessert
You can sign up here, or at the welcome desk at OSLC.
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Our Saviour Lutheran Church will celebrate Reformation
Sunday on October 28
at 10:30 AM. The service will include a processional played by the Good News Vibration handbell choir and choir anthems and hymns accompanied by trumpet and organ.
We invite the community to join us in this joyous remembrance of God’s love and grace.
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Interested in joining OSLC and learning more about our exciting ministries? A new Members Class will be held on
November 1st
at 6 PM in the church library.
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A BIG THANK YOU
from the Northern Moore Family Resource Center for the donation from the last Concert Series.
"Thank you for your generous donation of $500 to the Northern Moore Family Resource Center (NMFRC)! Your support has helped us achieve our goals. In the past two and a half years, we have helped more than triple access to early-childhood education for families residing in the North Moore High School district. We are hopeful that in the coming years, this increased access will result in children performing better throughout their elementary school years, which will prepare them for success in middle school, high school, and beyond!
We are happy to announce that we are making great progress on the third and final phase of our renovation. Our renovations include converting the downstairs into two large multi-purpose classrooms, which look out on the new greenspace. Additionally, we will be adding recreational features to our greenspace; including a stage for theatre and arts as well as a half-basketball court - which we just broke ground for!
Although our school year has come to an end, we are reestablishing our popular 5-week summer program which will be available to HOPE students as well as elementary and middle school-aged children in northern Moore County. This will give us the opportunity once again to partner with the Food Bank of Central and eastern North Carolina to offer breakfast and lunch to the children attending our summer program.
Thank you again for helping us to realize our dream of providing much needed access to early-childhood education to children in northern Moore County!"
Clare Ruggles, Executive Director of Northern Moore Family Resource Center
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ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING
The Church Council has set the date for the Annual Congregational Meeting for
Sunday, November 18
at 11:30 AM at the conclusion of the regular Sunday service. A luncheon will take place after the meeting. Details will be outlined in the November issue of The Pines.
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Happy Birthday to...
01-
Carol Marsh
01-Dean Thompson
02-Doug Ransdell
03-Cheryl Zielsdorf
04-Jay Pittard
06-Paul Halm
06-Mary Smith
08-Bill Van O'Linda
08- Taylor McGuire
10- Gunter Fuhrmannek
10- Katie Van O'Linda
13- Gary Tucek
13- Randy Zielsdorf
13- Andy Paris
14- Jon Paris
15- Kathryn LaForge
17- David Antil
18- Kari Gulovich
20- Kathleen Nerenz
25- Peter Benson
26- Diane Daniels
26- Meg Lindenberger
26- Ben Garbark
26- Nick Garbark
27- Faith Hinds
28- Amy Paris
29- Rachel Board
29- Samantha Alfrey
30- Amy Ramirez
31- Kimberly Lindenberger
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Happy Anniversary to...
11- Jim & Ruth Seevers, 66 yrs
05- Roland* & Barbara Skora,
50 yrs
26- Artie & Linda Messbauer,
50 yrs
14- Bill & Trudy Blake, 46 yrs
10- Jerry & Kathy Constantino, 32 yrs
25- Bob & Ruth Stolting, 31 yrs
31- Wendell* & Nancy O'Brien, 26 yrs
18- Tim* & Kari Gulovich, 21 yrs
07- Dean & Kelly Thompson,
14 yrs
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A BIG THANK YOU from FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital to everyone who organized and participated in the 2018 August Sewing Camp.
"Thank you for your generous donation of pillows and pediatric surgical hats to Moore Regional Hospital. The pillows provide comfort to a variety of patients during their recuperation from surgery. The hats (which are adorable!) will help distract our young patients as they are prepped for surgery.
The staff appreciate how the items you've provided serve a medical purpose, and the patients appreciate a gift that is handmade, reflecting the care and concern of others.
Thank you for your generosity!"
Cindy Strother, Administrative Director of Guest Services
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Hello Confirmation families! Jen Lilyquist has told me how much she has enjoyed leading our middle school youth in Confirmation classes so far this fall!
I am excited to be back in town and have a chance to get to know these kids better and lead them to a closer relationship with God.
We are practicing the WOLF model in Confirmation this year which stands for Worship, Outreach, Learning and Fun. It sounds like the kids have already experienced Worship, Learning and Fun during our regular Sunday morning education time. We will continue to add to this WOLF model as the year progresses, and we have two great opportunities coming up very soon for our awesome Confirmation students.
The first is an Outreach opportunity! As you have hopefully heard in church, the Ruth Circle is sponsoring a project to provide School Kits to needy kids across the globe through Lutheran World Relief. We are asking for the congregation to donate the specific items required to put together the kits and Ruth Circle has purchased the backpacks to fill. The supplies (70 page notebooks, 30 cm rulers with 12 inches on one side, pencil sharpeners, blunt-ended children's scissors, unsharpened pencils, blue or black pens - no gel pens, boxes of 16 or 24 crayons, and 2 1/2 inch erasers) are due to the box below the member mailboxes by October 18th. The Confirmation youth and Sunday School kids will be stuffing the backpacks during class time on Sunday, October 21st. This will be a great opportunity to serve our neighbors!
The second event we have coming up is our Confirmation Lock-In at church starting at 6 PM Friday, November 2nd, until 9 AM Saturday, November 3rd. All youth should eat dinner before they come and bring their favorite snack or drink to share with the rest of the group later in the evening. Youth should also bring a flashlight, sleeping bags and pillows, and toiletries. There will be at least two adults (a male and a female) spending the night with the kids. It promises to be a lot of Fun!
Thank you for bringing your youth to class each week and to these special events! We pray that their involvement now will help strengthen their faith as they grow!
Blessings,
Pastor Linn
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Perhaps you have heard already. The tragic story quickly went viral. In late August a pastor in California committed suicide. As a fellow pastor, it broke my heart to hear about it. But part of me understood, or tried to understand. I could identify with the news I was reading. Though I'd never met him, my heart ached for his young family and his devastated church.
I don't know the story behind Pastor Stoeklein's life. Maybe there was too much pressure on his ministry? Maybe he had personal issues he couldn't deal with? Or a trauma that haunted him, similar to what I've experienced in combat? Was he working too many hours after he left the office? Perhaps he had depression that was genetic? It's not my place to know or find out, but it is my place to reflect, and to ask God what He wants to tell me through this.
A number of pastors commented on the situation. Reading their posts made me realize it could easily be any one of us in ministry. Everyone in ministry has things in common. The big thing seems to be that pastors and church leaders are put on pedestals, elevated above our congregation members. But why? We are just like every other person in the world. We are just like you. Pastors can, and do, struggle with all kinds of things, from family stress to physical and mental illness.
Research says that one in every four pastors struggle with depression. One study by Lifeway Research revealed that forty-five percent of pastors had seen their family doctor about stress and anxiety. The number of pastors diagnosed with clinical depression was twice the national average. Nearly one-fourth of all pastors (23 percent) acknowledge having "personally struggled with mental illness," and half of those said the illness had been diagnosed.
I know some people will try to find a reason why so many pastors are struggling these days. Perhaps it's the increasing disconnect of our culture that's forgotten the importance of building personal relationships, leaving the pastor and his family as social outsiders within the church? Maybe it's that the un-biblical pedestal pastors are placed on
is
be
ing
rais
ed ever higher
with
f
ewer
members
sharing
in ministry.
Or perhaps our culture's increasing focus on everyone's right to a publicly aired opinion leads pastors feel defeated?
Maybe the rise of the celebrity driven mega-church
has tainted our view of what church really ought to be? Maybe it's all of that. Or none of it.
But you know
what
really matters
? The statistics for depression and mental illness are nearly the same
fo
r those
not
in the ministry. That's right. It's true of everybody. We're ALL in the same statistical boat these days. Stress affects us all. Recently I've had to be put on blood pressure medication. One in four people are dealing with something serious; depression, grief, or another heavy emotional burden. We often don't know what others carry until it reaches a critical level.
So that means every one in four people sitting in the pew any given Sunday morning has something they are dealing with….a serious physical, mental,
or
emotional weight that they are carrying day in and day out; maybe for a short season, maybe for ever. If you're one
of
those people, know that you're not alone and that you can lean on Christ's strength. If you’re one of other three folks in that pew, you’re probably reading this and thinking "I'm glad that's not me". But I want to challenge you to think of ways in which you can care for your church family. In this case I'm
not
talking about signing up to do something! I'm talking about reaching out.
Haven't seen someone in a few weeks? Can you pick up the phone, call, and ask “How are you doing?” “What do you need?” When we see someone in the hall on Sunday morning and ask them how they are, do we accept their half-smile and check off the box of politeness? Or do we have the courage to put a hand on their shoulder and say, "How are you
really
doing? You don't look fine right now."
We say we love the Lord and that we Christians serve Christ, but how often do we love our neighbors as ourselves when the challenge requires us to be responsible for building a relationship?
Part of our mission statement is Community in Christ. A small
piece of that is being the light of Christ to the greater community around us. The much greater requirement is that we are a community within the walls of our sanctuary and in the halls
of
our church. How can we say as Lutherans we know God's grace with certainty if we do not demonstrate in doing everything we can to make our church community a place where they people can truly be transparent and accepted wherever they are in their struggles and in their walk with God? Grace for ourselves must translate into active and visible grace for others.
Christ was the embodiment of LOVE. Not just in dying in our place to atone for each of our sins...sins that a Good, Perfect, Holy God cannot be tainted with. Christ also embodied Love in his compassion, in caring more for the person than the rules, and yes, he was LOVE in chastising the hypocrites who judged those who were struggling to find God. He stripped off the robes of the rabbi, wrapped a towel around Himself,
and washed the dirty feet of others. He reached out and Loved. He sacrificed Himself so His followers would go love others.
Church, let's love well.
Let's make sure we are loving one another well. First John 4:7 says “My dear friends, we
must
love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know him.” And
John
13:35
says
"By this all
people
will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
In Christ's love,
Pastor Linn
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A few days after Hurricane Florence, an acquaintance of mine said, “Well that was a lot of nothing! We barely had a breeze and some rain.” And I guess from his perspective, it wasn’t much of a storm. But the key there is “from his perspective.”
That’s probably something we should keep in mind in everything we say and
do. You and I don’t mean to be dismissive; we just sometimes forget the
details of others’ life. “I came through my cancer surgery just fine.
There’s nothing to worry about.” “Why is your child so unruly? I used to
give mine a good talking-to.” “I don’t know why people get so upset about
the government. It’s always given me just what I want.” “People always
complain that it’s too cold / hot / rushed / laid back there. I guess some
people are never happy.” “Sometimes, I’m just befuddled at the kind of
things people put in their shopping cart.” “Don’t you wish we could go back
to the good old days? Boy, were those great times.”
Except that surgeries don’t always go well. And some children have true
medical issues. And government bureaucracy may let people fall through the
cracks. And sometimes a bottle of wine makes the day manageable. And the
good old days also included recessions and droughts and difficult
pregnancies. So I told my friend: I know you only had a breeze and some
rain at your house. But in Moore County, people fared worse. In the days
and weeks ahead, please remember them in your prayers. In your prayers,
always remember lots of people after lots of storms.
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Temple Talk – 2019 Stewardship Drive
Over the last few weeks we have all heard about the changes that have been made to improve our worship experience, enhance our Christian Education programs, and integrate our traditional and contemporary music. Members of various ministry teams have made short presentations prior to our Sunday worship service. These presentations have been used to inform us as to what’s happening at Our Saviour and ask us to participate and volunteer. These are things we should do to improve our own faith experience.
We’ve also been notified of changes in Our Saviour’s personnel due to normal staff turnover. The council and Pastor Linn have been very busy addressing ministry issues of all types as they evolve. And I expect there will additional changes made to enable us to better achieve our mission of
Worship in Christ, Growth in Christ, and Community in Christ.
And here is where Our Saviour’s finance ministry comes in. As I mentioned to you in July, Our Saviour’s year to date deficit as of June 30 was $28,000 and was likely to increase. That speculation has become a reality, and as of August 31 our deficit has increased to $44,000. I fear that this trend will continue for the rest of the year. Although we do have cash reserves to cover these shortfalls, our cash reserves will not last forever.
I bring this to your attention today, because like all the changes you’ve been made aware of so far this year, it is now time to get serious about changes we can make to eliminate future financial deficits. As usual, this is the time of year we prepare a preliminary budget for the new year. This budget has always been called a Spending Plan, but going forward, this budget will be revamped and renamed the Mission Investment Plan. And I, as chairperson of the finance ministry team, am asking you to consider what you can offer to support this plan in 2019 and beyond.
You will be happy to note, I hope, that you will not be receiving a commitment card to fill out and return with your estimate of what you can provide in financial support for the Mission Investment Plan. The completed Plan, prepared from information provided by the various ministry teams at Our Saviour, will be presented to you at the annual congregation meeting for approval. Support for the plan will be entrusted to each of us to give what we are able to ensure our mission can be achieved.
Until then, I or other members of the Finance Ministry or council, will be letting you know, from time to time, what the components of the Mission Investment Plan look like as they come together. In this way, we hope you will have a better understanding of how many dollars and cents it takes to achieve our overall mission.
And finally, I’d like to make a plea to all of you, as other ministry teams have, to consider volunteering to serve on the finance committee or serve on a teller team. If you have an interest in doing so, please let me or our Treasurer, Jenny Jennings, know.
Thank you,
Karyn Kline
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Prayers & Cares
Friends and Relatives
All Military, Flood, Earthquake, Volcano Victims, Cancer Patients, John Bennett, Chelsea Boet, Eric Bradley, Derek Burleson, Jane Johnson Clark, Jim Constantino, Barbara Dice, Charles Elam, Tammy Gonzalez, Ted Gordon, Pam Grupp, Jill Hunger, Harley Jacobsen, Mary Lou Jackson, Diane Lewis, Carol Lloyd, Patsy Mabe, Todd Miller, Steve Murphy, David Nelson, David Parker, Deb Payseur, Lloyd Pani, Phillip Pani, Shawn Plotz, Dave Roberts, Miles Robinson, Jeff Santos, Fran Starke, Helen Stone, Aleita Thomas and April Verlo.
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At Home —
Eloise Anderson, Rick Barnes, Polly Bethea, Dick and Pat Bock, Shirley Braisted, Cris Crisafulli, Louise Crum, Pam Crumpler, Dorothy Cullen, Dave and Roberta Danielson, Jack and Sue Diffily, Leatha Ferebee, Ellen Klingener, Florence McCormick, Leonard Nagel, Joan Nelson, Marian Oswalt, Barbara Reid, Carole Rushforth, Jim Seevers, Jean Sherrill, Pat Stephenson, Pat Wiggins, Gordon Zeller
In Extended Care
— Pinehurst Rehab: Peggy Smith, Quail Haven Rehab: Mary McNabb; Fox Hollow Rehab; Harris Skinner, Bonnie Springer.
In Service To Our Country
— Sean Barnes, Jon Drew, Pastor Linn Fisher, Ben Flanick, Mark Jennings, Ian Lilyquist, Mark Ochoa, Matt Prairie, Amy Ramirez and Sean Ramirez
Our Mission Partner
— Water of Life Lutheran, Wilmington.
Our Missionary in Costa Rica
— Pastor Stephen Deal.
Memorariums
To the Discretionary Fund
In memory of Bill Bradley
Given by Annemarie Loeser
To the Memorial Fund
In memory of Pat Streicker
Given by Phyllis Bradley
To the Discretionary Fund
In memory of Pat Bresrohn
Given by Patty Peeples
To the Discretionary Fund
In memory of Bill Bradley
Given by Patty Peeples
To the Memorial Fund
Given by Barbara Holderby
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Thank you for your continued support.
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Our Saviour Lutheran Church | 910.692.2662 | Website
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