Friday, August 14, 2015

This Week at St. Paul
Sunday, August 16th  
8:00am & 10:30am – Worship/Communion (Central Site)
   9:15am -  Bible Class (Central Site)
   9:15am -  Worship (Northwest Site)
 10:15am – Bible Class (Northwest Site)
   4:00pm – Elders Meeting (Northwest Site)
Monday, August 17th 
  5:30pm – 7:00pm – Northwest Site Reserved
Tuesday, August 18th 
  9:00am – Piecemakers (Northwest Site)
Wednesday, August 19th
  7:00am – 8:15am – Men’s Devo & Prayer (Spring Garden-Loves Park)
  8:10am – 11:45pm – First Day of School (Half day)
  6:30pm – “Something Different” (Northwest Site)
  7:00pm – Ambassador Ministries (Undercroft)
Thursday, August 20h
11:00am -  Knitting Etc. (Northwest Site)
Friday, August 21st 
  8:30am – Church Yard Clean-up (Central Site)
Sunday, August 23rd 
   8:00am & 10:30am – Worship (Central Site)
   9:15am -  Bible Class (Central Site)
   9:15am -  Worship/Communion (Northwest Site)
 10:15am – Bible Class (Northwest Site)
   6:30pm – Confirmation Orientation Meeting (Northwest Site)


Serving in God’s House at Central Site Today:
Preacher: Pastor Thies
Ushers: 8:00am –  Group 3         10:30am – Group 7
Elder: Tim King
                            
         Serving in God’s House at Northwest Site Today:
Preacher: Pastor Thies               Elder: Jon Schuknecht

             
Prayer for the Day is a daily devotional ministry. To hear a devotion recorded by Pastor Thies, please call the special Prayer for the Day phone number (963-7641) and then dial 3 when the call is answered.

 Generosity Moment - Ephesians 5:9  “Walk as children of light … and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” Some things are unclear in life.  But God’s word does give us a guidance as to what that actually looks like.  The Ten Commandments are a good beginning.  Part of that way of life and light is to put the Lord first.  Our weekly generosity in giving to our church is a good barometer as to whether we honor the First Commandment of having “no other gods before Him.”  We will never give enough to make things right.  But we don’t need to.  Jesus did so for us in His sacrificial death. Now we give witness to what that accomplished in us, even in what we give back.

Wow! What a haul of school supplies that were provided for our effort to help our St. Paul neighbor families at Fairgrounds Housing Project!  Thank you for your gifts.  We will be working with our partner residents there and with Boys & Girls Clubs to get them to a family of actual need.  Thank you for your generosity in donating!

Are you or someone you know interested in what our church teaches?  Pastor Thies is looking at offering our Christian Faith Class on Sunday evenings, August 16th & 23rd.  In this class he compares what we teach and believe to what others do while using the Bible for a guide.  Completion of the class makes one eligible for membership.  If you would like more information, please let the church office know or indicate so on your bulletin’s Care Card.  Upon his return, Pastor Thies will contact you further.

  SOMETHING DIFFERENT – continues this week on August 19th when our topic from Answers in Genesis will be “How Can We Evangelize the Secular World? - Part 1” Come and try SOMETHING DIFFERENT!

Did you notice our Noah and the Flood theme in the decorations in the Northwest site entry?  The Great Flood, as we considered at our Wednesday SOMETHING DIFFERENT event, reminds us of the flood of sin and brokenness that bombards us in our daily lives.  But like Noah’s Ark, the Lord provides us the safety and encouragement of the church with its greater Captain that Noah, Jesus.  He even died in that flood of sin and emerged to new life that we might be brought from death to life in faith and the water of our baptism.

First Day of School at St. Paul is this Wednesday, August 19th, with a 11:45am dismissal. We welcome back the students and staff!  We also wish to encourage and pray for all of our area students and families returning to school including those at Lutheran High, other Lutheran and Christian schools, and public schools. God’s blessings to a new school year!

 7th & 8th grade Confirmation class begins next week for any 7th and 8th graders NEXT SUNDAY, August 23rd.  We will meet with Pastor Thies as 6:30pm at the NORTHWEST site for an orientation meeting that lays out our journey together.  Please plan to come and please pray for our young people who are growing to a greater maturity in the study and understanding of “the Word of Life.”

Dinner Auction 2015 – An American Girl doll, Julie, has been donated for the auction. Once again, we are asking for outfits for the doll. Last year we were able to make two packages which went over very well. You can buy or make an outfit, by sewing, knitting or crocheting. If someone is in to woodworking, a doll bed would be very nice! If you have any questions on sizes, please contact Sandy Kahler at 815-877-7936.

Any day is an Open House at St. Paul Lutheran School.  You may direct interested families to our Admission Counselor Team of Dyan Lofgren (ext. 215) and Sue Wilkinson (est. 210).  They can be emailed at stpaulrockford@gmail.com or called at 815-965-3335.

Little Lambs is now accepting applications for fall enrollment. Please call Katie Lopez at 815-965-3335, ext. 218.