Board of Elders

Grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

We have just finished celebrating a special day (Easter) that demonstrates the magnitude of God's love for us. How much does God love you? "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)." He gave us the perfect Lamb, Jesus Christ, so that we may have eternal life with Him. God also commands each one of us to love. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:38-39)." We are commanded by God to love Him with our entire being, heart, soul, and mind. Not only that, we are commanded to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. This does not mean that we have to condone bad behavior from others, but it does mean that we should not harden our hearts. "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves (Romans 12:9-10)." Pray for others, just as you would pray for yourself. People change. The criminal on the cross changed his life, and therefore he is spending eternity with Christ. There are those who need a helping hand, not necessarily a "hand out" but a "helping hand" that is filled with love. There are many, some who are homeless and some without food. Love them! "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails... (1 Corinthians 13:6-8)." Let our love for God and others never fail.      

Submitted by Elder Rick Stutheit 

Dan Niebur, Head Elder

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Board of Congregational Care



The Board of Congregational Care has lots of Home Medical Care Equipment that we want to loan to YOU! Here is a partial list of items:

Walkers (both without and with seats) Crutches Quad-cane Bathtub seats Bedside commodes Transport wheelchairs Hospital beds Assorted other items

If you need any of these items, please contact Shirley Mellick, Miriam Hagedorn , or the church office at 953-4967. We would love to help you select from among our supply.

Shirly Mellick, Chair

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Board of Evangelism
 
Confessional Lutherans for Christ's Commission (CLCC) presented an Evangelism Workshop at Redeemer in February. God lead us to the CLCC, I believe, to put us back on track. The Workshop taught us of Christ's Commission to:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19).

All of us know this verse but most of us are not, or feel we are not, very good at fulfilling our commission. We think others are better equipped, so we don't try very hard or even try at all. We do not understand what this verse is really saying.

The workshop showed us that we, as Lutherans, have been given a great treasure that we often take for granted. We are a unique group of Christians in the body of Christ because we believe Salvation is totally God's action, not ours. And because of our understanding of Justification we baptize infants, and believe God comes to us, through grace He gave us through the sacraments. He does this through the proclamation of the Gospel through the Divine Service. Through worship, God is reaching down to us and giving us what we beggars need; the forgiveness of sins and all of the riches in glory in Christ Jesus and for His sake.

If we don't understand how we are different, we wouldn't understand the Gospel. Until we understand, we will be a church that will not grow.

A major accusation made against the Lutheran emphasis on doctrine and truth is that we do not focus on outreach. The accusers consider themselves experts on outreach. They see themselves as keepers of Matthew 28:19. If only they thought about what the Gospel really means, it would be charitable to say they get half of it, but they don't even get that.

Stop and consider Christ's words, His mission to the Church to "Go therefore and make disciples..." Put simply, we misunderstand one key word: DISCIPLINE. Our English translations say "make disciples," and we have taken this to mean "make evangelists". A quick word study reveals that a disciple is a student, a learner, not an evangelist. A student learns; an evangelist preaches. Leaders fail to encourage us to do what Jesus wanted, to be students and learn.

Justification is totally God's action, not ours, and growing in Christ (our sanctification) is Christ's action in us. He changes us by His word and sacraments.

As we grow in faith, we look to Him to supply our needs.  We realize He is not only the author of our faith but He is also the perfecter.
We are given gifts so we can do our part in the body to fulfill Christ's Commission. Our job is to walk with the Lord, and share His love and forgiveness with others.

Pray that He will open their hearts to realize their need for forgiveness. Invite them to church to hear the Gospel proclaimed.
As they come to faith by the working of the Holy Spirit, they will naturally become disciples, lifelong students and followers of Christ. As they find their place in the body of Christ, we will all grow together in Him.

Submitted by Lora Gorton; Tom Valenti, Chairman

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Board of Stewardship

Stewardship Drive
Last year, when the voters approved a challenging budget for the coming year, the congregation also chose to accept a Stewardship Project. With the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ fresh on our minds in this season after Easter there is no better time to focus our thoughts and energies on this kind of a project. The details of the project will be discussed at the May 1 Voters' Meeting and you are all invited to attend to hear about it and have your thoughts heard.

The basic idea of the 2011 Stewardship Project is to show our response to the Love and Grace that God has shown to us here at Redeemer. The actions we want to focus on include:

1. Challenging each of us to use our time and talents in ways that show our gratitude.
2.  Increasing participation in our life in the church and fellowship among our members.
3.  Increasing participation in our life outside of the church in the community.
4.  Providing direct financial support to the LCMS Seminaries. The method and the means is to have monies that the congregation collects that are above and beyond our operating and outreach costs to be donated toward education for new Pastors.
5.  Increasing prayer for those inside and outside of our church, the students at the Seminaries and the efforts of our congregation.

We are "behind" in our giving versus expenses right now, so this presents a challenge to implement this project.
Therefore we are looking to the congregation for support, energy and enthusiasm. Come to hear about it on Sunday, May 1 and look for more information as we proceed.

May each of You know and feel God's richest blessings, 

Denise Rogers, Chairperson

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ATTENTION Chairmen and members of Boards and Committees:  If you need funds or reimbursements of expenses incurred for approved church functions, please submit your requests along with this form to the Church Treasurer.