THE EVANGELIST - Trinity Lutheran Church

THE EVANGELIST
Trinity Lutheran Church
“a growing, caring Church with a heart for Christ and the World Community”
MAY 2015
A PUBLICATION OF TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH LINTON, INDIANA
COMING UP
May 3, 10 17, 24,
30
9:30 am Worship
10:30 Fellowship
11 Sunday School
May 10
3:00 pm Women
with Empty Arms
May 13
6 pm Church
Council
May 14
9 am Holy
Comforters
May 19
1-4 Food Pantry
Christ is
Risen!
He is Risen
Indeed!
YES!
May 20
10:30 AM Worship
@ Good Samaritan
6:00 WELCA
Supper 7 PM Bible
Study
May 21
6:30 SON Ministries
May 28
6:00 pm
Holy Comforters @
Good Samaritan
Trinity Lutheran
Church
1759 E St Hwy 54
Linton, IN 47441
812-847-7372
www.lintonlutheran.
org
Like us on
Facebook!
Easter Sunday was filled with joyful songs,
the fragrance of lilies combined with
breakfast cooking, an Easter egg hunt, good
food and even our own liturgical dancer!
It was a wonderful time of sharing the joy of
Christ’s resurrection. We had 71 people join
together in the two services with breakfast
between the services. Thank you to everyone who
made the day special.
Word from our Pastor…
Pr. Doris
Sparks
Email:
pastordoris@hotmail
.com
Office 812-847-7372
Cell
812-699-9372
Pastor’s Schedule
Office Hours
Tuesday –
Thursday 1-3 pm
Saturday Sunday
By Appointment
Pastor’s Email
pastordoris
@hotmail.com
PLEASE CALL
PASTOR’S CELL
PHONE at ANY
TIME FOR
EMERGENCIES
(Which include ER
visits, life crises,
emergency aid,
etc.)
Stopping by the
office?
Please call first.
If there is an
emergency I will
try to leave a note
but you want to
call first to save a
trip.
“I never go to church on Mother’s Day. I can’t handle the focus on
Mothers and all the children of all ages with their mothers.” Tears
ran down the face of my friend. She was a professional who,
unknown to me, had suffered from infertility and had had several
miscarriages. Other friends I soon learned had children who had
died and it was painful to see families together when their family
circle was not complete.
Another woman said, “I am a mother. My child died at 36
hours. I think about him all the time. No one remembers.” One
woman blessed me by sharing her journey through pregnancy
with twins all of us knowing that one of the twins would only live a
few hours. We planned his baptism with his sister’s and who
would be present. At five months he died in utero and when they
were born (his sister was full term) we celebrated her birth and
the weeks that his parents felt him move. They read to him and
played their favorite music. They told the twins they loved them.
How do you give comfort to the young woman who just
learned she will never bear children? In all these cases there is so
much pain that goes on and on. I decided that these grieving
women, these “women with empty arms” need to know, they are
not alone; that God has walked with them throughout their sorrow;
that their children are remembered, even if they were just a hope;
and that God loves them.
Throughout the bible we see women like Hannah, begging
God for a child, Bathsheba whose child died after a short time, or
Naomi whose sons died in adulthood leaving her alone. The
sorrow of women is recognized throughout the bible and so is
God’s care for them. On Mother’s Day afternoon, May 10, we
will have a service at 3:00 pm to remember the “Women with
Empty Arms” who long for their children.
Please come and support them. Share this article with
friends and loved ones. Our mission statement says, “We are a
growing, caring church with a heart for Christ and the world
community.” This is a way we care for those in our community.
Please encourage women you know to attend.
Blessings,
Pastor Doris
RAFIKI
Our congregation helps to support Gideon Womano in Rafiki
Village Uganda located in Kampala, Uganda. We pray for
him regularly and send $50 each month. Here is some
information about Rafiki and what they do.
Rafiki Training Villages
The Rafiki Training Villages perform two main functions. First, they
provide living, medical, and educational facilities for orphans and
vulnerable children in ten of Africa’s most impoverished nations.
Second, they train African churches and governments to care for
and educate their orphans and support their widows. The Rafiki
Training Villages are operated by long-term missionaries who are
assisted by national workers and short-term missionaries. Together
this team accomplishes the dual purpose of the Rafiki Training
Villages—to help orphans and widows and train others to do the
same. This is achieved through the Foundation’s five programs:
Childcare, Education, Bible Study, the Institute of Classical
Education, and Widows.
ChildCare Program
The Childcare Program provides a loving home to about 100
orphans in the Rafiki Training Villages. Each Village will eventually
have schools, dining facilities, an infirmary, a playing field,
agricultural land, twelve cottages, and four residence halls. Ten
children live in a cottage with a trained national woman who
becomes their mother. Each cottage lives as a family; they eat,
play, work, and worship together. When the children reach the age
of ten, they transition to a residence hall where they live with a
married couple who become their mother and father.
Since the goal is to develop these children to be godly
contributors to their countries, Rafiki Foundation does not
facilitate the adoption of these children out of Africa.
Instead, the Foundation will raise and educate the children
in their respective cultures in order to provide the
leadership and skills needed by their country.
Education Program
The Education Program seeks to cultivate minds and hearts that
love God, their neighbor, and all that is true, good, and beautiful.
Each Rafiki Village includes an accredited school for PreKindergarten through twelfth grade for the children who live at the
Village and for a limited number of children from the surrounding
communities. All are instructed with the Rafiki School Curriculum—
a quality, academic curriculum integrated with a biblical worldview
and knowledge-centered methodologies. The Rafiki Bible Study, a
comprehensive study of the Bible, is an integral part of the
curriculum. Written for the people of Africa and the missionaries
that serve them, the Rafiki Bible Study is a thirteen year survey of
the Bible with levels ranging from preschool to adult.
Indiana-Kentucky
Synodical Women of the ELCA
The 2015 Biennial Convention will be held August 7-8 in
Hebron, KY. The theme is Faith in Action with the theme
verse from 2 Corinthians 10:15b, “Our hope is that, as your
faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will
greatly expand.” We will be active while there. There will be
ten work stations where convention attendees may come and
go throughout each day, working on various projects, such as
tying knots for quilts and putting together various kits.
The early bird price is $120 through June 30 so begin now to
make your plans to attend. For more details ask Pastor Doris
or Carolyn Konnert. At our March meeting we voted to send
$25 to the Fair Share program. This will make our delegate
eligible for reimbursement for some of her expenses. Let us
know if you might be able to attend and serve as the delegate
for Trinity’s women.
PURPOSE
STATEMENT
As a community of
women created in
the image of God,
called to
discipleship in
Jesus Christ, and
empowered by the
Holy Spirit, we
commit ourselves
to grow in faith,
affirm our gifts,
support one
another in our
callings, engage in
ministry and
action, and
promote healing
and wholeness in
the church, the
society, and the
world.
Women of the ELCA – Bible Study
Our meeting will be on Wednesday, May 20, at 6:00
for supper at the church. Our study will begin at 7:00.
Carolyn Konnert will be our study leader. The hostess is
Jackie Friestuhler. The theme is “The Church
Transforming and Reforming” The Biblical passages will
include passages from Acts 1:1-11, Acts 15:1-31, 1
Corinthians:1-14, 1 Corinthians 9:20-23, and
Romans12:1-8.
Holy Comforters
We will meet on Thursday, May 14, at 9:00. If you are able to
volunteer, we have a supply of comforters that need to be tied
when we meet. We will go to Good Samaritan to tie on Thursday,
May 28. The comforters and soap will be sent off to Lutheran
World Relief on June 5-6 so we hope to finish up several more
comforters before that date. Pastor reports that all of the ones we
sent last year were distributed in Tanzania.
Great job
Seamus!
The Bloomfield
High School
NJROTC was
been selected to
present the
colors prior to
the Major
League Baseball
game between
the Cincinnati
Reds and
Milwaukee
Brewers. The
game was played
at Great
American Ballpark in Cincinnati next Wednesday, April 29.
On March 26, the cadets raised and lowered a flag at Fort
Sumter, S.C., where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.
Cadet Mercedes Wilcox had the honor of actually lowering the flag,
while Cadet Kyle Vaughn had the task of raising the flag. They
were joined by fellow cadets Jocelyn Gadberry, Allen Coble, Zach
Quillen, Kylie Roach, Taya Maynard, Seamus Jarman, Jacob King,
Matthew Puett, Shelby Root and Austin Gibson.
Seamus is the son of Kris and Jamie Jarman and grandson of
Marilyn Saum.
UP COMING DESSERT AUCTION
We are planning a dessert auction to help raise money
for Zaidee Chesterfield’s Cheer Camp which lasts 6
weeks. She was invited to participate on a traveling
Cheer Team that will compete against other teams her
age. (Congratulations Zaidee!)
Please let Danna Dobbins if you would like to help.
PROPERTY
One never knows unless one asks, but
God tells us he will meet all of our needs.
So here are some of our needs.
*Stain the new door to the computer
room.
*Sand and stain the woodwork to the
computer room, the pastor’s office, and
the door to the altar care storage in the
sanctuary.
*Paint the Computer room.
*Install new curtain rods in Computer room.
If you can assist with any of them, please tell Jim
Hayes.
(Check out the 3-6th grade room soon for big changes!)
===
May Birthdays (no anniversaries!)
May 1
May 14
Mike Konnert
Ben Dobbins
FRIDAYS ARE TRINITY DAYS
AT LINTON SUMMER FOOD PROGRAM!
Trinity is one of four congregations that will be working together to
provide lunches this summer for children in Linton. Each Friday
beginning May 29 we will prepare taco salad for the lunches for 10
Fridays. The lunches will be served at the Linton Public Library. The
Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) ensures that low-income
children continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not in
session. Any child may have lunch regardless of income.
The food is provided and we will prepare it and deliver it. Trainings
will be held May 5 at 2:30 pm and 5:00 pm at the Library. You do
not need to attend to help. More information will be available soon.
"More than just another disease" –
The Lutheran malaria program in Uganda
By Allison Beebe
"Malaria is more than just another disease for us," says Fred, a
government health worker and local leader in the Kapujan sub-county of
Uganda. "It is killing our mothers, our children—every minute, every
second."
Geography plays a role in the prevalence of malaria in the sub-county.
"Kapujan is kind of an island," explains Fred. "We are surrounded by
many swamps, which are breeding areas for mosquitoes."
Because of the pervasiveness of malaria in their community, Fred and
the other community leaders in Kapujan sub-county welcomed the LWF
malaria program. As community leaders, they were invited into the
program structure.
"At the beginning of the LWF program, we participated in dialogue
meetings—key stakeholder meetings," Fred says. "During those meetings
we discussed the vulnerable populations such as orphans and vulnerable
children, people living with HIV and AIDS, pregnant women, under-5
children, etc. All opinion leaders and all political leaders in this subcounty have been well trained on malaria by the LWF program. We are
good mobilizers and we sensitize others."
Winifred, the secretary of finance for Kapujan sub-county, agrees. "We
are very happy that we have been trained in malaria, and we are now
creating awareness," she says. "Everyone who gets a fever should get
tested before taking medicine." William, the sub-county chief, chimes in
with his support of the program: "We have a good working relationship
with LWF in terms of chasing malaria out of Kapujan sub-county. Malaria
is dropping down because of support from LWF. Now our children are
surviving and pregnant women are getting good support from LWF!"
Fred goes on to explain how the LWF malaria program cooperates with
local leaders: "The Village Health Teams, or VHTs [trained volunteers
with the LWF malaria program] have been trained according to Ministry
of Health guidelines. The VHTs and the government health workers work
together to care for people, to do case management, to promote use of
Rapid Diagnostic Tests, and to supply malaria medication to the health
clinics. VHTs hold outreach events three times each month, but we tell
people not to wait for the outreaches; they should come to the VHT
immediately when they get sick. In this sub-county we never run out of
testing kits for malaria, thanks to your support!"
Fred sums up the thanks of his colleagues: "We would like to thank the
ELCA and Lutheran World Federation (LWF) for your support in the fight
against malaria. We are glad that the LWF malaria program continues."
- See more at: http://www.elca.org/News-andEvents/blogs/ELCAMalariaCampaign/313#sthash.L0JvVp0V.dpuf
Semi-Annual Congregational Meeting
Because our adoption of the new constitution was final last June,
we are governed by it now. In it our Semi-annual meetings were
moved from June and December to May and November. In
accordance with this, we will meet on May 17 following the
worship service. The meeting will be followed by a carry-in salad
dinner and desserts, of course.
We will be reviewing the committee reports, the pastor’s report,
the financial situation, and voting for two council members who will
start their term on January 1, 2016. We will also be nominating
people to serve on the auditing committee. They will serve 3 year
terms. However, this year the terms will be staggered to one year,
two year, and three year so that in the future only one person will
be elect each year. The nominating committee is Terry Sparks and
Peg Hall. Please respond positively if you are asked and are able to
fill one of these positions. The auditing committee usually serves
only one time each year at the end of the year to check the
treasurer’s financial records. If there are any committees who have
projects that will be coming up this summer that need funding
beyond $5,000 please bring these to the attention of the council
before our congregational meeting. If you have projects coming
up that do not require this much funding, it would still be good to
keep the members informed. Committee reports need to be
turned in to the pastor by May 5.
SUNDAY
SCHEDULE
Worship
9:30AM
Coffee Hour
10:30AM
Christian ED
11:00 AM
all ages
Trinity Lutheran Church
1759 E St Hwy 54
Linton, IN 47441
Linton Food
Pantry
440 E Street NE
Linton, IN
Phone: (812) 847-7901
Tues & Thurs 1-4 pm
Saturday 10-Noon
ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED
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