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From Our Pastor-
Faith News Volume 18, Issue 5 May 2015
Faith Lutheran
Church
PO Box 175
Wolverton, MN 56594
(218) 995-2556
www.faithwolverton.org
Rev. Clay Ellingson,
Pastor
1303 24th Avenue S.
Moorhead, MN 56560
(218) 233-3941
It is the mission of Faith
Lutheran Church:
To gather prayerfully as
the Body of Christ;
To grow in faith, love, and
service;
To go into the world
joyfully as disciples.
Sunday School,
9:00 a.m.
Sunday Worship
10:00 a.m.
Holy Communion on the 1st
& 3rd Sunday of the month.
Coffee Fellowship
May Food Pantry Item:
Condiments
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ;
As part of our Wednesday evening Lenten services we used a resource pub-lished by the ELCA called “Claimed, Gathered, Sent” which helped us engage in conversation with one another about why being church might matter. Below you will find some excerpts from the resource for your own personal reflection. There are five sessions altogether and so we will continue the series through July.
SESSION 3: WE ARE CHURCH TOGETHER
KEY BIBLE PASSAGE : “Now you are the body of Christ and
individually members of it.” — 1 Corinthians 12:27
GETTING STARTED
When have you made something happen on a team that you could not have done on your
own? Perhaps you participated in an outdoor adventure, carried out a service project or
solved a problem at home, at work or school, or in your congregation. How would your
experience have been different if you had tried to do it by yourself?
HERE’S WHAT
The apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome: “For as in one body we have many
members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one
body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another” (Romans 12:4-5). How
does that image of “one body with many members” happen in the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America?
Watch the video “We Are Church Together” (https://www.youtube. com/watch?
v=4zEi8p1ZwNI&feature=youtube_gdata), shown at the 2014 ELCA synod assemblies.
Note words, phrases or stories that capture for you the meaning of the statement, “We
are church together.”
After viewing the video, take one minute to write your response to this question:
What word, phrase or story from the video most clearly or powerfully says to you,
“We are one body with many members; we are church together”?
Even if you did not watch the video what is one way you think of the church as “one
body”?
SO WHAT?
In the Apostles’ Creed, we say we believe in “the communion of saints.” Communion of
saints is another name for the church. As the communion of saints, we are bound to-
gether by our shared commitment to God’s mission: “to love, save, bless, and free all of
creation from the power of sin.”1 Yes, this is God’s mission, but God invites us to spread
the good news about what God is up to. That’s our central purpose as the church. That is
what makes us different from other socially conscious, kindhearted, generous, morally upright, compassionate efforts in the
world.
In the ELCA, no individual congregation or synod can carry out God’s mission for the world alone. ELCA Presiding
Bishop Elizabeth Eaton observed in the video:
There is no way that the churchwide organization or synod offices can be with the saints and be present in the commu-
nities where our churches are planted. The local congregation does that. But there is no way that the local congregation
by itself can run camps, train leaders, engage in disaster response or accompany global companions. That is the work
we do together as synods, agencies, colleges, seminaries and the churchwide organization.2
1 Rolf A. Jacobson, ed., Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms (Minneapolis: Augsburg Books, 2008), 117. 2 Elizabeth A. Eaton, “A place called Lutheran,” The Lutheran, November 2013, http://www.thelutheran.org/article/
article.cfm?article_id=11705.
In the video you watched a few minutes ago, you also heard her say:
When our brothers and sisters in Detroit do God’s work, they are doing it on our be-
half, because we can’t be there. And when you engage in God’s work wherever you
live, you are doing it on behalf of all God’s children everywhere. In Christ, we are
truly members one of another. In this marvelous and grace-filled way, we are church
together.
Even if you did not watch the video can you think of some examples?
Describe examples of God’s people working together to serve others in word and
deed. How did working together make the community more effective?
NOW WHAT?
The video described a wonderful partnership between a rural and an urban congregation.
Which of your congregation’s ministries could be multiplied by teaming up with another
individual or group in the ELCA?
Even if you did not watch the video you can still reflect on the questions below.
Where do you see examples of “church together” in the synodical, churchwide and global
ministries?
How might you or your congregation support the ministry of other individuals or groups
in the ELCA or The Lutheran World Federation?
To be church we have to be together — as congregations and as the ELCA. Part of being
church together is being able to disagree but still be together. Being church together when
we disagree can be challenging. But if people leave the church, they lose the community
and the community loses them.
How is being church together different from a secular club or organization?
What can we learn from coming together to worship God and to serve our neighbor that
helps us stay together as church when that feels difficult?
WRAP-UP AND BLESSING
What one or two ideas that you have thought about seem most important to you?
Close with this prayer from Presiding Bishop Eaton.
Good and gracious God, you’ve created a marvelously diverse, sometimes complex world,
and people who thought they had nothing in common realize that in you, we are all one
body. So thank you for the marvelous ways you’ve surprised us here. And thank you that
we realize that, yes, we can give, but grace is something that we all need to receive. Bless
our work and our ministry, bless our joy and our trying things new, knowing that, as we
walk with you, we might stumble, but you won’t let us fall. This we ask in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Peace, Pastor Ellingson
May Birthdays 1 Keelee Pfau
3. Glen Ellingson
5 Piper Henderickson
10 Lori Nord
10. Kylie Hendrickson
10 Dale Gardner
11 Veronica Nelson
12 Linda Lucke
13. Doris Dibley
13 Randy Hodges
14 Bruce Slinger
16 Amber Nord
16 Amy Traut
17. Diane Slinger
19 Lucille Nelson
19. Harriet Ness
22 Stephen Dockter
22 Kevin Olthoff
23 Jane Buchholz
23 Sue Ellingson
25 Effie Weik
27 Kelsey Emerfoll
30 Linda Jones
31 Donna Johnson
31 Michael Aigner
Anniversary 2 Shawn and Andrea O’Dell 4 Mike and Debi Byars 5 Steve and Maryann Olthoff 8 Leroy and Bonnie Turner 19 Mike and Peggy Mastin 21 Ron and Cheryl Affield 22 Jason and Kyle Hendrickson 30 Greg and Pat Freitag
Faith Share and Care
FAITH WOMEN NEWS
NEXT MEETING: Faith
Women will meet on
Wednesday, September 9 at
2:00 for Bible Study with
business meeting
following.
Mother Daughter Other Brunch will be
Saturday, May 9 at 10:00 a.m. The Speaker will
be Taunya Todd. See poster on page 6.
2015 Fall Auction Date Changed to
Wednesday, November 11 at 7:00 pm due to
scheduling conflicts with our auctioneer.
November 2015 Meeting Date Changed to Sunday, November 8 after worship
Funeral: The funeral of Marion Allen was held at
FLC on April 15. Marion passed away on April 10 at the
age of 84.
Funeral: The funeral for Quentin Israelson was held
at FLC on April 21. Quentin passed away on April 14 at
the age of 96.
Honors: Kaela Lucke was selected for the National
Honor Society and the Atmospheric Sciences of
Meteorological Society at the University of North Dakota,
Grand Forks
Births: Congratulations to Dustin Askegaard and
Jessica James on the birth of a baby boy, Bentley James
on April 28. Proud grandparents are Tammy and Doc
Dockter.
Jane Buchholz—Sheyenne Crossing West Fargo, ND
Ethel Edwards—at home Moorhead, MN
Louie Gruenberg—River Pointe Moorhead, MN
Marion Israelson—Eventide Senior Living Moor-
head
Elaine Johnson—River Pointe Moorhead, MN
Leona Johnson—Rosewood Fargo, ND
Lucille Nelson—at home in Wolverton, MN
Keith Nelson—Group home in Duluth, MN
Beatrice Nord—Riverview Place Fargo, ND
Myrtle Nord—The Leach Home Wahpeton, ND
Please keep these people who are under medical care in your prayers. Let Pastor Elling-son know if you would like your name or that of a loved one added to this list.
Backdoor Ministry Update The committee received another bid on the project and it
came in $15,000 more than the last bid. Therefore, The
committee is reconsidering the project and working with
Council on a coarse of action. More updates will follow in
the weeks ahead.
Please feel free to talk with any committee member if you
have questions.
Committee Members: Dave Matz and Cindy Nord--co-
chairs, Deb Byars, Chad Erickson, Gayle Matz, Larry
Ness, Wally Nord
Lent Offering Our Lent Offering of $1,319 will be given to Someplace
Safe. Someplace Safe is staffed by local advocates and
volunteers trained to offer assistance to victims, survivors,
family and friends who have been affected by domestic
violence, sexual assault, or general crimes.
Financial Update The summer months are approaching us and as this has
typically been a slow offering time for FLC, the council is
asking that you review your giving and consider making a
gift.
Our giving to date is $35,528 and our expenses are
$52,550. Thank you for your contributions.
Fitness @ Faith
Fitness at Faith will take a pause for the summer as we
move our workouts to the great outdoors. Thank you to
LaDawn Turner, Vicki Nelson and Mandy Schroeder for
leading these wonderful workouts. We had a great turn-
out throughout the winter and it felt great! Continue stay-
ing active this summer!
Senior Sunday Come celebrate with our Seniors Brady, Jacob, Jessica, & Savannah
Sunday, May 3 Cake will be served in their honor
Jessica Church
Parents: Kathy Church and Kurt Church
School: Breckenridge
Activities: I’ve participated in Just For Kix
dance through school for 7 years. I was a
cheerleader for my high school basketball team
and wrestling team for a year. I played
Wolverton softball when I was younger.
Favorite Memories at Faith Lutheran: My
favorite memory at church was any day at
Sunday school when I was younger. I always
had fun with all the kids in Sunday school.
Future Plans: So far my future plans are to
graduate and attend the Minnesota school of horseshoeing for a two week
program this fall then next year attend the Equissage program in Virginia for a
week program.
Savannah Paulson’s profile will be in next month’s newsletter.
Also graduating this year is Krista Hanneman. Krista grew up at Faith
Lutheran but moved to Breckenridge and was confirmed at Breck Lutheran.
Our prayers go out to all of our seniors who are graduating in 2015. Exciting
times for them!
If you know of any college graduations please let Lisa know so we can list
them in next month’s newsletter.
Brady Johnson
Parents: Mark and Kristi Johnson
School: Breckenridge
Activities: Throughout high school I have been
involved in a wide variety of activities. I was a
speech team member for 5 years. I enjoyed play-
ing football, while it was short lived due to the
numerous injuries. I was an active member of
Mathletes and Knowledge bowl. I was also in
band and piano for many years. I served on the
student council from my freshman to junior year. Feeling like I had a full high
school experience I chose to enroll in Minnesota’s PSEO program at MSUM
for my senior year.
Favorite Memories at Faith Lutheran: My favorite memory at Faith Lutheran
was the 2012 National ELCA gathering in New Orleans, LA. Another great
memory was reading in church. As soon as I could read I was anxious to par-
ticipate in the service readings. I am positive this early start of reading in front
of the congregation fostered my interest in public speaking.
Future Plans: I will be attending South Dakota School of Mines and pursuing a
degree in chemical engineering.
Jacob Lucke
Parents: Jim and Linda Lucke
School: Breckenridge
Activities: Choir, LYO, Meals on Wheels
Favorite Memories at Faith Lutheran: When we
went on the bus tour of New Orleans.
Future Plans: NDSCS for business management or
full-time work.
Youth Attend Sr. High Youth Gathering
Harlie Nord and Kaitlyn Israelson attended the North Western MN Sr.
High Youth Gathering at the Young Life’s Castaway Club in Detroit
Lakes, MN in March. Comments about their experience:
The 2015 Youth Gathering was fun because I met a lot of new people,
including the girls in our dorm. It was a great experience for us
because we did lots of teamwork activities. Our speaker for the
weekend was Crystal Kirgiss. I loved her humor that she incorporated
into the assemblies every night. One night she talked about be your
own person, that we are not all the same. Some people have things
that others don’t, but you should be happy with what you have. Music
was performed by the group Mission. They were an amazing group of
musicians that got everyone singing. The next day we split off into small groups. The first session
Harlie and I were a family of 4, we had to fill out application for food stamps. Then we had to shop at
the food pantry and grocery store with limited funds.
The hardest was to plan nutritious meals for a week
with those groceries. The second session was
watching the movie “No Place at the Table”. It was
very inspiring and made me realize what people are
actually going through. “Rosie” was a fifth-grader
from Colorado who struggled in school because she
was hungry. We had dances both nights and got to
meets lots of people. The theme for the weekend was
“YTGBA” You Take God’s Breath Away. We
discussed people in our lives who take your breath
away. It was a great experience and I hope more
people come next year. Kaitlyn
I had fun the weekend of the retreat. I got to meet new people, make new friends and best of all got to
praise God. They had a fabulous speaker. She really went in depth when she spoke. And she really
connected with some people. I loved every second of it. I would love to go there this summer for one of
the week camps they6 have. Harlie
FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH COUNCIL
Meeting Minutes April 8th, 2015 NOT APPROVED
Members Present: Mark Miller, Chad Erick-son, Marie Skoblik, Mike Aigner, Linda Lucke, Pat Frietag, Bev Isrealson Members Absent: Scott Smith, RC Stein, Pastor Ellingson Opening Devotion: May 6th Pat Frietag Communion Assistant: April 19 Chad Erickson Communion Assistant: May 3rd Linda Lucke Offering Counter: All of Council Food Pantry item March: Condiments, Ketchup, Mustard, Mayo Secretary’s Report motion to approve; Chad Erickson, second; Bev Israelson. Motion passed. Treasurer’s Report motion to approve; Pat Freitag, second; Mike Aigner. Motion passed. Council decided to put a message in the next newsletter regarding the offering and our budget and how we currently sit as a congregation. Committee Reports:
Finance Scott Smith nothing to report
Property & Maintenance RC Stein nothing to report
Education Chad Erickson nothing to report
Music & Worship Bev Israelson meeting April 15th, planning for Pastor’s vacation and other leave.
Youth Mike Aigner LYO served 100 people for the Easter Breakfast on Sunday April 6th.
Faith Women 12 quilts will be sent to Someplace Safe and 12 quilts will be sent to Lutheran World Relief. Next Thursday April 16th, Faith Women will attend a prayer breakfast at the Hilton Conference Center hosted by New Life Church at 9:30am. Cluster 6 gathering will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Moorhead, on Thursday April 23rd at 5:30pm. Mother/DaughterOther Breakfast will be May 9th at 10am. The speaker will be Tauyna Todd.
Stewardship Marie Skoblik nothing to re-port
Endowment Mark Miller Scholarship appli-cation deadline is June 15th. Applications need to be in the office at Faith Lutheran by then
Decorating Pat Frietag nothing to report
Other Old Business
North Entrance The second round of bids
are in and are higher than the first bids received last year. The Committee is coming up with another plan. Possibly doing most of the work ourselves with contractors helping with some of the work. The committee will meet before the next council meeting and report to council what they recommend on how to proceed with the project.
Cleaning Person 2 applicants applied for the cleaning position. The two ap-plicants would like to do the job to-gether. Bev and Lisa will meet with the applicants and explain the job expecta-tions and salary to see if this is some-thing they would be interested in. Pre-vious cleaning companies that bid the job were contacted and were not inter-ested in the job. Bev will report back to the council in May and the council will decide from there whether to accept the applications.
Lawn Mowing will be provided by the Erickson boys again this year.
New Business
Need Synod Assembly Delegate for May Bev & RC will continue to contact members of Faith to see if someone can take Bev’s place for the Synod Assem-bly. RC plans to attend, we need an-other delegate from Faith Lutheran.
Senior Sunday May 3rd (gifts) Marie Skoblik will pick up gifts for Senior Sunday. Brady Johnson, Jacob Lucke, Jessica Church and Savannah Paulson graduate this year.
Appoint Council Member Marie Skob-lik will be resigning her position on council due to her moving away from the area. She will contact members of Faith Lutheran to see if someone will fill her position until December’s an-nual meeting.
American Legion has asked to use the church on May 3rd in the evening for their Spring meeting. Motion by Chad Erickson, second Bev Israelson. Motion approved.
Communion Wine It was brought to the councils attention that there was con-cern over the left over wine after com-munion being poured back into the wine bottle. The council is recommend-ing to the Altar committee to discard any unused wine, left in the small cups after communion, in the sink in the kitchen.
Council meetings Motion by Pat Frietag, second Chad Erickson, to move the council meetings to 7pm instead of 8pm. Motion approved.
Adjourn Lord’s Prayer
FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING Meeting Minutes April 15, 2015
NOT APPROVED Members Present: Mark Miller, Chad Erickson, Marie Skoblik, Mike Aigner, Linda Lucke, Pat Frietag, Bev Isrealson, Scott Smith, Pastor Elling-son Others Present: Back Door Ministry Committee Members; Dave Matz, Cindy Nord Members Absent: RC Stein, Purpose: The Back Door Ministry Committee met with Council to discuss the over-view of the current plan for the North Entrance, discuss current bids received and how to proceed with the project. Discussion; Current bids came in considerably higher than last years’ bids, and find-ing contractors to do the work have become difficult. In 2013 bids came in at $60,000, in 2014 bids came in at $190,000 and in 2015 bids came in at $206,000. BDM has suggested scaling back the project on the north entrance to in-clude; new windows, new lighting, new doors, stucco on outside of build-ing, insulation, some electrical, new heater in stairwell. Also suggested was that we do some of the work our-selves. The BDM Committee would like to know how the council wants to pro-ceed with the project. Motion by Pat Frietag, second by Scott Smith; to follow the recommendations of the BDM Committee to discontinue the original North Entrance building plan. Motion - approved Motion by Chad Erickson, second by Bev Israelson; the BDM Committee will continue to search for bids on the improvements Faith Lutheran Church needs to do. Adjourn Lord’s Prayer
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FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH PO BOX 175
302 1ST STREET WOLVERTON, MN 56594-0175
Return Service Requested
NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. Postage
PAID Permit No. 001
Wolverton, MN 56594
May Schedule
May 3: Senior Sunday, Last day of Sunday school
Saturday, May 9: Mother Daughter Other Brunch (10:00)
May 10: Mother’s Day—kids sing, dedication of quilts
May 25: Memorial Day Service at Salem Cemetery at 10am Potluck to follow
May 31: Lay Service
Faith Lutheran Church
will return to our
summer schedule of
9:30 worship in the
month’s of June, July,
and August.
