Since this is the week of announcements, we might as well go ahead and complete the cycle, talking about our regular events still ongoing and a couple of exciting new experiments.
In all the hubbub about our short-term meetings and special events, don't forget the ongoing, steady work we're doing. Inspire Craft Group still meets every Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.. Women's Bible Study gathers every Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. Theology on Tap and the Gospel Group meet monthly to discuss scripture and faith. We're also starting a Girls Discussion Group and Boys Discussion Group for youth to augment our usual youth activities.
We have big dreams for spring too. We'd like to convert the back St. John's lot--now a repository for brown grass in the summer--into a Community Garden, echoing the project of our friends from Colfax that they shared during our Cluster Worship. We're also looking for more ways to be involved in Campus Ministry. Though we're a ways from Moscow geographically, many of our former youth now attend the U of I and it'd be nice to support them still.
Finally, watch for one HUGE announcement about next summer coming as soon as a couple details are ironed out. You will not...want to miss...this one. Soon!
Make sure to take advantage of all the lively things we'll be doing this year!
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
Friday, October 18, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Special Events In the Next Three Months
Yesterday we talked about our short-term, small-group meetings. Today we're going to review the one-time special events for the fall and winter of 2013.
You've already experienced two of our biggest events, the BBQ party and Cluster Worship held in September. Those large-scale, public celebrations showed our community what we're about.
We're keeping the ball rolling with a more modest outing in October. The girls in our confirmation class have volunteered to hand out candy at the church doors on Halloween. We always hand out candy at the parsonage but there's value in having kids come to the church as well. Anything that reminds people that we're active, alive, and part of this community is a step in the right direction. Doing it through candy is a no-brainer. What sweeter gift could there be?
But here's an example of how we do things. Most folks hand out fun-sized bars on Halloween. Those are the miniature versions...very sensible and cost-effective. Nothing wrong with that! But when I was a kid trick-or-treating I always remembered my joy when I got a full-sized candy bar. They're more expensive. You can get enough fun-sized bars to safely feed Genesee for around $30. Regular-sized bars will run you around $50 if you find them on sale. The difference is $20.
That's a significant difference and I understand why most folks would go the cheaper route. Kids probably get enough candy as it is and $20 isn't anything to sneeze at. But when I'm thinking about giving to the church, that $20 isn't as big of a deal. I'm not weighing price-per-ounce as much as I'm asking what message the candy will send. When kids walk up to our church doors do we want them to have a regular and fine experience or something they'll remember and smile about? If I can spend $20 to give them the latter (for Christ's sake, not for mine) that's more than a good investment. Who am I to hold back $20 in the name of getting something more for myself?
Deliver the message first, count the cost later...if at all. That is the gospel, evangelist way. So yeah, the kids coming to the church doors will get at least regular-sized candy bars this year. If I can find King-Sized candy bars on sale enough, they'll get those instead and have their minds blown. That's not just my gift to them, it's my gift to the church and our community.
Also in October, on Reformation Sunday, we're going to celebrate the Latin American contributions to our church with music and some Latin American cuisine after church. It won't be a potluck...maybe not even a full meal. Just some things to nosh on to set apart the day.
Moving on into November, we'll serve our usual Thanksgiving Dinner for any folks who might find themselves alone in Genesee or just not wanting to cook. It's become quite the event over the years. We sometimes get as few as 20 but we've had over 40 before. We love it when families come to be a part of our bigger church/community family. 4:00 on Thanksgiving Day. Come if you want, bring friends, and let people know!
In December we'll have another big, public celebration. Our band is going to put on a Christmas concert on a Saturday night near Christmas. It'll be a familiar song, sing-along event. We'll sing Silent Night and Joy to the World, of course, but we'll also do Frosty and Rudolph and Let It Snow...all your favorites. This will replace the caroling and cookie distribution that we've done in past years. We will ask our church folks to bake a few cookies for the event, but nothing near the 100+ dozen we've distributed in years past. Maybe 10-12 dozen total would do it. Everyone will be invited.
We're going to spread the word about all these events far and wide. As they come up, please help us by letting your friends know.
I hope you're ready for an exciting fall!
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
You've already experienced two of our biggest events, the BBQ party and Cluster Worship held in September. Those large-scale, public celebrations showed our community what we're about.
We're keeping the ball rolling with a more modest outing in October. The girls in our confirmation class have volunteered to hand out candy at the church doors on Halloween. We always hand out candy at the parsonage but there's value in having kids come to the church as well. Anything that reminds people that we're active, alive, and part of this community is a step in the right direction. Doing it through candy is a no-brainer. What sweeter gift could there be?
But here's an example of how we do things. Most folks hand out fun-sized bars on Halloween. Those are the miniature versions...very sensible and cost-effective. Nothing wrong with that! But when I was a kid trick-or-treating I always remembered my joy when I got a full-sized candy bar. They're more expensive. You can get enough fun-sized bars to safely feed Genesee for around $30. Regular-sized bars will run you around $50 if you find them on sale. The difference is $20.
That's a significant difference and I understand why most folks would go the cheaper route. Kids probably get enough candy as it is and $20 isn't anything to sneeze at. But when I'm thinking about giving to the church, that $20 isn't as big of a deal. I'm not weighing price-per-ounce as much as I'm asking what message the candy will send. When kids walk up to our church doors do we want them to have a regular and fine experience or something they'll remember and smile about? If I can spend $20 to give them the latter (for Christ's sake, not for mine) that's more than a good investment. Who am I to hold back $20 in the name of getting something more for myself?
Deliver the message first, count the cost later...if at all. That is the gospel, evangelist way. So yeah, the kids coming to the church doors will get at least regular-sized candy bars this year. If I can find King-Sized candy bars on sale enough, they'll get those instead and have their minds blown. That's not just my gift to them, it's my gift to the church and our community.
Also in October, on Reformation Sunday, we're going to celebrate the Latin American contributions to our church with music and some Latin American cuisine after church. It won't be a potluck...maybe not even a full meal. Just some things to nosh on to set apart the day.
Moving on into November, we'll serve our usual Thanksgiving Dinner for any folks who might find themselves alone in Genesee or just not wanting to cook. It's become quite the event over the years. We sometimes get as few as 20 but we've had over 40 before. We love it when families come to be a part of our bigger church/community family. 4:00 on Thanksgiving Day. Come if you want, bring friends, and let people know!
In December we'll have another big, public celebration. Our band is going to put on a Christmas concert on a Saturday night near Christmas. It'll be a familiar song, sing-along event. We'll sing Silent Night and Joy to the World, of course, but we'll also do Frosty and Rudolph and Let It Snow...all your favorites. This will replace the caroling and cookie distribution that we've done in past years. We will ask our church folks to bake a few cookies for the event, but nothing near the 100+ dozen we've distributed in years past. Maybe 10-12 dozen total would do it. Everyone will be invited.
We're going to spread the word about all these events far and wide. As they come up, please help us by letting your friends know.
I hope you're ready for an exciting fall!
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
Monday, October 14, 2013
And Away We Go!
The Genesee Lutheran Parish website is back online and back on track for fall! And what a season it's going to be.
For anyone who missed it, we started off the year with a bang, hosting the community of Genesee for a backyard BBQ in September, followed by a similar party for all the Lutheran churches in our Palouse cluster the week after. Both of those events were amazing.
After catching our breath for a couple weeks, we're ready to announce some of the events for the year. We're going to break them up into various categories. Today we'll focus on small group meetings.
Getting together with a small group of friends is one of the best ways to learn about each other and explore our faith. This year we're continuing the Theology on Tap and Gospel Group meetings. Theology on Tap meets once a month, the first or second Saturday depending on what else is going on. We meet over some nice adult beverages and talk about an aspect of God, faith, or church life. Gospel Group meets on a varying schedule, announced in church and here on the website. Those folks take a look at the upcoming Gospel lessons for the next few worship services and help me design a sermon based on same. These events are open to anyone. You don't have to come every time; the group changes from month to month. You can bring friends. No particular level of expertise or belief is required.
We also have a bevy of topics for Thursday Night Study this year. We meet at 7:00 on Thursdays, beginning on November 7th. Each topic will run from 3-6 weeks. You come for that duration, learn about the subject at hand, discuss and reflect. At the end of that 3-6 week span a new topic begins. Come for the topics that interest you, skip the ones that don't. (Though in my biased opinion they're ALL interesting!)
We're starting out the year with a popular holdover from last season: Lutheran Basics. This was hands-down the best course from 2012-13. Some folks who went through it last year want to come again because we found so many interesting things! This course will begin on Thursday the 7th of November.
After that's done we'll have studies on parenting (and grandparenting!), aging, school, a more advance look at Lutheranism, and maybe even a book club or two. Some of these course may move away from Thursday nights, depending. We'll announce the schedule as we go.
This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as events and projects around church this year. Stay tuned for more!
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Council Minutes from May 2013
Genesee Lutheran Parish Church Council Minutes
May 14, 2013
In attendance:
Pastor Dave, Gayle Rossebo, Patrick Adams, Amy Peterson, Jennifer
Parkins, Susan Riggs, Doug Cartwright, Linda Chilson
Amy did devotion on Stewardship.
Doug reported on buildings and plans. They are planning on weed &
feeding the lawns. There was a discussion on replacing the steps at St John’s.
Pastor’s report-
First Gospel group was at Patrick’s house, he found this to be very
helpful. Theology on Tap went great. Youth will be attending the new Star Trek
movie on the 16th.
He will be gone some Sundays this summer so will be looking for people
to help with services.
First Sunday in June church will begin at 9:30 through the summer at
Valley Lutheran.
Pastor hired a couple of kids to mow the lawn at St John’s.
Rosanna asked to use the Fellowship Hall at St John’s on May 25th
for graduation party, this was okayed by the council.
Ole suggested recycling the can to get the youth a soda maker. Pastor
donated a buffet warmer.
June 9th there will be a showing of the Sunday School
movies.
Pastor gave a report on Synod conference and came back with some ideas
for Stewardship.
This summer we will be getting some books and dvds by Mark Allen Powel
for the council to pass around to read and watch to help us come with how we
want to handle it here at Genesee. When we come back in September we will
discuss what we have gotten from the books and dvds.
There is going to be a workshop on Stewardship at Moscow Emmanuel
Lutheran, will get more details on that for us.
Pastor is going to be working on having church’s from our cluster doing
some things together. The first one he would really like to work on is inviting
them to attend and be involved in Rock-N-Roll Sunday in September.
Another is to have a Good News Evangelism workshop on some of the
things we do differently here and that seems to be working. ie: Theology On
Tap.
One Celebration Sunday we may have a bus for us to go to another Church
in the Cluster and celebrate with them.
Next meeting will be in September.
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