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July 2003 Newsletter
    
Deadline for Newsletter Articles for next month is the 15th of the month.
Email the Church Office or fax the office at 330-836-8872
Use Newsletter submission form here on the website or place in church office newsletter mail box.
Youth Ministry
When children are baptized into our faith tradition, we make a promise before God to “place in their hands the Holy Scriptures and provide for their instruction into the Christian faith, that, living in the covenant of their Baptism and in communion with the Church, they may lead godly lives until the day of Jesus Christ” (LBW). I believe this vow demonstrates how vital it is for youth to be integrated into the life of the Church and how important the entire congregation is to the faith formation of your young people. This is why I believe the youth/family model to be the most appropriate program type for this church.
In the above-mentioned model, the youth group is simply part of youth ministry as a whole. While the youth group provides time for the youth to come together, the complete vision of youth/family ministry provides opportunities for quality interaction and bonding possibilities between young people and adults so that all people may feel that they are part of the body of Christ. Below, I have listed some steps we can take to create this type of congregational identity in terms of youth/adult relations.
Create intergenerational activities. In the summer, I plan to get youth people and adults invilved in the building of a Habitat for Humanity House. Adults would not serve as chaperones; they would be working with the youth to accomplish a common goal.
Youth attendance at worship. The Middle School Group (entering grades 7-8) will meet evey Sunday at 9:15 a.m. beginning in June. Every other Sunday we will attend worship together . Please make them feel welcomed.
Youth service during worhsip. Youth will be responsible for reading and providing other services during worship on certain Sundays.
Team of Adult Leaders. A team of adult leaders will be gathered to support the young people and the Youth Leader. The team leaders will attend monthly meetings and a non-mandatory class will be offered in the fall for their own spiritual/faith development. If you are interested in becoming a leader, please call the church with your inquiries.
Confirmation Classes. Pastor Jean and I are working on ways to make Confirmation Class more real, experiential, and relevant for your youth while still providing youth with the same vital information gained in the previous classes.
Sunday Morning Curriculum. The middle school youth will have a Sunday morning curriculum that will be decided upon by the adult leaders, Pastor, and Youth Leader. The hope is to make the program more organized and viable.
High School Youth will be meeting during the fall on Sundays after the Light Service, and they will be involved with more intergenerational activities once a month along with activities associated with fellowship and service.
These are just a few ideas I have in order to build a youth/family ministry program. If you have any questions or if you would like to help, please call me. We have the opportunity to build the foundations of a strong youth ministry program which produces strong faith formation so that the youth may “grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God” (LBW).
In His Name
Carrie Miller
Youth Leader
Minister of Christian Growth and Discipleship
The Church Council is in the process of forming the Call Team that will search for just the right person to serve as Minister of Christian Growth and Discipleship here at Faith Lutheran Church. It is hoped that interviewing will begin soon. This will be a full-time position, and the person will be responsible for developing Small Group and Spiritual Gifts Discernment ministries.
The “start-up” date for those who made monthly pledges to the program is September. We give thanks for those who pledged, and for those who have already given their gifts. At the end of May $15,530 had already been received!
THANKS BE TO GOD!!!
Thanks For Your Support
New Dimensions: Growing In Discipleship Program
Moves Forward
We are one step closer to beginning an exciting new ministry at Faith Lutheran Church following the generous response during May to the New Dimensions Program.
On May 18 gifts and pledges to the Program totalled approximately $52,500. The goal set for the Program was $64,000.
If you have not already done so, please JOIN in this exciting ministry! Pledge cards are available in the narthex or the church office. It’s never too late to make a pledge or give your gift.
The purpose of the program is to gain needed funding to hire a fulltime Minister of Christian Growth and Discipleship who will develop Small Group and Spiritual Gift Discernment programs in the congregation.
Given the positive response, the Church Council will move ahead with forming a Call Committee for the position and finalizing the job description. The Council has approved using funds from savings, if necessary, not to exceed the difference between the pledges/gifts and the program goal of $64,000. They also discussed making adjustments in program expenses. Please watch your Weekly Beacon for updates.
Prayer Shawls
For the last few months, volunteers have been knitting and crocheting soft, beautiful, multi-colored prayer shawls. The Congregational Life and Nurture committee is coordinating this new ministry. You will be hearing more about this in the coming weeks. The shawls will be distributed to the sick, the struggling, and others in need of special blessings.
If you are interested in make a shawl, or in learning how to knit or crochet, just call Penny Thompson at 330-666-5065. The yarn, needles, and hooks, will be supplied by the CLN committee.
New “Locks” This Summer New "LOCKS" To Be Installed This Summer
Current Keys Will Be Replaced
A much needed addition, that will make the building more secure, is coming this summer. An electronic access control sstem is being installed at the church, and all outside locks are being changed. This is a particular need during the school year when 150 children, as well as teachers and parents, are participating in the preschool.
Here is a brief overview of the project.
An electronic access system will be installed at the Market Street entrance and the east parking lot entrance. A card or key tag will be required to open the door. These cards can be programmed to allow entrance only at designated times. There also will be a system for recording who enters the building and when they come in.
All locks on the remaining “keyed” outside doors will be changed.
Please note that existing keys will no longer open any outside doors, but easy access is still an option. Members, and outside groups, may request a card or key tag by completing a form tht will be available in the church office. The card/key tag will then be registered in that person’s name and, if appropriate, the card will be programmed to allow entrance at designated days/times.
Keys to outside doors that do not have electronic access will not be distributed.
It also will be possible for the staff to electronically release the system, and let someone in, without leaving the church office or the preschool office. visitors can just ring the bell!
Please look for further details about requesting a card or tag in the July “Weekly Beacons”.
Choir Member Bio
Penny Thompson
Penny and her husband Steve just returned from Colorado after celebrating her mother, Nellie Cole’s 100th birthday. There was a very special Mother’s Day service and reception in her honor at the Presbyterian church where Penny first started to sing in choir at the age of 13. Singing has always been fun for her. She sang in the Concert Choir of the University of Northern Colorado when she was a student there and is currently singing with the Akron Symphony Chorus. She has sung in the Faith choir since joining the church in 1974. She has sung duets with Shirley Kmet, Marilyn Wilson, and Geri Peterson. She can’t sing in any choir without Rae Welker beside her!
Penny has been a second grade teacher and Language Arts Chairman for the last twenty two years at Old Trail School. Prior to that she taught first and second grades in Colorado and New York.
Penny is a member of the University of Akron Faculty Women’s Club and TWIGS #11. The group makes craft kits for Children’s Hospital.
Penny and Steve have three children. Kirsten Thompson Ransdell lives in Raleigh, N.C. with her new husband, Paul and is currently teaching fifth grade at a year round school Tressa Thompson Hartsell lives in Wilmington, N.C. and is currently hiking the Appalachian Trail with her husband Jonathan. Trent Thompson lives in Columbus with his new bride Sara. He works at ONN cable news station.
In addition to choir at Faith, Penny is a soup maker, a preschool board member, a former Vacation Church School director and is working on establishing a prayer shawl ministry.
Rae Welker - OOPS!!!
Information inadvertantly omitted from last month’s Beacon .....
Rae has been a member of The Akron Symphony chorus for the past 12 years. She has also sung with the Blossom Summer Chorus and with the Summit Choral Society.
Marilyn Wilson
Music has always been a part of Marilyn’s life. Her mother and father were singers as well as her older brother, Bill. Growing up in Greenwich, Cinnecticut, Marilyn’s family attended St. Paul’s Evangical Lutheran Church where she sang in the junior, girls. and senior choirs. She was also a member of the elite Senior Chorus at Greenwich High School. Marilyn and her brother, Bill, both studied voice and performed many times in church and at various music recitals. Marilyn married Hal in 1967 and moved overseas where she sang in a number of church choirs, and was the soloist at the Beirut College for Women.
Goodyear brought the Wilson family back to the USA briefly in 1974. She immediately joined Faith and has been a member ever since. Unfortunately, her choral experience at Faith only lasted one year before Goodyear transferred them overseas again. There was a 15-year hiatus before Goodyear finally brought the Wilsons back to Akron. Marilyn has served Faith in many diffrent areas. Besides her membership in choir, she volunteers her services on the Altar Guild, was a member of the recent Ministerail Search Committee, and the Msic Committee.
Marilyn’s dream, upon returning to the USA, was to get a degree in education. She is a graduate of The University of Akron and is presently teaching 7th grade Language Arts and Reading at Old Trail School. Besides her family, which has always come first in her life, musical is the big second. When she isn’t teaching, she is in Cleveland singing with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus of which she has been a member for the past 14 years.
Marilyn and Hal have two wonderful sons, Craig and Trevor. Having been brought up living a nomadic life style, their sons live in Iowa and California. It makes it nice for visiting, but very hard to see Craig’s lovely boys, Kyle, Connor and Zachary.
Marilyn’s favorite pastimes, when she isn’t singing that is, are gardening, needlework, knitting, and hanging out with good friends
“The Making of the Modern Middle East”
“Christians and Muslins Establishing Peace” will present a program titled, “The Making of the Modern Middle East” at 7 p.m. on July 10 at the Newman Center at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church, 44 Univeristy Avenue. The presenter is Ray Nakley, Jr. an Arab-American Christian and activist for peace in the Middle East. He is spokesperson for the Arab Community Center of Youngstown.
For more information please call Liz Raines at 330-926-1877
ELCA Study On Sexuality
Northeastern Ohio Synod
Prayers Regarding ELCA Study On Sexuality
The 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted to direct the ELCA to develop a timeline for decision about blessing unions of same sex couples and the ordination of persons who are in committed same-sex relationships. A study on these topics is now in process. This vote and the study have stirred up a variety of feelings among many people.
Given the many emotions that the topic of sexuality calls forth, the Synod Council of the Northeastern Ohio Synod has scheduled six months of prayer regarding the study. Monthly prayer services will be held in each of the seven conferences of the Synod. These gatherings WILL NOT be discussion sessions but will be times of prayer for the church.
The sessions will be held in the Akron-Wooster Conference on:
July 9, 7 p.m. - Bethany Lutheran Church, Akron
August 9, 7 p.m. - Trinity Lutheran Church, Kent
September 10, 7 p.m. - Salem Lutheran Church, Wooster
Anyone who is interested in joining this time of prayer is welcome to attend.
Faith Golf Outing
3:00 p.m.
PINE VALLEY GOLF COURSE
REIMER ROAD, WADSWORTH
Followed by supper at
a home yet to be determined.
Please watch for announcement
in Sunday’s news section.
Sign up on Bulletin Board
(opposite the Choir Room)
Future dates
July 27th
August 24th
September 21st
Faith’s Fiftieth Anniversary
In 2005, Faith Lutheran Church will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of our founding as a congregation. There are many stories of people and events from this first half century of Faith’s history that need to be told as we prepare to remember our past and pursue our vision of God’s purposes for us in the future. May I interest you in joining other members of the congregation as we collect these stories and share them with others?
I have some ideas that may be starting points for this undertaking. For instance, we will need to draw on the gifts and talents of many of us. I see the need for the following people: those who can research documents and interview early members of the church; those who enjoy writing biographies, histories, poems, captions, anecdotes. We‘ll need illustrators, artists, cartoon drawers, photographers, designers.
We will also need to consider how to present these stories: newsletter features, bulletin inserts, bulletin board displays, electronic displays via website, monographes, illustrated lecture via powerpoint, etc. etc. And, obviously, we’ll need to hear from members and former members who have stories to tell, whether they’re involved in the writing and presentation of the stories or not.
Are you interested in joining such an effort? As I think about it, I see it as a celebration of God’s good work among us during the years and as a rededication of ourselves to his service. Please let me know if you would like to be involved; you will be able to pick which part or parts of the effort you’d like to do, based on your interests, talents, and time available. Please contact me personally, by email (st@uakron.edu) or phone (330-666-5065). Our first meeting will be spent in brainstorming about Faith’s stories—how to collect them, how to present them. etc. I see that first meeeting occurring sometime in July.
Steve Thompson
(Early in 2004 an Anniversary Celebration Team will be formed to plan this significant event. Interested? Please contact Pastor Jean.)
OPEN-M
Let me first state that I am happy that I was able to be involved in getting some pediatricians from Children’s Hospital to assist in staffing the Free Medical Clinic. As some of you are aware, I volunteer in the Emergency Room at Children’s one day a week and know all the staff there. In working with the director, Dr. Jeff Kempf, residents will begin in July helping out on a regular basis.
For about five years, OPEN-M had sought to establish a Free Legal Clinic through which those they serve might obtain the assistance required to solve problems to help get their lives in order and move on. Through a partnership between OPEN-M and the Volunteer Legal Services Program of Community Legal Aid Services, that dream is now happening. This is the first free legal clinic in Summit County to be located in a neighborhood and designed specifically for residents of the community. Other clinics are located in various homeless shelters but serve only the residents of those facilities. This clinic is unique in that people with legal questions and issues may walk in and receive help. It is open the same evening as Free Clinic. The clinic will be open until all clients are seen. Thy expect to see mainly domestic relations and tenant/landlord questions.
Norm and Judy Schmidt,
Social Ministry Team
ATTN: Soup Cooks
Many at Faith enjoyed the delicious soups that were prepared for the Lenten Soup Suppers and have expressed an interest in getting the recipes. If you were one of the cooks and are willing to share the recipe(s) you prepared, please give it (them) to Judy Lee in the church office. The recipes will be compiled and a mini soup recipe booklet will be printed. Thanks so much!
Thank You In Advance
Thank You In Advance - For Your Summer Support!
We give thanks for the faithful giving of Faith members during the first quarter of 2003! Your support of the church’s ministry is APPRECIATED!
As summer approaches, and more and more folks are away on Sundays, the Finance Team encourages your continued financial support of our ministry ... and wants to make it easy.
Did you notice that in your envelope packet for April, May and June - that was mailed to your home at the end of March - there is an envelope that you can use to send your offering to the church?
It will be great to see you in worship this summer, but when you are unable to be here, it will be good to know you are remembering the church in your prayers and with your gifts!
In Our Prayers
Health Concerns
For Faith members Pat Nelson, Karen Shepherd, Kathy Zbinden, Don Hill
Special Prayers
For all military personnel who have been deployed to Iraq and surrounding areas, and for their families, especially Robert Deme, son of Denise (and Pat) Flanagan and Erica Kovach, daughter of Norma (and Barry) White.
In Times Of Loss:
For Faith members Ole and Linda Latham, Erin and Allison upon the sudden death of Linda’s father, Bill Pennell on June 8.
Sympathy is expressed to Curtis and Susan Thorkelson upon the deaths of Curt’s father, Morris Thorkelson, on May 22, and of Susan’s mother, May Kepner, one week later. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time of loss.
Thanksgiving:
For all the high school graduates during this time of transition and celebration, especially Faith members Katherine Garman, Stephanie Hartz, Danielle Lightle, David Mallison, and Lauren White.
Notice of
Graduate
Allison Welker received her Masters Degree in Business Administraton from California State University - Long Beach - For the past 5 years, she has resided in Southern California. In August, she will be transferred to Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and be working as a Field Promotion Manager - Team Leader for Integrated Marketing Services.
Summer Music Schedule
July - 9:30 am
- July 6 Scott McVey
- July 13 Women's Chorus
- July 20 Shirley Kmet and
Marilyn Wilson
- July 27 Bob Hartz
STAFF UPDATE
Minister of Christian Growth and Discipleship
The Church Council is in the process of forming the Call Team that will search for just the right person to serve as Minister of Christian Growth and Discipleship here at Faith Lutheran Church. It is hoped that interviewing will begin soon. This will be a full-time position, and the person will be responsible for developing Small Group and Spiritual Gifts Discernment ministries.
The “start-up” date for those who made monthly pledges to the program is September. We give thanks for those who pledged, and for those who have already given their gifts. At the end of May $15,530 had already been received!
THANKS BE TO GOD!!!
Facilities Manager
Facilities Manager, Bill Osborn, will be retiring the end of August. The search has begun for a new Facilities Manager. Please contact the church office (330-836-8811) for more information.
Property
Beginning the week of July 7, the west driveway (between Faith and St. Hilarys) may be closed or obstructed while a new sidewalk and approach are installed at the main en- trance. During such times, access will remain open on the east driveway.
4th of July Parade-
Begins at Fairlawn Towne Center and ends at Summit Mall.
Our Flashlight Band will be in the parade singing your favorite songs from the Light Service while the children hand out candy.
Come show your support for our church and community.
Combined Rally Day/
Church Picnic
Sunday, September 7 - After the 9:30 service - More information coming soon!
CLN Summer Gathering At Wolf Creek
Time: 6:30
Where: 2637 S.
Cleveland-Massillon Rd.
Norton, Ohio
Please join us for a relaxing evening at the Winery at Wolf Creek. It will be a casual gathering of friendship, fellowship and wine tasting (other beverages are available). It is a wonderful way to make new friends and renew acquaintances. We will meet at the Winery. Please bring an appetizer, snack or dessert to share. Look for the sign up sheet in the Narthex. Feel free to bring your friends! Weather permitting, we will sit outside and enjoy the spectacular view of the lake and vineyards. If need be, we will enjoy the view from inside the lodge. Please call Anita Sears 330.665.3106 with any questions. Hope to see everyone there!
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