Son Times Summer 2018 | Vol. 2

ST. ANDREW LUTHERAN CHURCH

SON TIMES

Summer 2018 | Vol. 2

Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Two Sides of the Same Coin One day a friend and I asked the typing teacher, “Can we throw a Frisbee around before class?” I know, it was a crazy question to ask. However, even more unbelievable is the fact that the teacher said, “Go ahead, if you want.” So, we did.

Report cards came out and I received the letter grade of: “D.” At that time in my academic journey, there was not a lot of shock in seeing that letter grade. Yet, what stood out was the comment about my classroom behavior. As you might have already guessed, that teacher was the first on our list to meet during conference time.

Long story shorter—when my parents asked about my classroom behavior the teacher said, and I quote, “You son and a friend throw a Frisbee to one another before class.” I was quick to say, “We asked if we could, and you said we could.” He said, “I said you could if you wanted to. However, you never asked what would happen to you if you did.” {Not one word in this story is anything less than the truth.} Are you wondering what happened to me? Was I grounded? Did I have to go to my room without supper? Was I forced to cheer for The Packers for one week?

All my father said was, “A caring person never, ever tells half the story.” To this very day, I am bad a typing. Nevertheless, I immediately stopped throwing a Frisbee indoors.

For the next seven weeks in worship the theme will be: “The Seven Deadly Sins.”

At first glance one might think, “That seems like a huge downer. That is way too negative. However, in the spirit of my 7th grade typing teacher, I have two thoughts: 1. Some well-meaning early thinkers in the church thought that it might be a good idea to let the people of God know that there are some things that are just plain harmful to self and to others. Things such as: being too prideful, being full of wrath, anger, envy, and lust. “Can I seek revenge on those who have wronged me?” Or, is it, “Go ahead, if you want.”

2. Somewhere along the line, someone decided it would be good for every vice to have a corresponding virtue. So, when you come to worship on Sundays for the rest of summer, expect to hear about two sides of the same coin. After all, “a caring person never tells half the story.”

God bless and see you in worship!

David Lillejord Senior Pastor

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Leadership

Summer Worship Hours Sundays 8:45 & 10:00 AM

Save the Date:

Rally Sunday September 9

We welcome you back from summer

vacation with a fun filled Sunday morning. Food trucks, games, dunk tank, etc.

Think about how you may be involved in volunteering for this amazing Fall gathering to begin the “back together” again after summer fun. We need help with

setting up the games, working the games and greeting our worshipers. Please

email Debbie Flach and Gina Altmann at debandgina@standrewlu.org

Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Sermon Series/Capital Page Subheader Appeal

The Seven Deadly Sins Sin. It’s that thing we don’t talk much about. It isn’t a feel-good message. But it’s at the center of what good news means for each of us. In the dog-days of summer we’ll be wondering about what the church has called the Seven Deadly Sins. They are astonishing in their normalcy.

I’m sure we could all come up with more provocative sins than sloth or sins that are far more dangerous than envy. But these simple sins remind us of our need for grace and the call of Christian living to examine ourselves, warts and all. And even in our sinfulness, we will hear anew the forgiveness and love our Lord who takes us just as we are.

Weekly Sermon Series Topics: July 22

Lust

Corresponding Virtue: Chastity

July 29

August 5

August 12

Corresponding Virtue: Temperance

Corresponding Virtue: Charity

Corresponding Virtue: Diligence

Gluttony

Greed

August 19

August 26

September 2

Corresponding Virtue: Patience

Corresponding Virtue: Kindness

Corresponding Virtue: Humility

Wrath

Envy

Sloth

Pride

First on the List: Security!

With the completion of our “With Every Act of Love” Capital Appeal and gifts beginning to come in, staff and leaders will soon be selecting a new security system. It looks like installation can begin early this fall.

The effectiveness of a security system will only be as good as the internal procedures that accompany the system and the extent to which those procedures are followed. That’s why during the month of August we will be gathering a team of volunteers to lead a security team.

Procedures are being created that will support the system and follow recommendations of

our local law enforcement and fire department.

Once those procedures are complete, we will want to bring our security team together for training and implementation.

If you, or someone you know, would like to be a part of this new team, please contact Pastor Gail at pastorgail@standrewlu.org.

Gail Bach

Pastor of Stewardship & Evangelism

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Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Hospitality

Keeping that Warm, Friendly Feeling When we ask our new members why they chose St. Andrew as their new church home, the most common answer is a statement about the quality of our worship. But right behind that are comments about how welcoming and friendly the people of St. Andrew are.

In a world where church attendance is declining across all denominations, St. Andrew stands out as an exception.

Year over year and season over season, our average worship attendance continues to increase. Our church staff and worship volunteers work very hard to

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make sure that everyone—members, guests and visitors—gets a great experience from the moment they walk in the door. Whether we are talking about our ushers, communion assistants, greeters or those who serve donuts and coffee, these volunteers participate in a ministry of hospitality that makes everyone feel welcome.

As we prepare for fall, our hospitality leaders would like to grow the number of volunteers who usher, serve communion, greet and serve treats and coffee on Sunday morning. The more warm and friendly faces our worship-

pers see when they arrive, the more it feels like home.

Please consider one of these volunteer opportunities as you look for new ways to get involved at St. Andrew. Ushers should contact John Barth at ushers@standrewlu.org.

Greeters, communion servers, and fellowship volunteers should contact Deb Flach or Gina Altmann at debandgina@standrewlu.org.

Thank you to all who do their part to make St. Andrew a place where people feel welcome—a place they want to call home.

Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Service Ministry

Summers of Play AND Purpose The summer months are filled with many wonderful family traditions. Living in such a harsh winter climate for much of the year helps us appreciate the warmth and sun as well as the accompanying warm weather outdoor activities. We enjoy loose summer schedules, time with friends, laziness, and a family vacation here or there. Growing up, we Johnsons took looooong family drives each summer. We went to the west coast one summer and to the east coast the next. We pack it in.

St. Andrew’s service partners say different things about their summer months. They say that these months can be the most difficult times for them each year. As many people out to have fun, PROP’s food shelves become sparse and blood drive donations decrease.

People are so busy enjoying summer that they reduce their support of these programs. Do you reduce these important activities during the summer? While this may be true on a broader scale, I frankly have found that this is not the case with St. Andrew volunteers. We keep our focus on purposeful activities together. As we say around here, we keep our foot on the gas.

For example, this summer of 2018 is the first summer we have been involved with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. I set an ambitious goal that we would staff three full days at a Twin Cities Habitat house this summer, space for 48 volunteers. Would we fill up our crews those three days? I am delighted to share with you that each day had enthusiastic and purposeful volunteers for the project. They helped prepare the outside walls for siding by digging trenches, install windows and doors, and have fun while doing it. We will do another Habitat project during the 2019 summer season for even more people who would like to participate.

Similarly, the July blood drive had strong turnout. When the American Red Cross Blood Drive was restarted after several years hiatus in February, we managed to get about half the donation slots filled with donors. At the July drive, however, we had a full schedule of volunteer donors and walk-ups were not able to donate at a convenient time. I guess not everyone is out of town after all!

I expect is that the upcoming July and early August school Backpack Drive for the Center for Changing

Lives at Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota will prove to be a similar opportunity for summer Christian service. Check the website for more information.

I remember a principle taught to me by a mentor many years ago. We spend a lot of time trying to find a balanced life with family, work, church, time with friends, etc. We use the summer time to balance out our more busy times of the year. Rather than seeking a balanced life (more inward and individually focused), perhaps we should try to lead a centered life. A centered life is a life where Christian priorities are always on display, regardless of the month of the calendar. Being in service of the neighbor is one of those Christian character traits. Thanks for serving and keep it up!

Pastor Peter Johnson Pastor of Service & Small Groups

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Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Living Out My Faith In Daily Life—With the Grieving . . .

I love sitting with grieving people and just talking. I understand them better than I understand others. That probably sounds very strange to most of you, so a bit of my back story may help you to understand. May 21, 1977, my dad, George Burman, took his own life, most likely due to PTSD he continued to suffer from his time as a mechanic on the front lines in Korea. I was 10. April 10, 1978, just 2 weeks after my 11th birthday, my mom, Charlotte, died of heart disease.

Somewhere in between the two, my classmate, Karen Wiita, was murdered walking to school in Duluth in our quiet, safe neighborhood. It was kind of a rough year!

I was an only child, so I lost my entire family in less than a year, was forced to move to Colorado with an Aunt, Uncle and cousins I didn’t know well, and was put in a Lutheran school where everyone had been friends since preschool. It was awful. I had very little support and no one to talk to who understood, so my teen years were, to put it bluntly, Hell!

(Can I say that in a church newsletter?)

I eventually recovered and have a very blessed life now, but you never get over grief. You get through it, you learn to live with it, but you never get over it completely. I decided that I wanted to help others who were grieving so their pain could hopefully be lessened just a bit by having someone who “got it” to talk to. But there was one problem, I have an 5

accounting degree and no credentials as a therapist so initially everyone I asked said a very quick “NO” when I tried to start some type of a program for the grieving. But persistence paid off, and now I am leading GriefShare with a team of wonderful women, I’m a facilitator and occasional speaker for the Southwest Grief Coalition and I also help lead a suicide bereavement group here at St. Andrew. And I love it. Surprisingly, we do as much laughing as crying in these groups. Somehow, just being around others who understand is an amazing experience. We can feel God’s presence in our conversations and in both the laughter and the tears.

There are two things grieving people want: they want life to go back to “normal” which is impossible because a significant person in their life is gone, and they desperately want the person who died to be remembered! This is also difficult because most people no longer want to say the name or talk about the person who died because they are afraid they will upset them or make them cry. What the non-grieving don’t understand is that we are never not thinking about the people we lost, we want to talk about them but don’t know how to bring it up without scaring people away. And if we cry, it’s just as much tears of joy at you remembering as it is tears of sorrow!!

So here is my challenge to all of you reading this – think

Congregational Council

of someone you know who has had a significant loss in their life – maybe it was 5, 10, even 20 or more years ago, and write that person a letter or call them on the phone and let them know that you were thinking of the person who died and you just want to let them know that. Then let the conversation go where it may – I can guarantee you will make the day (or week or month) of the person you reach out to. It’s one small way you can live out your faith in daily life and make a significant difference in the day of a friend.

So, here goes, I’ll start. If anyone reading this is related to Karen Wiita, or knows her family, please let them know that her classmates from Emerson Elementary in Duluth have never forgotten her, and what happened to her has made us better parents and better people and we just want them to know that! How do I know? A group of us reconnected on Facebook a few years ago and that is one of the first things we talked about. And then let me know how I can reach them! Thanks!

GriefShare Age Range: Adults

Days/Times: Mondays from 6:30-8:30 PM through the summer at St. Andrew.

Description: Have you suffered the loss of a partner, parent, child, or friend? GriefShare is a 13-week small group series

for those grieving the loss of someone they loved. Grief can

feel lonely and isolating, especially in a culture that pressures

you to “move on.” GriefShare helps you face those challenges and move towards rebuilding your life.

Contact: Cheryl Harjes at tcharjes@comcast.net and Tammy Sperr at tsperr@comcast.net

For more information about GriefShare and other support

groups please visit standrewlu.org/small-groups/support-groups/

Cheryl Harjes

Congregational Council

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Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

“Life is a lot like a patchwork quilt!”

Occasionally, I hear people say, “Our American Culture has a ‘use it and throw it away’ mentality about many things. Pollution in lakes and streams, too much landfill all remind us that we need to keep working at repurposing our stuff. My parents’ generation lived through the Great Depression and they were forced to live by the belief ‘waste not, want not.’ My dad was notorious about saving stuff that no longer worked so that he could take parts off of it to fix something that stopped working. Because I now am a senior citizen I’m liking the notion more and more that we don’t have to think of something or someone becoming useless just because they’re old. A 93-year-old man I called on for 8 years

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was the care giver for his wife who had Alzheimer’s. Once she died, he made a keen observation which was, “I have to find a new purpose for my life.” For all those years his purpose was caring for his wife and he knew that in order to remain vital, mentally and spiritually, he had to find a new purpose.

Our senior adult group at St. Andrew, The Prime Timers, did a Barn Quilt Tour in July. We saw a dozen barn quilts on Carver County farms.

These quilts are designed and painted on wood panels which are 4 feet by 4 feet or 8 feet by 8 feet. The farmer picks the design and an artist paints it on the wood panel. Our church has a quilters group and they cut old material that might otherwise be thrown away into

Visitation Ministry

squares which are sewn together into a beautiful design and sent to third world countries to keep people warm.

Our lives are a lot like a patch-work quilt in that God gives us free will and allows us to shape and design the life we want to live. The interesting part about blanket quilts or barn quilts is that they aren’t created until a design has been agreed upon. Our lives are not that intentional but probably much more random and yet Jesus pushed his disciples to live an intentional life in relation to God and to our neighbor.

So, how are we doing in ‘living out our faith in daily life?’ Is our faith in God the core of how we live our life? In John 15 Jesus tells his disciples, “I am the vine, you are the branches. The branches cannot live apart from the vine but whoever abides in me and I in him will bear much fruit and prove to be my disciple.” That’s a story of connecting with God and being part of his patch-work quilt of faith.

So, let’s think of our life, our family, or our church as a great patch-work quilt. When people look at us, do they see purpose, do they see God’s Spirit in us and through our words and actions? I think we’re better when we are together in faith and service to God and others than we are alone. I love the idea of being one of the squares on the St. Andrew Lutheran Church quilt of faith and life!

Pastor Roger Schindel Visitation Minister

“Notes” from the Music Office

Music & Worship

In the Flesh

e yourself, no matter

what they say” – Sting

Let’s be honest: evangelism is tricky for Lutherans. We don’t love telling the story nearly as much as we love singing “I Love to Tell the Story.” But we also know that the most powerful witness to others is the way we live out our faith in daily lives. I love our church’s mission statement because it points to the wonderful passage from the first chapter of John’s Gospel: “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The Word becomes flesh in our lives as well and God works through us in ways we cannot begin to imagine when we are living out our faith using the gifts God has given us. One of my favorite quotes from Frederick Buechner is this: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” God has given each of us gifts that make us uniquely the

person we are and we serve God best by being the person he has created us to be. There’s a beautiful old hymn, “Hark, the Voice of Jesus Crying”, that says it better than I ever could: If you cannot speak like angels, If you cannot preach like Paul, You can tell the love of Jesus, You can say he died for all.

If you cannot rouse the wicked With the judgment’s dread alarms, You can lead the little children To the Savior’s waiting arms.

Daniel March © Public Domain

God’s blessings to you as you continue to serve him in your life, both inside and outside of the church. See you in church!

Shalom, Tim Graf

Director of Worship & Music

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Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Early Learning

St. Andrew

Preschool & Childcare

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ummer at St. Andrew Early Learning has been filled with summer treats, pirate adventures, dinosaur camps, gooey science camps, bike parades, a drive in movie and so much more! We are excited to be able to explore God’s wonderful creation all around us as we enjoy our summer days here at school. Living out the days of summer through the eyes of the children here is such a blessing.

Children teach us so many things and are such wonderful examples of how to live faith in our daily lives. They are happy with anything, always busy with something, trust without hesitation and

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love unconditionally. If you stop and think a moment, it kinda reminds me of someone else, Jesus. As summer days continue to come and go, I challenge you to live life through the eyes of a child. Go get that summer treat. Greet a stranger at the park. Take that extra day of vacation to enjoy all of God’s wonderful creation. Go live out your faith in daily life.

Melanie Eggers

Childcare Director

Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Children’s Ministry

Things I’ve learned from kids so far this summer:

• Flossing has nothing to do with teeth or dental health. (Think, dancing…)

• Lily pads are definitely not only for frogs. (Clues: life jackets, swim suits, splashing) • Delivering polar fleece blankets for kids with cancer is an excellent activity to do with Flat Jesus.

• Talking with a new friend sitting alone under a tree brings smiles all around.

• Triple freezies are bomb.

• Bacon is the best when it is sugar coated, rainbow colored, and shared with a friend.

• Hearing the gospel read by kids changes how you hear it.

• Mixing Mentos and Diet Coke looks like joy come to life!

• Packing 1,300 snack packs for PROP is no big deal.

• Receiving the gift of Holy Communion from a child reminds us who God’s kingdom is for.

I have the privilege of spending lots of time with kids in the summer, and I have been reminded again and again what a holy privilege it is. Each of us is created in the image of God—kids, too. The beauty of children is they show us what it means to live their faith every day because they do it instinctively. Kids are difference makers. They show us how to be present in the moment and how to be present with each other. They show us how to play and how to laugh. They want to help fix what is broken in the world. They invite us to see the world differently— with a sense of wonder, awe, and as a place where flossing has nothing at all to do with teeth, and anything is possible. So, let’s love them. Play with them. Learn from them. And, most importantly—protect them and keep them safe.

Arlene Flancher

Children’s Ministry Director

Children’s Ministry This Summer •

Summer Sunday School: Every Sunday through August 19 at 8:45 and 10:00 AM

•

2018–19 Sunday School Registration Open: July 25

• • • • •

Wee Ones Stories and Songs: Every Tuesday morning through August 14 at 9:00 AM 2018–19 Wednesday Programs Registration Open: July 25

2018–19 Sunday School Leader Training: Wednesday, September 5 and Saturday, September 8 Sunday School Starts: Sunday, September 9

Wednesday Programs Start: Wednesday, September 12

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Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Middle School Ministry

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his newsletter article is brought to you by Lindsay and Reilly, the Special Edition, One Time Only, St. Andrew Middle School Ministry Team!

Lindsay here, as I connect with our awesome youth I’m consistently humbled by how they Live Out Their Faith every day, so for this article we asked the Lake Traverse Mission Trip team to share how they’ve been living out their faith this summer:

I remember the bible verse “you are crowned with honor and glory” –Becky

My favorite bible verse is Mathew 6:34, which helps me Live Out my Faith –Sonja

I Live Out my Faith by meeting and talking to new people God brings into my life –Madi

I Live Out my Faith by having hope –Madeline

When someone is kind to me I think about God and sometimes pray –Max

I pray every day, and while doing work –Claire

By helping people when I see a need –Robert

By helping in Sunday School –Amaya

Wow! Reilly here. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have experienced these students’ God moments in my own eyes from right here in Lake Traverse, South Dakota. I am looking forward to Living Out My own Faith through many more youth connections this summer up at Spirit in the Pines and on our annual Welch Mill tubing adventure coming up on August 22nd.

We are aware that we only get to see a small sliver of the amazing ways you all have experienced God’s beauty and grace this summer. We can’t wait to hear your stories!

Peace and blessings, Lindsay Bates & Reilly Orner

Middle School Ministry Co-Directors 11

Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

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ith the first half of summer behind us, we have enjoyed many great things here at St. Andrew, from Wednesday Night Youth Group to the Youth Gathering in Houston. I would like to thank everyone for their support and prayers we received for the Gathering trip. This was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience that was made possible by all of the members of this congregation, so thank you for allowing us this opportunity to grow our faith!

We had a great time hearing speakers, such as Nadia Boltz Weber, to concert

performers, like 10th Avenue North.

We had a blast learning all the different ways that we can use our gifts to serve God and our community. From learning about how we can outreach to others, to making buttons and playing hockey, it was a great way to build the Christian community. We were blessed on this trip and found God in a variety of ways.

We now look forward to the second half of summer, which includes high school golf outings, high school weekend at camp, and tubing at Welch Mill.

Also, be sure to look at our mission trip

High School Ministry

for next year to Logan, West Virginia. I am excited for what the second half of summer holds for us, so make sure you sign up for all of these great opportunities! I am excited to see you and to see what God is going to do in your lives’ this second half of summer!

TJ Helgren

High School Ministry Director

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Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Water is Life Ahhh, summer! Trips to the lake, splashing in a nearby pool, running through a sprinkler on a hot day, canoeing, boating, fishing. Water plays a big part in how many of us spend the hot days of summer. If you are someone who enjoys primitive camping, trekking through the Boundary Water Canoe Area or other wildernesses, water takes on a different kind of importance. You have to plan ahead to take some kind of water filter or boil all the water you drink and cook with.

Most days I take water for granted. I think nothing of letting the faucet run when I put dirty pots and pans in the sink to soak. I turn on the sprinkler in my garden and let it run for hours. I love a long shower after a day of working outside, covered in garden dirt, sweat, bug spray and sunscreen.

Every so often I am reminded how lucky I am. I live on a farm and get my water from the well dug by my grandfather 80 or 90 years ago. Things sometimes go wrong.

The power goes out or the pump malfunctions. The pipes freeze in the winter. If all the cattle waterers start running at the same time, the pressure in the house drops to near zero.

That is not a pleasant reminder if you’re in the middle of a nice long shower! Still this well has watered our livestock, bathed our children and quenched our thirst for three generations. Not only is the water abundant, it is good tasting and clean, unlike many of our neighbors’ wells which are brackish and limited in supply.

Many people in the world cannot forget the importance of clean water. The United Nations estimates that 2.1 billion people on the earth do not have access to safe drinking water. Lack of clean water means 340,000 children under the age of 5 die from waterborne diarrhea annually. Hours and days of work and school are lost because of illnesses spread by unclean water. Women and children spend hours every day carrying water to their homes. It is a myth that people become immune to the negative effects of dirty water. In places where we are warned not to drink the water, others have no choice but to drink it. They get sick, just as we would.

Water is life. We are, physically, mostly water. We can’t live long without a drink. That’s why Seeds of Support Mission: Haiti, took seriously our Haitian partner congregation’s request that we help them bring water to their community. We helped dig a well, installed a solar pump and guided the development of a well management committee.

Having access to clean water has stimulated the building of new homes in the community. Water is being pumped to those homes so women don’t need to carry water from the 13

well or up the hill in buckets on their heads. A larger capacity water tower is being planned for construction to meet the growing water needs of the community.

The well has given hope to the community of Pasquette and beyond.

I try to remember my Haitian brothers and sisters when I turn on the tap and drink a glass of clean water, when I stand in the shower, water my garden or give a drink to the cows. I try to be grateful for the gift of water.

I have realized, however, that my Haitian friends’ lives are not changed much by my warm fuzzy feelings of gratitude alone. I need to translate that gratitude into sharing clean water with someone else.

Here are some ways you can be grateful: • Run through the sprinkler or jump in the pool to celebrate. Water is life!

• Pray for those in the world who walk hours every day with buckets on their heads to provide water for their households.

• Pray for organizations like Seed of Support who work to bring clean water to communities in need.

• Join us on our upcoming trip from December 28, 2018 through January 5, 2019 and watch the water flow and even learn how to carry water on your head.

• Seeds of Support welcomes anyone who would like to play a part of our ongoing water project. Heightened awareness of the project, fundraising, and financial donations all provide for a robust water project for the community.

Gratefully, Janet Jacobson

Seeds of Support Mission: Haiti Board Member

Seeds of Support Mission: Haiti

Upcoming Mission Registration We are welcoming trip registrations for December 28, 2018 through

January 5, 2019 mission trip to Haiti. Check the Haiti webpage on the St. Andrew website or talk with Pastor Peter Johnson

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Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

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he Fourth of July seems to be the midpoint of summer, with one half behind us and one half still to come. We’ve had about 436 youth and family campers and counselors at camp through the 4th of July. The second half of the summer will bring over 1000 more youth and family campers and counselors to camp! With the busiest weeks still ahead at camp, it’s a good time now to reflect on how we see faith being lived out every day, at camp.

In Galations, Paul writes, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” This verse is the focus of our camp curriculum this summer—Pirates for Peace; Discovering God’s Treasure!

Some of God’s treasures discovered at camp: • LOVE between families, with goodbye embraces (and some misty eyes too!), and enthusiastic hugging upon returning home (and more misty eyes!)

• LOVE literally “baked in” to homemade desserts and carefully prepared meals that nourish and provide energy for all.

• Campers are JOY-fully and enthusiastically welcomed off the bus as they arrive at camp.

• Abundant JOY on the faces of campers and counselors and staff as they play games, sing songs, and laugh loudly throughout each day.

• PEACE not in the dining hall during meals (no way!), but around the campfire and at worship when all are singing and praying together.

• PEACE that many family campers report finding at camp, as they enjoy escaping the “noise” of their daily lives at home.

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• PATIENCE is practiced as campers hear the rules and explanations for new games waiting to be played.

• KINDNESS abounds as counselors care for campers in a myriad of situations, including when the night is late and campers are still chatty from all the day’s activities.

• GOODNESS shines in acts of friendship and compassion between campers, counselors and staff.

• FAITHFULNESS is displayed as the staff lead Bible study groups on the Fruit of the Spirit text and share campfire messages.

• SELF-CONTROL comes into play as campers are making food choices on their own (within boundaries of course) during canteen, and as they realize they can’t and shouldn’t eat all the candy and snacks they might want!

And what binds this all together is love, as it’s written in Galations 6: The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

The staff at camp are looking forward to the rest of the summer, experiencing and sharing the Fruit of the Spirit, at camp! We pray that in your daily lives, you too will experience and share, abundant “fruit”.

Sharing God’s Love through Camping Ministry, Burke Hancer & Sandy Perkins Camping Ministry Team

Spirit in the Pines

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Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Online Portal

St. Andrew Portal: Did you know?

There are ways to stay connected to St. Andrew Lutheran Church during these fleeting summer days when you want to be outside enjoying the weather. One of the ways to stay connected is the St. Andrew Portal. The portal is your connection to ministries and events at St. Andrew. You may have already been using the portal as you register for an event.

Simply go to the St. Andrew Lutheran Church website at www.standrewlu.org and click on “Payments” then “All Event Payments” and you are at the portal!

Login with your username and password—if you forget your password simply click the grey button and it will be emailed to you. If you have trouble logging in, give the church a call and we can help.

Once you have logged in, there are a number of things that you can discover on the St. Andrew Portal. One of the most common activities is signing up for activities using the “Events” tab.

The next tab is “Prayer” and you are able to submit prayer requests either for private prayers or to be included in the bulletin.

The “Serving” tab provides you the opportunity to find ways to connect with the church—how you might get involved.

Another way to get or stay connected is to look for people with common interests and you can see all the current ones under the “Small Groups” tab. A hint for this page – if you want to see all the small groups just leave the fields blank and hit the search button!

Finally, you can use the portal this summer to stay current on your giving. Just click on the “Give” tab and then click on “Family Contributions” at the right to see your current information! You will have more time to enjoy this summer weather!

If you have any questions, please email me at solson@standrewlu.org

Register for Events

Make a Prayer Request

Find Ways to Serve

Sandy Olson

Technology Coordinator

Find a Small Group 17

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Living Out Our Faith In Daily Life

Preaching In Series Conference

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ermon series have helped this congregation connect daily living with a moving and dynamic faith and we wanted to share that with the rest of Christ’s church!

On June 19-20, your church hosted 160 preachers from five states, five denominations, and a variety of church settings—small, large, rural, urban, and suburban. In two days, we heard from speakers and spent intentional time designing our own sermon series. Participants came away energized and refreshed with new insight into preaching in their own communities. They shared gratitude for St. Andrew, for our facility, and for our hospitality.

An emerging goal of St. Andrew University is to train church leaders to continue to innovate and share good news in ways that send people to live their faith in daily life. As our congregation helps us to live our own faith, we are also helping church leaders bring this to their own congregations.

In 2019, we plan to host two more conferences for pastors and other church leaders. We will keep you in the know as plans are developed!

Matthew Fleming

Pastor of Teaching & Young Adults Peter Johnson

Pastor of Service & Small Groups

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