June 13, 2007

This Week’s Readings

2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15; Galatians 2:15-21; Luke 7:36-8:3

How to Know if You Need a Car Wash

If your car is anything like mine it could use a good old fashioned hand wash. Here are some steps to help identify if your car needs a wash:

If you can recognize dirt from last fall... you might need a car wash.
If passengers can write their name in the dust on your front dash... you might need a car wash.
If you have a hard time spotting your car when you park on a gravel road... you might need a car wash.
If you think you don’t need a car wash... you might need a car wash.

Come to our Spring Car Wash from 8am – 11am this Sunday here at Good Shepherd and need a car wash no more. We’ll wash your car and clean on the inside. All raised funds go directly to student’s church accounts for church trips, events, and this summer’s mission two trips.

Youth Musical - ELIJAH

Eleven youth from Good Shepherd are participating in the summer youth musical, Elijah! They are Luke & Stephanie Schmidt, Logan & Kimberly Anderson, Noah & Nick Hart, Maddie Woodford, Sara Caflisch, Hannah Thompson, Caleb & Greta Van Loon. Everyone is welcome to attend the performance of the musical on Friday, June 15, 3:00pm at Rochester Covenant Church (4950 31st Ave NW).

Thanks to Diane Carr!

After serving as the Cherub Choir director and Sunday School opening leader for 17 years, Diane Carr is resigning. At the 9:30am service on Sunday, June 17, we will take time to thank Diane for her outstanding musical leadership and dedication to our children. Join us for coffee and treats following the 9:30 service.

“No Expense” Fundraising

Scrip is a term that means “substitute money”. In recent years many non-profits have stopped selling candy, magazines, and frozen pizza and have begun working through Scrip Programs. Scrip is “no expense” fundraising because the program requires neither the church nor the members pay any additional money. The donations are made entirely by businesses. What the church does is simply to pre-pay for anything they might purchase at these local businesses. This allows the business know that the members organization it is supporting is also customers.

So, if you were going to purchase a $200 stereo system from Best Buy instead of paying $200 to the cashier at the store you would purchase a $200 scrip card (like a debit card) through church. This is what you would give the cashier at Best Buy. You still pay the same amount but the church makes a fair percentage (varies with each store). Want to be a part of our Scrip fundraising planning? Talk with Mark or Pastor Dave.

This Week at Good Shepherd

Wednesday, June 13

1:30pm Helping Hands

6:30pm College Age Ministry

Thursday, June 14

7:00pm Sisters in Faith

Friday, June 15

3:00pm “Elijah” Children’s Musical at
Rochester Covenant Church

Saturday, June 16

8:00am Faith in Motion

5:30pm Worship

6:30-9pm Neuvirth Benefit (Fellowship Hall)

Sunday, June 17

7:30am Youth Car Wash Fundraiser
(runs until end of services)

8:00am Outdoor Worship

9:30am Indoor Worship

Monday, June 18

10:30am Staff Meeting

Tuesday, June 19

7:30am Men’s Coffee

9:30am Stay and Play

Summer M & M

If you’re in 6-8^th grade, join us on Wednesdays at noon this summer as we enjoy some incredibly fun activities. Below is a schedule with the times, dates, and activities. Please note that activities with an * require signing up in advance to the date. You can sign-up for an activity on the youth bulletin board just outside of the youth room or by e-mail Mark at gscyouth@goodshepherdchurch.net.

Day Event Time What to bring:

June 20 Bike Riding & Dairy Queen 12-3pm your bike & helmet

June 27 *Color Me Mine mug painting*12-3pm $5 for your mug

July 15 *Sunday Twins Game* 11-5pm $19 & spending money

July 18 X-Box game Day 12-4pm a game/snack to share

Aug 1 Large Screen Movie 12-3pm a snack to share

Aug 15 *Canoeing and swimming* 12-4pm $5, swimsuit & towel

If you’re an adult or high school student and you’d like to come along for any of these activities give Mark a call. He’ll be glad to have you along!!!

Graduating Seniors

Join us on Sunday, June 24^th at the 9:30am service we honor our High School seniors. Stick around after the service for an informal reception in the Narthex. Please remember our graduates in your prayers and give ‘em a shout out next time you see them. They include:

Jenni Aipperspach, John Fiek, Mackenzie Flaharty, Luke Fluegel, Zackary Friedli, Kirsten Gedicke, Christine Gronseth, Lisa Hansen, Tyler Hansen, Matthew Hoeft, Shelby Husser, Garrett Kolar, Luke Krystosek, Elissa Larson, Robert Laures, Joanna Lipp, Brett Lucas, Kirk McCamish, Andrea McHenry, Katelyn McNeill, Marcus Meldahl, Devan Neuvirth, Cherise Schwartz, Jenny Scuglik, Alexis Swanton, Justin Weber, Kayla Williams and Jenny Wulff.

Car Wash

Due to weather our Car Wash has been rescheduled for June 17^th, on Sunday morning (8-11am) here at Good Shepherd. Get your car washed (inside and out) while you’re in church and help support our two youth summer mission trips.

Best Thing You’ll Do All Summer

It’s not too late to register for one of the most fun things you’ll do all summer... a week of camp at Good Earth Village. For a week of Hiking, Worship, Creek Splashing, Arts and Crafts, Faith-filled Bible studies, Discussions, Team building, Games, Evening Campfire, Hanging out with your cabin mates, and Singing. Pick up a registration form at church or online at www.goodearthvillage.org. Want to find out who else is going and when? Talk with Mark.

Small Group Schedule

June 13 1:30pm Helping Hands Picnic Time

6:30pm College Age Ministry (FH)

June 14 7:00pm Sisters in Faith (E)

June 16 8:00am Faith in Motion (Hy Vee South)

June 19 7:30am Men’s Coffee (Panera South)

“Church Basement Ladies” Trip

Join us for a fun trip to see the play “Church Basement Ladies” on July 15. This is a Sunday matinee and we will be taking a bus up to the Plymouth Playhouse. We will leave at 11:30 AM. The cost is $34 for the play and bus ride. Deadline for registration and payment is June 25th. Please call Paula Freitag at 282-9600 or Connie Meredith at 282-8763.

Help Wanted for Neuvirth Benefit

A Spaghetti Dinner Cancer Benefit will be held at Good Shepherd on Saturday, June 16, beginning at 6:30pm. There will be a free will offering to benefit Gert Neuvirth, who was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Good Shepherd is looking for volunteers to help with the event. Times and jobs were volunteers will be needed are as follows: Sat. 6/16 - 4:15 to 6:15 Food Prep & Set Up; Sat. 6/16 - 6:15 to 8:15 Food Servers; Sat. 6/16 - 7:15 to 9:15 Clean-Up. Anyone able to help should call: Donna Caflisch 286-8805 or Paula Freitag 282-9600. Donations of cakes, bars or cookies are also requested. They may be left in the church kitchen on Friday or Saturday, marked for the Fund Raiser. It's best if the cakes are not cut.

2007 Synod Assembly Recap

Highlights from the 2007
Southeastern Minnesota Synod Assembly:
June 8-9, 2007; "Called into God's Marvelous Light…To Tell the Story!"

About 550 voting members and visitors gathered at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester for the 2007 Synod Assembly June 8-9, 2007. Bishop Harold Usgaard led the Assembly through Worship, prayer, study, and business matters during the 20th annual Assembly.

In the election of a bishop, Bishop Usgaard was reelected on the first ballot, receiving 374 votes, well above the 330 necessary for reelection. Bishop Usgaard received a standing ovation from the voting members. In response, Bishop Usgaard commented “The Lord be with you” and noted how important this message is for us and for the world.

An ever-present part of this Assembly was the celebration of 100 years of Lutheran Campus Ministry in the United States. In the Southeastern Minnesota Synod, Lutheran Campus Ministry has a presence at Minnesota State University-Mankato and Winona State University.

In recognition of this important milestone, Lutheran Campus Ministry led the closing worship service Friday evening using the popular Holden Evening Prayer Service. Rev. Dr. Siemsen also led the two sessions of Bible study for the voting members. Also a part of the celebration, the Friday evening meal concluded with a birthday celebration and the Saturday morning worship dedicated its offering to Lutheran Campus Ministry.

The third and final year of the synod's current strategic plan emphasizes sharing the faith. As part of that emphasis, those asked to give prayers, several presenters, and other speakers included bits of their own faith stories. The Bible study also focused on how we can tell the story.

Part of every Assembly is the worship. This year's Assembly worshiped throughout the gathering. Besides frequent prayers and hymns, there was a morning prayer service on Friday, a service of Holden Evening Prayer Friday night, and worship with holy communion on Saturday morning.

The video report from Bishop Mark S. Hanson emphasized our church network is spread around the world doing work on our behalf, doing ministry in places we can’t even imagine. Mission Support is what provides the infrastructure that allows our church to respond in awareness, and service, building bridges for peace with justice. The ELCA needs leaders of faith to work in the world.

This report is available at www.elca.org/mosaic/thanks2007.

Bishop Usgaard also reported on the work of the synod going on right here in Southeastern Minnesota. He also challenged people to do more saying, "That is what I hope we can do in these coming years, identify areas in which people of faith can make an impact."

Bishop Usgaard's report is available at www.semnsynod.org.

The Assembly approved six resolutions, including a resolution to form a Youth and Family Ministry Task Force; to encourage congregations, with the help of their conferences, to provide financial support for seminarians; for congregations to financially support new mission sites; to approve the 2008 Minimum Compensation and Benefits Guidelines, which departed from previous yearly proposals by suggesting a range of salaries to be voted on every other year; to advocate in Minnesota to End poverty; and to increase congregational support to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal. A resolution to call for conferences to only be required to meet in years when there is an election of voting members to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly or whenever unusual matters require a meeting failed.

Full text of all resolutions is on the synod website, www.semnsynod.org.

Special thanks to the Rev. Scott E. Olson and Barb Anderson for contributing to this report.

More detailed information about the 2007 Southeastern Minnesota Synod Assembly, including full news stories on all that happened, is available at www.semnsynod.org (click on "Assembly" on the left).