Easter Choir Cantata

April 21^st & 22^nd
At all services
"Alpha and Omega"
A musical for Easter

February offerings:
$4,508.00-envelopes
$1,070.00-building fund
$75.00-Bell tower
$462.00-Loose offering
Total in Building Fund: $61,573.00
Average attendance for Sunday’s February: 88
Ash Wednesday attendance: 47

Is a journey of choice that takes time
Is a gift we give to ourselves, then to others
Is a gift, not a deal
Isn’t pretending that no harm was done
Isn’t condoning, pardoning or giving up justice
Isn’t forgetting
Means we can criticize the offense without hating the offender
Means refusing to be revictimized
Lowers our anxiety, decreases our anger and depression and increases self-esteem, hope and harmony.
Means life can be redeemed, hope is possible and change is a real option

• Men's Breakfast - NOTE: One time change from the second Saturday!  Saturday, April 7, at 8am
  Bring your spouse.
  Topic: Faith Lutheran Jr./Sr. High. Ken Collins, a Good Samaritan member, and Chairman of the Board of Directors is our guest speaker.

Fifties Thank-You’s

After some 90 plus cards and gifts ranging from Poligrip to Prunes, $50 dollar bills, 50 Idaho potatoes, 50 black balloons, rolls of pennies and 50 crisp one dollar bills, I want to thank everyone for taking the time to welcome me to the AARP in such a solemn and dignified way.  Please stop by the house, I still have a case of French Vanilla Ensure I can crack open.  Leviticus 25:11-12

Pastor Tom

                                        Marva Dawn

Mexico Mission Trip

Come along with us as our

congregation prepares to go to Mexico to build a house for a family.  There, near Tijuana, many Mexican families live in homes worse than sheds.   With the help of 15-20 people of our church we can build a home in one week that will be a home for a Mexican family for the rest of their life!  It’s a youth trip for all from 6^th to 12^th grade, adults are welcomed to join, too.  The love of Christ will be the main building material, but we also need boards and nails and much more.

Fifteen to twenty people can build one house in a week. But there will be other houses built at the same time, since this is a cooperative venture with New Hope, Holy Spirit, Christ the Servant, and The Lakes Lutheran Churches.  The excitement is already building as we envision the journey, the fellowship, the relationships with the people in Mexico, the hard work, the worship around the campfires, the celebration when we return.

We will need many people to work on this adventure besides the brave fifteen to twenty who make the trip: we will need committees for transportation, campsite, work site, food, tools, registration, and fund raising.  So even if you are not joining the trip, but are interested in helping, praying, funding, or journeying and pounding nails, please sign up.

There are many willing to support this trip financially, so don’t worry, if you think "I’d like to come but I can’t afford it".  For each person who travels to Mexico, we will need to spend $150 to acquire the building materials necessary to build the house.

Another $75 per person will be needed to fund the rental of 15-passenger vans and the purchase of gasoline, insurance, and food.  All funds must be raised or paid by June 30^th.  Our journey will start at 5.30 a.m. that Sunday morning, and our whole congregation is welcome to send us off with prayers and hugs.  Visit Amor Ministries’ website: www.comebuildhope.com.   A sign up sheet is making its round, so put your name on it, and join the fun!

Sign that the Apocalypse is Upon Us

92% of Americans own at least one Bible
15% of Americans participate in a Bible study

AND

50% of Americans can name the first book of the Bible. (Genesis)
25% of Americans don’t know what is celebrated at Easter.
80% of those who claim to be ‘born again’ believe the Bible says "God helps those who help themselves." (It’s a quote from Ben Franklin)

Source: Religion News Service
The Gallup Organization
Barna Research Group

Lutheran Brotherhood
Resources for Sharing

The following books are available in our library: 'Growing as a Single Parent' and 'Growing as a Blended Family'.  Both of these books can be used in a small group or self study.   Also available is 'Every Day is Saturday', a Christian guide to retirement; and 'Moving into a New Now, Faith for the Later Years'.  Hope you’ll stop by and check out these books and more.

In Christ
Paula Willhouse
Lutheran Brotherhood Convocator

Can you tie a knot?  Or Can you cut a square?  Or Can you sew a straight line on your sewing machine? THEN WE NEED YOU!!!

We are beginning a Lutheran World Relief project of making quilts to be donated through LWR to third world countries.  We will be setting the date and time of our first meeting soon.  If you would like to be in on the planning, sewing, assembling, or would just like to donate material or funds to purchase batting, please call Judy Johnson 220-6749 or Sally Bouchard 360-5062

Christianity Remains the World’s Largest Religion

There are 1.9 billion Christians in the world, which comprises 31% of the current world population.  Christians are divided into 33,820 denominations, with 386 million people belonging to independent churches apart from Anglican, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant (Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, etc.) branches.

Hope: Cast Away
Grace: The Legend of Bagger Vance
Hospitality: Chocolat
Love: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Yearning: Billy Elliot

PEOPLE

• Baptized
  March 10-Shanna Michelle Holloway daughter of Michelle & Mike Holloway

• Sympathy
  We express our sympathy and promise of resurrection to:
  Emily & Don Virag on the death of Emily’s mother, Maise Madonna.
  Sandi Teague & family on the death of Dale Pritchard.

• Thank You
  To Jill McKay for the twelve stained glass windows for Lent.
  To Wanda Cesnik for donating a slide projector to Church.
  To everyone who volunteered to host a soup and sandwich supper during Lent.

8th Grade Confirmation Teachers
Pastor Tom Stutelberg
Judy Ellithorpe

Good Samaritan Lutheran has two very dedicated members serving on two boards.   Kathie Frost serves on the Interfaith Board as their Treasurer and Joyce Johnson serves on the Protestant Board and has for over 10 years.  For more information on Campus ministry at UNLV try: www.oasisatunlv.org

The vendors were selling the traditional and yet obligatory beer, frosty malts, coke, and lemon-aid, peanuts and crackerjacks, hot dogs, pretzels, licorice ropes and tubs of popcorn. Sounds good, doesn’t it? But what brought me back from my aroma overload was the voice of a peddler crying, "Get your celery and carrot sticks. Get your sliced apples. Get your strawberries and whipped cream." It was these heretical words that reminded me, and at the same time distressed me, that I wasn’t in a great baseball town like Milwaukee or St. Louis. No, I was in hoity-toity, upscale, Scottsdale, Arizona. Just a couple of weeks ago with a Synod Assembly Steering Committee meeting scheduled for 4pm, I booked a Monday morning flight to Phoenix and caught six innings of a 1 o’clock game between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres. It was Spring Training.

Annie Savoy, Susan Sarandon’s character in the movie Bull Durham said this about baseball: I believe in the Church of Baseball. I’ve tried all the major religions and most of the minor ones. I know things. There are 108 beads in the Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. I’ve tried them all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul day in and day out is the Church of Baseball.

So with my carrot sticks in hand, I munched and meditated and created this list. Can you add your own?

Over the press box at Scottsdale Stadium was a banner that read, ‘Scottsdale, Arizona: 50 years committed to baseball.’ I’m as old as the city of Scottsdale. This number 50 keeps haunting me.

See you in Church!
Pastor Tom Stutelberg

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