IMMANUEL’S INSIGHTS NOVEMBER 2019

Worship in November

November 2-3

All Saints

Are You Saved?

Luke 19:1-10

Communion

November 9-10

Children of God

Luke 20:27-38

Children’s Message

Bells

November 16-17

Stand Firm

Luke 21:5-19

Communion

Choir

November 23-24

Christ the King

The King’s Cross

Luke 23:33-43

Children’s Message

Sunday School Choir

November 27 (7:00 p.m.)

Thanksgiving

Remember

All Saints All Saints Sunday celebrates the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church founded by Jesus as his Body in the world. We therefore celebrate those who have joined the Church in the past year and those who have graduated from the Church on earth to the Church in heaven.

Those who have joined the one holy Church through baptism in the past 12 months include: Brixxon Schoof, Liam Davie, Brody Reinert, Anna Carter, Hoyt Nelson, Everett Haake, Maverick Osborn.

Those who have joined Immanuel Lutheran Church in the past 12 months include: Lee & Brittany Schoof, Wynn & Brixxon Schoof, Dylan & Katie Petersen, Skip & Jonne Carlsen, Kevin & Jahde Osborn, Charlee & Carter Osborn, Mary Beaman.

Those who have passed from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant in the past 12 months include: Forrest Petersen, Fran Johansen, Sally Burmeister, Ida Heim, Skip Carlsen, Betty Boeck, John Schuning, Gail Schnack and Darlene Dodge.

Handel’s Messiah The Fellowship Team is organizing an outing to the Voices of Omaha presentation of Handel’s Mes-siah on Sunday, November 17, at the Holland Center in Omaha. This is a free concert. We are in-viting folks to sign up in the church office to join the group going. If you can drive, please indicate that on the sign up. If you would like to go out to eat with the group afterwards, please indicate that on the sign up also. We will be leaving the church parking lot at 1:30 p.m. for the 3 p.m. concert.

Thanksgiving We have been blessed with freedom, peace, and prosperity. But when we take these gifts from

granted, we risk losing them. So our nation calls us to gather for public thanksgiving each year. The

Harlan Community gathers for a public Thanksgiving gathering led by members of the Shelby

County Ministerial Association at the McKee Community Room at Elm Crest on Wednesday, No-

vember 27, at 4 p.m. Immanuel also hosts a Thanksgiving service at 7 p.m. that day. Don’t take

your blessings for granted. Help renew a spirit of gratitude in our community.

Page 2 IMMANUEL’S INSIGHTS

Dear Friends in Christ,

9 of us from Immanuel were able to join 750 people at the 2019 LCMC Gathering in Omaha. Every year I am amazed at how much I get out of these gatherings. Our 2 keynote speakers this year were simply outstanding. Greg Finke and Grace Johnson probably didn’t say anything I hadn’t al-ready heard, but they spoke with wonderful clarity, depth, and practicality. It was incredibly thought provoking.

Greg Finke spoke about moving from the traditional “attractional” model of church to the Biblical “missional” model of church. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples.” We have said, “Come and hear good music and a good message at 9:00 on Sunday mornings.” The traditional attractional model is “build it and they will come”. And that has worked to an extent, but it creates consumer Christians who come to consume a religious experience. The Biblical missional model is about creating every-day missionaries who follow him in his mission to love our neighbors toward the Kingdom.

The point of our worship services is not to entertain people. The point of our worship services is to remind us of 2 things we constantly forget: our identity and our purpose. Our identity is that we are beloved children of God, saved by grace in Christ. Our purpose is to do what God is doing which looks a whole lot like loving our neighbors. So every Sunday morning we should be saying some-thing like: remember who you are in Christ, remember your purpose, and go love people. We need more “dinners with sinners.” It’s about loving people like Jesus loves them.

Grace Johnson reminded us that the Law is “love God and love your neighbor,” but the Gospel is “You have been loved into existence by Love itself.” We sing “Jesus love me this I know” but the truth is that we don’t really know how radical and deep God’s love is for us. Worship is about dis-covering and agreeing that God loves us so that we can be encouraged to share that love with those around us. The Church in the United States is dying because we think it is all about Sunday morn-ing. But in many places 85 % of people will never come to church.

However, the Kingdom of God is not an event that happens on Sunday morning. The Kingdom of God is not something that is organized, scheduled, or even visible. The Kingdom of God is in our midst in everyday life as we share the love of Jesus with our neighbors. Inviting people to Church sometimes backfires. It is like inviting people to a party at your house and when they get there they discover it is a Tupperware party or an Amway presentation. They don’t feel loved. They feel used. And they don’t want to come back. So it is when we invite people to “church”. We have to take “church” (the love of Jesus) to people. We have to remember that people don’t have to become like us in order to meet Jesus. Jesus loves them just as they are.

We need to stop trying to fix people so that they are good enough

for Jesus. We must trust that Jesus can work with people just as

they are.

Yours in Christ, Phil Nielsen

Volume 11, Issue 10 Page 3

ON OUR PRAYER LIST: Annette Anderson, Dolly Burgin, Nancy Gessmann, Karen Plewes, Dave Greve, Nancy Christensen, Marlys Moore, Bill Hosack, Clarice Andersen, Sally Claussen, Connie Benson, John Brown (relation to Karen Plewes), Ron Rose, Robert Glenn (father of Sharon Kroger), Jessica Beeton (great-niece of Kathy Voge), Marvin Grebner (brother-in-law of Judi Pedersen), Priscilla Thraen (sister of Sally Nairn), Richard Hatcher (son of Maggie Hatcher), Pam Patterson (niece of Judi Pedersen) and Nancy Christensen (sister-in-law of Joanne Christensen).

TANZANIA HAPPENINGS August of this year a group from Immanuel was in Kidugala, Tanza-nia. We were visiting the church, orphans and many other projects to see what was hap-pening. Today, I am go-ing to tell you about Heifer International and Kidugala. Many of you are familiar with this or-ganization, a long time ago the Sunday School of Immanuel collected funds to donate to Heifer for an Ark (2 ani-mals of 14 different spe-cies). Heifer Interna-tional was started in 1944 by Dan West, a farmer in the Midwest and member of Church

of the Brethren in Indiana. He understood that feeding people was a short term solution, whereas providing them with animals offered a steady supply of nutritious food for an entire family. Heifer provides animals to participating families through local channels to help lift them out of poverty. They not only provide animals, but also training and accountability.

When we visited Kidugala in 2007, we asked Kidugala if they had heard of Heifer International, they had not. When we came home we called Heifer and inquired about if and when the organization would be in Kidugala. The reply was not yet, but we are working on expanding into that part of Tan-zania. I am happy to report that Heifer is now in Kidugala and one of the evangelists is working for them. Isaac Chungu works for Heifer 3 days a week. He has received training and helps others in the area teaching. Through Heifer, Isaac and many others in the area have received milk cows and now there is enough milk to have a vehicle pick up the milk daily to take to Njombe, the nearest town, for sale. It is so wonderful seeing progress over the last 14 years.

We enjoyed a meal with Isaac and his family to see his cows and farm.

IMMANUEL’S INSIGHTS Page 4

DECEMBER 2019 NEWSLETTER

DEADLINE:

THURSDAY,

NOVEMBER 14

WOW BUNKO— Thursday, No-vember 21 at 7:00 p.m. Bring your food pantry or share table items. Also bring a friend and enjoy an evening of Christian fellowship, fun and food!

Happy Birthday to the following:

Arlene Warner who will be 90 on November 5.

Dwayne Larsen who will be 89 on November 12.

Marge Ahrenholtz who will be 83 on November 13.

Lavon Christensen who will be 85 on November 17.

Ruthe Pattison who will be 88 on November 17.

Lori Schultz who will be 83 on November 29.

Happy Anniversary to the following:

Derald & Patti Kumm who will be celebrating their 65th anniversary on November 7.

FIRST FRUITS Is held on the first Saturday and Sunday of each month (November 2 & 3). Please bring your non-perishable items to the church for the local food bank. Please place them in the shopping carts in the Nar-thex. Thank you! And thank you to all who have given. Thanks to those who have supported The Sharing Table. It has been used a lot this season. The items currently needed at the local food bank are: pasta sides, soups, canned chicken, canned fruit, box potato sides, Manwich, chicken helper, tuna helper, hamburger helper, peas, cake mixes, brownie mixes, ketchup, mustard, dish soap, laundry soap and toiletries (shampoo, body wash, tooth paste, deodorant).

November 6, 13, 20 & 27 at 4:30

Women’s Bible Study

November 6, 13 & 20 at 7:00

Men’s Bible Study

WOW NEWS WOW will be meeting Wednesday November 13 at 9:30 AM in the Fellowship Hall. Hope to

see you there. THANKOFFERING SUNDAY is November 24

th. There is a “Thank Offering” envelope with

your November offering envelopes. Money that is collected is presented to one of our mis-sion recipients.

THANK YOU everyone who helped to make the Harvest Luncheon/Bazaar a success.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: WOW Christmas Tea will be Saturday, December 14 at 10AM with a special program to include our own Immanuel models.

Volume 11, Issue 10 Page 5

WORSHIP & GIVING Attendance General Building Total

Sept. 28/29 19 + 110 = 129 $ 4,716.00 $ 10.00 = $ 4,726.00

Oct. 5/6 33 + 135 = 168 $ 4,748.00 $ 115.00 = $ 4,863.00

Oct. 12/13 27 + 119 = 146 $ 2,633.00 $ 300.00 = $ 2,933.00

Oct. 19/20 27 + 129 = 156 $ 5,752.00 $ 90.00 = $ 5,842.00

COUNCIL MEETING SUMMARY October 8, 2019—7 pm

The Immanuel Church Council met October 8 with 11 of 13 council members present. George Applegate had requested that Becky return his pan full and she did—with brownies! But George missed them. They were delicious, George! Linda shared devotions by Corrie ten Boom. We can give thanks even in tough circumstances be-cause God uses tough things for good ends. Pastor will give devotions in November. Treasurer’s report was presented. September income was $23,258 and expenses were $20,332. Year to date through September 30 shows a net deficit of $7,905. General Fund on September 30 was at $16,859. Capital Savings Account stood at $6,453. Outreach – Our Compassion child in Thailand has aged out of the Compassion program. As a final gift we will give him $500 from the remaining budget for Compassion for 2019. Our September mis-sion grant will be $1500 to LCMC Disaster Assistance Fund. Our October mission grant will include $500 to the Lutheran Church of South Sudan and less than $500 for processing and shipping costs for Operation Christmas Child ($9 per box). Worship— We are still working on the quality issues with our broadcast on HMU. Fellowship— Kids Club has 16 – 18 kids who attend regularly. Made plans for a Fall Family Festi-val. Property— We are looking for volunteers to continue snow blowing in the winter and mowing in the summer. Mowing now takes less than 3 hours on the newer mower. Furnaces are working and fil-ters will be changed soon. Executive— We welcome Ken Vorm to fulfill the remainder of Dave Greve’s term. Mary Petersen has agreed to fulfill the remainder of Malisa Koester’s term. The nomination committee has met and is in the process of securing names to fill 7 vacant positions on council and 2 vacant positions on Trust and Memorial.

Pastor -- Pastor presented Mary Beaman for membership. 9 members of ILC attended parts of the

LCMC Annual Gathering in Omaha. Pastor reported on the message of the Gathering. We are

needing to upgrade 3 church computers to Windows 10. Our membership and contribution records

are in an obsolete database that will not work with Windows 10. So Pastor recommended that we

purchase the Servant Keeper database for our membership and contribution records and that we

purchase a new laptop for our webmaster.

REMEMBER DAYLIGHT SAVINGS ENDS SUN-DAY, NOVEMBER 3RD

SO SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK SATURDAY

NIGHT BEFORE YOU GO TO BED.

IMMANUEL’S INSIGHTS Page 6

Confirmation Class Essays

Sheila Nielsen: When I think of having faith, I think of having hope in something. I think faith in-volves a decision. It is not about what we claim to believe but what we really believe that is true faith. People may ask how strong your faith or religion is. I think it’s more of a relationship with God than a religion. Having faith isn’t an easy thing, but if I focus on the threat in life I will experience fear. But if I focus on Jesus I will experience faith, hope, and love. Keisha Nielsen: Growing up as a pastor’s daughter hasn’t been easy. There’s always this pres-sure to be perfect, but the truth is I’m not perfect. I believe that our Mission is to be like Jesus show-ing love, being kind, always forgiving, and loving our enemies. It’s hard when people tell us that God’s not real. I look around on the world we walk on and if there isn’t a God what are we here for? What are we doing down here? It just doesn’t make sense. We are here for a reason. I think the reason we’re here for is to love each other, to love God, to tell other about Jesus. God’s not done with us. Even if we’re broken-hearted or we’re lost, God’s not done writing our story. William Neuharth: Why is the world messed up? I believe that the world is messed up because of the mass amount of sin that everyone has, and that sin can lead to many other things that can cause even more problems. Sin leads us in a direction where the situation can become even worse, and your relationship with God can become even worse. I also believe that sin has caused kids to have an “ego” or they have to be the most popular, or maybe even people are jealous over things that other people have. Sin has ruined our word. … Jesus did not sacrifice his life just for teenagers to have the coolest clothes, or the best at sports. Jesus died because he was trying to show his own love for us. Madison Kjergaard: God gave us life so he could share his love with us. I think the world is so messed up because of how much we sin. People put themselves and their possessions over God. I think it is so messed up because we’ve lost faith. To believe in a God you cannot prove is there is to have faith in him. God washes away our sins and guides us through the tough times rather than makes them disappear. Jesus died for us to show us he would sacrifice himself for us and love us for eternal life. … My understanding of the point of life is to follow God and live with love given by God. God is here for us to lay our worry and sins on because worrying means we don’t have enough faith and trust in God. Jared Walters: God’s love is to die for, and that’s just what God had in plan…. Being a sinner is going against God and rejecting his love. Who doesn’t want love? You! You are the sinner that re-jected God’s … love that he gave his one and only Son to you to die on the cross for every sin ever imaginable, in fact you can’t imagine how much sin everyone has committed themselves to….. God to me is much more love than ever given…. And if you didn’t know this already God loves you so much that he won’t just give his one and only Son the Messiah our savior to us once, but he will give him to us once more for us to crucify him and put him to death with our outrageous sin. God to me is love. God to me is my everything. God to me is unexplainable. I can’t force you to believe in him, but I can preach to you of him and I could maybe change your mind about him.

Volume 11, Issue 10 Page 7

Ella Plagman: You were given life by our God. God wants you to live your life to the fullest and look to God along the way. In life, the point is never give up and always be moving forward. Also, we should constantly try to be a better person. We are here to spread the word of God and to edu-cate others about the Bible. We are also here because we have a purpose to live. God knows we all have tasks to complete in life. He counts on you to finish those tasks. People are never here for no reason. … Jesus is about many things. He is someone that loves us no matter what. He is also the best forgiver of sins. He is our savior as well. He is a creator, the head of the Church, and the light of the world. Jesus died for our sins. If Jesus would not have sacrificed himself for us, we would not receive many important things. Our sins would not be forgiven, we would not receive end-less life, and we would have less faith in him. Victoria Chapman: The point of life is God gives us the chance to choose God or not. God is so generous he’s giving us a chance to choose him over everything which is that point of life. Problems are everywhere we go. The world is messed up because of that and we don’t like to call it this, but it’s sinning in everyday of every second or more. We are doing multiple things to fix up our messed up world and one of them is believing in Jesus and Christ. They help the organization’s cleaning up air, water, land, etc, and other things like our lives. Our world is messed up, although we have God on our side I think we already won and the world is just fine. Well how else do we come to be? I mean all the facts point to him. Also seriously a Big Bang could-n’t have created us and made everything perfect. That’s unlikely. We have organs that work with each other, lungs to breathe air, and diseases that comes our body fights, etc., I could go on how our body has too much detail to come from a bang. Our design is too good to come from anyone else other than God himself. …God works in mysterious ways. He can help you along in life and you wouldn’t even know. Eric Torneten: …God loved us so much that he would send his son down to Earth, to be with us as sinners, and then die for us to save us from our sins. And He did. Jesus is all about us, he is for us, he is with us, and he is in us and because of this we are allowed to move forward as sinning Chris-tians, while knowing that you have a place in God’s heart and that you have been saved. After Je-sus had gone, it was questioned why had he come. Why did he come down to Earth to be with sin-ners? The truth is he came for those who asked, for those who wondered and for those who felt empty. It was those who needed to learn about what God had done and what had happened, but also that you now have a way into heaven. Without Jesus, we never would have or will be able to go to heaven. Jesus died for our sins and to destroy all evil. But yet we still sin. God tells us that we are all sinners and we will never be able to fix that. There is no other option except through Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light of our world. … So what is Jesus all about? He’s about me, and you, and your family, and my family, and our friends, our neighbors and our leaders. He came for you, and left knowing that what he has done, was in the name of God to save you.

Were you wondering what you were going to do for fun on Saturday, November 23rd? Well, have we got a deal for you! Come on down to the church fellowship hall, and join the TZ team for our annual pie making day. We will be making apple, cherry and rhubarb, so there will be plenty of sit-down jobs as well as stand-up jobs. If you have a rolling pin, please bring it along (even if you don’t intend on using it). The fun begins at 9:00 AM, we will pause for a lunch provided by the TZ team, and will finish up sometime in the afternoon. We would love to have you join us for the entire day, but will take whatever time you can spare. Many hands make light work, so please join us! If eating pie (rather than making pie) is more your style, we will be offering free delivery that day - right to your front door. Thanksgiving is fast approaching, so contact the church office or talk to one of the TZ team members soon, to get your name on the list.

NOVEMBER WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Church Office: 755-5207

Office Hours: 9-12 & 12:30-4:00 (M-F) Office Email: ilc@fmctc.com

Pastor Phil’s Cell Number: 712-579-2098

Home Number: 712-766-3178 E-mail: peacephillip@gmail.com

www.harlanimmanuel.org

Staff:

Pastor Phil Nielsen

Music Director: Heidi Thies

Office Manager: Joan Wehr

Custodian: Ed Wehr

NON-PROFIT ORG

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

HARLAN, IOWA 51537

PERMIT NO. 97

Immanuel Lutheran Church

Every Saturday Worship at 5:00 p.m.

Communion on November 2 & 16

Every Sunday Worship at 9:00 a.m.

Communion on November 3 & 17

10:00 a.m. Fellowship/Coffee/Rolls

10:15 a.m. Adult Bible Study

10:15 a.m. Sunday School

A fellowship of believers

Committed to be and become:

Christ-Centered

Bible-Based

Family-Focused

Mission-Minded

In all that we do for the glory of God!

Matthew 28:18-20

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Immanuel Lutheran Church LCMC

1700 19th Street Harlan, IA 51537

November 2019 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1

2 8-1:00 4-H pie making 5:00 Communion

3 First Communion 8:00 Choir 9:00 Communion 10:00 Fellowship 10:15 Operation Christmas Child

4 9:30 OA 6:30 Boy Scouts

5 9:00 CF Quilters

6 3:30 Kid’s Club 4:30 Women’s Bible Study 5:30 Bells/Confirmation 6:30 Meal/LYO 7:00 Men’s Bible Study

7

8

9 10-12 Girl Scouts-Baking 5:00 Worship

10 9:00 Worship 10:00 Fellowship 10:15 Adult Bible Class 10:15 Sunday School

11 9:30 OA 6:30 Boy Scouts

12 9:00 CF Quilters 5:30 Worship Committee 6:30 Boy Scout Leaders 6:30 Executive Board 7:00 Church Council

13 9:00 WOW 3:30 Kid’s Club 4:30 Women’s Bible Study 5:30 Bells/Confirmation 6:30 Meal/LYO 7:00 Men’s Bible Study

14 Newsletter Deadline 1:15 Fellowship Committee 6:00 Girl Scout Leaders 6:30 MOPS

15

16 Glackin-Ahrenholtz wedding 5:00 Communion

17 8:00 Choir 9:00 Communion 10:00 Fellowship 10:15 Adult Bible Class 10:15 Sunday School 1:30 Messiah Concert

18 9:30 OA 6:30 Boy Scouts

19 9:00 CF Quilters 7:00 Prayer Team

20 3:30 Kid’s Club 4:30 Women’s Bible Study 5:30 Bells/Confirmation 6:30 Meal/LYO 7:00 Men’s Bible Study

21 Assemble Newsletter 7:00 Bunko 7:00 Ladies Homestead Gathering

22 Set up for pie making

23 8:00 TZ pie making 5:00 Worship

24 9:00 Worship 10:00 Fellowship 10:15 Adult Bible Class 10:15 Sunday School

25 9:30 OA 1:30 Mission Quilters 6:30 Boy Scouts

26 9:00 CF Quilters

27 4:30 Women’s Bible Study 7:00Thanksgiving Eve Service

28 Happy Thanksgiving!!

29 Church Office closed

30 5:00 Communion

Worship Schedule

December 2019 Sunday Sunday Sunday Sunday Tuesday Tuesday Sunday

Nov. 30-Dec. 1 December 7-8 December 14-15 December 21-22 December 24 4PM December 24 6PM December 28-29

Greeters Irma Pedersen Joan Lauritsen Gloria Miller Rhonda Mock Michelle Musich Sue Olson Mark & K Nelson

Karma Petersen Pam Meurer Angela Miller Cathy Murray Wayne Nelson Ruthe Pattison

Acolytes Cory Lee Braydon Ernst Ava Monson Josh ZimmermanChristopher Chapman Haylee Ernst

Christopher Chapman Haylee Ernst Claire Schmitz Cory Lee Braydon Ernst Claire Schmitz

Saturday Ushers Larry Klein Betty Larsen Sally Nairn Dory Nielsen N/A N/A Terry Saunders

Sunday Ushers Todd & A Madsen Reid & L Mosher Verne & I Nelson Greg & D Nelson David & J Pedersen John & G Petsche Doug & M Renkly

Jon & K Meiners Jeff & P Nelson Jay & S Nielsen Ken & A Nielsen Dylan & K Petersen John & J Plagman Jesse & J Rudolph

Lector Nancy Ludwig Linda Mosher Sandy Nelsen Donna Nelson Elaine Miller Neil Ohms DeAnn Nielsen

Saturday Altar Guild Kayla Jacobs

Sunday Altar Guild Donna Nelson Jan Applegate Mary Taggs

Stacy Torneten Stacy Torneten Cora Chapman

Communion Servers Gaige & S Lytle Phil & E Miller Neil & M Ohms

Kris Olson-Harman Jill Miller John Petsche

Fellowship Coffee Jeff & R McEvoy Dave Monson Craig & J Olson Ken & S Olson N/A N/A Kate Schechinger

& family Kevin & J Osborn & family

Sound Technician Eric Torneten Eric Torneten Eric Torneten Eric Torneten Eric Torneten Eric Torneten Eric Torneten

Video Recorder Steve Allen Steve Allen Steve Allen Steve Allen Steve Allen Steve Allen Steve Allen

Projectionist Teri Johnson Teri Johnson Teri Johnson Teri Johnson Teri Johnson Teri Johnson Teri Johnson

SATURDAY Cheryl Nielsen Cheryl Nielsen Cheryl Nielsen Cheryl Nielsen N/A N/A Cheryl Nielsen

Council Person Gaylen Petsche Verne Nelson OPEN OPEN OPEN OPEN OPEN