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CHRIST LUTHERAN 222 Church Avenue Oshkosh, WI 54901

OFFICE HOURS Monday-Friday 9:00 am-Noon

SUNDAYS 9:00 am Worship

10:15 am Coffee Hr.

WEDNESDAYS Classes & Worship

resume in fall

CONTACT

INFORMATION:

CHURCH OFFICE

Barb Schneider 920.231.6570

clcoshkosh@gmail.com

PASTOR

Rev. Connie Weiss 920.904.5919

pastor.cweiss@gmail.com

PRESIDENT

Dorene Myers 920.420.1586

July, 2018

Dear Friends,

Purpose. Not many of us are asked di-rectly ‘What is your purpose’. But there it is in front of us every day. When we meet someone for the first time, we are usually asked, “So, what do you do?” We turn on the TV, open a magazine or even pass a billboard and are constantly given suggestions on what our purpose should look like. Schools are filled with roads to purpose. Our purpose feeds into our iden-tity, our relationships and shows up in what we do. We cannot go anywhere without being reminded of our need for it. And for those who do not feel a sense of purpose, life can have less meaning.

Paul is telling the Ephesians and also us that we have been created in Christ. We un-derstand what God has done for us through Jesus. And that means we are a part of something special and important. The achievements that others tells us we need to strive for are nothing compared to what we already have - salvation. Knowing this, we are changed. Our hearts are open and Christ now lives in us. And so, who we are and what we do will reflect that.

As church together, we have asked God’ Spirit to guide us in this time of change. We’ve discerned what values are important to us. I will also be including them in my preaching this summer. By understanding those core values that we’ve identified as ours, we can move forward in God’s mission in a way that is unique to us. For us, Christ is made known by Serving Others, through Meaningful Music, Prayer and Hos-pitality. We also value Relationships, Acceptance, Reflecting Jesus and Meaningful Bible Study. These core values give legs to in our mission of making Christ known.

I am so excited to be on this journey with you! We’ve come far in the way we live into our purpose as God’s people in Christ. These core values are so visible now and are making a difference for those not only within our congregation but out in the community we care so much about. Now that is living with purpose - on purpose!

Your partner in Christ,

“For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” Ephesians 2:10

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May, 2018 Report

Total Revenue: $6,807.61

Total Expenses: $14,779.97

Net Profit/(Loss): (-$7,992.36)

Year to Date Report

Total Revenue: $55,509.91

Total Expenses: $81,635.56

Net Profit/(Loss): (-$26,125.65)

JUNE

UPDATE

Dorene Myers President

Kevin Harvot Vice President

Susie Smith Secretary

Carrie Lewis Treasurer

Gloria Heidl

Ryan Birschbach

2018 CHURCH COUNCIL MEMBERS

• Full financial update will be presented at the July 15th Congregational meeting.

FINANCE

TEAM

REPORT

Buildings & Grounds Report

We’ve had a lot of help with people who cleaned up the grounds for the Pig Roast we hosted in June. We also continue to have our realtor show people through our building. Recently, we had them put up the for sale sign to help get the word out. We’ll keep you posted on how that is progressing.

Sunday, July 15th - 10:30 am

We will be providing a financial update regarding

our church, our meeting with synod last month

and what our church leaders are up to in manag-

ing the finances and planning for our future.

Please join us on Sunday following worship as the

council updates members on our finances and

what we are planning as our next step.

The council is working hard at promoting the sale of

the building. Along with this, we are preparing a Spe-

cial Congregational meeting on July 15th to discuss

where we stand in this process. Pastor, Dorene My-

ers, Kevin Harvot and bookkeeper, Jerri Schmidt, met

with Synod staff to update them on our current finan-

cial situation and discuss how we are doing as a

church which is very active in mission. Pastor also

presented the Rationale for Relocation document to

the group in preparation for the possibility that our

building could be sold. We are working with mem-

bers on the need to review items that we have at

church and would not carry forward with us if we re-

locate. There is a list of areas to be reviewed. We will

be asking many to help with this, especially since the

fundraiser at our building is now over. If you have

preference to help with a certain area, please let one

of the council members know.

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Choir/Praise Band News

The choir and praise band was invited to participate in the “Pig for a Purpose” fundraiser for Jerri Schmidt on Saturday, June 23rd. We sang and played hand bells for the event and it was a very inspiring experience for all. The presence of the Holy Spirit was truly with us on that beautiful day. Our members were very pleased to come and perform to entertain as well as spread the Gospel through music. Thank you to all who participated that day, we appreciate using your gifts and showing God’s love at such an important event!!! The choir and praise band wrapped up our past ser-vice season with a celebration picnic at the Backus house on Mon. evening June 25th. Members brought a dish to pass and shared a relaxing fellowship togeth-er. We enjoyed lots of conversation and laughter plus a few ideas on how our choir/praise band will move forward together in the future. God Bless all who participated this year and wish everyone a wonderful summer! If anyone is interested in helping clean/polish hand bells in July or August please contact Mary Backus for a date. “Pig for a Purpose” was a great success and we are so happy to have had a group from the Oshkosh Cho-raliers to perform for the event. Many of our church members are a part of this organization and felt that it was very important to share our gifts for Jerri. Thank you to all the members who gave of their valuable summer time to be a part of this incredibly successful fundraiser. Blessings to you all!

At our last congregational workshop, members identi-

fied a few things that they thought reflected our core

values as church together. We have narrowed it down

to the 8 we agreed on the most. For 8 Sundays, we will

be focusing on each of these values that make up who

we are in Christ. We hope you will join us as we dig

deeper into a better understanding our ourselves as

the Holy Spirit leads us in God’s mission together.

JULY 8

Relationships

JULY 15

Acceptance

JULY 22

Serving Others

JULY 29

Prayer

AUGUST 5

Hospitality

AUGUST 13

Reflecting Jesus

AUGUST 19

Quality Music

AUGUST 26

Meaningful Bible Study

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Bring your own lunch and a Bible. We will have hot beverages and water available. These are the gospel text we will discuss on the following Mondays:

July 2 Mark 6:1-13

July 9 Mark 6:14-29

July 16 Mark 6:30-34, 53-55

uly 23 John 6:1-21

July 30 John 6:24-35

SUNDAY, JULY 22ND

ADULTS: $25

YOUTH: FREE

Our Church Hosts Community EVENT

In an effort to educate churches on HUB Oshkosh.,

local agency representatives were invited from Unit-

ed Way, Advocap and the Salvation Army speak with

guests on how HUB helps our community by mentor-

ing those in need. Churches learned how to refer

those who approach them in need to the HUB pro-

gram. Church participants also had the opportunity

to express concerns about the needs of people in

our community and how churches can partner more

effectively with these agencies. The group expressed

a desire to meet again to receive better training on

how to respond to people who come to them with a

variety of needs and issues. We were so happy to

help organize and host such an important event!

SIGN UP

NOW!

JUNE’S OUTDOOR

WORSHIP SERVICE

We took advantage of the

big tent from our Pig Roast

fundraiser and held an out-

door worship service that

next Sunday. We had a

wonderful service and a

lovely picnic after that. God

blessed us with beautiful

weather and the fragrant

smells from our beautiful

prayer garden. Lector,

Debbie Reichenberger

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1ST FUNDRAISER FOR JERRI SCHMIDT

A BIG SUCCESS!

We have been working for months with Jerri and

the leaders from First English on establishing a

GoFundMe site and for our first big event we held

on June 23rd - ”Pig Roast for a Purpose!” And the

fundraising event hosted at Christ Lutheran

Church did not disappoint. We not only had

members from our two churches, but the Osh-

kosh community showed up for this wonderful

woman who is in desperate need of surgery. If

we were to guess, we think we gathered at least

300 people together for this important cause.

Jerri, who has become a good friend of our

church, donated her bookkeeping services in 2017

to us in our time of need. She has continued to

work with us as we stay in touch with our finances

and plan for the future.

This fun event offered up a pig roast dinner, free

games and a bouncy house for the kids, music,

snow cones, popcorn and cotton candy treats, a

silent auction including over 50 baskets and items,

bingo with prizes, other fun gift items, a massage

booth, nail painting and a delicious bake sale run

by Jerri’s brother who is a master baker.

With a goal of raising $114,000, we continue to

raise funds and look forward to another event in

September, However, we have already managed

to raise enough funds for Jerri’s first surgical pro-

cedure.

Funds raised so far…. $19,000

www.gofundme.com/JustforJerri

I would like to say thank you to all of you that helped with the fund raiser on June 23rd, to all of you that came out and sup-port me. It was fun and overwhelming. Be-cause of all of you, we are well on our way to our goal!

Again thanks to Christ Lutheran church for hosting this event and to FELC for helping organize it. I will be eternally grateful to all of you. God's love is at work here. The Bak-ery was a huge success, WOW is an under-statement for that area. Silent auction was huge also. If I missed a thank-you, know that you are thanked.

- Jerri

“

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Christ Lutheran Church Women met on Sunday, May 27th. We discussed that we can now attach a sign to the new canopy for the Farmers’ Mar-ket. There are sign-up sheets for several activi-ties in the narthex—especially for people to co-ordinate the Farmers’ Market Bake Sale each week. People may drop off baked goods in the west narthex on Friday mornings from 9:00 until noon.

The church council has decided that we will give 25% of bake sale proceeds to different charities. Examples of possible recipients are: Day By Day Warming Shelter, “Just for Jerri” (for Jerri Schmidt’s surgery and other needs), the Luther-an Food Pantry, and Rise Against Hunger. On July 21, proceeds will go to Christ Lutheran Church Women.

Our Farmers’ Market location will be in front of Peabody’s Alehouse. We can park across the street in the old King Clift’s parking lot.

Members of our church held a 2 day rummage sale in June 1st and 2nd. A family from our congregation also had a connection with someone holding an estate sale which ended up donating some large items. We raised $550 and split the money between the Just for Jerri Fund and for our Rise Against Hunger event which takes place September 23rd. Our Fellowship hall was filled with great items to sell. Thank you to all who volunteered in some way to make this event a big success!

Sunday, September 23rd 11 am - 3 pm

In Fellowship Hall

To learn more, watch the video on YouTube at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch v=ap5sVWSCL_s

To volunteer, check out our site:

https://shn.secure.force.com/events/homepage?id=701f1000002pDmjAAE

RUMMAGE SALE HELPS 2 GOOD CAUSES

We continue to work at the sale of our ‘Klips” both at the

farmers market and at the fundraiser events. Currently

our supply is down by over half and we have raised ap-

proximately $80. These funds are currently being donat-

ed to the “Just for Jerri” program.

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A Prayer for our Church

Good and gracious God: All that we have comes

from you and we thank you for that! We have

entered into a new time in our church. We pray

for your guidance and wisdom as we discern our

future. In Your love, send your Holy Spirit to us.

Open our hearts to hear your words. Transform

our minds to see the possibilities. Lead us to a

vision that will strengthen our Church. Lord Je-

sus, calm our fears and anxiety. Bring us togeth-

er, so we may be of one mind and one spirit,

working for the growth of Your Kingdom. We

place our church in your hands. May all our de-

cisions be for your glory! Amen.

COMMITTEES The normal meeting times listed here may change as needed. Watch the monthly calen-dar and weekly bulletin for any changes or up-dates.

Music & Worship (2nd Sunday of month)

Women of the ELCA (1st Sunday of month)

Buildings & Grounds (1st Tuesday of month)

Stewardship (To Be Determined)

Youth & Education (3rd Monday of month)

Hospitality (4th Sunday of month)

Social Ministry (4th Monday of month)

• Kayla pulled together our top guiding princi-ples and values from the workshop in May. Quality music, prayer, and hospitality ranked the highest. We'll be digging deeper on how to formulate these into a mission statement and discussing further during worship in July.

• The team met with the other participating churches in the Seeds for Growth program on Saturday, June 9. Each church shared current happenings and projects they are working on.

• We'll be conducting more one-on-ones with members of the congregation to answer ques-tions, discuss feelings and concerns, and to see how we envision our future.

• We are in talks about possible alternate wor-ship spaces. We are paying close attention to ADA accessibility, cost, and the integrity of fu-ture worship services in a different space.

• The Team meets on July 8th after worship.

Pastor Connie’s Sunday sermons are now being streamed live on Facebook. Just search for Christ Lutheran Church Oshkosh, WI. Then like us, and you can see the sermons live, or listen to them later.

Also, check out our newly-created website at https://clcoshkosh.com/

Seeds for

Growth

DREAM TEAM REPORT

Mallory updates ‘Seeds’ groups about our progress in God’s mission

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Articles and information due in the church office

Friday, July 20th

The Oshkosh Summer Farmers’ Market will run on Saturdays through October 27. Hours of operation are 8:00 am-12:30 pm. We have arranged to have a space for the summer. We are located in front of Peabody’s.

We are looking for volunteers to work at the market and to donate items for baking.

Items Needed for the Farmers’ Market

We would appreciate donations of any of the fol-lowing items for bake sale use. You can also donate cash to help defer the cost of purchasing the items. You can drop off your donations any time the office is open: 9:00 a.m. until noon, Monday through Fri-day. You can also bring in your donations when you come to worship on Sundays. THANKS!

• Flour—Regular Sifted or Self-rising • Cake Mixes—Yellow, Chocolate, Lemon,

White, or Spice • Nuts—Chopped Pecans or Walnuts • Chocolate Chips, White Chocolate Chips,

Butterscotch Chips, or Peanut Butter Chips • Quart- and Gallon-size Ziploc Bags • Instant Puddings—Vanilla, Chocolate, Lemon,

or Pistachio • Sugar—White, Brown, or Powdered • Vanilla Extract • Dark Karo Syrup • Molasses • Maraschino Cherries

We will be donating 25% of all proceeds from the

Farmer’s Market to a local charity each month.

We will update you on which charity will be the

recipient of those funds.

Sunday, July 8th

5:30 pm

St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church

1100 E. Murdock Avenue

Community ELCA churches will once again be

coming together for an evening prayer service

and picnic over at St. Andrew’s this July. We will

worshipping outdoors with the Holden Evening

Prayer service - which will last only a half hour.

Then afterward, we will gather in their Fellow-

ship Hall for a fun picnic dinner. Christ Lutheran

will be providing the salads again this year. Eve-

ryone should be on their way home around 7:30

pm.

A sign up sheet is in the Narthex. Let us know if

you can come and also if you will be able to bring

a salad.

We hope to see you there!

Evening Prayer & Picnic

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July 16-20, 2018

5 - 8 pm

First English Lutheran Church

1013 Minnesota St., Oshkosh

We’re teaming up with First English for summer Vacation Bible School. For one

week, children will venture onto an uncharted island where kids survive and thrive.

Kids will learn that Jesus carries them through the storms. Letters have gone out to

families with VBS registration forms. If you know of a child that would enjoy this pro-

gram or would like more information, please contact the church office @ 231-6570.

Register children or volunteers online!

vbspro.events/p/a2292d

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

‘Making Jesus Real for Kids!’

We are Partnering with

Area Churches!

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July Sunday Volunteers

Date Reader Ushers Communion

Assistant

Offering

Counters Open/Close

July 1 Mark Arend Needed Needed Jackie Boese Mary Palmquist

Ryan Birschbach

July 8 Susie Smith Needed Needed Mark Arend Gloria Heidl

Kevin Harvot

July 15 Kevin Harvot Needed Susie Smith Debbie Reichenberger Barbara Shew

Gloria Heidl

July 22 Mark Arend Needed Needed Jackie Boese Mary Palmquist

Carrie Lewis

July 29 Needed Needed Needed Mark Arend Patti Wilson

Dorene Myers

Coffee Hour sponsors and volunteers are also needed to complete the schedule.

Anyone wishing to volunteer, please sign up on the volunteer sheet located on the credenza in the Narthex. All Sunday readings are printed in advance, so you may take your Sunday’s reading and look over it before you read on your designated Sunday. You may also call the church office, and someone will assist you in signing up for service.

Thanks to all who continue to volunteer!

Altar Guild Volunteers for July: Jackie Boese & Mary Palmquist