Newsletter for June 29, 2014

Bearing Fruit

June 29, 2014

Our Church

Happy Birthday to:  Jacayla Litwiller (6/26), Amy Widmer (6/29), Jo Ann Stout (7/5)

Happy Anniversary to:  Myron & Martha Graber (6/22), Jared & Angela Widmer (6/27), Tim & Carol Detweiler (7/1), Marion & Marlene Leichty (7/3)

Offering for 6/15/2014: $2,644 (regular), $200 (HACAP)

Grant & Edie are in VA this week visiting family.  They will return July 4^th.

Myron Graber’s first term as elder concludes on Sept 1^st.  He has agreed to serve a second term.  On July 13^th we will ask for your affirmation to have Myron serve a second term.

About the Summer Series:  As Grant and I were teaching the Jr High Sunday School class last fall, we thought perhaps the book we were using, “Claiming Faith: Youth Discover the Confession of Faith” might be a good church-wide book to study and think about.  In ten sessions, the book explores various aspects of the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, including lessons on Claiming: Our Identity, God, Ourselves as God’s Creation, Sin and Salvation, the Church, the Promise, the Community, the Walk, Peace, and Allegiance.  Each session is written to go along with one or more article of the Confession of Faith.

Starting today and running through September 14, each week of our summer series will feature worship oriented around the theme of the day, followed by a combined Jr High/High School/Adult Sunday School hour in the fellowship hall spent exploring the lesson.  We’re excited to get started learning about and renewing our understanding of God, the Church, and each of us through this study of the Confession of Faith!  - Amanda

Crooked Creek Christian Camp

6^th-8^th grade camp starts this week: June 29-July 4.  Thank you for your continued prayers for the counselors and staff as they minister to the children of our communities.  Pray for the campers as they receive the Gospel message.

Iowa Mennonite Relief Sale

The Iowa Mennonite Relief Sale Annual Meeting will be held at 7pm July 8^th at Kalona Mennonite Church.  All interested persons are invited to hear the results of this year’s sale and suggestions for the coming year.  Come and share your ideas with others.  This is also the time for the election of three board members.  Refreshments will follow the meeting.

Next year’s sale will be May 29^th and 30^th, 2015.

Central Plains Conference

The Sower Prayer Request:  Give thanks for the Instituto Biblico Anabautista (Anabaptist Biblical Institute) students win Iowa City and Moline who are celebrating their graduation today.  These lay leaders have spent many hours studying the Bible and church leadership in preparation for lay and credentialed ministry roles.

Mennonite Agencies

Help Iraqis through MCC:  As armed conflict forces Iraqis from their homes, MCC is providing vital items for daily life and is planning an ongoing response.  MCC also is calling on US lawmakers to oppose military intervention in Iraq and instead to send humanitarian aid.  Please help us reach a goal of 12,000 hygiene kits and 3,000 relief kits for uprooted Iraqis and others in the region.  Gifts of money support MCC’s efforts that build peace.  More information is available online at mcc.org/get-involved/kits and donate.mcc.org/Iraq or by calling 888.563.4676.  The Action Alert at mcc.org/advocate-iraq provides a simple way to contact your representatives and the president.  Thank you for partnering with MCC to help uprooted people and for your ongoing prayers for peace in the region.

Mennonite Mission Network Prayer Request:  Anita and David Breckbill recently completed five months of volunteering at Union Biblical Seminary in India through MMN.  One of their jobs in the library was to update the card catalog of 80,000 items.  Pray for the Breckbills as they continue relationships with their Indian friends from their home in Nebraska.

Prayers for faith and learning:  Give thanks to God for the people who invest in Mennonite higher education; ask God to prompt generosity as church colleges, universities and seminaries approach the end of the fiscal year.

Area Events

The Safe Families training scheduled for this Saturday, June 28 at Lower Deer Creek is rescheduled for Saturday, July 12 from 9am to 2pm.  Please rsvp if you plan to attend: safefamiliesia at gmail.com. 

JPOG (Justice Peace Outreach Group) invites you to a Peace Picnic on Sunday evening, July 6, 2014, at Tom and Kay Fleming’s house, 1390 145^th St. Wellman.  The potluck picnic will begin at 6pm; bring finger food to share, along with your own table service and a lawn chair.  Drinks will be provided.  Following food and conversation we’ll share our own peace stories or tell those we’ve heard about.  In case of rain (or excessive mosquitoes), we’ll meet in Fleming’s house.  For more information, call Flemings at 319.646.2028 or email Jane Yoder-Short at yodershort at netins.net.

Polen in Concert:  Polen will be in concert at Lower Deer Creek Mennonite Church on Saturday July 26^th at 7pm.  Polen is a 5-piece Christian electronic rock and worship band from Fredericksburg, OH.  With electrifying walls of guitar, pulsating rhythms, and pensive lyrics, Polen creates a sound that is deeply worshipful, always melodic.  For more information contact Jim Hershberger at jhershberger32 at gmail.com or 319.461.3847.