The Good News

The Newsletter of Nazareth Lutheran Church

1711 Grant Street Hopewell, VA 23860 www.nazluthchurch.com

NOV./DEC. 2011
TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Advent: Yellow Light! By Pastor Voss

I just received an e-mail stating that I can save big on Cyber-Monday deals as I prepare to purchase Christmas gifts. Green Light to Christmas! Not so fast! I know the world is in a rush to get me to Christmas, but for all the wrong reasons. The church is not in a rush to get to Christmas. During Advent, God gives us a yellow light, proceed slowly and with caution. As a Pastor, my calendar may pick up as we add services, celebrations, and planning this time of year, but this is actually the most relaxing time of year for me and I hope it is for you too. The mid-week Advent worship services actually get us to slow down! Yellow light! Each week, we will sing and hear about the Advent, or coming, of the one who makes Christmas possible. Proceed slowly with Christ on your mind. We will celebrate the Advent of Christ through His birth. We will celebrate the Advent of Christ through the Lords Supper. We will celebrate the Advent of Christ through his return in the future. Only after we have paused and contemplated the coming of Christ will God give us a Green Light for Christmas. With right hearts and minds, God, who slows us down during Advent, will share with us the true meaning of Christmas: His love for us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world. Have a blessed Advent Season! Enjoy it! Relax in Gods Word at home and with us!
Inside this issue: Pray for One Another 4

Nazareth Church App Missions & Outreach

4 5

Simple Church

40 Days of Prayer

Pastoral Initiatives in 2012 By Pastor Voss

In 2011, we embraced a church-wide initiative to continue our long-range mission planning as we consider a CDC, but also to read through the Bible together. Reading through the Bible not only has gotten us to immerse ourselves in Gods Word more regularly, but is also has served to united us in Bible Study and to serve as an entryway for those new to the faith. In 2012, there are three initiatives that I pray we embrace with as much devotion. 1. A Church-wide study of the Lutheran Confessionswe have a precious jewel, a confession of faith, that helps us understand the Holy Scriptures. It also helps us teach the next generation the way God desires for us to understand His Word. It is always the right time to study the Lutheran Confessions, especially though, after we have just read through the Bible together. Summer 2012 2. A seminar or series on the Liturgythe Liturgy that we speak and sing each week has been drawn from the deepest and most meaningful stories of church history. Often we speak the words or sing the liturgy without knowledge (and thus without appreciation) for the story behind the words or the song. Next year, we will promote the opportunity to learn about our Liturgy so that we fully understand the blessings and the history within it. Fall 2012 3. Leadership Trainingthe church needs strong leaders. Those who are willing to say, Here I am, Lord, send me! And we must build up our leaders so they can confidently embrace their roles. With your help, I will be looking to identify those with a deep desire to lead our congregation into the future and we will look to receive or attend leadership training through Wellspring ministries. If you are interested in being an empowered leader of our future, please contact me. Spring 2012

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The Good News

Bulletin Board
Thank You!
My Dear Family in Nazareth, I want to thank all of you for the cards, phone calls, beautiful flowers, visits and prayers during my hospitalization. I truly appreciate all your support and hope I will be able to join you soon! God bless you all, Your sister in Christ, Marilyn

Needed: Someone to coordinate the flowers on

the altar. As of the first part of January, I am bowing out of being flower coordinator. If any one is interested please let the Church Council know. Thank you,. Cindy

CHILDCARE James Eckenrodes mom has a childcare service, and she currently has some openings. If you need this service or would like more information, please call Elke at 530-1254 or on her cell at 691-8369. She will care for newborns on up in age. Hours are 6:30am to 6:00pm. The World is Going Mobile and Were Following with the Gospel
Did you know that people now download as much via their mobile devices than they do via their computer? A whole new generation is using smart phones instead of computers! Nazareth Lutheran Church is dedicated to being like Jesus, that is, sharing the Gospel wherever people are. An iPhone, iPad, and Andriod application is currently in development so that anyone with a mobile device can receive updates from our church including newsletters, audio sermons, CDC updates, and much, much more. The Nazareth Mobile App is due out in Spring of 2012. You will be able to download it via iTunes or via our website.

November 6

Joy Voss

November 10 Juliana Layne November 11 Polly Sodat November 14 William Voss December 4 December 9 Jonah Fistler Rev. David Voss

December 13 Borgny Hampton December 18 Clarence (Hobo) Logan December 19 James Eckenrode December 20 David Petik December 22 Jordan Hanford December 27 Bea Schulz December 31 Thelma Klein

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A New Way to Serve: Tutoring

Do you have a spare hour or two during the week? If so, you can be a great benefit to a child in school this year through tutoring. Please call me at 586-3335, or talk to me after worship services. Yours in Christ Arnie Slimmen

From the pen of Jonah Fistler

During the July 2011 Youth Mission Event, held here at Nazareth, some of the youth helped out at the Hopewell Humane Society. Due to overcrowding, they are running out of funds and supplies. There are many cats up for adoption, and the shelter is unable to take in any more cats or kittens. The Humane Society is a no-kill shelter. In desperate need of space, time, money, volunteers, food and other essentials, they are asking for our support and help. Some of the cats available for adoption are: Danielle (or as Joey called her, Tank) - She is a puffball calico lap kitty. Eileen is a solid black attention hog. Mittens looks like a clouded leopard and is a solitary kitty. She is very low-maintenance, being something of a loner. Romeo he is almost solid black, very active and loves climbing and peoples attention. Many more. Come take a look or just spend some time and give them some much needed TLC. These cats have been abandoned or are from abusive homes. Please consider giving one or more of these precious creatures a forever home. Adoption fees are as follows: For $70 adults are spayed/neutered and vetted For $90 kittens are vaccinated. The Hopewell Humane Society is located at 3412 Oaklawn Boulevard. Phone is 804-458-7301. Volunteers must be 18 years old or more.

Thank You for Supporting our Lutheran School

On October 31 (Reformation Day) thirty Small Catechisms were donated to Luther Memorial School 7th and 8th grade classes. These Catechisms will be used in years to come by students as they learn the foundations of the faith. A special thank you to those from Nazareth who donated:

Jean & William Koren - 2 books Bea Schulz - 1 book Karen Van Worth - 2 books The Loretta Fischer Memorial Fund25 books

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Pray for One Another

Our Brothers and Sisters in Christ who are home-bound Mary Petik Joe & Doris Cavin ` Our members and friends serving our country in the military Bruce Layne Danny Petik Chris Graham Dustin Petik James Eckenrode David Petik Jeff Crossen Jeffrey Head Brandon Edwards Mike McKinzie Andrew White Military Chaplains Our members and friends away at college Landry Doane Casey Davis Lindsey Engels Alex Johnson Our members who are sick, hospitalized, in need of spiritual care or recuperating Marilyn Antunes Doris Cavin Rowena Carter Annette Dry Kathy Beahm Joe & Suzie Hilton Bob Dry Polly Sodat Joey Reierson Cindy Fistler Tina & Art Doane Leanne Eckstein Karen Van Worth Nicki Thomas Mary Petik Our members/friends who are expecting Jenny Shelton Our friends who are sick, hospitalized or recuperating Jonathan Weston Rita Joyner Jeff Walter Kay Slade Bernard Carter Jes Greeno Francis Brinkley Richard Brinkley, Jr. Mason Hassell Jean Koren (Gerald & Wandas daughter-in-law) Naff Hayes Windy Broughton and Family Debbie George Sue Corbett Dale Olsen Raymond Holley & Family Pam Webb Russ Carr

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The Good News

Evangelism, Outreach, and Missions

Update by Kara Canada

Fall Festival Weekend

Fall Festival and Thanksgiving Families Update Sponsored by the Outreach and Mission Board
We had a nice Saturday morning on October 1st. The rain may have kept many away, but we still were able to collect $450. This money will be put in a fund to help with the repair of the basement floor in the downstairs fellowship area. We did have a lot of people take the time to contribute their talents and donate arts and crafts to our event. We had photography art, jewelry, painted stem ware and candle holders, wood work, and stationary to name a few of the items offered. Also, many of you took the time to bake some delicious desserts. Charlene Logan may have missed her calling and should go into the baking business. Many were lined up to purchase her poppy seed roll. Board of Stewardship took the time to feed us sausage biscuits and have breakfast items available for us to purchase. We have kept the can food drive table up in the Narthex to continue to collect for those in need and to start planning for our Thanksgiving Families. If you would like to contribute to these families, please have your donations in by November 20th. We would like items that would assist in creating a Thanksgiving Feast. Cash donations are welcomed also. We do purchase these families turkeys too. Sunday, October 2nd, we had a lovely service on the lawn. God displayed his might with the wind, but this did not keep the members away. Nazareth had a good turn out for the weekly sermon as usual. Afterwards, Pastor had set up a guitarist, Thomas Coleman, to play during our potluck dinner. He was very talented and enjoyable. Thank you to all the help that came to assist with setting up for both days. This truly contributed to them both being a success. The Lord our God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. Deuteronomy 7:6 Kara Canada Nazareth Lutheran Church Family Member

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The Good News

Devastating Floods Impacting Lutheran Hour Ministries' Efforts in Thailand

St. Louis, MO, Oct. 24, 2011 - Thailand is experiencing its worst flooding in more than 50 years, with at least 60 of its 77 provinces being significantly impacted by flooding during the past two months and water now spilling into its national capital of Bangkok. Nearly 350 people have died and around 2.4 million more have been affected. Lutheran Hour Ministries has received e-mails from its local staff in Thailand saying that the water has surrounded the residential areas where its staff members live and is now moving closer to the LHMThailand ministry center office. The rising waters forced the ministry center to close Oct. 21 so that staff members could protect their homes. In addition, several of the ministry center's upcoming programs, including its Listeners Gathering in the Phang Nga Province and its Thanksgiving Banquet, have been cancelled or postponed due to many flooded roads in the region making travel nearly impossible. The needs of the flood victims will be very great, so there will be some good opportunities for us to do a project to help them," writes Monta "Boom" Ekwanit, director of LHMThailand. "During this emergency time there are several governments from other countries, the Thai royal family, the Thai military and large international relief organizations that are helping by mostly giving basic supplies such as water, medicine and food to the flood victims. "In the coming weeks I will be gathering information to find out what type of projects will be the most helpful when the water goes down," Ekwanit continues. "I plan to contact some local churches in Bangkok and in other provinces to get their suggestions for projects that will help flood victims in their areas." Please pray for the people of Thailand, especially those who have lost their jobs, homes and family members, and for the Lutheran Hour Ministries staff and volunteers working there. If you're interested in financially supporting the Thailand ministry center, you can visit our online giving page for more details. The situation in Thailand continues to change quickly. We will provide further updates about our ministry efforts online at www.lhm.org.

Nigerian Leaders are Equipped for Outreach in West African context

Summarized from Harvest / Spring edition Since its formation, the Lutheran Church in Nigeria (LCN) has grown to one of the LCMSs largest partner church bodies, with more than 80,000 members in 340 congregations served by 72 pastors. Today, this mission-minded church body is partnering with Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota, LCMS missionaries, and other Lutheran leaders to provide its pastors with advanced training in outreach so they might more effectively reach people in West Africa with the Gospel. Rev. David and Joyce Erber serve as LCMS career missionaries in Nigeria, where part of their current ministry includes walking alongside the LCN, encouraging and guiding them as they develop a specialized outreach curriculum. Currently 10 pastors and evangelists are working to complete their masters degrees through this program. This Master of Arts in Christian Outreach (MACO) program is the same as that offered to students on the other side of the world, at Concordia, St. Paul. The outreach training program challenges student with intensive classes that emphasize both theology and methods. Professors include Nigerian seminary professors, LCMS missionaries, and mission professors from the U.S. The program is adapted to the West African context and students are expected to immediately apply what they learn within their congregations. One student, Rev. Joseph Abang, has started several outreach stations in southeastern Nigeria. His work focuses on training men to lead outreach stations in Ekumtak, the central community of the Mbube-speaking people. Rev. Abangs work also endeavors to train evangelists to begin the work of starting congregations in 24 other Mbube-speaking communities.

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Simple Church Update by Pastor Voss

Step 1: Design a Simple Process Step 2: Place Key Programs Along the Process < Current Step Step 3: Unite all Ministries Around the Process Step 4: Eliminate Things Outside of the Process Step 5: Identify Needs outside of ministry (i.e. Administrative Functions and Needs) Becoming a Simple Church is like doing spring cleaning on your house. Your goal is to make your house nice and tidy, but the process by which you do that is anything but simple. You have to pull out old items and decide if you need them anymore. Half way through your cleaning process, the house looks messier then ever. That being said, there comes a time when you turn the corner, things start to get put away, other items are thrown out, and when you are done, you have an organized and clean home. The Simple Church group currently is pulling out all of the old items and deciding if they are needed anymore or not. We are high-high in bylaws, ideas, and drafts, knowing eventually we will have a clean and simple ministry plan to present to the people of Nazareth. We have tentatively completed Step 1 and are currently working on Step 2. Using the notes of previous Simple Church groups, we believe that our ministry needs to be organized in this manner: 1. Seekingreaching out to the lost so that we may share the Gospel 2. Transition from Seeking to Sharing - discovering the needs of those we have reached and helping them transition into our ministry so we can address those needs 3. Sharingbuilding up Gods people through Word and Sacrament and addressing their needs. 4. Transition from Sharing to Serving - discovering the Spiritual gifts of Gods people to help them identify how they can serve God 5. ServingServing in Gods name through known Spiritual gifts Although it is possible we may rename our ministry, at this time, Seeking. Sharing. Serving. will be the statement that identifies our ministry. A logo that depicts how our ministry works (the journey through all five steps) is currently being developed based upon discussions from the group. We are now working on Step 2. We have taken our current by-laws and separated them sentence by sentence and have placed them along our five step ministry. Those items that do not seem to fit within our ministry are either added to an administrative category or they were removed. Items that duplicated one another or that were too wordy were joined and/or simplified. We continue to work on this step at this time. After we have completed all four steps (listed above) we will create a final draft and present it to a test group of members. We will explain to them what our ministry looks like and if they can easily understand what is before them, then we will pass it on to Council for their review and input. If our test group cannot easily comprehend our ministry, then we will make adjustments before presenting it for review to Council. You can read regular updates by clicking on Simple Church from our website nazluthchurch.com.

The Good News 40 DAYS OF PRAYER IN ADVENT by Pastor Voss Discerning Gods Will for our Future

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Please join your brothers and sisters in Christ as we pray for Gods will to be done. We desire to know if the Lord would like us to open a Child Development Center in order to reach the lost. We must immerse ourselves in daily prayer to have any hope at a Godly answer to this. Please join us by doing the following every day in Advent: 1. Read the Scripture verse(s) for the day.
28-Nov 29-Nov 30-Nov 1-Dec 2-Dec 3-Dec 4-Dec 5-Dec 6-Dec 7-Dec 8-Dec 9-Dec 10-Dec 11-Dec 12-Dec 13-Dec 14-Dec 15-Dec 16-Dec 17-Dec Proverbs 1:1-7 Proverbs 1:22 Proverbs 1:23 Proverbs 1:29 Proverbs 1:33 Proverbs 1:8-9 Matthew 5:1-12 James 4:17 James 1:5 Prov 3:19-20 Prov 24:3-4 Rom 10:2 Prov 19:2 Hos 4:6 Eph 5:17 Prov 23:23 Prov 9:6 Prov 8:11 Prov 19:8 Prov 13:20 18-Dec 19-Dec 20-Dec 21-Dec 22-Dec 23-Dec 24-Dec 25-Dec 26-Dec 27-Dec 28-Dec 29-Dec 30-Dec 31-Dec 1-Jan 2-Jan 3-Jan 4-Jan 5-Jan 6-Jan Prov 24:5-6 1 Cor 14:20 Rom 16:19 Mat 10:16 Phil 4:7 Job 36:26 Prov 3:5,7 1 Cor 8:1-2 1 Cor 13:2 Prov 2:6,9-11 Mat 11:25 Jam 1:17 1 Cor 2:6-10 Phil 1:9-10 Col 1:9,10 2 Pet 1:2-3 Romans 15:14 Col 1:28 Phil 3:16 Matthew 28:19

2. In silence, contemplate what you have read. What does God want you to understand from the Words He has given you? Does His Word help you understand His will for His church and if He desires that we open a Child Development Center to reach the lost? 3. Speak the Lords Prayer and/or the following daily prayer for discernment. Gracious Lord, your Holy Spirit has given me the understanding that it is your loving desire to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with all nations. As one of your humble children, I pray that your Holy Spirit submits my heart to your mission of mercy. I pray that your will is accomplished through me and my beloved Nazareth Lutheran Church. You have spoken to me today through your Holy Word. Through this Word, your Holy Spirit is at work in me and is moving my heart and mind to commit to your will. I ask that you make it clear to me, and my brothers and sisters in Christ, whether or not you desire for our congregation to open a Child Development Center in order to carry out your mission to our community. If it is your will, extinguish all fear and doubt within me. If it is not your will, make it clear to me, so that I speak with confidence about your future for our congregation. Through this Advent season, I humbly pray that you daily immerse me in my Baptismal waters. I pray that your blessed Holy Spirit molds my heart and mind to your will as you did when you first gave me faith in Christ. I now rise from prayer in faith, as a new creation, open to the glorious future that you have already designed. By the power of your Spirit I have petitioned you, mighty Lord, in the name of your Son and my Savior Jesus Christ. Amen!