The Gospel Harbinger - May 2022

As Winter and Summer seem to be in a tug of war, Spring is hanging on for dear life. Some days it is pulled back into Winter and other days it is pulled into an early Summer. But the grass is growing and the flowers are blooming. And thanks to daylight savings time, it is getting lighter later into the evening. The pond at Bailey Park is inviting its unforgiving sacrifice of golf discs from those who cannot throw or skip their disc as far as they thought they could. Life is getting good.

Choose Life! The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 5:17 that we should “understand what the will of the Lord is.” That question, “What is God’s will for my life?” has caused endless hours of anxiety for Christians. But as Lily from AT&T says, “It’s not that complicated.” A good place to begin to find the will of the Lord is to look at the 10 Commandments. These words clearly spell out for us how God wants his people to live. From now to the end of June we will be examining each of these commandments. As Moses told the people of Israel in his farewell address, God wants his people to follow his commandments and choose life and good. The alternative is to ignore God’s commandments and suffer evil and death (read Deuteronomy 27:9 – 28:68 to see how devastating it would be for the Israelites if they ignored God’s commandments). May we learn from these commandments how to improve our lives and do a better job of living for God. L’Chaim!

Small Groups. One of our goals in our Forging Our Future campaign was to have 50% of our Average Worship Attendance (AWA) participating in small groups. In the six months leading up to setting the goal, our AWA was 59. In the three small groups just concluded we had over 30 different people involved. So it seems we achieved that goal. However, in the six months leading up to the beginning of the small groups, our AWA has been 67, so maybe we aren’t there yet.

But more than simply having numbers sitting in seats during small groups, we are more interested in the results of the small groups. The people involved had some information about living as a Christian confirmed and learned some new ideas of how we can live lives worthy of our calling in Christ. In addition, people learned more about each other and grew in friendships and fellowship. We plan to have another round of small groups in the Fall, so plan now to join the fun.

Need a place to serve? We are looking for a few good men . . . and women . . . and youth. We have a variety of places you can serve. We can always use more people to help in the nursery, especially during the Sunday school time. You can serve as a regular or as a substitute. If you love babies and toddlers and want to hold them and play on the floor with them, you may qualify. (If you are like me, however, getting on the floor with them is not the difficult part, it is getting up off the floor that may take a while.) If interested, talk with Erica Eidson. [By the way, in case you have not heard, we have more babies coming by the end of the year.]

Maybe you like your kids a little older. Well, have we got a place for you. As our babies grow up and new people start attending, we will have more children in the age 3 – Grade 5 range. We will need people to help with that age group during both Sunday school and worship. Can you help one month out of three? Can you color, play with play doh, play in the sand, sit at a small table, love kids? This may be the place for you to serve. If interested, talk with Jan Fordyce. She will be able to get you involved.

Maybe you would like to take communion to people in the nursing homes in Camp Point and Golden one Sunday a month. If the idea scares you a little, then team up with Todd Clevenger or Gary Linnemeyer and go with them a few times to learn what to do. Again, “it’s not complicated.” Do you like to bring joy to people who are often overlooked in society? Would you like a legitimate reason to miss the sermon and be thanked for doing so? If this interests you, talk to Todd Clevenger.

LaMoine Christian Service Camp. The church will cover the cost for one week of camp. All registrations are being done online this year. Check with the church office to learn how to register.

Thanks for reading,

       Rick

Go to www.lamoinecamp.org to see what camp sessions are available and to register.

Mary Deane Linnemeyer would like to thank everyone who gave them food, cards, calls and visits after her knee replacement surgery.

Sunday, May 8th:

The Elders will meet at 8:00 am

The Board will meet after Morning Worship Service.

Our Family Fellowship Carry-in will be after Morning Worship Service (when the food is ready) on Sunday, May 22nd. Everyone is welcome!

Our day to volunteer at the Assistance Center is Tuesday, May 24th from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm.

We will be participating in Care Net's Baby Bottle Blitz again this year beginning on Mother's Day and ending on Father's Day. If you want to help with their fundraiser, baby bottles will be available on Mother's Day for you to take home and fill up with change (or bills if you prefer). Please return your filled bottles anytime through Father's Day.