When does $13,000 = $26,000?

Now! For every dollar you give to our Building Fund until the end of 2010, the Texas District LCMS has generously offered to match it up to $100,000. What a great way to double the impact of your contribution! If you give before the end of the year, you may be able to save on your 2009 income taxes. As a bonus your donation will receive a high rate of return in the coming year through our Texas CEF Building Fund which is currently paying 2.53% apy. Just write "Building Fund" in the memo line of your check or place your gift in a Ministry Facility Fund envelope.

Building a Bigger Heaven in Texas

In our prayers this week, we’re lifting up missionary pastor Eloy Gonzalez and the mission of Redeemer as they reach out to people in Irving, Texas and beyond. We support their work through the gift of 10% of our Sunday morning offerings to Texas Partners in Mission. To find out more, visit www.txdistlcms.org/tpim.

Sanctity of Human Life

God’s Word compels us to speak and act on behalf of those who are vulnerable and defenseless. Our society has placed these individuals at risk through legalized abortion-on-demand and the growing threat to the lives of others through legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia. On Sunday, January 17, we will celebrate God’s gift of life. We’ll be collecting diapers and other baby items to give to the Options for Women center in New Braunfels. Bring your donations with you to worship the next few Sundays and share a tangible expression of Jesus’ love.

We’ll have baby bottles available on Sunday, January 3 for you to take home as a reminder to pray for those who are most vulnerable when it comes to life issues. Collect your spare change and extra bills in the bottle and bring the filled bottle with you to worship on Sunday, January 17. We’ll donate the bottles and the money to the New Braunfels Pregnancy Center. If you would rather make a single donation to the Center, use the “Life Sunday” envelopes. Make your check payable to Word of Life and note “Pregnancy Care Center” in the memo line.

Make Daily Devotions a Habit in 2010

Check the Info Table at worship this Sunday for your family’s copy of Portals of Prayer. Each daily devotion in this booklet features a Bible reading, meditation, and prayer in an easy-to-read format. Portals of Prayer is great for personal devotions, and these timeless devotions can be used to open meetings or launch Bible studies.

Thank You

We received a beautiful, hand-made note this past week. It read, “Dear Family of Word of Life, Thank you so much for the gifts for Noah and Silas. They are very excited and thankful. We have been blessed to have gotten to know all of you these past few months. Thank you for all your encouraging words and prayers. Please continue to pray for us as we move to Dallas and await a call for Mark. We will see you when we visit San Antonio. Merry Christmas, the Hotopp Family.”

Wanted: Administrative Services Provider

Pastor Ken is looking for an administrative services provider who can work about 1/2 day each week on a contract or volunteer basis doing detail oriented administrative tasks to assist Word of Life Fellowship in building a bigger heaven and better lives. For more information, click on the following link or pick up an Administrative Services Expectations description from the Info table and contact Pastor Ken, 566-2237 or Ken@WordofLife4u.com.

Lutheran Inter-City Network Coalition (LINC)
San Antonio

Lutheran congregations, ministries and individuals are combining efforts and resources to reach the multi-cultural and urban people of the San Antonio area with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We plan to equip and train servant leaders for ongoing ministry to care for the spiritual and physical needs of our neighbors in the name of Jesus. The Texas District has agreed to help in this endeavor by providing a $50,000 matching grant. To find out more, click on or pick up a new LINC flyer from the Info Table. You may make a donation directly or by writing a check to Word of Life with LINC in the memo line.

Camp Lone Star

At home and at camp, Camp Lone Star desires to communicate to youth that we can glorify Christ in everything we do. A summer camp experience at Camp Lone Star creates an intentional Christian community submersing participants in Christian values facilitated by a Christ-centered staff.
Through the 2010 summer camp programs, Camp Lone Star will communicate the message of the hope we have through the mighty grace and love of our God to youth of all ages. This message is made a reality by structuring the camper’s day with flexibility while making a commitment to key activities throughout the week. Here’s a taste of what every camper can expect this summer:

• Living in a small group of similarly aged cabin mates

• All-camp morning devotions

• Morning praise and worship time

• Daily activity time, which may include any of the following:

  • Archery

  • Arts and crafts

  • Time at the pool

  • Nature Center activities

  • Canoeing

  • Multiple sports activities

  • Fishing

  • Hiking

  • Daily cabin group Bible studies

  • All-camp games like All-camp Soccer, Flicker Ball, Darebase and Lone Star favorites like Capture-the-Dooger!

  • Roundup: an evening time when each cabin group presents something they learned that day through a skit, song or other creative method

  • All-camp evening devotions and camp fire to close the day

For more information or to register, visit www.LOMT.com or pick up registration information at the Info Table. For personal Camp Lone Star stories, talk to the Petersons, Osgoods, Molinas or Mitschkes.

Online Calendar

You've read through the WordofLife4u. You sense what God wants you to do, but how do you keep track of events to invite your friends and neighbors to, groups where you can grow, and ministries where you can use your gifts to make a real difference? Check out our online calendar at: www.WordofLife4u.com/calendar.

New!
Podcasts of Worship at Word of Life

Now you can subscribe to our Podcast/RSS Feed of Worship at Word of Life. To subscribe to the podcasts and LifeLesson notes, click on  Subscribe. To take advantage of this feature you may need to update your web browser or get a free RSS reader. For more information about RSS subscriptions and readers go to www.WhatIsRSS.com.

You can also listen to audio streams of recent worship services at Word of Life, or you can download a recording of the service to your computer or mp3 player and listen whenever you'd like. Click here! and you'll be directed to our Worship at Word of Life page. Left-click on "Stream" to listen to a service right away or click on "Download" (some require a right-click) to download a service to your computer and/or connected mp3 player to listen to later. You can view, save or print a copy of the LifeLesson notes too.

"Better Life" Links

A Tilted Christmas Carol - "An imperfect tree, a precious baby boy, and other signs of God's redeeming grace." [more]

The Adventure of Christmas: December 25th - "Those seven evil days of idol worship and over-the-top parties would disappear form the Roman calendar, and December 25th would move out of the dark shadows of pagan worship in to the light of God's truth and love..." [more]

Prayer Requests and Thanksgivings

We Thank God…

• for giving us the happy certainty of His promises fulfilled, for a living confidence because of Jesus’ resurrection, for never- ending compassion, for forgiveness, for enjoyment and for the assurance of heaven

• for over $13,000 given last month which will be matched by our Texas District to become over $26,000 to help build a ministry facility to reach out to our community

• for protecting Doug Stresemann through a serious auto accident

• for the joy and blessings of Immanuel, family and friends

• for our nation and our leaders

• for standing guard over our troops and their families

• for those who have sacrificed life and limb defending us

• for all the resources God has entrusted to our care

• for His promise to multiply our tithes and offerings to help build a bigger heaven and better lives.

We Ask God…

• to inspire and empower us to put aside our false hopes and cling to the living confidence of a God-blessed future

• to bless missionary pastor Eloy Gonzalez and the mission of Redeemer as they reach out to people in Irving, Texas and beyond

• to direct the purchasing of a property to help us reach our community with the Gospel

• to comfort the victims of persecution, terrorism and disaster

• to bless our leaders with godly wisdom and guidance that they would lead according to His will

• to call Pastor Mark Hotopp soon to the ministry He has chosen

• to bless those who travel and to bless David & Ana Koester, Cathy Ashcraft, Chuck Tolsma, Kelly, Paulita and Javier with employment

• to protect our troops abroad, especially Logan Christiansen in U.A.E., Erik Moore & Mr. Smith in Iraq, Juan Pizarro in Indonesia and Jason Leible, Julie Astrachan & Jason Lieber in Afghanistan

• to comfort the family and friends of Ron Stone and Alden Malachowski as they mourn their deaths

• to heal Archie Wortham, Austin McDonald, Nita Bowden, David Koester, Lisa Flowers, Debra Gutierrez, Ninfa Sanchez, Erin Hunter, Reilly Hunter, the mother of Rosie Cortez, Paige, and to heal those battling cancer: Chase Bargsley, John Dury, Rachel Midgett, Kayla Nunnery, Sadie Norris, Matthew Provencio, Manuel Coloura, Zach Vangundy, Amanda Conniff, Pam Smith, Kurt Bickel, Susan Doering and to comfort and strengthen their families

• for financial and people resources to enable His vision to come into being through us

• to empower us to build a bigger heaven and better lives.

Join us in prayer wherever you are! You may leave prayer requests at 566-2237 or Ken@WordofLife4u.com.

Chrismas Pun-ishment

It's impolite to groan at a less than thoughtful gift so have fun groaning at these Christmas puns!

What do they call Santa's helpers?
Subordinate Clauses

What do you call Santa Clause after he's fallen into a fireplace? Krisp Kringle

Who sings "Love Me Tender" and makes Christmas toys?
Santa's little Elvis

Which of Santa's reindeers needs to mind his manners the most? "Rude"olph

What did the Gingerbread Man put on his bed?
A cookie sheet

What reindeer has the cleanest antlers?
Comet

What does Santa like to eat?
A jolly roll

Where do Santa's reindeers like to stop for lunch?
Deery Queen

What does Santa say when he is sick?
OH OH NO!

If athletes get athlete's foot, what do astronauts get?
Missile toe

What do you call the fear of getting stuck while sliding down a chimney? Santa Claus-trophbia

What do you call a cat on the beach at Christmas time?
Sandy Claws

Why does Santa Claus go down the chimney on Christmas Eve?
Because it soots him

What can Santa give away and still keep?
A cold

Why do giraffes get Christmas gifts every year?
They are so good that they'll stick their necks out for anyone

Why did the elf push his bed into the fireplace?
He wanted to sleep like a log

What do elves learn in school?
The Elf-abet!

What nationality is Santa Claus?
North Polish

Why does Scrooge love Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?
Because every buck is dear to him

What do you call a bunch of grandmasters of chess bragging about their games in a hotel lobby?
Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer

How do sheep in Mexico say Merry Christmas?
Fleece Navidad!

What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus?
Claustrophobic

Why does Santa have 3 gardens?
So he can ho-ho-ho

What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?
Frostbite

What do you get when you cross an archer with a gift-wrapper?
Ribbon hood

What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
Snowflakes

What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?
It's Christmas, Eve

Why was Santa's little helper depressed?
Because he had low elf esteem.

What is the difference between the Christmas alphabet and the ordinary alphabet?
The Christmas alphabet has NO EL.

Just a Thought

"If you want to get the hang of it [incarnation], think how you would like to become a slug or a crab." -C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

We're building a bigger heaven and better lives!