We're building a bigger heaven and better lives!
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StressBusters
LifeLesson Series on Psalm 23
What are the seven greatest sources of stress? They’re all found in Psalm 23. So why is this one of the most beloved passages in God’s Word? Because here God administers the antidotes to stress; because here God reveals who He is and how much He loves you and how much you matter to Him. Invite someone you know for some stress relief!
God's Antidote for Busyness
According to a CNN poll, 59% of us would like to slow down and relax more. A Harris poll said we have 8.5 hours less leisure time than we did a decade ago. We're working more and enjoying it less. Discover God’s prescription for pressured people. Experience God's way to RELAX this Sunday, April 18, 10:45 a.m. at 101 Pecan Drive, Schertz. [map and directions]
A nursery is available for children infant – age 4 at any time during the worship service on Sundays in the Mother’s Room, to the left as you exit the worship area. The audio of the service is broadcast into the room. Interested in helping with Nursery? Sign up at the Info Table or contact Chris Stemmermann at 566-1401.
J.A.M. (ages 5-8)
Children ages 5-8 are invited to join us for J.A.M., our age appropriate worship/learning experience for children, just after the Children's message this Sunday! Interested in helping with J.A.M.? Contact David White at 650-3166.
Just for Tweens (ages 9-12)
Kids ages 9—12 are invited to be a part of Tweens, a group specially designed for them. Join them this Sunday during the LifeLesson portion of worship for this fun learning experience. Want to know more? Call Becky Peterson at 945-7952.
Grace Prayer Team
Know the miraculous power of prayer. Word of Life has a team of prayer warriors ready to pray for you. The team meets on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. [map and directions] to pray for the morning worship and other needs. Also, prayer partners will be available to pray with you or for you after worship. Just come to the right side of the worship area.
If you would like the team to pray for you throughout the week, just let Pastor Ken know (566-2237 or Ken@WordofLife4u.com). He will share your request with the team.
The team is compiling a quarterly newsletter and they would like to add your story of answered prayer. Please share YOUR story and/or become a part of this exciting prayer team. Contact Betty Tolsma 659-8107 or bettytolsma@sbcglobal.net.
Building a Bigger Heaven in Brazil
In our prayers this week, we’re lifting up missionary pastor Delmar Köpsel and the ministry of Emanuel as they reach out to people in Roque Gonzáles, Brazil and beyond. We support their work through the gift of 10% of our Sunday morning offerings to Brazil Mission Society. To find out more, visit www.BrazilMissionSociety.com.
Fresh Start with God
If you've been a believer for some time or you’ve recently come to know Jesus as Savior; if you have questions about the Christian faith or you have a friend to bring that would benefit from this group... our Fresh Start with God course is for you. Everyone should attend this class at least once! It will help you:
build on a firm foundation which will benefit you for life,
discover or brush up on the essentials of the Christian faith (including what we believe at Word of Life Fellowship),
get connected with Pastor Ken and others,
play "Stump the Pastor," and
prepare for meaningful membership at Word of Life and more!
The course will answer seven common questions:
How can I be sure I’m a follower of Jesus?
OK, I believe in Jesus, but what does that mean?
Prayer and Bible Reading: Where Do I Start?
Why do I need baptism?
Why do I need the Lord’s Supper?
Why is it so important that I connect with other believers?
What do I need to know about Word of Life Fellowship?
We’re exploring meeting options for this course. Should it be a one day seminar, two half-day sessions or a seven week LifeGroup? If you are interested in attending, or you just want to know more about it, please look over the information on the RSVP form this Sunday and let us know which format works best for you, or contact Pastor Ken at Ken@WordofLife4u.com or 566-2237.
Join a Missional LifeGroup
Youth Group - Tuesdays
7:00 p.m. at the Weissmann's
108 Rustic Trail, Cibolo
Questions? 314-3754
Adult LifeGroup
7:00 p.m. at the Goeke’s
21927 Paseo Corto, Garden Ridge
Questions? 651-3075
Women’s Group - Wednesday Mornings
9:00 a.m. at Sherri Smith’s home
3309 Dusty Crossing, Schertz
Questions? 659-2585
Reading Group - 3rd Wednesdays
Meets Wednesday, April 21 to discuss “Wuthering Heights"
by Emily Bronte.
6:45 p.m. at the Schertz Library
798 Schertz Parkway, Schertz
Questions? 566-1650
Men’s Group - Thursdays
7:00 p.m. at Ken Mitschke’ home
1531 Jasmine, Schertz
Questions? 218-3685
God Sightings Group - Anytime
Go to www.MyGodSightings.com and click on “Sign up now.” Once you have created your profile, use the search box to search for the “Word of Life Fellowship” group.
Enchanted April Evening
Join us for a women’s movie night on Wednesday, April 28 at 7:00 p.m. We’ll share Italian treats as we watch this delightful movie. The plot: Four women rent a castle in Italy to escape their dreary lives in rainy, post-World War I London. There they rediscover the beauty and sunshine of life and experience an opening of their once shuttered hearts. We will meet at Patti Mitschke’s house, 1531 Jasmine, Schertz. Be sure to invite your female friends and neighbors. Questions? 566-1650.
Ministry Facility Update
The process to purchase 8 acres of land along FM 1103 near Steele High School is progressing. This property is currently zoned agricultural and the zoning must be changed before we can build a mission and ministry facility on the property. The Cibolo Planning and Zoning commission will meet on Tuesday, April 20, 6:30 p.m. at Cibolo City Hall, 200 S. Main, Cibolo. If all goes well the issue will be brought before the full Council on Tuesday, April 27, 7:00 p.m. We would love to have several representatives from Word of Life attend one or both of these meetings to show our support for our future presence in the Cibolo community. We encourage all to pray for this process.
$47,000 + $47,000 + Interest!
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. 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 2.78% apy. Just write "Building Fund" in the memo line of your check or place your gift in a Mission & Ministry Facility Fund envelope available by the offering box.
Neighbor in Need
One of our Word of Life members, a single mom, has recently lost a home-care client resulting in significant income loss. While she still has one client, she is looking for other elderly or disabled clients to serve and to restore her income. Also, her trailer needs repairs. These problems will become worse if they are not fixed soon. However, she cannot currently afford even the materials for the repairs. If you know of potential clients, please contact Pastor Ken at Ken@WordofLife4u.com as soon as possible. Consider making a donation to Word of Life's Neighbor in Need fund to help provide materials for her repairs. Please make your check payable to Word of Life and write "Neighbor in Need" in the memo line or place your cash donation in a "Neighbor in Need" envelope available by the offering box.
Missional Worker Training
San Antonio Missional Worker Training will be held Saturday, May 15 at Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church, 5323 Blanco Road. LINC San Antonio is sponsoring this training opportunity for lay people. This one-day seminar, 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. will begin a 12-month journey for people who are ready to serve God and His people. Cost for the workshop is $15 for lunch and materials. Take a look at the FAQs about Missional Worker Training at the Missional Worker Training Blog http://missionalworker.blogspot.com. For more Missional Worker information and resources go to www.missionalworker.org.
Worship at Word of Life
You can listen to audio streams of recent worship services at Word of Life through the internet or download a recording of the service to your 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.
You can also 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.
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.
"Better Life" Links
Taking Care of Busyness by John Ortberg - "The great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it..." [more]
Time and Busyness - "All of us, but especially Christians, must carefully manage the time that God has given us. It is a valuable resource, and we can either spend it on ourselves or redeem it as a spiritual investment. We can spend it only once, and how we spend it can have eternal consequences..." [more]
Chronic Busyness: No Time to Think - "Why do we get caught up in the rush of life when we know stillness is so rewarding?..." [more]
Prayer Requests and Thanksgivings
We Thank God…
for causing us to lie down in pastures of new fresh grass, for gently guiding us to resting places above the waters, for giving us what we need even while we sleep, for making us the most important beings in His creation through His Word, for engraving us on the palms of His hands, for rest in Jesus Christ
for healing and for continued health, especially the miraculous healing of Debbie Larkin
for beautiful wildflowers
for helping families overcome financial challenges
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 relax, to realize our worth through His Word, to enjoy what we have been given, to limit our labor, to adjust our priorities and to exchange our running in a rat race for rest in Jesus Christ
to bless missionary pastor Delmar Kopsel and the ministry of Emanuel as they reach out to people in Roque Gonzáles, Brazil and beyond
to direct the various processes necessary for purchasing 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 bless young married couples working through big issues in their marriage
to bless David & Ana Koester, Paulita (Koester), Daniel & Cate (C. Stemmermann), Jim Smith, Harold Toomey, Joe Curry and Chuck Tolsma with employment and Jeff Conley with a working car and employment
to bless and protect our troops abroad, especially Tom Hermel & Erik Moore in Iraq, Juan Pizarro (Molina) in Indonesia and Jason Leible, Elizabeth Grossart ,Chuck Quist (Myers) & Jason Lieber in Afghanistan
to comfort the family and friends of Dominic and the family and friends of Natalie Robles as they mourn their deaths
to heal Betty Tolsma, John Bowden, Archie Wortham, Lisa Flowers, Katherine Puller and her unborn child (Flowers), Carey (Tolsma), Tim Berg (Christiansen), Lisa Smith, Kyle Pipken and Ninfa Sanchez and to heal those battling cancer: Debbie Larkin, Dr. Sauri, Cathey Edgington, Pastor Linderman, 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.
Power of the Word Fun
Our children's Sunday School classes were presenting their end of the year program for the congregation - telling about the life of Jesus. When it came to the part about Jesus' miracles, one little boy said, "Yes, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead!" The teacher urged him to tell us more. He said, "Well, Jesus told them to open the tomb, and then He said, 'Lazarus, come out!' And it's a good thing he didn't just say 'Come out!' because there would have been a stampede of dead guys."
Just a Thought
"I've discovered I cannot fight the demons of busyness directly. I cannot continuously say "No" to this or "No" to that, unless there is something ten times more attractive to choose. Saying "No" to my lust, my greed, my needs, and the world's powers takes an enormous amount of energy. The only hope is to find something so obviously real and attractive that I can devote all my energies to saying "Yes." In effect, I don't have time to pay any attention to the distractions."
- Henri J. M. Nouwen
Joy & Peace,
Pastor Ken Mitschke
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P.S. For past issues or to subscribe [WordofLife4u].
Word of Life Fellowship-LCMS
1531 Jasmine Dr
Schertz TX 78154-3738
www.WordofLife4u.com
210-566-2237
Ken@WordofLife4u.com
We're building a bigger heaven and better lives!
Word of Life Fellowship LCMS
1531 Jasmine Dr
Schertz TX 78154-3738
Pastor Ken Mitschke
210-566-2237
Ken@WordofLife4u.com