The blooper is one of my favorite forms of humor. Bloopers appear in newspapers, magazines and church bulletins. Often they give whole new meaning to a sentence. Like the item in the President’s Report of one church: “We as a congregation have achieved many accomplishments. We have been truly blessed in our missions and ministry. All of the broads have done an excellent job.” We can assume the typist meant “all of the boards…”
Recently someone spotted a sign outside a church: Seven Springs Christian Church—Sunday Sermon Topic: Have you ever been to Hell? Visit us—Worship 9:00 & 11 a.m.” I doubt the intent was as it came across.
Church isn’t a bad place to be for most of
us. In fact, some people actually like church. One pastor claims he knows
why: “It’s the one place bad things can’t happen to people for one hour in the
week. The toilet doesn’t get stopped up, the sink doesn’t run over, the phone
won’t ring, and the school principal can’t call to say ‘I’ve got your so nor
daughter here in the office.’ No downers can happen in church. The only price
you pay for that time of bliss is the possibility of being bored, perhaps by
the preacher. Well, as preachers we try not to bore.
Actually, church is not a bad place to be. We see our friends. Every once in a while we learn something new. And occasionally we get inspired to be better people. However, it is possibly true that our church is not as exciting as the first body of Christian believers.
When you look into the book of Acts, you see a Christian community that was very much alive. Just how important is that—to be very much alive? One denomination reported that only 25% of their members attended church on an average Sunday, then went on to compare those figures with Home Depot, the successful home remodeling store. Home Depot customers average thirty visits a year to that establishment. Why should Home Depot customers be more loyal than members of Christ’s church? The single answer given by the survey was customer service, being in touch with the needs of customers. The early church was indeed alive, active, and in touch with the needs of its members.
The second thing to note about the early church was that it was filled with love. These were people who cared about each other: “They will know we are Christians,” reminds the hymn, ‘by our love.” But there was one more thing: they had a vivid faith in the resurrected Christ. That is where they found their real power.
No, church is not a bad place to be—when it is alive, serving the needs of others, filled with love, and when there is a living faith in the power of the resurrected Christ. I believe that!—however many members still visit Home Depot more regularly than they come to worship. But still, what does that haunting Home Depot statistic say about us? Let’s pray about it.
Pastor Frank
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Madonna |
Box Score
Needed for Budget thru 4/18 $44,304
Received thru 4/18 $53,930
AHEAD $9,626
If giving remains strong perhaps we will not need to make as severe cut back in Pastoral ministry during the summer.
Note…..Thirty Pieces of Silver Sacrificial Giving……$4,500 what a fantastic response. Our goal was $3,000. Ten per cent will be divided between Santee Food Bank and our Synod Benevolence. Also we received $2,051 in mid week Lenten worship with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
’04 ’03
Avg. weekly attend. Jan 106 126
Feb 112 124
Mar 123 126
Apr 151 164
WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY AND FELLOWSHIP—MONTHLY
A new Bible study and fellowship group is forming
meeting every 2nd Tuesday of the month from 6:30-8:00 p.m. First meeting will
be Tuesday May 11th at 6:30 p.m. in Acts Center. If interested in being part
of this Bible Study Fellowship call Sara Paulsen 619-596-8214. Take time away
from busy schedules to study and fellowship together in this very informal
group. Already eight have expressed interest.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
HELP US SELECT HYMNS FOR WORSHIP…
What are your favorite, familiar hymns that you love to sing? Please make a list and turn it in by placing it in the offering plate on Sunday or give it to Pastor Frank or Rick. Summer is a great time for us to dust off some of those old favorites and raise the roof making a joyful noise to the Lord.
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Counting the “Thirty Pieces of Silver” |
All Carlton Hills Youth
Are Invited to “IT”
What is “IT”?
“IT” is a Lutheran Youth event at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Garden Grove, California. “IT” costs only $12.00 and includes the following:
· Swimming at the church pool and volleyball
· Boxing, Jousting and Tether Run Inflatables
· Open stage where church youth groups will perform including several youth from Carlton Hills will perform
· BMX and Skate Board demonstration
· Group games
· Worship led by a California Lutheran University outreach team
· A concert by “Lost and Found” the most entertaining Lutheran musicians in the country in the opinion of Pastor Rick and many others
· Each participant will receive a “IT Happens” T-shirt
· Snack Food
When is “IT”?
“IT” is Sunday, May 16th from 2:30pm to 8:30pm. We will leave Carlton Hills at Noon and return by 10:00pm. We may have some who skip the Lost and Found concert and they will return by 7:30pm. Talk with Pastor Rick or Pam Myers if you want to go or you want more information.
There will be burgers provided by In and Out for an added cost.
Attention
all Youth who like to
sing or play an instrument!!
Confirmation Worship Music Practice
Would you like to help the confirmands lead the confirmation worship service on Sunday, June 13th? There will be many guitars, a banjo and other percussion instruments that will lead the worship service that Sunday morning. There will be opportunities to sing contemporary Christian music and lead the congregation in that singing. There are many other roles in the service too!!
Practice will be Wednesday, May 12th, May 19th, June 2nd and June 9th from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.
The more that come the better it will sound. Please come when you can. The final practice will be at 7:00pm on Saturday, June 12th.
God’s Gifts Reward Party
Wednesday, May 26th
From
4:00pm – 8:00pm
God’s Gifts was AWESOME! Congratulations to Jeremy Naour and Ben Timan who learned 50 to 60 Bible verses. Wow!!
The big celebration party will be at Boomers in El Cajon. There will be unlimited Miniature Golf, Rock Wall, Kid’s County Fair and Blaster Boats. You will get very WET! We will meet at Carlton Hills at 4:00pm and we will be at Boomers from 4:30-6:30pm. At 6:30pm we will go to Pastor Rick’s house at 1630 Whitsett for a BBQ.
This will be for children and their parents and all the youth helpers.
The next session of God’s Gifts will be next September for the 10 weeks prior to Thanksgiving. Everything will be free unless you would like to help with the costs.
Camp Hope is Coming!!
See the enclosed registration form.
Camp Hope is a Christian Day camp that runs for 3 weeks at three different churches. The staff is made up of youth and adults from those three churches. What makes Camp Hope special is that it is a youth run camp where adults offer support rather than an adult run camp that is supported by youth. This makes Camp Hope high energy and soooo much fun.
This is a great event to invite the children you know who do not have a church home. The Camp Hope week at Carlton Hills is July 26-30. The camp day is from 9:30am-3:30pm with child care available 2 hours before camp and 2 hours after camp.
Update from your Transition Team.
Your transition team would like to bring everyone up to speed on our efforts and prayers during the past few months. Pastor Gordon Peterson from the Synod has met with us on two occasions to give us his prayerful guidance and methods on how to proceed in making a profound. yet gentle transition in preparation for making a call for a permanent pastor. In order to move forward we need to assess and come to terms with the history of our congregation. We are currently planning a “history event” where we will call upon all our members to provide mementos, photos, and stories of their membership at CHLC and share with each other where would we like to be in the future of our church.
We have been contacting members of the church whom we have not seen recently to see whether they wish to remain on our membership role and whether there are concerns or problems that can be addressed. Some folks have moved, changed their membership or just finding difficulty in attending services due to work schedules. It is essential that we present any prospective pastoral candidates with an accurate membership role.
Shortly, we will be announcing a series of cottage meetings wherein the transition team members can meet in small groups with our members to obtain their input on church needs, concerns, and priorities for our congregation.
Our goal is to present an initial draft of a Congregational Profile to the church council that will include an accurate membership role, special concerns of our members, expectations of any new pastor, our financial capabilities and the goals we expect to achieve in our future together with Christ. We thank you all for your continued support and most certainly the wonderful assistance of Pastor Frank, Pastor Rick and Pastor Gordon.
“A new heart, too, I will give you, and a new heart I will put within you.” Ezekiel 36:26
The
Transition Team
Dee Rvden, Tim Hustad, Jim Thomas, Bob Metz, Susie Ellison, Darrell Timan, Joi
Comstock, Pastor Frank and Pastor Gordon
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Surprise bunny visit at the Kid’s Talk on Easter |
Dorcas Highlights
The next regular meeting of the Dorcas Circle and Friends will be held on Wednesday night the 5th of May at 6:30 p.m. We will be making items for Mother’s Day for the ladies of the congregation. We also will be making yellow ribbon bows to distribute to the members of the church to indicate we are praying for the safe return of our troops from Iraq, including some of our own, Alan Comstock, Michael Guichard and others we’re unaware of or may yet go. We are asking that you place them on the outside of your home until everyone comes back to us safe and sound.
Planning ahead, our June meeting will be Wednesday night the 2nd of June at 6:30 p.m.
Pancake Breakfast
Saturday,
May 8th
7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
We would like this to be a mutual effort, with as many people participating as possible. We need men to cook and women to sell tickets and serve. We have contacted the youth to distribute flyers to stores and to place flyers in the doors of the neighborhood. We also hope they will hold posters out on Mast Blvd. Indicating our pancake breakfast while it is serving. Anyone who wishes to participate can contact Marie Freeman at 562-8335.
We will have door prizes to raffle off. Profits will go to the clearing fund deficit of the church. Let all your neighbors, relatives and friends know so they can stop by. Tickers will be $3.50 at the door.
Council Highlights
April 2004
The April council meeting was held Wednesday, April 31st in the Acts Center.
Members will be notified of the new pastoral schedule for the summer months of June, July and August. Cutbacks are being made due to the shortage of money available. Stephen Ministers will be trained to give home communion and will take over as much as possible in the absence of Pastor Frank. We will return to our current status in September.
The congregation will receive a letter in regards to the reduction in the 2004 budget that has come about. This is due to the cutback in the pastoral schedule and xouncil making all attempts possible to cut costs. The reduction is approximately $21,000.00.
Pastor Frank stated we need to work on paying off our clearing fund deficit. Dorcas Circle has pledged $2400 for the year ($1300.00 has been given to this date.) The school has pledged $2500 and anything else they can help with.
Transition Team reported they have contacted church members who did not pledge yet. They are planning an event for the congregation on May 23rd.
Nextel has proposed placing an anenna here, similart to the proposition that was lost with AT&T. Darrel Timan is looking into this for us.
Respectfully
submitted,
Marie Freeman
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Angel and
Children |
Road Rage
An honest man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him.
He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could
have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection with him.
As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.
The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell.
After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. "I noticed the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do" bumper sticker, the 'Follow Me to Sunday School' bumper sticker, and the chrome- plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car."
Starlight Theatre Time
For those of you that had a great time last year, it is time to mark your calendars, make plans and join the fun. For those who didn’t come last year, don’t miss this great way to give money to the church. Look for more information next month, but in the meantime, Bill Thomas and Bob Reid are working hard to make this possible.
Triumph of love Jun
24th
Damn Yankees Jul
15th
Music man Aug
12th
Sweeny Todd Sep
9th
Be sure and keep these dates clear for a super fun time! Bring your friends, relatives, neighbors, etc.
Bouquets of Appreciation
For Jim Thomas in volunteering with the kindergarten and first graders in tutoring them in reading.
To the new format of the church web page with photos and the pastor's sermons. We even were able to hear the Easter Cantata again. What a blessing to be able to refresh ourselves this way.
To De Ryden's boundless energy in organization, cleaning, and painting.
A special thank you to Pam Myers and Pastor Rick for accompanying 4 of our youth to the Youth Quake in Anaheim. Everyone had a wonderful, marvelous experience and are ready to go again.
Thanks to Kathy Darland, Nancy Ripple, and Ed Teichner in their faithfulness and Christian love during my long siege with Bronchitis from Ellie Timan.
For Boy Scout Troop 384's many years of helping at the church work parties. They've been helping out more than 30 years!
Thanks to Nancy Ripple and the Hustad family for their loving care and concern for Grace Otto.
Standing ovation to the Altar Guild who so diligently prepares the sacrament and altar for communion and the communion assistants that serve every Sunday.
This is a new addition to the Echo suggested by Ellie. If anyone would like to thank someone or some group, send the information to echo@carltonhillslutheran.org or drop it by the office.
The Synod Convention is in Riverside this year, May 13th to the 15th. Our lay delegates will be Bill and Mary Thomas. Both Pastor Frank and Pastor Rick will also attend.
If you would like to help serve the coffee after worship on Sundays see Nancy Funick. You can find her serving coffee after church.
SR. FELLOWSHIP meets at Anthony’s (La Mesa) at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, May 11th. Join in for some good food and wonderful fellowship. For more information call either Grace Otto, 440-2456 or Nancy Funick, 561-7823.
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Butterfly,
Bride and Rings Dedicated 1997 |
+++REMEMBER IN PRAYER those who are affected by anxiety, depression, guilt, grief, loneliness, poverty, illness and in need of God’s healing and loving touch:
Members: Crystal & Rod Boisvert, Arlean Lane, Norie Feltner, Ralph Beyer, Gunda Richardson, Grace Otto, Ed & Marge Whitehead, Elsie Erion, Cole & Marie Freeman, Betty Keehn, Charlotte Kimbrough, Arnold Flurry.
NOTE: We currently have two prayer chains that can be easily activated by calling Mary Thomas, Prayer Chain Coordinator, 334-6457.
We will carry prayer requests for two months before removing names, unless there are longer term conditions that need our prayer support. Please let the Pastor or church office know if you wish to add to our prayer list.
Texts for the Sundays in May:
May 2nd 4th
Sunday of Easter
Acts 9:36-43, Rev 7:9-17, John 10:22-30
May 9th 5th
Sunday of Easter
Acts 11:1-18, Rev 21:1-6, John 13:31-35
May 16th 6th
Sunday of Easter
Acts 16:9-15, Rev 21:10, 22-22:5,
John 14:23-29
May 23rd 7th
Sunday of Easter
Acts 16:16-34, Rev 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21,
John 17:20-26
May
30th The Day of Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21, Rom 8:14-17, John 14:8-17
May Ministers
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Deanna with her Easter best bib |
Acolyte: 2- Brian Meyers 9- Anna Bloeman 16- Ericka Davis
23- Louie Quintinella 30- Kristin Naour
Assist. Minister:
Bethany Timan
Coffee Fellowship: 2-
Stephen Ministers 9, 16, 23, 30- Nancy Funick, Laura Vaughan, Janice Davis
Communion Assist.: 2, 2-
Bruce Potocki & Sylvia Smith 16, 23, 30- Darrel Timan & Sara
Paulsen
Communion Care: Sue Lisowsky
Edgemoor Hospital Worship:
23- Neil Johnson
Greeters: 2, 9- Kris Francis &
Jennifer Brown 16, 23, 30- Bethany & Katie Timan
Lector: 2- Laura
Vaughan 9, 16- Jim Thomas 23, 30- Eleanor Timan
Nursery: TBA
Sound: 2- Tom Davidson 9-
Randy Catron
16- Tom Davidson 23- Jeremy Hustad
30- Tom Davidson
Stephen Minister of the Day:
2- Carol Davidson 9- Ellie Timan 16- Ed Teichner 23- Jim Thomas 30- Bill
Blue
Ushers: Darrel, Jeanna,
Eleanor, Bethany & Katie Timan, Joi Comstock, Bob Metz, Gloria & Tommy
Wiley
2 Ron & De Hill
4 Darrin & Chasity Forster
19 Greg & Janet Roach
26 Stephen & Sara Paulsen
27 Richard & Betty Maxa
May Birthdays
1 Rudy
Flores
Michael Aughenbaugh
3 Susan
Lisowsky
Tayler Hildebrand
4 Victoria Grant
7 Amber Montague
9 Ed Whitehead
10 Nancy
Funick
Brittany Stevens
11 Caitlin Arndt
13 Brison Tompkins
17 Charlotte Kimbrough
19 Carol
Davidson
Dylan Roach
Anna Bloeman
21 E. Doug Karge
23 Amanda Jones
24 Cody Cummings
25 Michele Strand
26 Byrna
Haynes
Kris Morrison
Benjamin Timan
27 Robert
Metz
Julie Judd
29 Christine
Freeman
Austin Hildebrand
31 Marsha Setzer
