There were many warm smiles on everyone’s faces and the joy of celebrating Jesus filled the air!  Oh what at beautiful night!  I believe you could hear the angels sing “Jesus Christ is King!”  It is so rewarding to worship and serve Him!

He brought us some exciting updates about his own daughter’s calling into ministry, new churches planted in the north, and the work of baptizing and building new church facilities.  We were also thankful for his message of hope and encouragement in Jesus Christ alone. 

After praying for our brother Sree, we sent him off again to more meetings this upcoming week, and soon to return back to India for those long trips to teach, strengthen and encourage the saints. 

Special thanks to the Applekamps and all those volunteers who worked in lesson teaching, arts and crafts, and snacks!

Special thanks to our deacon team for their multi-day prep and service with food and clean-up for the event.

1st Place – Maggie Adams
2nd Place – Landon Jackson
3rd place – Austin Wixtrom
Bill Dance Award – Sadie Flunker
Edmund Fitzgerald Award – Reimers
Minnow Award – Minna Masar

We were able to host VBS time with the children from the village and run some softball and soccer camps. The construction work involved completing the next stage of work on the mission housing, which all got completed. And one of the biggest take-aways from this trip was seeing in action the unique gifting of the Spirit present in every member’s contribution to the service week.

Everyone had a role to play and everyone benefited from the mutual service of the whole. Special thanks to Luz, our resident Spanish speaker, without you we might not have made it through immigration!

We end up finishing 2 classroom roofs, and while the weather channel was predicting rain the whole week, the Lord didn’t let it rain until just 5 minutes after we were finished. We had a beautiful group of children every day for VBS, and just when we ran short on help, the Training Center interns stepped up and carried what we could not.

Throughout the whole trip we were stretched and grown and in the end grown closer together through our service week. Thank you to all who helped make this mission trip possible.

Our very own Madelyn Applekamp traveled with our neighboring church, Zion Lutheran, back to the Freedom International campus for another missions trip to the DR. Maddie reports the abundance of God’s blessings and provision as she reconnected with the children of the school, and the vision to see young people of the island as a catalyst for discipleship. Thank you to all those who were able to partner with Maddie and the blessing that this trip was to her and our church family!

Nevertheless less a couple of trophies emerged – and more than that, we had a wonderful time with our church family. Thank you to all who came up to participate and bring the kids as we enjoyed good food, fellowship, and fishing in God’s great outdoors.

1st Place – Maggie Adams
2nd Place – Landon Jackson
3rd place – Austin Wixtrom
Bill Dance Award – Sadie Flunker
Edmund Fitzgerald Award – Reimers
Minnow Award – Minna Masar

We are so thankful to have been given the opportunity to pray for all the members of the DR team by name, and to join with them in the work of God to the DR.

For all those able to donate to Grace’s short term mission trips we say thank you! Special thanks to the Applekamps for facilitating the event with games and prizes, and to our kitchen staff for taking care of all the food!

Special thanks to all those who helped with their time and talents (some who spend their entire week working) to be a blessing to our church family! 

Each course had a 5 minute introduction and prayer video for each country that introduced the unique dish, and then guests got to experience the specific food from each country while they were entertained with music native to each location.

All of our youth who are going on the mission trips got trained in food-service etiquette and they waited on each of the tables by serving and clearing items with courtesy and hospitality. The guests were encouraged to “tip” their waiters, and all together our youth were tipped almost $750!

Thanks to all those who spent weeks preparing, who arrived early to set up and stayed late for clean up. Special thanks to Dawn and Terry McDonald for offering childcare at the church, and to all those who served in the kitchen, even if they’re not getting on the airplane with the rest of the team.

All our Grace couples had a wonderful time working through the sessions and finding and fellowshipping with one another in-between the talks.  Thanks to all in the church who helped sponsor and facilitate this getaway weekend for the health and God-designed obedience of our families.

Thanks to all the families who spent the evening together with us, and a special thanks to those volunteers who helped staff all the variety of games and the kitchen help for our mid-winter break… seems like Spring is right around the corner!  

Our context meal was also blessed to have one of our small groups serenade the voters with some of our church’s cherished hymns. Special thanks to all our volunteers who set up, served, and cleaned up the building after the meal, and especially to all those who participated in preparing another successful and memorable chili cook-off!

This past Sunday was their Confirmation Graduation, and along with presenting their memory verses, all of the students led the entire service from beginning to end.  At Grace, we treat confirmation as that maker by which our young people are welcomed into participation with the rest of God’s church to become full contributors to the multifaceted expression of the gifts of the Spirit to edify the body of believers.  We are so thankful for their hard work and commitment to live as Christians in an increasingly Christ-less world.  

What a wonderful way to kickoff the New Year!  Congratulations to each of them: 

• Robert Applekamp
• Landon Jackson
• Caleb Langteau
• Elijah Langteau
• Gary Murray
• Ella Rossi

It was a great afternoon to bring Christmas song and gifts to the residents at Iron County Medical Care Facility in Crystal Falls.  Many people in skilled nursing facilities are unable to get out and visit family and friends for the holidays, so we brought the family of Christ to them!  Many were especially fond of the youth that came with us.  I believe there is a bit of nostalgia, with the residents, in seeing the youth and remembering their youth.  Many smiles of joy, sounds of laughter and Christmas carols filled the halls!  Our hearts were truly blessed to be able to warm the hearts of the residents in Crystal Falls!  Thankful to everyone that came out for this special holiday visit.  Praising God for His gift of Jesus!

This year’s menu included: Elk BBQ, two different venison chilis, venison stroganoff, fried brook trout, rabbit pot pie, and rabbit stew, northern pike chowder, and a venison sausage egg scramble – along with a whole table of desserts. Special thanks to all those who provided the delicious dinner items and also thanks for all those fathers and grandfathers who brought their boys to the dinner. 

Special thanks to all those who came early to set up and stayed late to clean up – along with all those who brought their kids and families to participate in our Fall kickoff event!  Finally, special thanks to the hard working volunteers who spent countless hour preparing a fun and safe place for our children to play – we are so blessed to live, work, and serve where we do!

What a blessing to have the participation of the community around this family and our church along with members from our neighboring churches to show love and generosity during these difficult times.  Thanks to our God for His provision and family.  Special thanks to everyone who participated, prayed, auctioned, gave, set up and tore down, sang, and served to make this Bake Sale Benefit a success. 

We have also had the pleasure of visiting Virginia at Victorian Heights.  Virginia is part of our behind-the-scenes Helping Heart as she diligently writes cards to many of the people on our prayer list.  Thank you, Virginia for all those you touch through your card ministry!

Galatians 3:26-27

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

Special thanks to all the volunteers who cooked brats and burgers, those who helped put up the shade tents, and the organization of all the kids games and prizes.  Although each team put forth a worth effort in good spirited competition, the trophy can only go to one team.  Congratulations to Zion Lutheran and coach Grunlund for winning the “Slugfest” traveling trophy.  We will see out on the field next year! 

Finally, as with every year’s Fish Fry we announced the winners of our June Fishing Derby.  Congratulations to: 

1. 1st place – Maggie Adams and Zeke Holsworth
2. 2nd place – Ezra Holsworth
3. 3rd place – Brooks Nygard

• 1st place – Maggie Adams and Zeke Holsworth
• 2nd place – Ezra Holsworth
• 3rd place – Brooks Nygard
• “The One That Got Away Award” Landon
• “Swimmers Itch Award” Eli Adams

Special thanks to everyone who helped out with set up, cooking, and clean up.  Next Community Meal will be our annual Fish Fry!

We were able to deliver to each resident’s door and had the opportunity to talk to most of the residents who were enjoying lunch when we got there.  While our photos reflect only 5 persons “helping,” there were others, who were unable to attend, that made the flowers.  Our fellowship was full of laughter and fun, and the weather perfect!  Another praise to our Lord!

Special thanks to all our volunteers who helped add the special music selections to the service: for the many musicians who played and our chime choir for blessing us with their performance. Also a great big thank you to Debbie and all her helpers for the yummy brunch during our fellowship hour. Even though each Sunday is another mini-Easter, we know that Resurrection Sunday is extra special – until next year – He is Risen indeed!

This year we celebrated the service at Zion Lutheran. Along with the beautiful music selections one of the most impactful components of their service was their youth group’s dramatization of confession of sins. Great job to our church brothers and sisters at Zion, and thank you for leading and hosting our Lord’s Good Friday service this year.

Thank you to all those who participated and especially those who helped serve and provide the elements of the meal.

We worked from morning until night everyday of the break, and it was exhausting, but also refreshing!  It was like a missions trip to our own church!  We had several people who helped throughout the week too, and I’m so thankful for all of them! The church looks great, and it was fun to celebrate Easter on Sunday in our newly remodeled church!

The greatest thing was watching all of the women fellowshipping and getting to know one another! God definitely showed up in great ways through the day and leading up to it!

Our theme this year was “Jesus is our bright and shining star” and we talked about Idols and what things ‘run’ our lives we also learned how we need to make God#1 and how even on our bad days he is there. We talked about ways we can make God a priority.

We played a lot of laser tag, thanks to Nick and CoryAnn Hulce. We played minute to win it games, and had a dance contest with Sam and Landon showing us their moves. We are so blessed! What a great night!

Congratulations Dawn, and to all the runner’s up, with a special thanks to everyone who helped to make this year’s contest such a fun success!

Our 2023 theme is focusing on the integration of King Jesus into all spheres of life: beginning with our own personal discipleship, onto marriages and families, to our community and world.

We also brainstormed with a variety of united ministries to think through how the gospel would impact those around us: from the committed Christian through the wayward and lost. We are so grateful to all our ministry leaders for giving their time and effort for this very important meeting, with special thanks to Debbie Gursky for catering our gathering and once more going above and beyond to be a blessing to our church family!

During the week, kids were reminded that they each have gifts given to them by the Creator who designed them for His glory. At the end of each day, one of the youth missionaries shared the lessons they learned serving God, and then the VBS participants were encouraged to share their talents. The kids made friends, learned about God, and were encouraged in knowing that God has a plan for them and will help them that summer is ending and a new school year is beginning.

Special thanks to the Kennards for their hard work and preparation for the Pig Roast, and all of our other volunteers who helped serve. Also to Sowing Seeds for the live music and concert after the service.

Special thanks to all the guys (and even some new ones) who came out to pray together and share. And also a great big thank you to Dan especially for providing the main course!

The work at Freedom consisted mainly of 3 areas (1) Construction on the campus, (2) English Tutoring, & (3) Running Vacation Bible Schools [a bible lesson, songs, crafts, and games] in the small villages that they call Batays. Each day our team would split up into the preferred activities and maximize the time we had to serve in our various capacities.

The trip had its challenges, but through the prayers of our church back home and all our supporters, God changed every challenge into something beautiful for His glory. Perhaps the most obvious lasting result from the trip was that 21 signed up to go a year ago and 21 went. This team has continued to pray for each other and serve each other long after the plane landed in the US.

There is so much more that could be said about this trip. This was our church’s very first international missions experience and each and every person came back to Sagola having their eyes more opened to God’s love that transcends national and cultural boundaries. We look forward to seeds planted for future trips and continuing to live off the fruit that was grow on this one! Thank you to all those who helped raise the funds and pray for us for this week of service.

Perhaps the best part of the 3 hour training was the breakout sessions where we got to role-play a series of non-Christian characters and attempt to use the conversation method for sharing Christ. The evening was equipping enriching and fun. Thanks to our local Gideons for reaching out and providing this excellent resource to help our folks become further engaged and confident in evangelism.

Our wagons were filled with 22 beautiful planters as we headed into the community of Sagola.  We had such a wonderful time going to each door and offering a beautiful gift of love.  We were also able to meet some of our neighbors!   I was especially please to see our youth so involved and willing to help!  I am always amazed at our God for His continued provisions and love.

A special thank you to all who came out and participated in this wonderful event. This was such a picture perfect, super fun day, and now, every resident in the town of Sagola knows who we are!  It only takes a spark!  God is so good!

We had a nice turnout with many of our children’s volunteers sharing and practicing the simple steps of the gospel. The fundamental idea behind the program is that if you are able to share the good news of Jesus Christ with a child, then you can share the gospel with anyone.

It’s always amazing what speed the chores get checked off when you have eager helpers. As the saying goes, “many hands make light work.” Special thanks to everyone on the team who was able to come out and serve.

This NDOP was one of our best attended, and we are so thankful to everyone who gave up an hour of their afternoon to humbly bow and pray for repentance, blessing, protection, and peace across all the various government agencies and across all spectrums and ages within our community and nation.

A centerpiece of the dessert table was a “croquembouche” created by Sarah Adams. Cream puffs and meringues piled high with caramel as glue, then completely encircled by spun caramel…truly a sight to behold!  If one were to get philosophical, one could compare the caramel to the sweet memories and friendships “gluing” us together and encircling our lives, or we could simply say that we had “sweet” fellowship.

Special thanks to all those who helped organize, vacuum, scrub, rake, sweep, wash, and replace for the benefit of the rest of the body. 

In effort to reach the most needed demographic in the modern church, many churches find themselves out of touch with the biblical model for discipleship within the home and therefore are also under equipped to meet the needs of today’s youth.  The Hulces are excited to come alongside any local church to help encourage and shape lasting youth in-reach which is directed honoring God in its design and execution. 

We are privileged to commission them, support them, and partner together with them in this work.  We look forward with optimism and joy for God’s blessings for these our new local missionaries.

I’m probably over tired and a tad bit emotional but when I reflect on the night I am so proud of our youth group. If anyone feels their spirit and faith sort of slipping, 1 conversation with any one of our kids will ease their hearts. I can not say enough about the conversations we have. We are indeed so blessed!

We also were able to break up into Mother-Daughter groups and spend time playing a game called “Spill the Jellybeans,” which allowed mothers and daughters to ask one another questions to deepen their relationships.

We had a fun night of fellowship with other moms and daughters!

This year’s best-of-show and the people’s choice winner was #1, put together by Angela Clough!  The runners up included Mike Cline, Kim Nichols, and Jana Underwood.  Thanks to everyone who came out and ate up all our chili – we know it’ll help keep yas warm!

We have team games, card games, and new for this year a “limbo”! It was crazy impressive how “low” some of our kids can go! Special thanks to all those who came out to participate, and especially to our volunteers who spent their time and energy to both set up and clean up. Thank you for making our family fun night another success!

In addition to those verses, the students had to memorize the Apostles’ Creed, the 10 Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. Finally, each of them took part in helping to lead our Sunday morning Worship Service.

The real “graduation” of confirmation is a community recognition of these young people to come alongside the rest of us and mutual worshippers of God and servants to the body of Christ. We are so proud of each of them, and thank God for their profession of faith in Jesus and participation in the cooperate worship of the community of believers.

The joy is not only in the making but in the “giving” and delivering! Thankful for all that came to help and for God’s provisions.  This Christmas Heart is full of joy!  

The play was a conversation between all the festive decorations at Christmas time: the star on the tree, the ornaments, the stockings, etc.  As each one was convinced they were the centerpiece of Christmas, it was the angel story that reminded them of the true meaning of Christmas. 

Special thanks to Angela and all her helpers as well as the parents who encouraged their kids, and especially all our young ones for their part in our remembering and celebrating the birth of Jesus as the true reason for Christmas! 

We had a great turnout of vendors and customers show up to the Sagola Community Center along with excellent volunteer help to make everything run smoothly.  At the end of the day we raised over two thousand dollars to help fund the trip. 

Special thanks to everyone who helped make this Craft Fair a success, especially those who spearheaded the event.  We couldn’t have done without you! 

There were 100 bags made today, each having The Book of Psalms, a bookmark, some warm socks and a bit of sweetness; which will be given to area families and nursing homes so all can receive the Joy knowing Jesus this Christmas season! Always thankful!

I didn’t know how many people were going to be here this morning, but God did and it was just enough! I am reminded, daily, of His great provision and great love for us! He is so awesome!

But a little weather has never stopped the warm hearts of our youngsters!  We had some of the most creative trunks this year and even though it was chilly everyone had a great time!  In fact the sun even came back out after a couple of minutes and began to warm everyone up just a bit. 

Thanks to everyone who participated in dressing up and sharing some treats with out kids, especially the Clines for providing a healthy lunch option once everyone was back inside. 

We were so grateful for everyone who showed up to fellowship together and all those who invited so many of our first timers.  Special thanks to everyone who contributed to the delicious lunch!

Some of the highlights from our meetings are learning more about one another as well as learning about the country of the DR. We’re also practicing our Spanish with special thanks to Teresa for serving as our teacher. Next meeting will be at Jana’s house at 4, on October 24th.

Special thanks to everyone who came and stayed and brought their family out to worship God and enjoy these beautiful days of Fall.

This summer we decided to dedicate a Sunday for raising support for our children’s camp replacement Ark Trip.  However, by the time we reached the fundraiser date in September, we had already had recouped our initial investment.  What to do with this already scheduled “Bazaar Auction” then?  We decided that our upcoming Missions Team could use the support to get their fundraising off to a good start. 

Unbelievably, we reached new records for support as our little Sagola church so generously participated by both bidding and contributing to the auction.  After this Sunday the mission team will have 15% of their required funds in the bank.  Much thanks to the whole church, and everyone who gave so generously!

We had the most amazing time with our youth on all three days of this trip!  Not only were the bus rides filled with fun: including crafts, movies, time with friends, and plenty of pit stops, but we were also blessed to have Nick and CoryAnn Hulce along with their kids join us for the tour.  Nick is a ninja-master at corralling young people and engaging them with lessons from God’s Word using games, object lessons, and illustrations that make understanding the core of the gospel easy for everyone.  We were so thankful for his enthusiasm and care for our Grace kids with a morning devotional each day and loving oversight at just the right moments on the trip. 

As I watched families walking through the exhibits together and seeing parents and grandparents pointing out the wonders of God’s creation, I couldn’t help but thank God for this experience of an eternal investment in our children’s lives.  Along with the wonder of God’s power and glory, we had lots of fun in the zoo and playground parts of the parks too. 

Special thanks to Nick and CoryAnn for all their leadership.  A great big thank you to all the parents and extra eyes and ears with our chaperones and guardians on this trip.  And finally, thanks to Nicole Kuzak for all her time in vision and preparation for making this trip a reality. 

Special thanks as always to Bob and CJ for their donation of ice cream, and thanks to all the helpers who made sure each of the kids got everything they needed from their list.  We were able to make some left over back-to-school packets, so if you couldn’t make it, please see Emily to receive your items. 

Special thanks to Patty Carpenter and all her helpers for putting together the meal following the service and also thanks to all those bikers who joined us – you’re welcome to come and join us again anytime! 

This year’s VBS was destination dig, and with Angie’s creativity it has been an awesome experience for teaching our children how to see Jesus in the Old Testament and learn how to “dig” to recognize the prophecies and truths about the Son of God as they’ve been scattered and hidden and just waiting to be discovered. 

One of the most encouraging parts of this year’s VBS was all the new workers and volunteers who have stepped up and helped in so many ways.  From the set designs, to teaching from God’s Word, to the snack and crafts — we are so blessed to have such a diversity of helpers to love on our kids thereby lead by example in displaying the love of God. 

A HUGE thank you to all our volunteers and everyone who served behind the scenes.  We couldn’t have done it without you! 

We’d like to especially highlight our deacons for their faithful service, for coming early and staying late and for serving the congregation and leading as servants.  Additionally, we want to thank the many many folks who all contributed a dish or dessert.  Thank you all for making our church picnic such a success! 

We also had our 2021 Fishing Derby champions awarded.  Congratulations to our winners: 

• Micah Flunker – 1st Place
• Gary Murray – 2nd Place
• Camdon Reed – 3rd Place

Great big thanks to Tom and Debbie and all the helpers to secured the fish and brought tables full of desserts.  To all of our cooks we say thank you, you are the BEST.  And to everyone who came to enjoy the food and fellowship, thank you for bringing and being a friend. 

It wasn’t only the hymns, but afterwards we had a yummy treat to beat the summer heat with some ice cream.  Special thanks to our instrumentalists for making the service possible, and to all those who contributed and joined voices together to worship our God with the great hymns of our faith. 

This year we had some first catches ever, and new award winners – stay tuned to next month’s Community Meal Fish Fry for the announcement of our champions as well as all the runner ups!

Special thanks to Bob and CJ Kennard for their faithful service and generosity each year, providing the food, the poles, the bait and bringing all the fun to our church’s outings!

Thanks to all our committed life groups and for your love and service towards one another over what was a very challenging year.

Our theme this year was playing on Gods team. We made our 175 pizzas first and after supplies are paid for we should be able to donate over $750 towards camp scholarships.

We started our games with an icebreaker snowball fight where we learned new facts about each other. Throughout the night we learned that God in every way is the coach of our team and the Bible is our first playbook, God has our personal game plans all written for us.  

Next we really examined our dedicated to our teammates and asked the question how would Jesus rate our dedication to our team? Our answers really surprised us and we learned plays to help us become dedicated teammates. We also figured out that with God being our coach Pastor Ryan is our teams Assistant Manager:) 

I cannot say enough about these kids, they were engaged and really thoughtful about their responses in lessons. 

A huge thank you to Dawn Dryjanski, Jen Oman, and Natalie Rossi for all your help and for staying up all night. Thank you to our family and friends for supporting our event we hope  you enjoy the loaded pizzas… we may or may not have gotten a little overboard with our supplies. And thank you to our group for working hard to help with camp scholarships.

We had to make extra room on more tables to contain all the carbs!  Special thanks to everyone who helped contribute in both baking and bidding to make this year’s camp fundraiser a success!

Special thanks to the McDonald family (and helpers) for serving the church with an amazing Mother’s Day Brunch – as we reestablish our Fellowship Hour.  It was such a blessing to fellowship together and enjoy a special meal with our moms!  

We enjoyed delicious treats while seated at tables decorated around themes such as English Garden and Woodland Fairies. Lisa Reimer shared a lovely story called The Teacup Story which was about how God works in our lives.

Ladies shared stories about the special outfits they were wearing, and everyone from little girls to our senior ladies had fun visiting with each other. Thanks to everyone who decorated tables, brought treats, and got into the spirit of our tea party! 

Although we only had 8 people show up to pray, God had given us 8 categories to pray for, so it worked out perfectly as we prayed for: Teachers, Government & Elected Officials, Healthcare Workers and EMS, Public Service Workers: Police and Fire; Long Term Care Facilities and Nursing Homes; Local Families, the Community as a whole, and our Local Ministers and Churches. 

Special thanks to our Youth Group volunteer leadership for their hard work in preparing our kids, leading by example, and keeping them safe along the roadside. 

It is God’s love that serves as the source of our ability to show love to others. 

Praise be to our Lord for His indescribable gift of love!

Last year our focus was on the need for all ministry leaders to support the education and discipleship of our children.  Even though this effort continues into the future, our theme for 2021 is “Do Good”.  

The idea of good works and good deeds isn’t expressed in isolation, rather we will make it our goal to pursue good works specific with our neighbors for the purpose of reaching them with the love of Jesus.  Then we will draw together a pattern of visible love with the truth of God’s Word as an invitation for others to come to repentance and find their identity in Christ.

What we discovered is that the task of evangelism is almost insurmountable for the individual, but when the whole church works cooperatively when each one fills in the gaps and weaknesses of the rest, the work is a joy.  This is the goal for our ministry leaders in 2021.  All-hands-on-deck for the work of spreading the good news of Jesus.  We will begin and lead with our deeds and by God’s grace follow up with an invitation in 2022. 

Although our turn out was about half of what we’ve had in the past, I’d like to thank everyone who gave of their time this Saturday and prayed together for the extending of God’s Kingdom and glory through our various ministry efforts. 

We had all the regular movements of our tradition present in an outdoor service, with the lighting of the Advent wreath, singing Joy To The World, and the candle lit tranquility of Silent Night.  Although this year, it was -9 degrees with the windchill and so we had little glow sticks instead of our regular candles. 

Special thanks to everyone who helped with our unique service and to the whole church for worshipping in this creative fashion.  May we all remember to make room in our hearts for Jesus and keep Him as the center of our worship. 

In an effort to reclaim this aspect of our worship, and to keep physically distanced from one another from the indoor setting, we decided to have a worship service outside.  And as a witness to the world, we decided to host the concert right in the middle of the Kuzak’s neighborhood!  In fact many of the neighbors made their way over to sing with us.  

Thanks to everyone who brought the campfire rings and wood, cookies and cider, and took this opportunity to sing to our Lord about the joy that is given to us at Christmas.

Special thanks to everyone who helped get Vi and Angela all set for winter. 

The overall impression was that this was one of the best engaged Trunk-or-Treats ever!  All of the cars handing out goodies did a great job of being festive and fun for a great family time of celebration and mirth. 

Of all the unofficial judges that I spoke to, we decided that Donna Nelson had the best Trunk with her live petting zoo and chickens!  But congratulations to runner’s up: Donna Cline, the DeWitts, and Marvin and Mary dressed as Ms. Kay and Phil Robertson (respectively)! 

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped keep the games fun and safe for the kids and to the parents who put in all the extra time and attention with their children for this fun church family event. 

So instead of a weeklong bible camp culminating in back-to-school supplies, we decided to do an outdoor 2-hour Carnaval where the kids would WIN their school supplies!  

Whereas this sounded like a good idea in theory – we quickly found out that you need to be very organized if you have more than 15 kids – and we quickly had more than 15 kids!  We had to print more tickets than our original 30 and even after that we had kids who didn’t have any tickets winning prizes and overwhelming our volunteers… but it was the best kind of overwhelming! 

Special thanks to the Midtown Bait Shop for providing ice cream, to Lake Ellen Bible Camp for allowing us to borrow a few of their carnival games, and to all our volunteers for helping to make our Back-to-School Carnival a huge success. 

We had awesome representational diversity in church traditions and musical style throughout the whole day.  As some would comment, the event helped us refocus on making the main thing the main thing – namely worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ! 

Special thanks to Chris and Nicole for the equipment, to all of our bands – some who traveled almost 2 hours to participate, and to all those who came out in support of their larger church family!

Lastly, but certainly not least, thanks to Don and Robin for again hosting the event at R Cabins and for their generosity with refreshments and a free lunch! 

Additionally, we had the official trophy presentation for all those participating in this summer’s Fishing Derby.  Congratulations again to Lonnie MacIntyre for winning the top slot for our 2020 Fishing Derby Champion!  

Special thanks to Tom and all the volunteers who helped to cook and prep and serve the awesome meal!

We had a volunteer training session after church today with help from a couple of families who are experts in the geocaching world. Our goal is to eventually have all our Grace-Kids have their geocaching markers spread all over the world in our effort to teach them about foreign world missions and the many diverse people groups all over the world.

What a beautiful day we had to learn this new adventure together. It was so much fun, that we’ll be doing a repeat of it for our Back-to-School Night next month. Special thanks to all the families who participated!

Some of the kids cast way out into the weeds and pulled in some whoppers from beyond the dock, others dropped a worm just off the edge and pulled in some beauties. Once the fish stopped biting, it was hot-dogs and swimming!

Special thanks to the Channing Bait Shop and Bob and CJ for the generosity of preparation and provisions for making this special day fun for everyone. Trophies and special awards will be given out at the July Community Meal.

We also wanted to do what we could to honor our church’s high school graduates, and so this celebratory service back together again was also punctuated with recognizing the many great achievements of our seniors. 

As the service came to a conclusion, we got a brief window of clear skies, right in time to enjoy a special graduation luncheon.  Special thanks to everyone who helped with the tent set up and tear down and everyone who helped prepare the food and make our 1st service back together a success!

This month’s meal had potatoes donated from St. Roses and generous preparation from a couple of volunteers. We served the same number of meals as last month, and took just an extra minute when possible to ask the folks in their cars how they were coping with the quarantine. Most said that it was going ok, and they were making adjustments – but all of us hope that this will soon be over. We might have to start calling this a monthly “Quarantine Meal” instead of a Community Meal!

Till then we will continue to look for creative ways of being our Lord’s hands and feet. Special thanks to all those who helped and served to make another month’s “Quarantine Meal” a success.

For now however, it is such a blessing to have access to this kind of technology where we can still see one another and have a virtual fellowship, to laugh, share prayer requests, learn, and care for each other at a distance. One specific request has been one of our small group members Josh is leading a group from the National Guard down to Detroit to help with aid; we’re proud of you and praying for you Josh (see more HERE).

One of our main goals was to collect food for our Food Ministry and that is always easier to do when our folks are attending worship. So, we moved the service time back 15 minutes so that everyone had ample time to adjust to the parking lot changes and drop off their donations.

Once we began the service was run over our hearing assist transmitter and each vehicle could simply tune in on their car radio. The Easter worship songs were: I Serve A Risen Savior and Christ The Lord Is Risen Today! Although pastor Ryan sang alone in the building, everyone was joining in inside their own cars. The children had a special craft for the Children’s Message that was a downloadable pdf, there was a live trumpet solo for special music from the church steps (followed by peals of car horns in applause), and the service concluded with a virtual-easter-egg-hunt that you could do over your smartphone: link to the game HERE.

The best things about this service was the simple fact that it allowed our church to gather again. However, drive-in services are still no adequate replacement for our regular fellowship, yet it was so uplifting to see one another again, and visibly know that we are not alone though this pandemic. Thanks to everyone who participated in Easter worship.

Below are a few of the images and expressions of worship that our Grace Kids have been participating in over this past Holy Week. A great big “WELL DONE” to all the moms and dads who used this unique challenge as an opportunity to teach your children around the table and from your hearts!

Many blessings to you all this Easter!

Part of our Easter celebration will include:

• Special Messages
• Interactive Children’s Sermon
• Holy Communion
• Receiving Tithes and Offerings
• Receiving Donations for the Food Ministry
• and A Virtual Easter Egg Hunt after the Service

Instructions:
Please bring your Bible and an attitude of JOY to worship at a socially-distant distance. If you are able, please bring your own grape juice and bread for Communion (if you cannot, we will have individually sealed cups with wafers available that will be handled and passed out with complete sterilization). Please arrive a little early if you intend on dropping off items for the Food Ministry (please just leave them on the church steps and our volunteers will safely transport them inside). At the end of the service we will have a basket at the front of the church for you to deposit your offering (please do not hand an envelope to anyone, you can simply drop it into the basket after the service is over). Bathrooms are available inside the church if needed, but the service will end by 10am.

Parents can download the Children’s Sermon Craft HERE, and bring crayons or colored pencils to keep your little ones interacting with the message during the service.

Please use appropriate care and concern for our neighbors as we gather in this unique way, and together we will be doing our part in slowing the spread of this virus as Christians united-in-separation.

Isaiah 52:15 / Romans 15:21

“Those who were not told about Him
will see,
and those who have not heard will
understand.”

Amidst these days of unfamiliar trials and fears we continue to ask that God will draw near to us and ground our faith in His Word and promises.  To that end, we prayerfully uphold our community, country, and world through this pandemic, remembering specifically those who are sick and dying and for those working in our Healthcare Services. 

Our original timetable for pausing our regular gatherings was until April. Then per the Governor’s Stay-Home orders, until April 14th, and now per the White House’s extension of quarantine through the end of the month of April.   

Thankfully, Governor Whitmer has permitted that religious places of worship can continue to operate, and the orders from the Attorney General are: “A place of religious worship is not subject to penalty under section 3 of Executive Order 2020-11, but under the Stay Home, Stay Safe Order, it is required that all individuals who leave their home or place of residence must adhere to social distancing measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including remaining at least six feet from people from outside the individual’s household to the extent feasible.“ 

Therefore, in our ongoing efforts to collectively encourage preventative-participation in this global crisis, we will keep our normal ministry schedule suspended until the end of April, at which point we will reevaluate again according to the recommendations of the CDC and our government officials. 

During this abnormal Easter season, I am reminded of Paul’s words while in chains and under house arrest:

“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.  This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal.  But God’s Word is not chained. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” 

We too, therefore, will endure — for God’s word is not quarantined!  In light of the optimism of Easter I have a few exciting opportunities to pass on to you. 

1. Food Ministry Drop-Off: The church building will be reopened for Food Ministry drop-off ONLY on Easter morning, April 12th.  We will have volunteers at the doors ready to receive anything you’re able to donate.
2. Easter Books: The books “The Case For Easter” are still available at the church for our corporate encouragement to stay focused on the hope of resurrection during these difficult days.
3. Drive-In Church Service: We will be gathering on Easter morning, April 12th @ 9:15am at the church for a “Drive-In Service”!  This gathering will be strictly from the confines of your vehicle habitat and will be a 30-40 minute service ending no later than 10am.  Please bring your Bible, your own cup of coffee, and a heart of joy for this creative gathering as we plan to take every precaution in celebrating our Living Lord!
4. Giving: As I have had many of you ask about giving, we want to stress that you keep your gifts in proportion to your ability and only give as you’re able to do so cheerfully during these financially difficult times.  Bonnie has requested that you mail in your gifts to our church’s Post Office Box: PO Box #9, Sagola, MI 49881.  The “Drive-In Service” Sunday morning on April 12th will also provide an opportunity to give.
5. Prayer: We will have an updated prayer list as well as new individual prayer-cards available on the 12th, so that we can keep current as we normally would throughout the month.

I want to thank you for all your many efforts to stay connected though phone calls, cards, and texts.  Thank you for your care to your “Circle” and thank you for taking the time to read through all we are endeavoring to do during this crisis.  

Remember to quiet your heart during Holy Week and connect with your family as you are able.  Observance of Good Friday and the traditions of our church are now your responsibility to practice from your heart.  

And while it may feel like you are “chained up” in your house, remember God’s Word is not chained.  May we find the continued health of our community as led by those whose minds are governed by the gospel and whose hearts are willing to endure these days with creative worship!

Blessings,
Pastor Ryan
Sunday, April 5th

Whereas we normally get a decent amount of food donated, in just this one past week, we had more food than we’ve ever had for a delivery. Our volunteers said it was more than they had ever seen. So much so in fact, that we’re going to suspend the Food Ministry for 2 weeks, so we don’t incidentally overload families with too much food!!! (If anyone hears of a family in need, please contact Sue, because we will have room to add to our list if this keeps up!)

The Community Meal had major adjustments. No gathering, no receiving dishes from anyone, a skeleton kitchen crew, deliveries, and extra gloves and masks were the solution to our social separation. But even so, we still served almost 3/4th of our regular plates. (Special thanks to all those who made deliveries, and who donated the to-go boxes).

Remember we are in this crisis together and therefore making adjustments together will get us through. Your neighbors will still need love, your community will still need care – let us work together and be smart in how we serve!

Secondly, we petition all believers to join in our collective national effort to reduce transmission and infection to a minimum through responsible hygiene and following the recommendations from officials to gather with care, and for a time – to limit our public gathering.

To that end, we are canceling all services and gatherings until April, at which point we will reevaluate based off of the most updated information at that time. It is important that we support the collective efforts of our community based upon FACTS and not fear.

The fact is: viruses travel even amid our best preventative measures. If we can help keep our medical facilities along with doctors and nurses from becoming overwhelmed by temporarily suspending communal interaction, then let us get creative with ministry and bring the Word of God to our streets, living rooms, and communication platforms – for the church is a people and not a place.

Finally, although services will be canceled, there are some new opportunities and requests that I’d like to optimistically share:

1. Food Ministry Drop-off: Despite the fact that services are canceled, the church will be OPEN on Sunday from 9-10am for the specific purpose of bringing food and supplies to be handed out (hopefully weekly). These weeks will bring an increased strain on many in our community and we have the opportunity to bring real tangible help by filling our cupboards to give away. Sue will be evaluating our food supply, and we would ask each one as they are able to purchase a little extra and send it up to church on or before Sunday morning. We will not be congregating, but we will all be contributing.
2. Easter Book Study: Along with our Daily Lenten Devotional we will be starting a church-wide book study on Easter. Copies will be available at the church starting Wednesday, March 25th, and there is one waiting there just for you to pick up. As many are staying in and hunkering down, we hope you will find unexpected time to brush-up on your spiritual discipline of study and reading. Because these are crazy-days we are living in, this is a church-wide effort to engage together and keep our attention and focus on Jesus and His resurrection.
3. Corona-Circles: Although it may sound like a beer around a campfire – it’s not. With the working title “Corona-Circles”, we have created mini-fellowships or “Circles” for EVERYONE in our church. These are not intended to be permanent but it would be incredible if they lasted beyond this current cultural scare. The purpose of each “Circle” is threefold: (1) Communication – think of it as a phone tree to stay in touch and connected in our socially-distant time; (2) Care – the other individuals in your circle are each of your responsibility to be a support and encouragement with calls, cards, texts, and treats; (3) Community – these “Circles” will be your most tangible expression of the church during this temporary time of distancing, please make an effort to reach out and support one another. You will be receiving a group email from me this week with your “Circle” and the contact information for each family in your circle.
4. Digital Sermons: We hope this is only a brief hiatus from our regular morning worship services, but until then I will have a short devotional video posted to our website under “Sermons” that I hope you can take advantage of and use for spiritual enrichment. I know you’ll all miss my 60 minute messages, but don’t worry we’ll get through this together before you know it!
5. The Community Meal: This month’s Community Meal on March 25th will not be canceled, but it will be amended. Rather than our regular fellowship at 5:30, we will instead be packaging “to-go” meals that will be handed out at the door. If you know of anyone who is unable to make it to the meal, you are welcome to take more meals to help with delivery. We will postpone our “International Cuisine” theme for a different time, and so we will not be taking any food dishes from the church. Everything will be prepared and cooked at the Township Hall and all volunteers will be strictly abiding above and beyond in food handling and sanitization. Take-out meals will begin at 5:30.

Thank you for taking the time to read through all our plans and procedures for the next couple weeks. Please be in prayer for all those working in Medical Services, First Responders, and Home Care. Thank you for your willingness to try something new and go the extra mile to be one another’s keepers and cheerleaders. And thank you for participating in a way that will reveal to the world that we are making the most of every opportunity and, as God’s representatives, seeking the welfare of our city.

Blessings,
Pastor Ryan

There were gift baskets, crafts, artwork, photo booths, games, prizes, and much more fun!  Family fun within the church community can open up so many great opportunities to build trust and pass on to our kids the relationships that will help define who they see themselves as: Children of the King. 

Thanks to everyone who came and participated – it was a great start on what can become many more family-outings.

It is also because we had a new game – not sure what its called, but you roll up a bunch of cling wrap and put prizes throughout and then take turns seeing who can unwrap it fastest to earn the best prizes!  Fun for all ages. 

Special thanks to our Game Night coordinators for all their effort and creativity to make a night of fun for families and kids of all ages!

This year’s Grand Champion was Mindy McIntyre by a landslide with a patented white chicken chili – it was definitely the crowd favorite. 

Thanks to everyone for contributing and especially to our grand volunteers who help to make each month’s Community Meal a success! 

Shari Wery gave a short presentation with some Q&A during our Fellowship Hour and many of the families at Grace donated baby supplies to help any who come looking for assistance. We are so blessed to have such wonderful and generous people give freely and joyfully!

The best part (2nd only to fabulous catered lunch by Debbie) was our cooperate strategy session as we all brainstormed together how all the ministries at Grace can work together to help reach our young people.

The most important part of this 1st meeting of the year (and decade) is the time we all spend in prayer for the ministry and direction of our church. As each body is made up of many parts, so the church – as Christ’s body – has many parts, and each one belongs to the other.

We look with faith and expectation for God to keep expanding the opportunities to serve and the presence of His Kingdom come.

It is always a highlight of our Advent season and a treat to see the Christmas story recited by our children. Great job to all those who gave of their talent and time.

Along with the regular items, we are blessed to send cards and little other “goodies” of love in each of the baskets as they are hand delivered to the doorsteps of those we are blessed to serve. 

This coming holiday season we’re asking for individuals to donate a turkey or ham, and after just one announcement in Sunday morning service we already have more to give away than we have homes to deliver to on our list!  

We are so blessed to have the privilege of giving and in a little over 2 weeks we’ve filled our giving baskets twice!  Although this rate is probably not sustainable, we want to offer a great big thank you to everyone who has so generously given to help feed those in our local community!  

Matthew 7:7-8

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Many of the church participants also went above and beyond with their trunks decorated for the event and routinely I heard the cat-calls begging for the offloading of more sugary treats (seems we might have gone a little overboard with the candy… as is easy to do!).  

All in all it was a special time of family fun along with the church to encourage engagement and participation in greeting those little munchkins and mermaids with the love of Christ. 

Thank you to our Helping Hands team for making light and quick work of a fun project! 

Through the efforts of many volunteers and the skilled and talented hands of all participates we raised a huge contribution to put a dent in our fundraising efforts. Special thanks to all those who helped make this year’s Craft Fair a success! 

Even though the bake sale table wasn’t as full as its been in the past, somehow we raised more contributions than ever before! 

A great big thank you to everyone who participated and gave to our children!

Although we are in the very early stages of this partnership we were blessed to meet Sreeraj and hear his testimony and learn about the work going on among the Banjara for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  After addressing the congregation this past Sunday, the church took up a free will offering to help support Sree and his family and their ministry endeavors.  We are looking forward to seeing how God will unite our efforts and how even small churches in the middle of the woods can make a Kingdom impact.  We keep telling ourselves the truth that even though we are small – if everyone does a little – we can do a lot! 

Please keep Pastor Sreeraj and the ministry of Agape Outreach Mission along with the growing partnerships between the North Dickinson churches in your prayers. 

Well, that plan didn’t work.  As if on regular schedule, the coldest day of the fall was guess what… on “Fall Fest”!  However, that didn’t stop our kids and families from celebrating.  This year we were fortunate to hold Fall Fest at “R Cabins” in Channing, and that gave us the freedom to include many more outside activities and even a hay ride. 

Even with the large snow flakes and chilly temps, we want to give a great big thank you to all those who put together the family fun, and thanks to everyone who bundled up and participated in the festivities. 

Well, that was all it took to find all the kids in the surrounding neighborhoods come in droves for free ice cream and the opportunity to work in the Bait Shop.  There were so many children that they had to break into shifts, so that some would be eating ice cream outside and the rest would be serving inside. 

Additionally, the community came out in support of the Kennard’s generosity and donated over $500 to our youth program.  Originally, CJ was nervous that they might not have enough ice cream, but as it turned out, with or without the tasty treats our community is stalwart in helping our young people.  Special thanks to everyone who came out to serve, and to all those who gave, and especially to the Bait Shop for this generous opportunity. 

In regular impressive fashion, the Lord multiplied the “loaves” in that even though the signup sheet was pretty barren, everyone brought a dish and once more there were leftovers needing to be packed up and ushered home. With 3 songs and our prayers, we started a new series on the The Creeds of the Christian Church and focused on how the Apostles’ Creed was used by the early church in baptism, and how we can reclaim its use and place in our worship services today.

Thank you to all the organizers and volunteers who helped to make this year’s picnic a success!

Today we celebrated the baptism of 6 of our worshippers here at Grace. Although the mode of baptism has been varied throughout the ages, we took the opportunity of our church picnic at Lake Eddy to wade down into the water and take the plunge. In a very yooper fashion, Lake Eddy is located at the Sagola Sportsman’s Club, and each candidate entered the chilly water with the shooting range firing off rounds in the background… seemed like a veritable 21 gun salute with each immersion.

With the church crowded around the shore, each Christ-follower made their public declaration of faith with one step in front of the other to enter the water in personal obedience to Jesus’ call. For their faith this was a real appropriation of God’s free gift of grace as seen in baptism to wash away the old and stand anew, now with the rest of God’s people, in unity and oneness of mind and Spirit. Even little Josh Jr. was surrounded by his family and baptized by his grandfather, being welcomed into the church family to grow under our mentoring and accountability as he learns to walk by faith.

Special thanks to all those who participated in today baptism and we rejoice with all the candidates as those who also daily cling to God’s grace!

We would like to offer a great big thank you to all those who donated for the supplies and giveaways from local businesses including: Storheims, A&W, Hardees, Thomas Theaters, Crispignia’s, UP Chaga, Paul Fornetti, Walmart, Edwards Chevrolet, Boss Snowplow and many others. 

As this was the first ever event of this sort, we are extremely thankful for all the good participation and attendance.  The lasting impression was that of God’s people coming together for informal but heartfelt worship.  The sky and trees became our sanctuary, and the voices were made up of worshippers from all denominations.  Thank you to all those who contributed to make this event a success. 

This year’s theme was “ROAR! Have A Ferocious Faith” and our partner church in Kingsford did the same curriculum, so we want to give a great big Thank You to all those helpers who allowed us to borrow their artwork, decorations and ideas!  Everyone was truly impressed with the transformation of the church area into the sights and sounds of the African plains!  

Generally the most “favorite” part of VBS is either the crafts, games, or snacks.  However we heard over and over again how much the children enjoyed the Bible lesson time!  The feasibility of reaching our children with the gospel is multiplied when Christians work together, and so once more – Thank you to everyone who participated and cooperated.  We look forward to watching the Spirit continue to grow these little ones in the faith as God’s people keep working in union with the Spirit and each other. 

At the beginning of the evening we started with awarding our little fishermen from last month’s Annual Fishing Derby.  Congratulations to little Lonnie MacIntyre for winning 1st place!  

The Community Meal is precisely what its name entails: a meal for the whole community.  We would like to thank all those who helped with the preparations, cooking, serving, and clean up.  Our organizers said that even though we had more people than ever go through the line, it was the fastest and easiest clean up ever too.  

We were also blessed to have two of our high schoolers commissioned for a summer of service at Lake Ellen where they lead music and serve as camp counselors.  Our missionaries, elders, and church family prayed for them as they are sent out from us to carry the message of the gospel with words and works for those very impressionable weeks that youngsters have at camp. 

Even though some random rain clouds threatened the event, we had an excellent turnout and the 1 hour service was more than just 3 congregations worshipping together, it became a picture of God’s people united under the banner that “Jesus is Lord.” 

The resounding conclusion from all the worshippers was “we need to do this again!”  Thanks and praise to our God for a beautiful picture of unity and deference to one another.  When churches today are all too often dividing, we’re grateful for the unity of God’s Spirit and likemindedness of His people to consider others as better than ourselves and be willing to lay down our agendas and causes to take up the banner of our God’s glory through the redemptive work of His Son, Jesus. 

…stay tuned for more to come as we keep looking for more ways to encourage God’s people to partner and participate in worship.