Central Lutheran Church

Guys. Brothers, Men or however you identify yourself,

Thank you to Mike Pelle for sharing his reflections on ‘A Call to Courageous Manhood.’  Make sure you have marked your calendars for the retreat on March 9-11, 2012 and note Mike’s invitation for New Year’s Eve.  Once I receive the details I will forward them to you BUT for now you can plan on joining Mike and others to watch the movie.

Most importantly I pray that this Christmas you will know Jesus in a way that you have never known him before!  For me Christmas announces; God is for you and God is with you! And when we begin to know that we invite Jesus into our hearts and a miracle occurs, God is in you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Paul Johansson

Thanks to Mike for sharing the following:

The word courageous appears to be a common theme in 2011.  In the spring the book “Stepping Up A call to Courageous Manhood” was published. According to the author Dennis Rainey, he started the book about 10 years ago but got sidetracked several times over the years by more pressing issues with the ministry he leads. On September 30^th the movie Courageous was released. Could it be that God is at work calling men to step up and be courageous? We are looking for some courageous men to carry this theme into 2012. Are you game?

Our Thursday morning men’s study is working our way through the book I mentioned above. In the chapter we discussed last week Dennis Rainey told of something he did to illustrate a message he gave to a large group of men. Picture a large stage with a blindfolded 15 year old boy on one side and Dennis and the boy’s father on the other side. A variety of animal traps ranging from small varmint traps to large bear traps were set and laid out across the middle of the stage. (The traps represented the traps of adolescence like peer pressure, drugs and alcohol, sexual immorality, rebellion and pornography.) Dennis asked the boy to come across the stage to his father but as the boy was approaching a trap the father told him to stop and he walked over to his son and guided him through the traps to the other side of the stage. Dennis then told the audience that this is what God has called us to as fathers, to guide our kids through the traps they will face in life.

As fathers, because we have been through the field of traps, we have the experience to guide our kids through it. And for you older guys who think this doesn’t apply to you anymore, think again. You can be a guide to the younger guys who are still in the parenting season of life. As Titus 2: 6-8 says “encourage the young men to be self controlled.  In everything set them an example by doing what is good.  In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned. “ In other words, the older generation should be passing the wisdom down to the next generation.

We have a serious crisis in our culture because fathers have failed to fill the role that God designed us to fill. The numbers are alarming. If men taught their kids God’s design for marriage and modeled it for them do you think the divorce rate would be over 50%? And if men taught their kids God’s design for the family do you think close to 50% of the kids in this country would grow up without their father in the home? A large part of a generation has grown up this way and it is only getting worse. What can we do about it? Here are a couple of opportunities to prayerfully consider.

1. We are planning a showing of the Courageous movie at Central on New Years Eve. Details will be forthcoming. Please plan to attend even if you have already seen the movie. More importantly invite others to come as well. In addition there is a 4 week small group study that was put together by the people who wrote and produced the movie. Starting the second full week of January we would like to have several small groups going through the study so that they will be done by early February. My hope and prayer is that there would be a large number of men who would be courageous enough to sign the resolution and present it to their wives and families at a formal ceremony at Central the week of Valentines. (for those who have already seen the movie this would be similar to the ceremony in the movie.)

2. Mark your calendars for the Guys Get Away March 9-11. This year’s theme will be A Call to Courageous Manhood. Remember the courageous guys who tubed down the hill in the dark last year? Remember the great food and conversation with other guys and broomball? There will activities for everyone to enjoy. More details will follow as we get closer.

Central Men,

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth takes its name.” (Ephesians 3:14) This Sunday Pastor Sonja Dixon will be preaching on Ephesians 3:14-21- “Power and Love”.  In anticipation of worship this Sunday, Pastor Sonja writes, “Our DNA is birthed in the power and love of Christ.  Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians which begins in chapter one continues in chapter 3.  As we kneel before the Father in prayer we are spiritually blessed with power through the Spirit and we are established in love so that we are filled with the fullness of God." 

 We can only pass onto others what we have first received- the power of the Spirit, the love of Christ, and the fullness of God!” I hope you will join me at worship as we freshly receive the power of the Spirit, the love of Christ and the fullness of God.  In addition I would ask that you join me in praying for two particular groups of people who so desperately need to know they are loved and named by our Heavenly Father.

THE ORPHANS – Earlier this afternoon I got goose bumps as I heard the story from a Central member as to why she was in the office sponsoring another child.  She recently had received a salary raise and in deciding how to tithe her new salary God led her to a particular orphan to sponsor.  A testimony to God’s care for the very least of these! This week Central members have stepped forward to sponsor three additional orphans.  Will you join me in bowing your knees before the Father and pray that the remaining 112 orphans will be sponsored?

THE PRISONERS – Earlier this week I was blessed to talk with Mike and MariAnne Medin about the prison ministry they are involved in through Pilot Outreach.  This is one of the new ministries that Central supports through its benevolence.  Are you aware that 12% of all General Fund offerings are given to ministries beyond Central?  It is my hope that we, as individual members of this body, will also grow towards and beyond a tithe.) In talking with Mike and MariAnne it is thrilling to hear about the prisoners who have come to know their Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ.  I asked the Medins to extend an invitation to the body of Central about being involved in this important ministry.  Read their invitation, pray and respond directly to Mike or MariAnne if you sense the call of the Holy Spirit.

 Invitation from Mike and MariAnne:

Would you like to be a part of an important ministry to those who are lost and discouraged, and who desperately need to hear the Word of God?

 Pilot Outreach, a Jail Ministry program, is looking for men and women interested in volunteering to be part of a ministry at the Sherburne County Jail.

Jesus calls us to reach out to those in need – and we have many in our own backyard who could use encouragement and hope for the future.

Please consider volunteering because without enough volunteers, these inmates will not be able to hear the word of God. We know that you will be blessed by serving in this ministry.

If you would like to learn more about Pilot Outreach, contact MariAnne or Michael Medin (763-441-4179 or mmmedin1@msn.com).

Have a blessed week and if you have not yet seen Courageous make a point of going this weekend!

Paul Johansson

Central Men,

What do Barry Wold, Dan Dixon, Clint Waldhoff, Pete Pouliot, Bob Ruprecht, and Greg Saterdalen have in common?  Survey says! They are all men – yes – but not correct answer. They all are on board to help STEVE KRITZECK with the CENTRAL PIG ROAST AND FIXIN’S on Sunday, September 18 from 10:00am to 1:00pm.  We are hoping to serve about 400 persons so we need about 15 – 20 men who can come along side of Steve and help prepare and serve a good old fashioned Pig Roast and Fixin’s.

We will need men on Saturday, September 17 to help with preparations and then on Sunday, September 18 to help set up the Family Life Center, serve, and clean up.

If you can help please respond to this email and I will make sure you get the necessary information.  And if it is a hot day you can get in the dunk tank to be refreshed and cooled down!

As summer draws to an end there is one more HUGE OPPORTUNITY that I want you to consider.  This fall the body of Central is going live in the book of Ephesians. Beginning Sunday, September 18 and running through Sunday, November 27 our Sunday morning worship experiences will be centered in Ephesians.  A very important aspect of the Ephesians emphasis will be the 50 DAYS – BUILDING COMMUNITY IN CHRIST. This will be a great opportunity for us to go deeper into God’s Word and Will for Central. We are hoping for over 300 persons to come together in weekly gatherings from October 2 through November 20.  Each participant will receive an excellent Bible Study booklet on Ephesians prepared by NT Wright.  What we need now is LEADERS!  A leaders training session will take place on Sunday evening, September 25 or Monday evening, September 26.  Leaders will be asked to come to one of these two sessions to hear the vision and receive the necessary training to lead the group for seven weeks.

If you sense the Spirit nudging you to be a leader please email Sonja.dixon@clcelkriver.org and let her know you will help with this very important opportunity this fall!  God is awesome and working in ways that we cannot even imagine. Phil 4:13 declares, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I wonder how many of us men really believe this! More importantly, I wonder how many of us live as if we believe it? This promise of God raises several questions ; “What would I change about my life if I truly incorporated this text into my life?” “Would it change the way I go about living?” “Would it change the way I understand and perceive myself?”  Does it say to you and me that we can be leaders?  One of the things that has deeply impressed me about our journey through ACTS is that the Spirit of God takes ordinary men (and women) and expands their vision so they no longer are satisfied with the ‘normal’ but want to live in the very center of God’s heartbeat and desire for them.  I hope you will email Pastor Sonja Dixon and let her know that you will be an Ephesians leader.  If you are married talk and pray with your wife and lead together!  As I said earlier our hope is to have over 300 persons in this groups so we will need groups meeting at many different times and many different places throughout the week.

1. If you can help with the PIG ROAST AND FIXIN’S let me know by responding to this email.
2. If you can help lead an Ephesians 7 week study let Pastor Sonja Dixon know by emailing her at the above address.

And make sure you get to the State Fair!  Next to a Minnesota Gopher football game it is about the closest thing to heaven in this earth!

Paul Johansson

Paul.johansson@clcelkriver.org

Hey, guys.  

Most of us, at one time or another, wonder if it’s worth it.  Maybe you’re asking yourself that about your job.  Is it worth your time, day after day?  Maybe you’re wishing you had a job, and you’re wondering if the hunt is worth it when nobody’s hiring.  Maybe relationships are your challenge right now, and you’re thinking about throwing in the towel on your marriage.  Maybe your parents or your kids are driving you to wonder if it’s worth the fight.

Each of us faces that battle from time to time.  I recently received a double gift that helped me answer the question, at least for today.  I read the essay below on my daughter’s facebook page.  First, as I read it, I thought yes, it’s worth it.  All the parenting prayers, struggles, and challenges are worth it.  But on a deeper level, I began to realize as I read that God doesn’t expect me to have my whole life together.  In his eyes, I’m worth it.  In his eyes, you’re worth it.  We don’t have to accomplish anything, fix anything, succeed at anything.  He’s taken care of all that.

I encourage you to take a little time and read Erica’s thoughts below, and realize — because of what Jesus has done for you, you’re worth it!  

Jeff

Hey, guys.

In July of 1990, my wife and I were backpacking on the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington.  We started at Snoqualmie Pass, just off I-90, and hiked north.  At first the trail wound through dense forests, across small creeks, through a tangled mess of twisted tree trunks at the bottom of an avalanche chute.  Then that trail started to climb, and we climbed with it.  We spent most of a day, step after step, moving uphill a little at a time.  The trail snaked across the mountainside, always moving generally northward, always climbing generally upward.  The whole time we were surrounded by massive trees that kept our view quite limited.

At one point, though, we emerged into a meadow just above 5,000 feet.  Patches of leftover snow littered the shady spots.  I remember looking back to the south, looking back toward the interstate where our car was parked.  Miles away we could catch glimpses, flashes of sun off a windshield as traffic worked its way through the pass.  It was amazing to look back south across the drainage where we’d been climbing.  We could see, suddenly, the whole journey laid out before our feet — the climbs, the creek bottoms, the downhills, the avalanche chute, all covered by a carpet (from this distance it looked like a carpet) of trees.  That viewpoint put the journey in perspective.

Have you ever wondered what your life looks like from God’s perspective?  How does he see the events, the choices, the relationships?  How does he see the job changes, the attitudes, the wounds?  That’s a view I’d love to see.  Because I don’t think it looks much like my view.  In Isaiah, God tells us that “Your thoughts are not my thoughts; neither are your ways my ways.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).  The things I see as frustrations, as roadblocks, as difficulties, probably look quite different to him.  The things I see as great successes might not look like much to him.  The things I take for granted might be huge in God’s sight.  I wish I could see from his perspective.

I can’t give you exactly that point of view, but I want to invite you to take some time and come get perspective on your life.  Recently Central’s Program Staff took a three-day retreat with Terry Walling, a teacher from Fuller Seminary in California and the head of Leader Breakthru (www.leaderbreakthru.com).  Terry led us through an exercise that helped us get a broader, deeper perspective on our lives.   I am still processing the things I learned about myself and the perspective I gained on that retreat.  Next week I’m hoping to set aside a day to review and work some more with the tools Terry taught us.  The more time I spend with these materials, the better I’m able to answer the question, “Where do I go from here?”

Sonja Dixon and I are recreating this experience for people at Central on Sunday, August 28th, from 1-8:30 pm.  Sonja recently led this exercise for a group of 48 women from Central, and the feedback was incredibly positive.  This “Focused Living” event — Terry calls it a “discovery process” and it really is -- involves reviewing your life in a guided way, then learning to see threads of where God has been working, lessons you’ve learned along the way, and values you don’t just claim, but that you actually live by.  It allows you to maintain as much privacy about your past as you like, yet helps you see where God has been at work not just in the good times but also in the difficulties.

I wholeheartedly recommend this event to anyone who desires greater perspective about their life.  I’d love to see a few dozen men really grabbing hold of this opportunity!  (This event will be open to both men and women.)  Especially if you have been feeling stuck lately (Terry Walling’s book is called Stuck!) or if you are facing questions about what God wants you to do next, don’t miss this opportunity!  

The Focused Living event is August 28, 1-8:30 pm.  Cost is $5 for the event including supper (no lunch is provided).  If you want a copy of Terry Walling’s book, Stuck!, you can pre-order that for an additional $12.  If you’d like time to start reading the book before the retreat (a good idea but not required) please let us know by August 14th.  Deadline for the retreat: Sign up in the church office (763-441-2363) by Monday, August 22nd.  Email me (jeff.krogstad@clcelkriver.org) if you have questions!

Hope to see you there!

Jeff

Hey, guys.

I want to share one of the easiest ways to give away your faith you’ve ever heard of.  Ready?  Here we go.  

Spend time with a child.

Did you catch that?  

You might have missed it.  It was pretty profound.  Let’s try it again:

Spend time with a child.

Okay, let me flesh it out a little bit.  Because it really is a tiny bit more complicated than that.  So here are some guidelines for giving away your faith by spending time with a child.

1. Make sure you’re growing in your own relationship with Jesus.  NOTE: it doesn’t matter where you are as much as where you’re moving.  If you’re far from Jesus, take a small step toward him.   If you’re close to him, grow closer.  Take a small step each day to grow closer in your relationship with Jesus.  Why is this important?  Because you can’t give away what you don’t have.
2. When you spend time with a child, make sure you’re doing something where the two of you can connect.  This is not about watching a football game together, where you’re both riveted on the TV screen and sluggish from too many potato chips.  Find something to do together, like going for a walk, playing a game (video games don’t count because of the TV screen thing), working on a project in the yard, changing oil on the car, picking flowers for the child’s mother (this works best if you’re married to her — if not, be careful with this one), running to Menard’s together, going to Dairy Queen together, going to worship, cutting down a tree, mowing lawn, coloring a picture, reading the funnies, weeding the garden, target practicing, golfing ...

Do you get the idea?  Do something together where the child gets to watch you, talk with you, interact with you, imitate you, ask you questions, laugh with you.  

See how easy this is?

Some of you are thinking, wait a minute.  I didn’t see the part where I gave away my faith.  That’s exactly it. You don’t see it.  It just happens.  If you’re growing in your own relationship with Jesus, and you spend time with a child, they’re going to soak up some of your faith just like a plant soaks up water.

One of the best ways to give away your faith to a child is to pick them up after stuff and give them a ride home.  Doesn’t matter what — could be after swimming lessons, a sleepover, a trip to the mall, or after they have their first flat tire on the interstate.  Pick them up and ask them a question: “So how are you doing?”  Then listen to them and care about what they say.  Though it seems like this would never work, this is one of the best ways to give your faith to a child.  This driving home from something and listening to them is one of the best ways to give away your faith.

Eventually, if you do enough of this kind of thing, God will provide time for a conversation where you get to talk about something that’s right close to your heart, something that lets them see your relationship with Jesus.  And because you’ve invested time with them, they’ll want — really want — to soak up what matters to you.

Evangelism is less about pressuring people with our words and more about investing in people with our actions.  The words will follow in God’s good timing.

If you are short on children at the moment — maybe you don’t have any of your own or yours grew up and moved away — you might want to contact Kirsten Gill, who leads our Children’s & Family Ministry at Central.  She’s got access to a ton of kids (literally) and would love to help you find a way to spend time with some of them.

If you have a child in your life and you’re looking for a way to help them grow spiritually, you might sign them up for Vacation Bible School next week at Central.  I heard recently that there is still room available!  This week is the highlight of summer for a lot of kids, and yours will have a blast.  You can find more information about VBS at

http://clcelkriver.org/summer-fun/vbs

Following Jesus with you, and spending time with kids,

Jeff

P.S. Summer is the ideal time for this kind of evangelism, if you haven’t figured that out yet.

Hey, guys.

This afternoon I filled out a form.  The way life is today, we fill out dozens and dozens of forms.  What’s one more, right?  But I have high hopes for this form.  It was a pledge card for the new “Moving Forward Together” campaign at Central.  After talking with my wife and making sure we are on the same page, I filled out the form saying that we would give a certain amount each month over and above our regular giving.

Why would I have high hopes for something like this?  Because I firmly believe that God uses our resources — and at least as important, he uses our willing hearts — to build his kingdom.  So as I fill out a form that says I’m going to challenge myself to give generously, I believe God will honor our commitment by using the dollars we give to do great things.

What might God do with this money?  Central’s leaders have set some priorities that have potential, over time, to make a real difference.  These priorities include

• putting a more visible sign on School Street so we might reach into the hearts of the people who drive by our building and (hopefully) draw them to attend a worship service or another event at Central, where they might then hear about Jesus;
• renewing the carpet and moving the Welcome Center in our lobby, so those who come in the doors will have a sense that this is a welcoming place.  You wouldn’t believe how many people have told me over the last several years that they are involved at Central today because when they walked in the door, “it felt good.”  For some people that means they were greeted warmly; for others it means that they lobby looked light and airy and clean; for others it’s just a general feeling and they can’t tell me exactly what felt good to them.  They come in the door and experience a positive atmosphere, so their hearts are more open to hear about Jesus;
• hiring a Director of Music Ministry who will oversee our worship and music ministries so that people can be drawn into worship experiences where they will hear about and learn to love Jesus;
• hiring administrative personnel who will handle the details that go with serving a large population and doing a large ministry as we do at Central.  Our administrators are such amazing gifts to this congregation, and so often their work goes unnoticed.  They do an amazing job of making sure everything necessary happens so that people can hear about Jesus in the most effective ways possible.

Those are a few of the priorities that we are helping to achieve by filling out a pledge card and increasing our giving.  I hope you will grab hold of this opportunity and join me and Central’s body in Moving Forward Together!

Jeff