The Talking Friend
(Published four times per year: January, April, July and October)
The stations broadcasting the Lutheran Hour are WIBW 580 Topeka at 7:30 a.m. and KHAZ 99.5 FM Hays at 7:30 a.m., Salina KQNS 96.5 FM at 8:00 a.m., Lexington, NE KRVN 880 at 10:00 a.m. All dates are Sunday.
From LCMS World Mission for the gift of $1,235.55 to support Michael Ulrich. From Dean Landman, KS District Archivist/Historian for the gift of 1897 and 1899 Lutheran Witness copies given to St. John from Marilyn Crawford from her grandparents. St. John then gave the copies to the Kansas District.
Electronic Transfer Giving
Is there still time to send in the automatic transfer sheets? Yes, this can be done at anytime. We will continue to promote this way of funding. In time it may grow into more people sharing in this experience. If you need another form, write or call Thunder Bank or the church office.
Can I change the amount? Yes, the amount may be changed at any time, as well as the date that it is removed from your account
Now that 2009 is approaching, please consider giving in this manner for the coming year. The initial intention was to generate extra income through this manner of giving. There are at least seven families participating in the Electronic transfer generating over $800 per month. Thank you.
Financial News
With the Vicarage Program we knew that we would have a strain on the General Fund. Thus, we are thankful that we have the Endowment Fund to help with our expenses this year. The Endowment Fund has given $13,500.00 to the General Fund for 2008. At the present time the General Fund is running very close to paying all of the bills on time. We appreciate the sacrificial giving that has happened in the past by the very generous members and friends of St. John. If our giving continues for the rest of the year as it has in past years, we should be able to meet our budgeted needs. The vicarage program ends at the end of August and Pastor Radtke retires on September 1st. Thus, we will be back to a normal salary responsibility once again. The Endowment Fund has the Council and Voters’ approval to transfer $16,548.14 ($14,500.00 has already been transferred) from the Fund and to use the $13,442.00 from the Zientarski CD (Matured 6/1/2008 and has been placed in the Money Market Fund) for the General Fund and may use an additional $13,032.10 from the Fund if needed. Thank you. For a full General Fund report, Endowment Fund report or Financial Secretary’s report, please contact the church office. Our 2008 Mission goal of $4,000.00 has been exceeded in the first Quarter. Thus, we hope that we can double our goal this year. (Through June we have given $5,536.00 to the Kansas District and Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. In July another $1,500.00 plus has been given and will be sent in at the end of July.) The Endowment Fund investments lost money the 2nd Quarter with the downturn of the Stock Market. We are still above double of our initial investment. The Hildebrandt Fund continues to bear fruit. We invested $105,000.00 and have removed $111,937.07 and still have $76,000.00 available.
Newsletter Changes
The Talking Friend is now in its 34th year. Alma Strathmann suggested the name among 3 or 4 entries back in 1974. Originally, the Newsletter came out monthly, then bi-monthly and now quarterly. It was a good tool for communication, probably more so when it was a monthly edition. National reports tell us that young people are reading fewer books and Newspapers struggle to exist in an electronic age. Maybe it is time to go electronic with our Newsletter. (Pastor is writing this article). I think that the Elders and Matt or the Council or the Voters can best make that decision next year. Since this is the last year that I will be writing for the Newsletter, I will be culling some of the addresses from the list. We send out about 360 during the School year. I will try to cut that back to around 220 or so. We need to have 200 for our non-profit permit that gives us a break on the postage.
We now send about 30 copies by e-mail. We have also heard from a number of people that they would like to continue to receive the paper copies. We will continue to mail the Newsletter and e-mail it also. Since the Newsletter comes out at the end of the month, we also e-mail the calendars for those months at the beginning of the month (April, July, October and January). These are also included in the bulletin.
If you want to receive the Newsletter and Calendar electronically, please call, send or give us in some way your e-mail address or e-mail to the church at stjlutheran@nckcn.com. Then you would receive only an electronic copy and would not receive a paper copy. Thank you. The above article was included in the last Newsletter with 12 responses for an electronic copy and two to keep the paper copies. Thus, we will try again this month to see if more want to receive the electronic version. We are mailing about 320 paper copies this month.
YOUTH
GROUP
The Youth Group met during the summer months and kept busy with projects such as bake sales, a car wash and a trip to the Pizza Hut. Many thanks to the Youth for their participation in Pastor’s Celebration Day during the Worship service and also at Vesper. We also thank all of the Youth who participated in Pastor Schneider’s Installation service. The Youth are meeting the 2nd Wed. evening of each month for their meetings. At the September meeting the youth elected officers with the following results: Rebecca Wieneke, President; Chesley Wineinger, Vice-Pres.; Brandi Obermueller, Sec.; and Julie Buttenhoff, Treas. The youth hope to do a group activity each month together for fun and fellowship. Oct. 25th the youth are going to the corn maze near Salina for activities there. It will be a fun day! The Youth participated in the Worship Service Oct. 19 by reading the Scriptures. They also shared their many musical talents with a vocal ensemble, trio, duet and solo. The guys and gals played instruments including trumpets, saxophone, organ, piano, etc. There was also a piano duet—so much good music! Thank you to our youth for making the service so special! It is always wonderful to have our Youth participate in our services. Following the service the youth had a soup dinner with all the trimmings. As usual, the meal was delicious and well attended. Thanks to all who supported our youth. Following the dinner and clean-up the youth divided up and went to Lincoln to sell Christmas wreaths and centerpieces. The Youth continue to help with the Hearts, Homes and Hands project. A home is being built for a Lincoln family and our youth has helped in many ways throughout the past year. A few weeks ago the youth painted-primed the outside of the house. Art Wagoner brought food for dinner and we all had a BBQ feast. Thanks, Art, for your great cooking on the BBQ! There were a couple of water fights and the kids had lots of fun and feel good about helping with such a worthwhile project. We thank the Youth who were able to assist Pastor Schneider and his family with the move to the parsonage. The Youth were once again asked to serve a supper meal and provide entertainment for the Annual Thrivent Dinner on Nov. 2nd. The meal is planned and there will be musical numbers as well as comedy acts for entertainment after supper. The youth decided on a St. Louis trip over spring break this March. It will be a Mission/Fun trip and will be planned by Pastor Schneider as he knows St. Louis so well. The group will visit the seminary and will spend one day doing a Mission Project along with lots of other activities during their stay in St. Louis. We will let you know more about the trip when plans are finalized. We thank the youth who continue to play for Worship services and also services at MAHC. You are much appreciated! The Youth worked during the summer months at the Finch Theatre as a community project. They are now working at the theatre about 3-4 times a month. They are much appreciated by the staff there and the community. We thank Art and Terri Wagoner who are once again sponsoring the youth throughout the year. They are so enthusiastic and helpful and get along so well with all the youth members! We are now looking for another couple to help Art and Terri, Sonja and Pastor. Let us know if you are interested! We have a wonderful group of teenagers! If you know of any youth who would benefit by belonging to such a great group of young people, let us know! Thank you, youth kids & sponsors& helpers, for all your efforts!
ALTAR FLOWERS
Flowers were given in honor of Pastor Schneider’s Installation Service by his family. Flowers and plants were also received from the R.H Choitz family and the Richard Heinze family following their funeral services. Thanks to all who donated the beautiful flowers & plants for our worship services!
Many thanks to the Adult Choir for practicing and singing for Pastor’s Retirement Celebration during the Sunday morning church service and also for the evening program at Vesper and also for Pastor Schneider’s Installation Service. The choir was accompanied by Ginny Radtke who has been the choir accompanist for many years. We will always miss Ginny and thank her for her many years of fine service to the Lord, the church and the choir. We also thank all those who joined the choir to sing on those special days and thank those who played instruments! It is always great to have many who are willing to sing for services and special occasions. Because Ginny is no longer available to play for choir others have agreed to help. We thank Katie Obermueller, Tyler Breneman and Alex Jensen who will all help the choir this year. We certainly appreciate them, their willingness to serve and thank them for giving of their time and talents. We hope they will enjoy being a part of our choir. Wed., Nov. 5th, will be our first choir practice. Please note that the time of choir has changed to 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:15 p.m. There is also another change: We will start on time! I know this will be different for us but it is necessary as Bible Class is at 8:00 p.m. and some people want to attend both choir and Bible study. Choir: We can do this!!! Just because we have never started on time before does not mean we can’t!!! Think positive! We will be singing for Sunday services and also will start to prepare for our Christmas Concert at 6:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Please come and sing with the choir! It’s a great way to serve the Lord and show your love for Him!
SUNDAY SCHOOL AND WEEKDAY
SCHOOL
Sunday School continued throughout the summer months with all children combined. Sonja enjoyed teaching the children. “Events in the Bible” was our SS lesson material and theme for the summer. Each Sunday there were lessons over different events in the Bible. Some Sundays Christian art projects were enjoyed after the Bible lessons were completed. First Quarter SS will began September 7 with the following teaching Sunday School: Sheri Jonnson, Jo Buttenhoff, Kylo & Sara Heller and Sonja Kobbeman. Teaching about Jesus and instructing our children and youth in their Christian education is so important! Please pray for our teachers as well as our students. It is a commitment to teach SS but it is a commitment that is well worth the time and effort given. Many thanks to these individuals who have agreed to teach our children and youth…..“Mothers’ Morning Out” continued throughout July with about 20 kids attending. Many thanks to all those who helped! It was a learning experience and a fun time for all! …The SS children helped the LWML ladies with organizing and packing “Health Kits” in Oct. Kids of different ages enjoyed helping and we thank the LWML ladies for letting the children participate. The “Health Kits” is the SS Mission Project for 2008 and the children will continue to give their offerings to this project until 2009…..Thanks to the children and youth who have served the Lord by presenting special music during our Worship Services and other special occasions. We thank the many young people who share their talents…..Sonja made SS and WDS calls and visits in August and letters were sent to families with various information concerning these programs. If you know of any family who would be interested and would benefit from either our SS or WDS program, please let Sonja know and she will contact the family and inform them of the various church programs offered. Pastor Schneider, Sonja and the WDS teachers met and made plans for WDS in August. Another meeting followed with continued discussions on WDS. A WDS Parent’s meeting was held Sept. 3rd at 7:00 p.m. to discuss the different aspects of WDS. The WDS classes began on Wed, Sept. 10 with 43 students attending. Our WDS teachers are Pastor Schneider, Sonja Kobbeman, Tina Heinze, Anna Marie Wolting and Mona Wolting. Marj Aufdemberge and Velma Wachs are helping in the kitchen and serve the children their refreshments. Dorothy Andreson and Carol Detmer are substituting in the kitchen when needed. Art Wagoner and Pastor Schneider are driving the WDS bus. Tyler Breneman is the new accompanist for Children’s choir. Sheri Jonsson is a substitute teacher. We thank all of these individuals for their help and willingness to serve. We could not have a successful WDS program without lots of volunteer help. Thank you so much to everyone and anyone who is helping with our SS or WDS programs!!!….Confirmation classes are being held after WDS with 15 girls & guys in 7th & 8th Grade…..The SS, WDS and Confirmation kids are planning their Congregational Breakfast for Sunday, Oct. 26th. A delicious breakfast will be served and the children will be giving a program on, “Daniel and the Lion’s Den.” The Junior High youth will be leaders. After the breakfast and program, the children will attend church followed by a sack lunch in the Fellowship Hall. About 12:45 p.m. the children will load up the bus and go to Starlite Skating Rink in Salina. We thank Anna Marie Wolting who has offered to clean up the kitchen and Fellowship Hall after lunch so the kids can leave for skating. The skating will be from 2:00 –4:00 p.m. After skating, the group will go to McDonalds for supper and to play in their playroom. The group should return about 6:00 p.m. Pastor Schneider will be driving the bus and sponsoring the trip along with Sonja and other parents and older youth. It will be a great day---sharing the love of Christ, worshiping together and having fun with one another! May God continue to bless all our efforts with our youngsters and our youth!
DORCAS SOCIETY
The Dorcas ladies met on September 3 for lunch at the Hungry Hunter. Their monthly meeting followed in the Fellowship Hall. The group sang, “Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now” acc. by Sonja . Pastor Schneider led the group in prayer. He had an interesting topic, “Labor Day-With All Your Heart.” The Dorcas also met in Oct. for their monthly meeting. The group sang, “Sing to the Lord of Harvest” acc. by Sonja. Pastor Schneider had a prayer and then proceeded with a topic entitled, “Fall-Overflow with Abundance” which was a timely study for fall and harvest. Larinda Meili, President, presided over both meetings. Roll call was taken, Sec. reports and Treas. reports were read and approved at each meeting. New tables for the church were discussed in Sept. and Oct. Both meetings closed with the Lord’s Prayer. The next meeting will be Nov. 5th. Larinda Meili served homemade ice cream for a special treat following the Oct. meeting.
LWML LEAGUE LINKS
After a summer hiatus St. John LWML gathered for a September 9th meeting. Pastor Schneider opened with a devotion entitled “Forgive and Forget”. Members enjoyed a coded puzzle that concluded the program.
Since we will be hosting the Fall Worship on Oct. 12th committees reported and plans for the day were finalized.
Doris Von Fange has been meeting with us regularly since the St. Paul society has disbanded and transferred her name to our membership.
Over the past several months items have been collected for “Health Kits.” Our thanks to congregation members who donated to this worthy project. On LWML Sunday, Oct. 5, prior to the service members, assisted by Sunday School children, packed and readied 30 kits for shipment with the Lutheran World Relief ingathering.
On Sunday afternoon, Oct. 12, some 40 leaguers from various zone churches gathered for an afternoon of Bible study, led by zone counselor, Pastor Schneider, committee reports covering zone, district, and national news. District President, Betty Kruse, Colby addressed the group.
The theme “Joy in our Christian Journey” was evident throughout, both in program and decorations. Following a delicious salad supper, with a drawing for door prizes, the group re-assembled in the church proper for closing devotions.
November meeting will see the naming of the various officers for the upcoming year.
Our December meeting will be preceded by a Christmas dinner at the Hungry Hunter.
CHRISTMAS EVE PROGRAM
The children and youth will once again be presenting a Christmas Eve Program, Wednesday, Dec. 24th at 7:00 p.m. following a 6:30 p.m. Christmas Choir Concert. It was suggested we move Christmas program practice to 1:00 p.m. instead of 2:00 p.m. so please note that change. The following is a schedule for the Christmas Eve Practices:
Sunday, Nov. 30: Nursery through 2nd Grades---1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Grades-----1:00 p.m.—3:15 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 7: Same
Sunday, Dec. 14: Same
Sunday, Dec. 21: All Children 1:00 p.m.---3:15 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 24: Please have children at the church about 6:00 p.m. No later than 6:15 p.m. please.
Junior High will meet on Wed. evenings and High School will meet at an assigned time in December.
Some women and youth have already volunteered to help with these practices but more are still needed. If you can help, please contact Sonja. Your help would be much appreciated. We hope you will be able to attend the Christmas Eve Service. Come and listen to the children spread the wonderful news of Jesus’ birth as they once again tell of the coming of our Savior and King in their own special way. The children have an important message to share with You: Our Promised Savior Jesus was born for you and me!!!
PASTOR’S PAGE
Dear Members, family, and friends;
I want to thank you once again for calling me to be your pastor. We are truly blessed and thankful to be here at St. John’s and serving Trinity and St. Paul’s as well. We pray we will be a blessing to you as well. We are fully moved into the Parsonage and getting things put away. We are overjoyed with the move. St. John’s has given us a beautiful home! We want to thank again all those who helped paint, repair, and update a few things in the Parsonage, and also to thank all those who helped with the big move (Exodus) actually. I never knew we had so much stuff.
We are making some subtle changes in Week-day School and Confirmation classes in order to facilitate our teachers. We have begun to do memory work in the classrooms instead of pulling the kids aside. Also we have made some changes in worship. St. John will begin having Communion services twice a month. We are going to experiment using Setting III, pg 184 in LSB on Communion Sundays and Setting I, pg 151 on non-Communion Sundays. We are also looking forward to incorporating a praise hymn each Sunday as part of our worship. Attendance has been good at all three of our churches and I continue to reach out to new members and to in-actives with the hope of encouraging our members in their faith. We pray God will continue to bless our mission and ministry.
I will spend Monday afternoons in Hunter as that is the best day to hold meetings for several of the council members and voters are teachers and most other days are occupied by school and sports events. I will continue to work at and for St. Paul’s on Thursdays as that is the day we hold the Bible study at the Highrise. I spend Monday mornings at St. John’s as more people frequent the church at that time and its nice to be available to them. I also spend all day Wednesday at St. John as well as either Tuesdays, Fridays, or Saturdays depending on which day I take off for farm work in Osborne county. I keep this somewhat fluid depending on what arises at St. John or on the farm I feel I have to be flexible. However, I have published my cell phone number and am looking into a pager so that I can always be reached in case of emergency.
As of press time I have 5 weddings planned and have had two funerals my first week. I know it sounds like a lot, however I have a lot of wonderful help. First and foremost Sonja who keeps me in line, she handles all the music, leads our Weekday School, VBS, Christmas program, Youth Group and our many special services. Also my wife Lana and Jo Buttenhoff have taken on the duties of creating the service bulletin and Sonja then prints it off and reproduces it. I thank God for these ladies and all the wonderful workers and volunteers at all of our churches.
3 Churches!
Now that I am ordained and installed at St. John’s I have begun serving 3 churches. I will be renewing the contract for pastoral services with Trinity Lutheran in Hunter as has been our practice for more than 15 years. However, pastor Radtke, myself, and pastor Dennis Hill have been serving the vacancy for St. Paul’s Lutheran, Lincoln since last October and I have been approached about serving them as well. I have agreed with permission from the St. John elders to give it a try providing a service time could be worked out. St. Paul’s has been holding services at 7:00 PM during daylight savings time and 4:00 PM when the days grow short. Dennis Hill has offered his services once a month on the fourth Saturday. I felt too much good work is being done for the St. Paul’s people including those who attend the Bible study in Lincoln to leave them without trying to work something out. We will see how it goes and we ask for your prayers.
Pastor’s Family
Lana continues to work as an RN at the Salina Hospital, However, she has recently taken a part-time night shift twice a week so that she can help more at church and help baby sit our new grandson Izaac. Morgan our oldest daughter is in her second year at Fort Hays University where she is studying to become a history teacher. She works part-time at Roof Tops, a nice restaurant in down town Hays, and at H&R Block. Look her up if you are there! Jessica our middle daughter is a junior in High School and has successfully taken the C.N.A. class in Lincoln and has taken a job at the Lincoln County Hospital. She has decided to pursue a career in nursing like her mother. Jessica gave birth to Izaac in August and though this was not in our plans she has proven to be a good mother. Leah, our youngest, is in 7th grade this fall and is playing volleyball and basketball. We look forward to following her and the team throughout the years to come. She has also been a great help with Izaac. With that I will close and wish God’s blessing be on everyone as we enter into the holiday season. I look forward to meeting many people and working with all of you in your personal walk with Christ.
Yours in Christ
Pastor Matt
GENESIS CLASS
I am currently teaching an advanced class on Genesis on Wednesday evenings and beginning in November the time will change to 8 PM. We began the class on April 9th and attendance and discussion has been very good. We welcome anyone who desires to attend as we can provide notes from earlier sessions for those who have been unable to attend in the beginning. This class will go on for some time as we move through the 1st book of Moses at a snails pace with a lot of fun, enlightening, and interesting commentary.
Thanksgiving Services
Thanksgiving services will be held at Trinity Lutheran, Hunter on Wednesday, November 26th at 7:30 pm, at St. Paul’s Thursday, November 27th at 9:00am, and at St. John Lutheran Thursday, November 27th at 10:00am.
Advent
Services
We are considering holding Advent Services at St. John. It is certainly my desire to do this if we can work it out with Confirmation and Choir times. You will know of our decision if you look in the bulletin and see a service on Wednesday nights beginning on December 3rd, 10th, and 17th. Watch your bulletin as this decision may not be made in time to include the services in the November callender.
2009 St. John Officers
The new officers for 2009 are as follows: President: Alan Aufdemberge, Elder: Bob Heinze, Treasurer: Joyce Walker, Trustee: Kenny Krueger, Board of Education: Cody Wolting, Endowment: Rick Wolting. We with to thank these and all who have served and continue to serve for their work on behalf of St. John Lutheran.