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God's Blessings!

Dear Eternal Love Family,

After a good deal of praying, listening, reading and talking the Eternal Love leadership team has decided that we suspend all public activity here. This decision will be revisited on a weekly basis while we are in this locked down state. Expect an update again next Tuesday for the following week’s activities.

Please hear a short message from our Pastors and then come back.

This impacts Wednesday, 3/18. Yesterday, we canceled the meal. Today responding to current guidance we are canceling the physical service. All 3 congregations involved in our pulpit exchange for lent will be recording their sermons and sharing one each week. St Matthews will but up this week and will post something on the link below at 10am and 6:30pm on Wednesday. FYI. My understanding is that you don’t need to be a “facebook member” to utilize this link, so don’t let that deter you. Please share and pass along to others as your wish. Eternal Love will broadcast the following week and so on.

• https://www.facebook.com/St-Matthew-Lutheran-Church-76509619278.

Here are some reasons and rational for this decision:

1. This is an unprecedented time for us. In our lifetimes we have never seen anything like this. It is unique, and may never happen again in our lifetimes.
2. This will probably be a temporary situation. It may be several weeks before things begin to return to normal. In the meantime, there is a very serious pandemic that we must cope with.
3. Our nation’s leadership is asking us to voluntarily refrain from as much social contact as possible in an effort to contain the spread of this disease.
4. As Christians it is our RESPONSIBILITY to do whatever we can to cooperate in this national effort and set a good example for others to do so as well.
5. We do not live in a closed community. Our community is exposed to interaction with people from all over through normal economic, business and commercial activities. Every time we go out in public we expose ourselves to a person who has the potential for bringing the virus to our community. And it is possible to be sick and contagious without even knowing it.
6. To continue to hold worship services, Bible classes, and other public gatherings at this time is not heroic or “an act of faith.”
7. If we continue to hold worship services, Bible Classes and meetings at this time, we are communicating an expectation that people should attend, creating unnecessary guilt if someone chooses not to in order to protect themselves and others.
8. We will not all lose our faith in a few weeks.
9. God has provided all the resources for us to receive spiritual food (the gospel) through alternate means. We can continue to use mail and email and other digital resources for communicating the gospel to our people in this most unusual moment in time.
10. Better safe than sorry. Err on the side of love and caution.
11. It is not foolish or “failure to trust in God” for us to stay home and watch Time of Grace, read the Bible and our Meditations, meet over Microsoft Teams until this storm is over.
12. We can mail in our offerings, using electronic bill paying, and find other ways of giving to the Lord’s work during this time.
13. Temporarily suspending worship and Bible study does not send the message, “Those things are not important or necessary.” In fact, It will help us all realize how much we need those things.

God provides! We have been blessed with wonderful technology options through our recent building project. Now we will put those to use. Our techies  are hard at work finding solutions to the technical questions and our Pastors are hard at work considering content and ways that they can continue to serve us the Word of God.

This will unfold before our very eyes and ears. Follow along as follows:

• Your facebook feed by “liking us” at https://www.facebook.com/EternalLoveLutheran/

• Subscribe to our Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/EternalLoveAppleton

We are hoping to share Sunday worship together in one or both of those locations this weekend at 8am. Stay tuned for more details. Your leaders are listening so please continue share your ideas on how we can keep in touch with each other as we navigate through this time! If you have feedback on the online experience, please send it to me directly at Worship.Director@eternal-love.org.

Keep the Faith,

Your Eternal Love Leadership Team

• So much was accomplished in June that it’s hard to belief our friends from Builders for Christ have only been here a month! It seems like our volunteers were just knocking out walls. But now, by God’s grace and through the efforts of BFC, Keller, and our own volunteers, the building shell and interior walls are complete. Thank you to everyone who has contributed through time, talents, and treasures! 

• Our Hospitality Team, coordinated by Joy Zeman, Louise Scheelk, Kara Witthuhn, and Sue Balza, have been busy working with other EL volunteers to keep our volunteer workers fed with snacks and noon meals. Meal preparers and servers are still needed for July and beyond. Check our http://eternal-love.org/buildingprojecthospitality to learn more and sign up to help! 

• Mechanical contractors have begun installing rough-in plumbing, electrical, and HVAC, and that work continues through July 8th. Following that is wall insulation, then drywall. Ceiling boards for the sanctuary expansion are in need of staining by our volunteers. They are scheduled to arrive July 3rd. 

• There are many other volunteer opportunities from June through August. These include: 

• Cleanup (now through August) 
• Carpentry/Roofing (now through August) o Hanging/finishing drywall (7/15 through 8/2) Painting and Staining (7/3 through 8/9) 
• Meals for volunteers (now through August) 
• Landscaping and Lawn Restoration (8/22 through 8/30)

• The A/V team has selected a final package, and is working on the sound booth! 

• If you want to help but aren’t sure how, contact Pete Neuberger 920-858-7537, John Gomoll 940-231-3647 or Dave Huebner 920-810-3608.

Also, on Tuesday mornings there will be a brief devotion at 7:30am as the Builders for Christ begin their work week. Everyone’s invited to that, too. God bless us as we grab our mission by the reins to glorify him, grow in his Word, and go into the world with his eternal love.

Please respond to this email to give us and idea of who will be coming and the hours you plan to be at the church. Also, please feel free to drop by if you become available during these hours and want to work.

Please wear your work clothes including gloves, safety boots, safety glasses and also appropriate tools for framing.

Thank you in advance. We appreciate you help.

Blessings,

John Gomoll

gomollj@verizon.net

Thank you to the many volunteers who have toiled this week on demolition work! Much has been accomplished and we expect to meet our June 2nd deadline! It's hard work, but it's also been very rewarding to see the changes we've made each day-It's been great to see our members coming together, serving our Lord with a spirit of thankfulness and of hope for what we plan to accomplish in our new building. There are many other volunteer opportunities from June through August. These include:

• Cleanup (now through August)
• Carpentry (now through August)
• Hanging/finishing drywall (7/15 through 8/2)
• Painting and Staining (7/29 through 8/9)
• Meals for volunteers (now through August)
• Landscaping and Lawn Restoration (8/22 through 8/30)

Most of the site work is complete. Finishing touches, including asphalt for the new parking areas, is scheduled for August.

The new concrete in building expansion areas is now complete. Additional concrete will take place inside the building in early June. Keller will also begin framing work on the north end at that time.

Builders for Christ began showing up this week setting up their RV "campsite". They plan to get started June 3rd on rough framing the south wing. BFC works Tuesdays through Saturdays. BFC welcomes us to join in with them-no appointment needed! Just come with appropriate attire.

Our Food Volunteer Co-Coordinators are Joy Zeman, Louise Scheelk, Kara Witthuhn, and Sue Balza. Food preparation and serving volunteers are still needed! See http://eternal-love.org/buildingprojecthospitality for more info!

The A/V team has selected a vendor and expects to have a final package selected by early June.

If you want to help but aren't sure how, contact Pete Neuberger 920-858-7537, John Gomoll 940-231-3647 or Dave Huebner 920-810-3608.

Please respond to this email to give us and idea of who will be coming and the hours you plan to be at the church. Also, please feel free to drop by if you become available during these hours and want to work.

Please wear your work clothes including gloves, safety boots, and safety glasses. We will have some quantities of these items but might run out.

Thank you in advance. We appreciate you help.

Blessings,

John Gomoll

gomollj@verizon.net

Work includes demolition, rough carpentry, finish carpentry, drywall (hang and finish), painting, staining, and electrical-A/V. If you’d like to help, please contact Pete Neuberger 920-858-7537 plneuber@sbcglobal.net or John Gomoll 920-231-3647 gomollj@verizon.net . 

Thank you!

We are looking for a LUNCH COORDINATOR and SERVERS each day:

Lunch Coordinator - A volunteer lunch coordinator will choose a day to coordinate a lunch menu for 20-25 people. You may choose to do this independently or invite some friends to help. Sign up on the day of your choice and note what you plan to serve so as to avoid duplication within the same week. Please plan to drop your food off in time to be served at Noon. If you will not be able to stay and serve, please communicate with the volunteers who have signed up to serve. Reimbursement for the cost of food is available. Please note that Friday lunches can be "lighter fare" (soup or sandwiches/salad, etc.).

Servers - Arrive at 11:15am. Work with other volunteers/BFC wives to warm/prep food for serving, set the tables, make drinks, serve meal, and clean up afterward.

There are sign-up sheets are located here: eternal-love.org/buildingprojecthospitality

We are also collecting:

• cases of bottled water
• powdered drink mixes (lemonade, iced tea, Gatorade)
• individually packaged snacks (granola bars, crackers, peanuts, trail mix, etc)
• coffee
• 16 oz plastic cups
• paper plates (dinner size and dessert plates)
• napkins
• paper towels
• food storage containers (ice cream buckets, sour cream/cool whip/etc)

If you can help with these items, please drop them in the kitchen at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your willingness to serve our BFK volunteers in this way! Questions? Email office.manager@eternal-love.org 

• Site Work Began on Monday, April 22.
• Our Builders for Christ Project Manager, Paul LeBrun, and Assistant Project Manager, Ron Wolff, met with Keller and Building Committee representatives on April 24 to coordinate schedules. We were excited to meet Paul and Ron and look forward to working with them and the rest of the BFC crew!
• Our Food Volunteer Co-Coordinators are Joy Zeman, Louise Scheelk, and Kara Witthuhn met with Jan LeBrun and Barb Wolff of Builders for Christ on April 24 to coordinate BFC food needs during their stay, which begins Saturday, June 1. Many food volunteers will be needed!
• The A/V team has solicited proposals for a new A/V system and expects to select a vendor by early May.
• Relocation of church items that will be displaced by construction began on Spring Cleanup Day, May 4.
• A PODS unit will be onsite to allow us to temporarily store items at an offsite facility furnished by PODS. We will also begin storing church items in the west end of the fellowship hall after Sunday, May 19.
• From Sunday, May 26 through Sunday, June 2, our volunteers will demo interior walls.
• Many other volunteer opportunities exist including cleanup, carpentry, hanging/finishing drywall, painting, meals for volunteers, and landscaping. Check the volunteer schedule that was placed in member mailboxes for more detail.
• If you want to help but haven’t filled out a volunteer form, contact Pete Neuberger or another Building Committee member.
• Scheduled project completion is Wednesday, August 28.

· Keller has provided an updated proposal, schedule, and final plans.

· The Building Committee has received additional volunteer forms with updated information.

· Keller has scheduled the preconstruction conference with subcontractors and Building Committee representatives on April 10^th.

· Keller is scheduled to break ground on April 22^nd, beginning with site work, followed by foundations.

· Our Builders for Christ Project Manager, Paul LeBrun, will be onsite April 24^th to meet with Keller and the Building Committee for coordination.

· The A/V team has solicited proposals for a new A/V system, and expects to select a vendor by May.

· Relocation of church items that will be displaced by construction will begin soon. The spring cleanup day scheduled for May 4^th will focus on this work. Volunteers needed!

· Our last onsite service until project completion is May 26^th.

· From May 26^th through June 2^nd, our volunteers will demo interior walls.

· Many other volunteer opportunities exist including cleanup, carpentry, hanging/finishing drywall, painting, meals for volunteers, and landscaping. Check the volunteer schedule that was placed in member mailboxes for more detail.

· If you want to help but haven’t filled out a volunteer form, contact Pete Neuberger or another Building Committee member.

Scheduled project completion is August 28^th.

NEW BUILDING PROJECT VOLUNTEER QUESTIONNAIRES - Updated forms are located on the signup table in the Narthex. We have added Housing for Builders for Christ and Storage of Church Materials to the new form. If you would like to provide these services, or if you have new volunteer information to enter since the original surveys last April, please fill out a new form and return to Pete Neuberger by Sunday, Mar. 17. Thank you.

I just read about a company called “Eternal Arts” that ran its business by turning two cups of a person’s cremains into a classic sculpture. Imagine your ashes reshaped into a replica of Rodin’s The Thinker, or one of Michelangelo’s creations. Perhaps your tastes run in the more popular realm and you’d like to become the Statue of Liberty, or a bust of Napoleon or Alexander the Great.

On this Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent, we ponder the permanence of ash. It means something has burned. It is gone. Beyond recognition or recovery. Not just singed or charred, but burned.

At the end of his ordeal with God where he tried to tell God what to do, and then realized it was a bad idea, Job is quoted in the Bible as saying, “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). What is burned? Well, the better question is, “who is burned?” Job himself! Or, actually, Job the person who rebelled against God and accused God and doubted God and wouldn’t trust God. That particular Job was burned, not singed or charred, but burned. Gone for good. Replaced by a new Job who wanted to live God’s way, trusted in God, and felt relieved in God’s forgiveness and love.

Want to be a better person tomorrow than today? Then on Ash Wednesday take time to repent like Job. Leave the old you behind in dust and ashes, beyond recognition. Forgiven by the love of God in Christ, begin a new day as a new person. Cremate your sinful self! And for heaven’s sake don’t try to make something out of it that it is not!

PRAYER: Most holy and merciful Father, we confess to you and to one another that we have sinned by our own fault, by our own grievous fault, in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others as we have been forgiven.

We have been deaf to your call to serve as Christ served us.

We have not been true to the mind of Christ.

We have grieved the Holy Spirit.

Forgive us, Lord, for the wrongs we have done. For our blindness to human need and suffering and our indifference to injustice and cruelty. For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward others, and for our prejudice and contempt for those who differ from us. For what we think or say or do that is at variance with your will. Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us. Hear us, Lord, for your mercy is great. Accomplish in us, O God, the work of your salvation, that we may show forth your glory in the world. By the cross and suffering of your Son, O Lord, bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection. Amen.

View the March 2019 Newsletter

Our site civil engineer, Schuler, has obtained site plan approval and the erosion control permit from the City of Appleton. They also expect to obtain the City stormwater permit within the next week. Additionally, Schuler has submitted the wetland exemption request from DNR for our proposed wetland fill.

Coordination with Builders for Christ is ongoing. This week, the City is expected to issue the Temporary Use Permit for 10 BFC RV’s to camp on our parking lot during their stay. Other coordination includes meals, housing for members with no RV’s, insurance, and the like. Our BFC Project Manager, Paul LeBrun, is expecting to stop in to meet with Keller and the Building Committee on April 24 or 25.

New volunteer questionnaires are located on the entryway sign up table, to help us recruit and schedule volunteers for such work as the AV/Sound system, painting and staining, assisting with electrical work, landscaping, providing meals and housing for Builders for Christ, assisting BFC with rough and finish carpentry, and providing offsite storage of church items and equipment during construction. Please fill out a form if you didn’t fill one out last May, or if your situation has changed since then, or if you would like to help with the two new items that were not on the old form (Housing and Storage).

We thank God for blessing our planning efforts thus far. May God continue to bless our efforts as we strive to serve him with our time, talents, and treasures. What an exciting time for our congregation!

Land Purchase Progress

The church council is moving forward in preparing the legal documents to purchase the land next door. After spending some working with the land owner and giving thought to how we should move forward with the purchase, it has been decided that we will purchase the property outright and finance it through LACE. Unless something unexpected comes up, the purchase process should be completed in a couple of months.

Any questions- ask Pastor Backus, Pastor Pries or Amy Monigal.

Three weeks ago, Pastor Backus, Pastor Pries and Dave Huebner met with their regional director and asked if they would consider renting out the large hall where we could conduct our worship services with their residents once a month. They were thrilled to be asked. They too appreciate our growing relationship and are offering us their space for free.

Here are some bullet points explaining a few more details:

• They want to provide us with a convenient worship space at no cost.

• We will keep our normal summer worship times of 8am and 9:45am.

• We are locked in for the summer months, but if we need to start worshiping there earlier than June or into September, that will be okay.

• Their space can legally seat 135 people (we have never reached 135 at one service during the summer months in our recent past.)

• We can move some of our chairs over to their facility since they only have about 80 chairs for this room.

• We can set up our altar, pulpit and other chancel furnishings and keep them there until we are ready to move them back into our newly refurbished chapel.

• They have a projector, screen, grand piano, and a modern sound system ready for us to use.

• They have a little kitchen area in the back corner of the hall if we desire to offer some refreshments for fellowship.

• There’s plenty of room for our own praise bands.

• Their parking lot is smaller than ours, so we will ask some of our healthy younger members to park in our church parking lot or on a nearby street. But for those who are not up to walking there is plenty of parking at their facility.

There will be several challenges for us to navigate during our building project. What a blessing to know that our worship will not be interrupted and will take place right next door. To God be the Glory!

Three weeks ago, Pastor Backus, Pastor Pries and Dave Huebner met with their regional director and asked if they would consider renting out the large hall where we could conduct our worship services with their residents once a month. They were thrilled to be asked. They too appreciate our growing relationship and are offering us their space for free.

Here are some bullet points explaining a few more details:

• They want to provide us with a convenient worship space at no cost.

• We will keep our normal summer worship times of 8am and 9:45am.

• We are locked in for the summer months, but if we need to start worshiping there earlier than June or into September, that will be okay.

• Their space can legally seat 135 people (we have never reached 135 at one service during the summer months in our recent past.)

• We can move some of our chairs over to their facility since they only have about 80 chairs for this room.

• We can set up our altar, pulpit and other chancel furnishings and keep them there until we are ready to move them back into our newly refurbished chapel.

• They have a projector, screen, grand piano, and a modern sound system ready for us to use.

• They have a little kitchen area in the back corner of the hall if we desire to offer some refreshments for fellowship.

• There’s plenty of room for our own praise bands.

• Their parking lot is smaller than ours, so we will ask some of our healthy younger members to park in our church parking lot or on a nearby street. But for those who are not up to walking there is plenty of parking at their facility.

There will be several challenges for us to navigate during our building project. What a blessing to know that our worship will not be interrupted and will take place right next door. To God be the Glory!

We are the ones who must arrange our weekend plans accordingly. It’s up to us to slap a reserved sign on Sunday morning’s calendar. Once we arrive at 1011 E. Midway Rd., we are active doers, worshipers. But if we see worship primarily as a task we do, then no wonder it can be tough to be faithful in coming joyfully, regularly. Why?

Because in reality there are a lot of things I do and should do. I should exercise more. I should get the basement cleaned up. I should stay in better touch with my relatives. I should have coffee with my friend. I should read that book I got for Christmas. I should have snuggles and downtime with my littles. And the list of things I should do is long and never-ending. I’m busy. And when people are busy we don’t get all the things done on our “to do” list.

But what if I told you that worship was primarily a divine service? What if we approached the holy hour(s) in that holy Midway Rd. house of God knowing that in that hour God comes and serves us for our benefit and blessing? Look, Moses gives us two encouragements to worship, and they are both things God has done for us. He created us and he redeemed us.

“For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:11

God, who rested after the work of creation, wants to give us spiritual rest, too (See Heb. 4:10). That rest comes to us in Jesus Christ and his Word and sacraments. What a divine service!

“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” Deuteronomy 5:15

God who redeemed his people from the hand of their enemies invites them to celebrate that redemption in a day of divine rest given them by him. Our enemies today are not Egypt, but the slave masters of sin, death, the devil, and even our own sinful natures.

Yes, we are doers in worship. But God is the main doer. Continue to worship him, not pressured by something you need to do, but blessed by what he’s done for you. Come and hear how he creates you anew in his image by forgiving your sins. Come and hear your redemption’s story told in Scripture, in sermon, in sacrament, in song.

God says, “Come to me, weary and burdened, and I will give you rest, child. Let me serve you. I love you.”

View our entire February 2019 Newsletter

Keller plans to re-bid our project in January, making use of updated plans, bid solicitation with WELS-affiliated subcontractors, and taking into account work that will be done by Builders for Christ on the south (education) wing. We expect an updated proposal from Keller by the end of January. Historically, January is a good time of year to get building quotes, when contractors are interested in lining up work for the coming year. We pray that God will provide us with a good bidding climate!

Coordination is ongoing with Builders for Christ. We’ve been working on such issues as defining the separation of their work from Keller’s, laying out their RV “campsite” to work with planned site improvements, and discussing their other needs such as meals.

The preliminary schedule is as follows: shortly after we’ve celebrated our risen Savior at Easter on Sunday, April 21, Keller plans to break ground. First steps include: some utility relocation/extensions, foundation work, and demolition work. Builders for Christ plans to mobilize the first week in June. Our goal is completion by Sunday, September 1.

We expect Keller to provide a more detailed schedule in late February or early March, so that we can work with them on where and when certain portions of our building are available for use during construction. For example, accommodations will need to be made on how and where we will conduct worship services while sanctuary remodeling and addition are underway.

Last summer, the Building Committee solicited volunteer questionnaires to learn more about our members’ talents and availability. We anticipate providing new questionnaires in February for any members who wish to update or provide new information. There will be many opportunities to serve, including: work on the AV/Sound system, painting and staining, assisting with electrical work, landscaping, providing meals for Builders for Christ, and so on.

We thank God for blessing our planning efforts thus far. May God continue to bless our efforts as we strive to serve him with our time, talents, and treasures.

Land Purchase Progress

On Thursday, January 3, Joel Schmidt, our church president, and Pastor Dave Pries, our administrative pastor, delivered the offer to purchase legal documents to Karen Jakubek who owns the land to east of our property. We are meeting with her again on Tuesday, January 8 to discuss. She may accept our offer, reject our offer, or make a counter offer. It is now in her hands to think about this offer and pray about it. Please keep Karen in your prayers as well. We will continue to keep you informed of the progress.

Rocking chairs are so comfortable. Or are they too comfortable? When we think of rocking chairs we often think of older people sitting in them. I remember clearly seeing my grandparents on the back porch happily tilting back and forth sipping iced tea. Nursing homes are filled with great-grandmas squeakily shifting to and fro daily while knitting on an afghan. Studies have actually been conducted in nursing homes where nurses closely monitored patient behavior for six weeks while residents rocked, and compared it to their behavior during six weeks of no rocking. When the patients were rocking, they were happy; when they weren’t, they weren’t.

There’s just something super comfy about that rocking chair, and the rocking motion that goes along with it. It’s soothing for the infant in a mother’s arms, for the elderly, and for everyone in between. Rocking chairs are perfect for lazy days when there’s nothing else to do, nowhere to go, nobody to see, just rock back and forth, back and forth. Are you getting sleepy, verrrrry sleeeeeepy?

Getting a dose of soothing comfort now and then is healthy for the mind and the soul, just like a good night’s sleep gives needed rest to the body. But sooner or later (for most of us, sooner than we’d like) it’s time to rise and shine! “How long will you lie there you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?” That sounds like the gruff good morning greeting I used to get from mom or dad, but would you believe you can find it in the Bible book of Proverbs, chapter 6, verse 9?

Isaiah similarly calls, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you” (Isaiah 60:1). Hey, when the glory of God is here, it’s not time to sit back and take it easy! Jesus became transfigured on the mountain not to help him and his three companions get a better sleep for the night. No! It was preparation for a big task, a very difficult one, in which the glory of God would be hidden for a while. The suffering. The cross. The shame. Not a time to be lulled into laziness, neither for Jesus nor his disciples.

Rise and shine! It’s not as dark as you think. The glory of God is here, strengthening you with the desire to do what is right, enlightening you with wisdom to think more like Jesus, empowering you to fight off temptation and all the while let your light shine so that others wake up from spiritual slumber.

Get out of your rocking chair and get busy. Jesus has work for us to do!

PRAYER: I want to be comfortable, Jesus, but not too comfortable. Like you, content with life but never satisfied that enough people are loved, served, and helped. When I get too busy to go out of my way for another, forgive my selfishness and fill me with the light of your love. When I feel too tired to care any more, forgive my little faith and fill me with the light of your strength. Be the light that wakes me up and gets me going. Amen.

View our January Newsletter

This year we will be having a Thanksgiving Eve service on Wednesday, Nov. 24. On that day, we will gather as a Christian family to give thanks and praise to God at a special 6:30pm worship service.

We will be reading “A World Such as Heaven Intended” by Appleton author, Amanda Lauer. She will attend our meeting and share her experiences writing this novel and how it is being made into a movie! Amanda will also sign books in case you are looking for some Christmas presents. This book is available at local libraries and on Amazon.

This book is a faith based and historical romance that takes place during the Civil War. You’ll enjoy this story of Amara McKirnan and Nathan Simmons and how their lives intertwine in a way that shatters the separate worlds they once knew.

As per our tradition for our Christmas party, please bring food to share for our potluck. You can also bring a used and wrapped book for our book exchange. We will eat at 6:00pm, discuss the book with Amanda around 7:00pm with our gift exchange at 8:00pm.

We hope you can join us for this milestone and help us choose the next 100 books!

If you have any questions, call Steve Schultz at 659.2077 or gardenmasterguy@aol.com.

There were hayrides, games, a bouncy house, and puppet shows with Hands 2 Grow Puppet Productions!

That day over 32 families came to join us for a fun, fall event! Every child got to take home a pumpkin.

Thank you to all our volunteers for doing so much of the behind the scenes work to facilitate this event’s success. Our second annual Harvest Fest a great success!

Isn’t it a wonderful privilege to have God’s Word and Sacrament and to be a hub for our community to offer it to others? We’re so blessed to be in this unique role of carrying out God’s mission, here on the south side of Appleton.

The Lord truly blessed our event!

In September, we learned that Builders for Christ had accepted our project for their 2019 construction schedule. We anticipate they will provide “rough and finish” carpentry for the south (education) wing of our project, which will help reduce our costs, and should provide “know how” to help guide our own volunteers who want to help where they can.

The Building Committee continues to work with our design-build contractor, Keller, and our site engineer, Schuler, to refine the building and site plans. In October, we made a 5% down payment to Keller, authorizing them to develop final plans for State approval. A joint meeting with Keller and Builders for Christ is planned for December, to develop final project scoping prior to letting bids.

The Building Committee continues to reach out to WELS-affiliated subcontractors, and has provided Keller a draft list of subcontractors who we think will provide very competitive bids for the portion of work that Keller and Builders for Christ will not perform in-house. The schedule calls for Keller to solicit bids and provide us an updated proposal in January 2019.

In late April 2019, once we’ve had the opportunity to celebrate our Risen Savior during Easter, we plan to break ground on our project. Our goal is to complete construction by September 2019. After years of trying to discern the best path to expand Christ’s Kingdom here at Eternal Love, the path before us is becoming clearer. May God continue to bless our efforts as we strive to serve him with our time, talents, and treasures. What an exciting time for our congregation!

You can volunteer as a team group, family group or individually. We will be putting volunteer teems together of 4-6 people. Servicing each home usually takes 30-40 minutes so we will ask for approximately 2-3 hours of work to be assigned to our Eternal Love groups. For our student members, this is a great way to get volunteer hours to build up that impressive college resume.

We apologize for an oversight as there was no sign-up sheet placed in the narthex. For those that would like to still sign-up please email Chad Janke at Chad.Janke@schencksc.com.

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“Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.” - Jeremiah 3:15

Please thank God for them, not just this month, but often!

The marathon begins at the UW Fox Valley Campus and comes straight down past our church. The full marathon starts at 7:00am, and the half marathon starts five minutes later. Midway Road will be closed between UW Fox Valley and our church from 6:45am until about 7:30am. The Oneida St./Midway Rd. intersection will be closed from 7:00-7:20am. Midway Road east of our church will only be closed until 7:45am. This will make it easy to access our church for the 8:00am service. Oneida Street south of the river will be closed most of the morning. Therefore the easiest way to get to our church from west or north of the river will be on US-441. You should be able to get off the freeway at Oneida street and come down to our church anytime after 7:30am. Our worship and education schedules that morning will not change. In the past few years, a group of us have been coming early to gather at the road and sing hymns or songs as the runners pass by. It has been a great witness that is gratefully received by the runners and walkers. Every year, when the marathon is over, we receive thank you notes from some of the runners.

If the weather is good, anyone who is willing and able can gather at church for a hymn sing at the road at about 7:00am. We will enjoy singing God’s praises as a witness to all the runners and walkers. It’s a blast and a great witness to 4,000 people.

If you are participating in the marathon as a runner or volunteer, you may worship at your church on Monday evening, September 24.

Our course of study is Bible history stories from the Growing in Christ curriculum. This is a three-year plan. Over the three years, your children will be instructed in nearly 100 lessons from the Bible. Each year about 33 lessons are scheduled from September through May. Lessons taught in Sunday School provide the necessary background for a closer study of Christian doctrine which takes place in 7th and 8th grade catechism classes.

This fall we will study the lives of Joseph and Moses, ending with the Bronze serpent. In the winter quarter, our focus is on Jesus life from the announcement to the virgin Mary through the Temptation of Jesus. In the spring quarter, we follow Jesus from his first miracle through his healing of the blind man. Next year, we will follow the Israelites into Canaan. The new testament will follow Jesus ministry from the sermon on the mount through Jesus blessing the children. The spring lessons focus on Christ's passion, resurrection and ascension.

We encourage parents to stay and join us for Adult Bible Study at the same time in the sanctuary. Sunday School students are dismissed at 10:20. Parents of young children may pick them up in their classroom. Others may plan where to meet up as a family. God bless all the students, teachers, and parents through this ministry.

The Book of Isaiah has been described by some as the 5th gospel due to its rich and Christ-centered message! Its 66 chapters serve as a sort of bible within the Bible, pouring forth law and gospel.

Beginning this Fall, you have an opportunity to dig into the second half of this beautiful rich book on Wednesday mornings. Pastor Pries will lead this class at a careful, thoughtful pace. Class starts Sept 12 @ 8:30am. Come every week or whenever you can make it. New attendees will always be welcome throughout the year.

Of course, to Expand our Mission of Love, we will need upgraded facilities, which have a price tag. However, our ministry has never (and never will be) about money, but about HIS MISSION OF LOVE. The Lord’s great concern (and ours) is not money, buildings, or programs. It is A MISSION OF LOVE, a mission of sharing the Gospel with the lost who are living and dying without the comfort and hope that only Christ’s gospel can give.

Therefore, I was so happy when Pastor Backus recently asked if I would write and teach a Bible class on the apostle Paul’s mission journeys. This class will be an opportunity for all of us to focus on HIS MISSION OF LOVE and search God’s word for insights in how the first Christian missionaries brought the Gospel to the people of their time.

This four-week course will be offered on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-7:30pm beginning on Wednesday, September 12. The location may have to be the chapel if the fellowship hall is used for catechism class. Just come in the chapel entrance and there will be a sign as to where the class is being held.

The plan for this course (which we will call Paul’s Great Mission Adventures) will be to review and summarize the mission journeys of St. Paul, and then look for insights on the challenges and strategies of Christian mission work (which has always been our congregation’s main reason for existing). You are invited and encouraged to attend this class. If the Lord moves you to come, bring your Bible and a pen.

By the way, our synod has just produced a new video entitled “To The Ends of the Earth” which uses Paul’s visit to the city of Philippi to offer encouragement to be faithful in carrying out HIS MISSION OF LOVE. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to see this video sometime this Fall.

• There’s no discipleship without self-denial.
• There’s no leadership without service
• There’s no love without sacrifice.

Those axioms help call to mind the humble, seemingly powerless, yielding, submissive nature of the cross in our lives, don’t they?

Yet our first fall Sunday morning Adult Bible Study aims to round out our understanding of the centrality of the cross, but in a way that highlights the God-given power and right we hold as Christians. Yes, POWER and RIGHT!

In fact, that power and right jingles in our hand. Like a teenager holding his own car keys for the first time, the Christian recognizes the wow-factor of this spiritual bling she holds. These two special spiritual keys do what you would expect them to do: lock and unlock. But the door they work on is the very pearly gate of heaven! We need to dive into this!

The power and right you have was given to you by your Savior Jesus. Brothers and sisters, let me state it again: you hold the keys to the door of heaven! Use them faithfully, carefully, and often!

I hope I’ve piqued your interest to examine this special power and right. Let’s take up a study of the fifth chief part of the Small Catechism. It’s title could strike you as mundane, but its content and practical application are vital for every relationship, every marriage. It fills the family with love and strengthens the spiritual muscle of this congregation. Study The Keys and Confession with me beginning September 9.

Our focus will be something like this:

Power and Right

September 9—I have the Keys

September 16—I Share the Keys

September 23—The Keys Abused

September 30—I’m Locked Out; Help!

October 7—Heaven’s Open; I’m Forgiven

Join all the free family-friendly events: hayrides, games, puppet shows with Hands 2 Grow Puppet Productions, and more! 

Bring your kids, bring your friends, bring your whole family to Eternal Love. It's going to be a great afternoon of fun!

Don’t come to 1011 E. Midway Rd. for worship on Aug. 12, unless it’s raining. Why? We will be having our Praise in the Park that day at 10 am. That means one service together at Darboy Park.

Plan to bring your own lawn chairs and hats and sunglasses, or sit in the folding chairs provided for you under the pavilion. We will worship at 10 am, then enjoy a picnic and socialization/games. There will be time for us to enjoy the outdoors and each others’ company.

We hope you can invite a friend or family member for this more casual worship setting. This is designed to be both a fellowship and an outreach event. So come to the park that day eager to serve and meet someone new.

As last year, the church budget will provide the meat, drinks, and plates and plasticware.

Would you bring potato salad, chips, fruit and vegetable platters, or desserts? That would round out our menu.

We will also need some help with: Set up, clean up, and sharing your love and kindness as you showcase a guest-first attitude.

Remember: If the forecast for 10:00am indicates rain or storms, everything stays the same except the location. We will hold the event at church!

If you’re able and willing to help us make this special event happen with excellence, please speak with Bob Broehm, our fellowship director and coordinator of our Praise in the Park or contact the church office.

Check out the VBS 2018 Wrap-up article and the new courses we will be starting in Fall.

August 2018 Newsletter