As we head into the delightful time of summer, let me share

3 items with you. The first has to do with the new series we have just begun, and will continue throughout the summer months. We are going through the first half of the New Testament book of Mark. Mark is one of the four books we refer to as the Gospels. The Gospels are really the story of the earthly life of Jesus Christ. Mark is the shortest of the Gospels, and most biblical scholars believe it was the first of the Gospels to be put into writing. So it is the closest thing we have to a biography of the life of Jesus.

I am really looking forward to this series because we will look at these chapters through the lens of evangelism, which is simply the sharing of the “good news” of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am praying that both you and I will be challenged as we learn together how Jesus approached the world he lived in, and how he changed things forever. There is not a doubt in my mind as to God’s desire to bring change to our community. He cares about every man, woman, teen and child that lives around us, no matter how nice or how mean they may be. Jesus’ example throughout the book of Mark gives us some great insight into how we can make a difference through the power of the “good news” of the gospel in the communities that we live. Let me encourage you to be here every weekend that you are in town. And bring your Bible with you as we study and learn together.

The second item concerns our Patriotic celebration, which will take place on the weekend of July 3 and 4. This year our celebration will be right on the Holiday weekend and we have decided to bring it in house, which will enable us to add new elements that we could not do in others venues. The service at our Rapids campus will not take place that weekend, as they will be joining with us for the three services here at the Port campus. The Saturday evening and two Sunday morning services will enable us to serve a similar number of guests as we have had in the park. Pastor Julie and the choir are busy practicing for this

celebration, and the key, as always, will be the personal invitations that we extend to others, particularly military veterans and those presently serving. This is going to be a wonderful weekend, and a great opportunity for us to be putting into practice some of the things we will have learned through our study in Mark. This event gives us a neat chance to honor a group of people that deserve our recognition and thanks. The freedom we have to worship any way, any time, any place that we desire is because of the continued efforts of military men and women who have been willing to fight to preserve those freedoms, to safeguard them from attack. So, who do you know that you could invite? We will have invitations available for you to give out, and I strongly encourage you to take advantage of an opportunity like this. Let’s fill the auditorium three times!

Senior Pastor’s Column

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The third item is a short report to you concerning the financial picture of our church. I am grateful to report to you that we met and exceeded our budget expectations through the first four months of this year, and it appears that we will still be on track after this recent fifth month. The reason I am sharing this report with you is that last year we were on target with our budget through the first five months, but when we got to the month of June, the bottom dropped out and we ended the year with a $68,000 shortfall. We truly want to avoid that scenario for this year, so I am asking you to pray with our Elders and Staff that we will continue to see God’s hand of provision (working through us, obviously!) through the remainder of this year. I am confident that God will meet the needs as we are faithful to be good stewards of what he has given us to manage. There is more to be accomplished, and much that we still want to do, and as God provides through all of us, it will be done! We are right now in the process of replacing the heating and air conditioning unit in the Youth Center, which will cost us around $6000. We also have some phone issues that need to be corrected, and some IT equipment that needs repair or replacing. So the challenges are before us, but I am so very grateful that so many of you have good jobs and are able to give faithfully. For those of you who are still looking, we continue to pray for you, in hopes that this summer will provide the employment you are looking for. Well, that’s enough for now. I’ll look forward to seeing all of you this weekend, with your Bible, as we continue in the book of Mark.

Coming next month: Results of our recent CLF survey

“I was still new to Christian Life Fellowship when I began attending the “Growing in Christ” class in 2002. I was intrigued by the God I was learning about through Sunday morning services but I still had questions and doubts about who He was. The Class teacher, Butch Chonos, would calmly flip through the Bible and we would look at God’s an-swers to our questions together as a class. Eventually I ran out of questions and I became a Christian. The Growing in Christ class was also good for me as a new Christian. I learned many foundational scrip-tures and started to learn about what life as a Chris-tian looked like. Do you still struggle with doubts about who God is and how he sees you? I think you will find that the Growing in Christ class will be a safe place where you can go as you are and lay it all out there. It’s time to settle any lingering doubts you may have and start to feel confident about what you believe in. Don’t delay!”

Amy Luebke

Wednesday, beginning June 15th at 6:30 at CLF  

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Porn There it is… just out there, in bold letters. That’s right. I said it. I wanted to write an article on this touchy, sometimes uncomfortable topic because, well quite frankly, I’m sick of it. I’m sick of seeing it literally ruining stu-dents’ lives, both male and female. I’m sick of talking to good kids, who attend our church and our youth group, only to have them break down and tell me with looks of shame, failure, frustration and entrapment… “I struggle with porn.” So, what can we do about this? Specifi-cally, as parents, what can we do? I came across an article online that I wanted to pass on to you. It’s written by a ministry called “XXX Church”, which is a ministry to help those struggling with porn, those affected by the repercussions of porn, as well as those involved in the porn industry. Here is what the column has to say: Parents are the most effective guard against children becoming involved in pornography. We have met many parents who are clueless about what is out there for their kids to get into. "Well, my little Johnny wouldn't be looking at nude pictures on the web!" "My house is safe because we have filtered Internet." "My little angel only chats with friends online and would never talk to a stranger." We love our kids and think they are the best. Often when a child gets into inappropriate ma-terial we dismiss it as 'kids being kids'. Well,

parents should be parents. It is our responsi-bility to monitor and control the content that comes into our homes. We are called to pro-tect our children to the best of our abilities. That beckons for us as parents to actively un-derstand where our kids go and what they do online. The reality is your son or daughter probably knows much more about technology than you think. They likely know more about computers and the Internet than you. That is exactly why you need to be informed on what is out there. You must become aware of the possibility that your son or daughter could be into something inappropriate. It's time for you to get involved in their life. Ask the tough questions. Talk about the dangers. We realize talking about porn is as hard as talking about sex. Get out of your comfort zone. Your children are worth it. NEXT STEPS 1. Monitor Download XXXchurch's free accountability software X3watch. It’s simple and completely free. This software monitors what is accessed online and sends a report of any questionable websites to an email address of your choice. » Download it at: x3watch.com 2. Filter Get a filter! It is time to block the junk from coming in. Safe Eyes is the No. 1 Internet safety solution for homes as rated by Amer-ica's leading consumer advocacy magazine. Safe Eyes offers robust options that allow the creation of customized protection parameters for each member of the family, no matter what age.

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Safe Eyes installs with preset monitoring and content blocking capabilities, providing imme-diate protection for PCs and Macs. Once in-stalled, individual "accounts" can be created and customized for each user based on their age, abilities, homework, and even bedtime. » Download it at: safeeyes.com 3. Have the talk Yes, have the talk. It may be a little awkward, but your son or daughter will know that you care. As a parent you must actively engage with your kids by taking a stance against inap-propriate material through conversation. Tell your son or daughter the steps you are taking as a parent. Do not leave them in the dark. Let them know there is accountabil-ity software and a filter on the computer. 4. Get practical Proximity is the best accountability-place the family computer in a space in your home that is well trafficked. There is nothing like mom peering over the shoulder at the screen. Do not let your children have a computer in their bedrooms. Empower your kids through getting them re-sources that help them develop their stance against all the junk out there. Pick up some solid books for them and refer them to web-sites that will challenge and inspire them to be strong. Know the warning signs of inappropriate activity on the computer: - Late night Internet or TV sessions. - Defensive or angry when these issues are discussed. - Long periods of time on the Internet. - Withdrawal from friends or family. - Coarse sexual joking or slang.

- Unidentified media-CD’s, USB Drives or DVD’s from friends. - Secretive behavior. - Sleeping problems. Shut down any other way porn could come into your home. Cancel premium cable channels and, Oh yeah, if you have a porn stash, now is the time to burn it. You don't want your son or daughter to get into porn because of you. 5. Monitor social interaction on Internet - View Myspace, Facebook or other social net working pages regularly. - Ask your son or daughter to show you their pages regularly. - Set social networking standards for your children. For example, only allow them to be friends with those they know in real life, set time limits and limit their accounts to one social networking site, which will help you to stay on top of it. 6. Monitor peer-to-peer file sharing Millions of files are exchanged every day through peer-to-peer file exchanging or P2P. Understand that these programs have thou-sands of pornographic videos and images available. Major file sharing software: eDon-key, BitTorrent, Gnutella, Morpheus, Limewire, iMesh, Shareaza, Bearshare. For more info go to www.xxxchurch.com, click on the “Get Help” tab, then click on the “Parents” tab. That will give you a whole list of other websites, computer software, articles and books, etc. all geared towards fighting this pandemic of pornography. Well, I hope that this gets the ball rolling for you, and if you haven’t been engaged in this area, change that ASAP! PLEASE, DO NOT OVERLOOK THIS OR ASSUME THAT YOUR CHILD WOULD NEVER FALL PREY TO PORN! Fight for your children’s purity. If there is anything that I can do to help, please let me know. Pastor Jeff

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[un]common Summer Event Calendar [un]common will have a revised schedule for the summer as will Life Groups. Please make sure to check with your individ‐ual Life Group leader to find out what your group schedule will be. Below are listed some items that you may want to mark on your calendar along with dates that [un]common will not be 

meeting.  Summer here we come!! 

June 6 NO [un]common

June 13 [un]common 6pm

June 14 Trip to Mt. Olympus –WI Dells cost $20– sign-up by contacting the church

June 20 NO [un]common– Father’s Day

June 27 [un]common 6pm

July 4 NO [un]common– Independence Day!

July 11 Lake Wazeeha day

July 12-16 VBS– sign-up to volunteer!

July 18 Family Night at Clancy’s –NO [un]common

July 26-30 Summer Camp at Spencer Lake

August 1 Baptisms at Pazureks– NO [un]common

August 8 [un]common 6pm

August 15 [un]common 6pm

August 22 UNQUENCHABLE- [un]common at CLF

August 29 NO [un]common

Mark your calendars 

Details coming in next month’s Online!! 

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Men’s Breakfast................... June 12

50+ in Plover ..................... June 14

Patriotic Celebration......... July 3 & 4

VBS.................................July 12-16

Night at Clancy’s.................. July 18

Jr/Sr High Camp...............July 26-30

Baptism at Pazurek’s ..........August 1

Kid’s Camp...................August 9-13

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