ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH (ELCA)

WE ENVISION A WORLD FED AND LED BY GOD

"“FED AND LED BY GOD, WE LIVE AS A NEIGHBOR IN THE

WEST CENTRAL COMMUNITY, THE CITY OF FORT WAYNE,

AND ALL THE WORLD.”

729 W WASHINGTON BLVD. FORT WAYNE, IN 46802

PHONE 260.426.5751 FAX 260.420.9158

WEB SITE: WWW.STJOHNLUTH.COM OFFICE EMAIL: SJLUTH@STJOHNLUTH.COM

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

CHURCH OFFICE NEWS

Prayer Concerns/Prayer Request Guidelines Page 3

Free Water Giveaways/11 am Carry In/First Communion Classes/Looking for

VBS?/Brown Bag Bible Study

Page 4

From the Pastor’s Desk Page 5

Congratulations to Nicolas James Steed/Smith Academy Graduates/Thank You Page 6

St John Free Summer Free Movie Schedule Page 7

Who is My Neighbor? Synod Assembly Report Pages 8-11

Caught on Camera Around Church Pages 12-24

Thank You Page 25

July Baptism & Wedding Anniversaries/Milestones Page 28

CONGREGATION

Parish Nurse News Page 7

General Fund Summary for May Page 26

MISCELLANEOUS

LWR Health Kits Page 6

Volunteers Needed For St John Garage Sale Concession Stand Page 11

The Journey Update/Garage Sale News Page 25

LWR School Kits Page 26

ThreeRivers Festival Follow the Pipes Page 27

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PRAYER CONCERNS

We invite you to share your prayer concerns by calling the church office, 426.5751, or by filling out a green

Prayer Request Card (found in the pew-card holder) and giving it to an usher, placing it in the offering plate

or by placing it on the desk in the church office. Please indicate what you would like listed for prayers if you

would like it to be listed. If you or a family member goes into the hospital, please call the church office so we

are made aware of it as the privacy laws for hospitals do not always allow them to notify us thanks.

Linda Brown (health/Milt’s stepmother)

Steve Callender (healing)

Dan Carmichael & Family (health)

Donna Geisman

Peggy Greer (health/Stephanie Rhodes mother)

Dave & Sarah Harner Family (loss of home in

tornado/niece of Nancy Gebfert)

Ed Koppelmann (healing/Gregg’s dad)

Linda McGahey (health)

The family of Melvin Nickles (Billie Golden-

Fowlkes nephew)

Richard Platt (health/John’s brother)

Dale Rhoades (health)

The family of Scott Simpson Ron Timma (healing)

Art Ullom (healing)

CONTINUING CONCERNS: Clarence Bush (health/Vickie Brown’s father)

David Drake Esther Helmke

The Journey Alma Kable (health)

Gene Knoch (healing/strength to serve)

Dori Knoch (strength to cope)

Rose Ellen Marquart Laura Stegall (health)

Richard Trautman (health)

THOSE SERVING IN THE MILI-

TARY:

Aaron (relative of the Cobb/Johnson family)

Anthony Cutino (Fort Benning, GA/nephew of

Fran Gull)

Vince Cutino (Ft. Stewart, GA/nephew of

Fran Gull) Cody Gull (Army/Fort Benning, GA)

Lucas Kirkwood (Hawaii/Mike & Sherry

Mommer’s grandson)

Matt McGahey (Fort Collins, CO) David Offhaus (New Windsor, NY/nephew of

Pastor Paul)

Warren Rockett, (McConnell AFB, Wichita,

KS/nephew of Fran Gull)

Jonathon Strait (nephew of Linda McGahey/

Fort Huachuca, AZ)

Carter Vanworth USAF-Washington DC/Julia

Rieck’s nephew)

PRAYER REQUEST GUIDELINES

Immediate Concerns: A name will stay on for 4 weeks & will then be removed unless you advise us otherwise. You may also ask that we move a name to Continuing Concerns. Continuing Concerns: Except for our homebound members, a name will stay on for 6 months and then be removed unless you advise us otherwise. Please keep the church office updated by calling us @ 260-426-5751 or email sjluth@stjohnluth.com so we can keep the congregation updated!

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11 AM CARRY IN It’s time for our next one! On Sunday, July 7th, bring a dish to share and we’ll meet in 105 for a time of fellowship and worship planning. Our topic for the day will be singing. What are your favorite songs? Are there any songs we don’t sing you’d like to add to our regular rotation? Look for a survey soon during the 11 AM service and feel free to put favorite songs or requests on the tear-off portion of the Weekly anytime!

FREE WATER GIVEAWAY AT THREE

RIVERS FESTIVAL PARADE! Come on out to St. John at 9:45 a.m. on Saturday, July 13th, when we will gather at the church to walk the 3RF parade route to hand out FREE ice cold water to our (hopefully hot and thirsty) parade watchers. We should be done by 11:00 at the latest. These bottles of

water are given as a free gift, with no strings attached . . . just like God’s love shown us in Jesus! Call the office for more details or to reg-ister your interest in participating (426-5751). Donations of bottled water also are appreciated!

WEDNESDAY WATER GIVEAWAYS! Come on out to St. John at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 3, 17,

and 31, when we will gather to hand out FREE water to our (hopefully hot and thirsty) com-muters as they drive through downtown on their way home. All bottles are given as a free gift, with no strings attached . . . just like God’s love shown us in Jesus! Call the office for more details or to register your interest in participating (426-5751). Donations of 24 packs of water are ap-

FIRST COMMUNION CLASSES If you are interested in first communion classes for your child(ren), please contact the office at 426-5751 to let us know. Typically, St. John offers and gears these classed to 3rd graders, or thereabouts, but any aged child who has not yet had instruction in holy communion would be welcome—especially if your child has started to hold out her or his hand when coming up to communion. Classes look to be scheduled for August or September. Thank you!

LOOKING FOR A VBS FOR YOUR

CHILD(REN)? While St. John will not be offering its own Vaca-tion Bible School this Summer, plenty of area churches are. If you’re having trouble locating one for your child(ren), email Pastor Paul (pastorpaul@stjohnluth.com) for further help.

BROWN BAG BIBLE STUDY BREAK-

ING FOR THE SUMMER The Thursday Brown Bag Bible Study is on summer break. We will resume on Thursday, August 8th.

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THE POWER OF A PICTURE

You have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self,

which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.

+ Colossians 3:9b-10

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that is indeed true, this month’s newsletter has thou-sands upon thousands of words to tell you. Like last month’s newsletter, it is picture heavy, to say the least. This should come as no surprise, I suppose, from someone who has become known as “The Picture Pastor,” thanks to my penchant for recording (just about) every moment around church with my handy dandy cellphone camera. Where oh where would we be without those ever present cell-phones and all their accompanying technology? That is a question for another time, to be sure. But in this time, may you enjoy the pictures of summer captured within these pages—especially those from Confirmation Camp—and the stories they tell. If you had to pick a few pictures to tell the story of YOUR summer so far, what would they be? God’s Grace and Peace to you all,

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HELP. HELP. HELP.

LWR HEALTH KITS We are in need of items for LWR health kits. As of now, we have received 15 towels, 10 nail clip-pers, 5 wide toothed combs and 30 bars of soap. In order to send 50 (our goal) health kits to LWR, we need 100 bars of soap and 50 each of the oth-er items. Please think of these NEEDS as you are doing your weekly shopping. Kroger, Mei-jer, and Walmart carry all items needed, so you do not have to make special trip to the Mall. THANK YOU. Carol McLaughlin 260 410 9632. SMITH ACADEMY GRADUATES

Congratulations to the 2019 graduates of Smith Academy for Excellence (SAFE)! May God go with you in whatever next chapter of life awaits you in the months and years ahead!

CONGRATULATIONS TO NICHOLAS

JAMES STEED . . . . . . son of Jennifer and Ryan Steed (and little brother of Celeste!), who was baptized into the family and mission of God on Father’s Day / Holy Trinity Sunday, June 16th! Welcome to the family, Nicholas!

THANK YOU Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Greetings in the name of our Lord. I am writing to thank you for your prayers, as my husband and I have grieved our losses. He & I have lost five loved ones since April 1, 2018. Your prayers are appreciated and have made a difference. In His love, Stephanie Rhodes

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ST. JOHN SUMMER FREE MOVIE SCHEDULE This summer we will be offering two more films than during last summer’s inaugural season, includ-ing a blockbuster double feature to close out the summer on August 9th. Free popcorn and bottled wa-ter will be offered at all films. As time allows, there will also be 15-30 minutes of discussion after-wards. Here is the remaining schedule:

(All movies will be shown in the sanctuary.)

Wednesday, July 17, 7:30 p.m. – The Upside/PG-13 Thursday, July 25, 7:00 p.m. – Christmas in July! The Man Who Invented Christmas/PG-13 Friday, August 9, 7:00 p.m. – Double Feature Gal (as in Gal Gadot!) Power Blockbuster!

Captain Marvel/PG-13 Wonder Woman/PG-13

PARISH NURSE NEWS Preventing Heatstroke to keep your family and pets safe, develop a routine.

• Make a habit of looking in your vehicle-front and back - before locking the door and walking away.

• Place your phone, purse or briefcase in the back seat next to your child.

• Write a note or place a stuffed animal where you can see it to indicate your child or pet is in the vehicle.

• Teach children that vehicles should never be used as play areas. Lock your vehicle, and make sure kids don’t have access to your keys or remote entry device.

• If you see a child or pet alone in a vehicle, call 911 immediately.

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I-K SYNOD ASSEMBLY REPORT Barb and Steve Callender, Mike McGahey and Pastor Paul served as St. John delegates to the I-K Synod Assembly in West Lafayette, home of the Purdue Boilermakers—Boiler UP! Chris Walda also attended in his capacity as the Synod Treasurer. In addition, St. John youth Abigail Offhaus and Evan and Lauren Walda participated in the second Youth Leadership Summit for completed 8th through 12th grade youth. Here are some of their thoughts on the Assembly, along with (what else?) some pictures:

Some highlights include the speakers and what they talked about.

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We liked Pastors Tim and Sharon Taylor, who shared about labels we place on others and how detrimental that is. We played "The Label Game," where about 15 peo-ple each had a label placed on their forehead that gave those they greeted instructions on how to treat them. For example, 'smile at me' or 'hit me' or 'ignore me.' Then we as an assembly observed their interactions and we all processed the experience together During a subsequent workshop Pastors Taylor offered, they went deeper into the subject of labeling, including 'isms' we place on people that harm rather than help relationships. The crux of their presentation emphasized not judging another but rather talking with someone whom we may be in-clined to judge, asking questions and learning more about them. Another workshop St. John members attended spoke to the power of sharing and learning one another's story as a way of breaking down stereotypes and prejudices. Presenter Judith Roberts gave us a worksheet we could use to help with this storytelling. Pastor Mandy France shared about her experience on internship at a rural congregation in southwest Minnesota. Her story has been features in Liv-ing Lutheran and CNN, among other places. During internship . . . All together, the speakers really emphasized how we put people in a box and superficially judge them, without engaging in any meaningful conver-sation with them. Yet when we ask the Assembly theme question, "Who is my neighbor?" we find ourselves thinking outside the box and looking for ways to connect with others rather than judge or box in others.

We reflected some more on this as it related to our own context at St. John. We wonder how many people in our congregation don't come out to serve or share the Wednesday evening meal because they don't want to associate with or be around 'those sort of peo-ple.' We also realize that when West Cen-tral Coffee opens, we will have oppor-tunities to interact with a lot of people from the neighborhood, many of whom may well be very different from us in various ways--age, economic

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level, ethnicity, sexual orientation. The challenge before us will be to put aside those boxes and step out of our comfort zones to meet and interact with folk who are different from us.

Regarding West Central Coffee, we want to remember and emphasize that, while we own the build-ing, it is a joint space for the neighborhood, not solely for St. John members. We hope that future programming and space scheduling will reflect this. We would benefit as a congregation to have some training to help us identify how we label people and, more importantly, what specific steps we might take to get beyond the labels, stereotypes, and preju-dices to the very real people whom God loves behind them. This would be helpful for Sharing the Joy on Wednesday nights, at West Central Coffee and even on Wednesday mornings.

On the youth side, Evan and Lauren Walda and Abigail Offhaus participated in the I-K Synod Youth Leadership Summit, held concurrently with Synod Assembly. One topic discussed was the church’s role in politics. Highlights included a scavenger hunt where youth walked around campus looking for various important places, including John Purdue's grave, the fountain, the Campus Bookstore, and the Amelia Earhart statue (Amelia served as a career counselor and mentor to Purdue students, as well as an advisor to the Aeronautics Department, from 1935-1937). Evan, Lauren and Rachel Hampton (Pastor Marty Hampton’s daughter, above in gray sweatshirt and blue shirt) won this! They also learned about creating and expanding diversity in the ELCA and in our own congregation. They made prayer flags about peace and love. Rachel Kurtz, the assembly musician, was another

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highlight for our youth, along with a dance party. According to Lauren, the Purdue bookstore is fresh out of IU gear—imagine that! The youth stayed in Harrison Hall, one of the Purdue residence halls (see picture of the lounge), where Abigail (according to Lauren) drank a lot of soda and they had a pretty intense game of Exploding Kittens. Sounds like a good time was had by all!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR THE ST JOHN GARAGE SALE CONCESSIONS Money made from the garage sale will go to the youth. For any youth helping with the garage sale we will need at least one adult helping. Anyone young at heart is welcome to help out in concessions. We have several openings. The THREE Saturdays the garage sale will be opened 13th, 20th and 27th. We won't open concessions up until 10am on Saturdays unless anyone wants to come in when garage sale opens and we close at 5pm those days. Also, need filled Friday the 26th 6-9pm. Feel free to volunteer a few hours a couple of times or have your family cover an entire day. The concession stand is looking for donations of bottled water, Pepsi, Coke, Mountain Dew, named brand diet pop, and named brand caffeine free beverage. We are hoping to get donations from Thrivent to cover cost for everything else. Any questions please call or text Cheryl Kienzle at 260-385-1480 Thank you.

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CAUGHT ON CAMERA AROUND CHURCH

I&M ordered the removal of two trees on our property as they were encroaching upon the power ������������� ���������� �����������������������������������������������������������������

for many, especially those who enjoyed the tree’s shade over many a hot summer day or evening. #RIP

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Wade Prentice, one of our oldest members, contin-ues his faithful, often overlooked service of or-ganizing the many records St. John has in its walk in safe (behind him in this picture to the right). Here his latest unearthed treas-ures are church directories from the 60s and 70s. Thank you, Wade, for your labor of love!

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WHILE THE FOLLOWING PICTURES weren’t really around church, unless you consider greater Howe (i.e., Camp Lutherwald) around church, they are pictures from Confirmation Camp featuring our catechism students and other interesting camp activities (and people). Hope you enjoy them!

This year we combined once again with youth from St. John Lutheran/Celina, OH, where Pas-tor Paul’s seminary classmate, Pastor Jeff Gramza, is lead pastor. They brought nine youth. We also were joined by four additional youth from Trinity Lutheran/Moulton,OH (near Wapakoneta). It made for a nice sized group with plenty of positive interaction between the three churches.

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We had roughly two days of rain and cold, but also three days of sunshine. No matter what �� ���������������������������������� �������������������������������

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All the youth and adults in our group had their picture taken with the Jesus wall banner art in our meeting room at Kempski Lodge. May the Lord bless and keep you!

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Campers who received three or more pieces of mail (or a package) got to sing at dinnertime. Lucky you, Will!

Plenty of fun (and slightly crazy) games were played during the week. This one is “Oofer,” where the Oofer (left) ‘oofs’ the campers with a flour-filled sack of sorts, after which the campers must call out for the Hugger (right) to come give them a hug before their group can move on in their search for counselor signatures.

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Our overall theme for the week was the power of Jesus’ presence to transform our communities, based on Romans 12:2—2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your

minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Pastor Melodi of Trinity introduced us to Can-dle Time, in which groups of four met each day during Confirmation teaching time to share highs and lows and pray for and bless one an-other.

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We had chapel and/or campfire each night . . .

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Each night there is a special program, such as Romans and Christians or Outpost. Above is a picture from the Christ Walk night, where campers watched several brief vignettes acted out by the counselors about the life and ministry of Jesus.

The Rock Wall is a popular among the campers each year.

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So is the Mud Hike—although Pastor Paul has yet to participate!

(May these pictures also serve as an invitation to contribute to St. John’s Campership Fund, through which campers with financial difficulties can still attend and enjoy camp. We definitely use the money—it’s our policy as a church that no young person should be denied a camp experi-ence due to financial limitations. Each year we help with one or more families. Just use the white envelopes in the pews on Sunday/Wednesday or send a check to the office with “SJ Campership Fund” written on it. THANK YOU.)

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Hank and Charlene Schroeder were married at St. John 60 years ago on May 23, 1959. They were kind enough to share some of their pictures from their special day with us through their son, Randy, a child of St. John and currently an ELCA pastor serving St. Paul/Middlebury. Thanks, Hank and Charlene, and congratulations and God’s blessings on 60 years of marriage!

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Coffee Cafe Dining Room

Upstairs Apartment Kitchen

Main Living Area of Upstairs Apartment Looking Over Broadway

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THE JOURNEY UPDATE

501C3 status was approved and official docu-mentation was received December 2018. Our board continues to meet monthly at St John on the second Monday of each month at 7:00 PM. We have 10 board members currently. Joy Comes in the Morning, our first public fund-raiser took place at Sweetwater Sound on Satur-day May 11, 2019. Music provided by Davit Drew and Deoanique Gray. We had collected 24 silent auction sets and sold them all. Pastor Paul prayed over our meal and spoke at the event. 54 individuals were present. We were able to raise $4000. Our next step is to start looking for additional funding, learn the process of obtaining a house to be utilized as our residential facility, and to get all the details of our programing written out and ready to be used. Save the date: 2019 Holiday Shopping Extrava-ganza, Saturday December 7, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM St John Gym - Come shop for Christmas gifts. Thank you everyone for your continued support of The Journey.

Garage Sale!

Garage Sale!

Garage Sale! It’s that time of year again! Our annual Three Rivers Garage Sale is just around the corner! Our last Saturday drop off day is July 6th.

Dates & times of the sale are: Friday July 12th & 19th 6 PM — 9 PM Saturday July 13th & 20th 8 AM — 5 PM Sunday July 14th 12 PM — 5 PM This is a big job with big rewards for the minis-tries of our church! Consider donating a few (or more than a few!) hours to help sort, price, & stage items before it starts. Keep an ear out for phone calls and personal requests for help in var-ious areas of the sale during sale hours. You might even want to think about reaching out to someone coordinating an aspect of the garage sale and telling them to put you to work! You can talk to: Jay Heare - Chair Jane Gresham - adult clothes Cindy Witters, Linda McGahey, Bev Murphy, & Susie Manier - pricing Susan Steele - book room Windy Cobb-Johnson - kid’s room Susan Benesh - cashiers/baggers Cheryl Kienzle - concessions

THANK YOU To the Congregation of St John’s Lutheran: You recently added me to your prayer list at the request of my very good friend Bob Gebfert. It’s hard to believe that my heart transplant was 4 weeks ago already. I want to personally thank each and everyone of you for your prayers and support! There were many miracles along my journey that could only happen through God’s Grace and Your Prayers!! Prayers are powerful! Thank You! Art & Pam Ullom

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LWR SCHOOL KITS

It’s the midst of summer, so you know what that means – time to gather SCHOOL SUPPLIES! This year our goal for the Lutheran World Relief school kits is 150

complete kits. Each kit needs the following supplies:

• Four 70-sheet notebooks (280-300 sheets total) of wide- or college-ruled paper approxi-

������������ ����������-leaf paper

• One 30-centimeter ruler, or a ruler with centimeters on one side and inches on the other

• One pencil sharpener

• One pair of blunt scissors (safety scissors with embedded steel blades work well)

• ����������������������������������������������������������������������������

• ��������� ������������������������!��������� "������������������������������������

• One box of 16 or 24 crayons

• One 2½" eraser

Stores will soon have these items at their rock-bottom prices, so pick some up while you’re out getting groceries. If you are not a shopper, just drop a check, cash or SCRIP (preferably Walmart or Meijer) into a pew envelope designated to the LWR SCHOOL

KITS and we’ll do all the work for you. These kits go to all parts of the world where school is a precious opportunity. Let’s help to spread the gift of knowledge to children everywhere.

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JULY BAPTISM

ANNIVERSARIES 08: Diane Gebfert, Lauren Butler, Marcella

Nelson 09: Brian McGahey 15: David Bauch 16: Bonnie Shurboff 17: Dennis Robinson 18: Kamman Rieck 19: Steve Rieck 28: Jack Butcher 29: Carol Bosserman

CHURCH DIRECTORY CHANGES

Please make the following changes in your own personal Church Directories:

ADDRESS/PHONE ADDITIONS/UPDATES/CORRECTIONS:

A NEW ADDRESS/PHONE/EMAIL DIRECTORY IS DONE.

YOU CAN PICK ONE UP AT THE WELCOME CENTER.

CONTACT THE OFFICE IF YOU NEED ONE MAILED TO YOU.

MILESTONES Death: Scott Simpson - 5/30/19

JULY WEDDING

ANNIVERSARIES 01: Rick & Beth Braun - 45 Tim & Marsha Roth - 45 05: Eric & Cynthia Witters - 37 06: Cleveland & Jodi Inge - 37 08: John & Amera Platt - 51 13: Alan & Pam Bessey - 38 14: Robert & Nancy Gebfert - 50 Ronald & Neva Jean Stabler - 33 15: Kyle & Lori Paul - 06 22: Larry & Katie Barnard - 34 24: Terry & Sue Kienzle - 52 27: Jay Heare & Pete Newcomb - 05 30: Ken & Bonnie Shurboff - 40

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