408 Ninth Street NW

Mandan, ND 58554

FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH

Phone: 701-663-3594

Fax: 701-663-6217

E-mail: jackie@firstlutheranofmandan.org

Building Faith and

Transforming Lives

in Christ.

www.firstlutheranofmandan.org

We’re on the web!

Matthew 13:3-9

3And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9Let anyone with ears listen!"

My cousin Norm Hanson was born to be a farmer. He wore out his toy metal tractors and diggers faster than any other kid in Divide County. My grandpa took him for rides on his old John Deere Model 70 before he could walk and that ‘putt putt’ sound has stayed in his ears ever sense. He loves machinery, dirt and seeds. Norm is always in the field by April 15th or so north of Epping planting his seeds into earth ready to give birth to life again. He has not ‘hit the dirt’ so to speak yet this spring as the frost is not completely out of the ground and he has been getting stuck. The soil temps are not up to where they need to be yet as of today (April 16th). The planting season will soon be underway though and Norm will be a happy camper.

The gospel writer Matthew shares with us Jesus parable of the sower. The sower that Jesus tells us about also had to deal with variable conditions. He was eager to plant, but the seed didn’t always have ideal conditions for growth. Jesus is speaking here of the seed of faith that is planted in us. Will it grow? Are we a fertile seed bed ready to receive this gift of life? Do we pay no attention to our faith life, never nurturing our spirit? Do we have faith when life is going well but bail out on God when the going gets tough? Do the daily demands of life make us put our faith life in the back seat or on the shelf? Jesus illustrates the difficulty of growing seeds, of nurturing faith, in this little parable.

As you receive this newsletter, Easter Sunday will have passed. The ham will have been eaten, the Easter eggs found. We will go back to our regular routine. The danger is that we go back to being Good Friday people, not Easter people. The danger is that we become fearful again, of living in a crazy world with thorns all around us, with the demands of life making us forgetting what the resurrection of Christ means for us.

Summer will come, seeds will be planted, harvest will gather in again the fruit of the earth. This spring, let the seed of faith and new life be planted in all of us. May we be a fertile seedbed, ready to receive this gift of life, that the gift of life given to us in faith will make a difference in how we live in the world. Have hope!

Pastor Lee

May 2015

Administrative Pastor

Rev. Lee Herberg

663-3594

Associate Pastor

Rev. Christina Martin

663-3594

Administrative Assistant &

Coordinator of Lay

Ministries

Jackie Schulz

663-3594 (o)

663-3082 (h)

Custodians

Ron & Mavis Watson

Financial Administration

Jennifer Scheet

First Lutheran Is A Mission

Partner with Camp of the

Cross Ministries

First Lutheran

Staff

First Lutheran Church

May Newsletter

PAGE 2 FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH May 2015

Attention Senior Parents: We mailed a letter out to you on April

20th regarding the Senior Recognition Service that will be held on

Sunday, May 17th at the 10:45 A.M. service. Seniors will also need to

have your picture sent to the church before 5:00 P.M. on Friday, the 8th

of May. Please send the picture to jackie@firstlutheranofmandan.org.

We want to THANK everyone who has helped us

with LAF (Lunch at First) this school year. We

have fed approximately 420 kids every Thursday!

This ministry is such an important part of our

church, and we are grateful to everyone who has

helped us keep it going. We would love to have

you come check out this awesome event here at

First Lutheran. Come down any Thursday and

join us!

Heads Up

For June, July & August our worship

times will be Sundays at 9:30 A.M. &

Wednesday’s at 6:00 P.M. We will not

have coffee hour during the summer

months on Sundays.

FLOCK YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, TEACHERS...OUR

FLAMINGOS NEED A GOOD YARD!

A flock of pink flamingos may visit your yard! The youth going on the mission trip

will conduct it's second annual pink flamingo fundraiser. We have many lovely

pink flamingos that are ready to migrate around Bismarck/Mandan. A gorgeous

flock of 10 flamingos will be $20.00. However, if you do not wish to see a flock of

pink flamingos in your yard EVER you may buy anti-flocking insurance for only

$10.00. To find out who flocked you will be $10.00 and if you would like a special

sign made that is an extra $10.00. Please see the youth sitting in the narthex to

purchase your lovely flock to send to someone or insurance starting May 2nd. This

event will end on May 20th so HURRY and purchase your flock right away!

We Need Your Hospitality!!!

We are looking for places for Camp of the Cross staff to stay. You would provide them with a place to

sleep and breakfast. I am hoping to get at least two homes. The dates are June 7th-11th.

Sunday night through Thursday for lodging.

I am also looking for four different families to provide them dinner. You would sign up for one

night's dinner during the week. It could be a home cooked meal, a crock pot meal at church, or you can

take them to eat at your favorite local place.

Monday through Thursday for food.

Please Contact Pastor Chris if you have questions or are interested.

PAGE 10 FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH MAY 2015

Mark Your

Calendar…

7th: LAF - Chef's Choice

14th: LAF - Grilled Hot

Dogs (Served outside ~

weather permitting)

Upcoming Events

Happy Mother’s Day to all our

moms at First Lutheran

Church!

VBS is gearing up!!

Camp of the Cross will

be here with us for

VBS this year!!

All 5 year olds - 5th graders are invited to

First Lutheran’s VBS on Monday, June 8th

through Friday, June 12th.

You can register online on the First

Lutheran Website under the Registration

Page tab.

We need some adult volunteers to help out.

If you are interested or have questions,

please talk to Pastor Christina.

Please watch for more information in next

month's newsletter.

PAGE 4 FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH MAY 2015

Sunday ~

8:30 am ~ Traditional

10:45 am ~ Contemporary

9:30 am ~ Coffee

Wednesday ~

6:00 pm ~ Transitional

Worship Schedule

Special Thanks

Thank you to all the greeters, ushers, communion servers,

readers, communion set-up, coffee hour workers, and to all

who have supplied goodies for the last month. Your help is

greatly appreciated!

Baptisms:

April 12 Bennett Lee Kunrath

April 26 Gabriel James Fox

Weddings:

April 25 Michael Acton & Randi Jo Olsen

Funerals:

April 10 Gerald "Red" Hambrick

April 17 Matthew Geiger

Memorial Fund

Pastoral Acts

In memory of Marie Fetzer given by Russ & Jan

Grabinger.

In memory of Gerald Hambrick given by Ernie &

Anita Seeman.

In memory of Sally Christl given by Dave & Kathy

Kottsick, Jim & Donna Miller, Ken & Lois Helmer,

Sheryl Kindsvogel, Cheryllyn Schmidt, Rosalie

Svihla, Kaye Holliman, Alice Schwartzbauer &

family, Jerry & Bev Ressler, LaVerne Haag &

family, Ray & Marlene Pulkrabek, Ken Charvat,

Elda Charvat, Clem & Cindy Nelson

Deadline for

articles for the

June/July

Newsletter will be

May 22nd.

May~ Mission of the Month

Camp of the Cross Ministries

Items needed are Food, Crafts, Paper Goods, Office

Supplies, & Miscellaneous Items. You may put your

items in the boxes in the Narthex. Thanks!

PAGE 9 FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH MAY 2015

PAGE 8 FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH MAY 2015 MAY 2015 FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH PAGE 5

First Lutheran Church Council Minutes

Thursday, March 19, 2015 7:00PM

Present: Pastor Lee Herberg, Pastor Christina Martin, Vice-President Jill Miller, Secretary

Jessie Hilfer, John Pake, Rynell Rusch, Jeff Bradford, Tim Faller, Dot Frank, and Brock

Schmeling

Absent: President Den Na Lee Fewson

Devotions: Pastor Lee led devotions.

Vice-President Miller called the meeting to order.

Approval of Agenda: Moved by Jeff, seconded by Dot to approve the agenda. Motion passed.

Secretary’s Report/Review and Approval of the minutes: Tim and Rynell noted their

names were spelled incorrectly, should be Faller and Rynell Rusch. These will be corrected.

Moved by Tim, seconded by John to approve the February minutes as amended.

Financial Report/Review: Pastor Lee reviewed the financial report for February. February

income is up compared to last year. LAF is feeding more and costing less this year due to

negotiated pricing and bulk purchasing from some vendors. New van tires were paid for by

undesignated memorial fund. Dot questioned the water and sewer charges that were

considerably higher usage from last month. Pastor Lee will have the building checked for a

leaky toilet or faucet.

Unfinished Business:

Policy and Procedure Manual: Pastor Lee asked if there were any other changes to the

policy and procedure manual up to the administrative section. There are none at this

time. Jill asked about church school leader surveys and confirmation requirements.

NEW BUSINESS:

Pastor Lee discussed the Lent midweek services. We are in a round robin again this

year as there was not a quorum for the January meeting following the annual meeting so we

were not able to have our mid-week services focus on our five ministry teams as council had

discussed in December.

We looked through the 2013 Strategic Plan. During the recent boiler inspection we were

told we need to do something different by the inspector. The church spent about $18,000 last

year in boiler repairs and another $1600 recently. The boiler is only running at 60% efficiency.

For April meeting we will have a retreat from 6-9:30 to focus on Stewardship and

Property and Management brainstorming for short and long planning and how we are tracking

with the 2013 Strategic Plan. Jessie will provide the meal courtesy of Buehler-Larson Funeral

Home.

REPORTS:

Pastor Lee’s report – 5 baptisms, 0 funerals, 0 weddings, and February communion

services at Library Square II and the Sanford Care Centers; still mentoring Bill Dodd

with weekly meetings.

Pastor Chris’s report – 2 baptisms, 1 funeral, 0 weddings, and is working on plans for the

National Youth Gathering

Special Events – Lenten meals. We discussed meals, continuing them, and options for

meals to draw a larger crowd and donations.

Stewardship – No report.

Worship – Easter service times remain the same. 7:00 A.M. Sunrise Service is youth led;

9:00 A.M. Traditional Easter Festival Service; 11:00 A.M Contemporary Easter Festival

Service. Pastors from different ELCA churches will be delivering sermons during our

mid-week Lenten services.

Parish Education/Youth – Lenten suppers started with Ash Wednesday and any money

will be contributed to the Detroit mission youth trip. Easter lily sales are down. Butter

braids are also being sold to help fundraise for the Detroit mission trip. 7:00 A.M. Easter

Sunrise Service is youth led. Also the youth are doing the Easter breakfast and pizza

kits. May will start the Flamingo flock! Augsburg has a new confirmation curriculum

and a church school curriculum to keep the older kids engaged. The online church school

registration is also being updated.

Evangelism and Outreach – No report.

Property and Management – Need to have the retaining wall looked at. Jill Miller will

talk to her neighbor, a landscaper, to see if they are available to look at it.

CORRESPONDENCE:

Golden Age Services: Thank you for the $80.46 donations for Home Delivered Meals

program.

Motion to Adjourn/Lord’s Prayer:

Moved by Brock, seconded by Dot to adjourn the council meeting. Motion passed. The

meeting closed with the Lord’s Prayer.

Submitted by: Jessie Hilfer

PAGE 6 FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH MAY 2015