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Active in Faith

January 2016

Monthly publication for members and friends of

Faith Lutheran Church 4005 Palm Drive, Punta Gorda, FL 33950

941-639-6309 faithmin88@embarqmail.com

Pastor: Rev. Dana Alan Narring, MDiv

Mission and Vision Statement:

Empowering All People to Know Jesus Christ!

Weekly Bible Studies

Monday 10:30 –Women’s Bible study, “Encouraged in Heart” by Dr. Mary

Hilgendorf. Classes will resume January 18.

Wednesday 6:00-7:30 — “What is Lutheran?” 5 week session class

begins on January 6.

Thursday – 10:30 to 11:30 AM – Pastor Clyde’s Thursday Bible class:

Studying the life of Moses

Worship Services

Saturday 5:30 Praise and Worship Service

Sunday 9:30 Worship Service

January 1

New Year’s Day

January 18

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

January 6

Epiphany of our Lord

January 10

Baptism of our Lord January 17

New!

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Greetings in this New Year! How did you do with your resolutions for the year 2015? About the same as for other years? Can you even re-member what those resolutions were? Why do we struggle so much with resolutions? Is it because they are not realistic? Is it because we try to do it completely on our own without any outside help (even from God)? Failure is one of the biggest disappointments in life. Is it possible to start over successfully? As we enter into this New Year we have another opportunity to start over. Having the privilege of starting over is one of the things in life that gives us hope and courage as we look to the future. As we take down our 2015 calendars and replace them with 2016 calendars we really can start over. In Romans 12:12 (NIV) the Holy Spirit gives us some great ingredients for a really good New Year’s resolu-tion. The encouragement is to “be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer.” Life would be so sweet if everyone could adopt and live out those three pieces as a New Year’s resolution. “Be joyful in hope” should be pretty easy for Christians because our hope is in Christ and “that hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” (Romans 5:5 NIV) “Be patient in affliction” can be considerably more difficult because we do not like affliction. Who of us likes to be mistreated by people who are rude, inconsiderate and downright nasty? Where can we get the strength to be patient in affliction? It takes a giant transformation to behave so nicely when afflicted? Our comfort is that the power to do that does not come from within us, but from outside of us. When we were baptized “we were buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:4 NIV) No one in the history of mankind had to deal with as much affliction as Jesus, our Savior! And He did it out of love for us so that we do not have to fear eternal affliction! “Faithful in prayer” keeps us in touch with God--Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus spent entire nights in prayer with His Father in heaven so that He would have the strength to carry out His mission of dying for sin-ners so that they might have the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Prayer is an excellent way to stay in touch with God and His love and power. How does this threefold resolution make a difference in our lives and the lives of those around us? It does be-cause the Holy Spirit is at work within us to make us more and more the children of God. As children of God we seek to do the same things that give Him such delight. John 3:16 tells us that God delights in loving and giving. God has entrusted us with all of life and life’s resources and desires that we manage them wisely according to His purposes. Loving and giving are at the heart of Christian stewardship. May God bless us all as His stewards in this New Year of 2016! Pastor

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Wandering Editors’ Note

It is still Christmas and let it be Christmas everyday. May the joy and peace

of Christmas dwell in your hearts each day. There are many “thank you”

notes this month. Many people volunteered in various activities during De-

cember. Look for ways you can volunteer in January.

Terry and Naomi Weslock

Editors

The Immeasurably More Program will soon be in full swing! You

have heard a lot about this program and will be hearing a lot more in

the next couple of months. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could re-

duce or even eliminate our debt so that we can have the money to

do more for Jesus? By taking care of this debt, we can work on

bringing just 1% more of the people in the Punta Gorda area to

know Jesus.

Mark March 13 on your calendar as this will be our pledge Sunday.

This pledge will be for a three year commitment and every penny

that is collected will go straight to the principal on our mortgage which in turn will continue to re-

duce our payments. Pray that the Lord will continue to guide us as we move forward.

Thank you for all the volunteers who took the time to ring the bell for the Kettle Drive. All

the donated money will benefit those in need in Port Charlotte county. Here are few of them.

Ralph and Kathy Winkler

Changing of the

guard: Dick Young to

Naomi Weslock

A young man gave a Galorade

bottle more than half full to the

Weslocks. He explained to Terry

that when he was homeless the

Salvation Army sheltered and fed

him. Now each year he saves

change for the Kettle Drive.

Left:

Esther

Evittes

Right:

Carolie

Brockmiller

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SMALL GROUPS WILL BE STARTING THIS MONTH

This year we will be basing our discussions on the booklet Jesus’ “I

Am” Words. Books will be available for purchase beginning the

weekend of January 9/10 in the Narthex/Lobby of the church. The

cost will be $5 for each book. Check out the poster in the narthex.

If you are NOT already in a group you can either sign up by the

poster in the Narthex or you can call Cheryl Kampa at 239-994-

6455.

If you are already in a group please contact your leader for

information as to when your group will begin meeting.

SENIOR VBS

Our 3rd

Senior VBS is scheduled for Saturday, March 12, 2016.

Mark your calendars and look for more information in February.

Thank you to MC Larry

Berkel who did a great

job, especially during his

humorous comments

regarding Chef Jason's

history during his intro-

duction of other chefs and committee

helpers for a great Christmas event!

The dinner was excellent, well orga-

nized and the food was prepared to perfection.

The evening closed with Tish Pannozzo

leading us in a few Christmas carols. The

surprise of the evening was the duet by Pastor

Eugene Krentz and Bob Trapp who sang

“Silent Night” in German.

Board of Education

MA

R. 1

2. 2

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Terry Weslock

Chairperson

Board of Fellowship

Betty Pio and Carolie Brockmiller

Co-chairpersons

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Lutheran Women’s Missionary League

Serve the Lord with gladness. Psalm 100:2

Faith Quilters

We continue to meet in the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays from 9:15 – 11:15. Our

numbers are small and we need your help to continue doing the work of The

Lord. If you can tie a knot, you can help us! Men are welcome, too.

Arlene Wells

Naomi Weslock

President

Please keep Sam Fink, our adopted seminarian, in your prayers as

he studies for the ministry at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

Thank you to all at Faith who baked cookies for the LWML Cookie Walk

and donated Christmas decorations. The LWML received over $1000,

which will be used for missions selected by LWML.

Dates to remember: Jan. 20, 2016: Meeting at 10:00 and lunch out. More details will be given at a later date. Feb. 6: Flea Market (Set up Feb. 1-5) Feb. 17: Meeting Mar. 16: Meeting

April 16: Spring Zone Rally at Faith, Parish April 20: Meeting Nov. 2: Meeting Nov. 19 Fall Zone Rally at Faith, Punta Gorda

Few of our helpers: Jo Waterman,

Joyce Weiner, Margret Andrews and

Bev Winslow, the chairperson.

This year under the direction of Doris Hinze we

added a new feature: sale of used Christmas items.

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Virginia Bowden 1/2

Elizabeth Hustman 1/3

Eugene Mayer 1/4

Dee Lallmann 1/7

Patricia Koll 1/8

Michael Cope 1/11

Linda Volz 1/11

Harv Sterriker 1/13

Deanna Suckow 1/18

Carole Thalacker 1/20

Dana Narring 1/21

Kathi Pollock 1/22

Don Cavallini 1/23

Janis Hubell 1/23

May Gossett 1/27

Joan Gregory 1/28

Jim Kolka 1/28

Carmen Vosberg 1/28

Lorraine Wulff 1/29

Samuel and Janet Jackson 1/1 (55 yrs.)

Richard and Patricia Koll 1/2 (61 yrs.)

William and Pat Davis 1/9 (51 yrs.)

Bruce and Connie Frilstad 1/9 (34 yrs.)

Richard and Pat Fasnacht 1/21 (61 yrs.)

Susan and I thank

all of you for your prayers, cards, and

gifts at Christmastime. This is been a

wonderful first Christmas together.

God bless you in the New Year!

Pastor

With help of many

volunteers, the narthex

and the sanctuary were

decorated. During the

summer months the

chrismons were made by

the altar guild. Mike

Turkel climbed the ladder

and said, “Terry Weslock

is at the bottom to catch

me on the second

bounce.”

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Date Ushers Reader Elder

January 3 Bob and Gladys Manley, Bev Shutter, Jackie

Saeger

Kay Oetting

Pete Daut

January 10 John and Lois Arens, Phil and Ro Miller

John Arens Ralph Winkler

January 17

Bill and Beverlee Winslow, Barbara Johnson,

Cheryl Kampa Bill Winslow Roger Thalacker

January 24

Larry and Marcia Berkel, Dave and Shelly Cope

Larry Berkel Ken Johnson

January 31

Dick Young and Sam Jackson, Terry and Naomi Weslock

Naomi Weslock

Larry Berkel

January Ushers, Readers and Elder Schedule

Unless indicated the Saturday ushers are Dick and Sandy Lehman and the reader and

elder is Dick Lehman.

View weekly announcements and calendar at: www.faithlutheranpg.com

The church’s office email address is: faithadmin88@embarqmail.com

Church office hours are 9am-2pm Monday-Friday

Deadline for February newsletter is January 22

Please e-mail all announcements, articles and photos to wanderingweslocks@netzero.com

Editor will reserve the right to proofread and edit all articles for the monthly newsletter.

Time to clean out our closets and garage!

Start your new year with a clean start.

Faith’s annual Flea Market is February 6.

We also can use baked goods, pies,

nut breads and cookies.

Please bring your items to Zalman Hall during the week

of February 1 -5 during the office business hours.

Come and find your new treasures on February 6.

Flea

Market