Inside this issue:

Council Reports 4 & 5

Birthdays and

Anniversaries

9

Kid’s Page 10

August Stewards 11

Dear ORLC Family,

I remember as a lad when we used to sit around this old table. It was a for-mica topped table made out of particle board, and it had plastic sheathed legs with steel inner parts. The legs were attached to the table by means of braces that screwed into the under part of the table.

Now the particle board didn’t hold the screws very well. In fact on more than one occasion my father had to fix that table because the screws would get loose and the table would sway or rock ever so slightly. It had a sound all it’s own; a creak that was unmistakable. To this day I can still hear that sound in my head.

We couldn’t get a new table then. My father had given up being a farmer. We had lost a farm and lost our jobs at another due to the economy in the 80’s. He was now working as an insurance salesman for AAL and times were tight. In fact, I learned later that we never struggled as much nor had as little as we did then. A family of six kids, trying to live off of an insurance salesman’s salary and my mother going to school to be an art teacher.

That table was our table for a long time. I remember my brother Joel falling out of the high chair (with no straps or safety harness) and braining himself

Continued on page 2

Our Redeemer

Lutheran Church

August

2015

To Know Christ & To Make Him Known

2200 S. Western Ave. Sioux Falls, SD 57105

Phone: 605/338-6957

E-mail: office.ourredeemer@gmail.com

From Your Pastor

Cross Ties

Fundraising for the capital campaign seems to be going

well. $94,000 has been deposited into the special fund

through Meyer Financial Services. Thanks to everyone for

keeping up with their pledges and donations as we look for-

ward to build for the future by God's Grace.

Building for the Future By God’s Grace

on the edge of that formica table and cutting his nose open. He still has a scar from that table. I suppose we will always as a family carry a remembrance of that table for as long as Joel is alive even though the table has long since disappeared, probably lying in the bottom of a landfill somewhere; sad.

That table was surrounded by laughter and joy, arguments and intelligent debate. We shared stories and hope. That table was our algonquin round table, our high court of appeals and most importantly that table was our tent of meeting. It was the place where we as a family, not a church family but a nuclear unit shared the word of God and learned together. My father would let us take turns reading our devotion and then he would ask us a few specific and well thought out questions. Sometimes it was Por-tals of Prayer, sometimes it was Little Visits with God and sometimes when he wasn’t too tired from the day, my father would read aloud from my grandfather’s Bible which sits on my shelf in my office to this day.

It was the place where I first made my father laugh. It was the place I told my mother about my first love. It was the place where my father told us we were moving to a new city for new adventures. All the other places in our house were functional, a bedroom for sleep, a tv room to watch movies, a living room for sitting and talking, but this ta-ble, in this room...it made our home a home.

I want for you what I had because as poor as we were we never knew it nor did we feel at a disadvantage. We were rich in the one aspect of life that doesn’t depend on money or power. We were taught about Christ’s powerful love and his humbling compassion.

In all my dreams as a pastor I would hope this for you. Together we are going to learn the importance of a devotion time with your children and your family. I hope in the next four weeks to lay out the importance of having a family devotional time. I hope to give you tools for 21 days as well as videos and resources on the website. Taking the time or finding the time is going to be up to you but I promise my assistance and guid-ance. Perhaps you will find a table like mine that changes us from family into family.

In Christ,

Your Undershepherd Ryan A. Drevlow

From Your Pastor, continued from page 1

Jesus Christ

is the same

yesterday and

today and

forever.

Hebrews 13:8

Page 2 CrossTies

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Thank you to everyone who sent me well-wishes for my birthday. Not only has God blessed me with 90 years, but He has blessed me with a wonderful church family like you. God’s blessings!

Luella Buehner

FINANACIAL STATEMENTS

Offering statements for January—June are in your mailboxes. If you have any questions or notice any errors, please contact Dorene Cink.

Page 3 To Know Christ & To Make Him Known

The Grasshopper Lived

2015 Officers

Chairman:

Seth Leet

651-3818

Vice Chairman:

Ron Gjoraas

361-3343

Secretary:

Jeanne Toay

521-0864

Treasurer:

Kate Kielhold

940-6897

Head Elder:

Dr. Jason Henry

367-1918

Head Usher 8 am:

Tom Gaffer

336-0205

Head Usher 10:30 am:

Frank Thuringer

274-7416

Financial Secretary:

Dorene Cink

941-1267

Church Worker Rec.:

Norm Meyer

371-1716

Christian Outreach:

Jean McCarty

838-9583

Board of Education:

Jeff Clauson

357-7165

Stewardship:

Kara Rasmussen

830-1007

Finance Committee:

Deb Mohr

941-4909

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the One who died -- more than that, who was raised -- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Romans 8:31-34

The mother of a nine-year-old boy got a call from his teacher. Most of us know such a call is not a good thing.

Preparing herself for the worst, mom listened as the teacher explained: "Today I saw something unusual, and I wanted to tell you about it."

Those opening words didn't make mom feel any better.

The teacher continued, "Today in our creative writing class, I shared Aesop's story about the hard-working ant and the lazy grasshopper. I told them how when winter came the ant had enough, and the grasshopper asked for a handout. Then I asked the children to finish the story. Their an-swers were divided up into two main groups:

* The first group wrote, 'The ant shared and both lived happily ever after.'

* The second group had the ant saying, 'Sorry, Mr. Grasshopper, I only have enough for myself. If I share, we will both starve.'

The whole class gave one of those two answers. The entire class did that, except for your son. Your son ended the story this way: 'The ant gave all of his food to the grasshopper, and the grass-hopper lived happily ever after, but the ant died.'"

The teacher concluded, "At the bottom of his paper, your son drew a cross. I thought you'd want to know."

Great story, isn't it? That story is the unfinished story of every one of us. Obviously, we are the grasshoppers who have sinned and squandered our lives in pursuit of things trivial and trite. We realize the time is coming when we will pay for what we've done wrong.

The question is how will our story end?

ENDING 1: The first ending says you are on your own and you are going to die. That is the end-ing embraced by those who say there is no God, no sin, no condemnation, no heaven, and no hell.

ENDING 2: This ending is one embraced by most of the world's religions. They say if you work hard, if you try to do the best you can, maybe, just maybe, you might be all right. Of course, you can't be sure when you've done enough and when god is going to let you off the hook.

ENDING 3: This ending is unique to Christianity. Only Christianity says God came down and took your place under the Law. Only Christianity speaks of a Savior who endured hunger so we would be filled; went without an earthly home so we might have a heavenly home; suffered so we could be saved; died so we might live. Jesus took our place. Jesus gave up all so you might have all.

Only Christianity has the story end with us having our sins -- every one of our sins -- the worst, the most heinous, the most private and pathetic of our sins, forgiven. Only Christianity promises, with faith in the crucified and resurrected and ever-living Savior, we will live happily ever after.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks for the eternal security, which has been won for me through the life, death and resurrection of my Savior. May You be thanked for Your mercy, grace and sacrifice, which grant me eternal life. In His Name. Amen.

Taken from: http://www.lhm.org/dailydevotions/default.asp?date=20150725

Page 4 CrossTies

COMMITTEE ON PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS (COPC) The COPC met on Tuesday, July 14, 2015, with Ron Gjoraas and Dorene Cink present. We opened the meeting with prayer for persecuted Christians. Dorene read a letter from Interserve USA thank-ing us for our November donation. Our contri-bution for July will be sent to them for its “Serving the Unseen ¼” program. We discussed the upcoming “I Commit” confer-ence on July 25th. Ron will send a gentle remind-er email out urging the Council to attend. He will also ask Steph about using the church debit card to purchase materials at the confer-ence. Steph will send an email reminder to all members having email addresses. Ron will ask Pastor Drevlow to bring attention to the persecuted church at our August outdoor service. While we are freely praising God and listening to His Word in a public park, others not so privileged have to meet secretly in their homes to do the same thing, hoping and praying they will not be discovered by authorities or ter-rorist groups. After discussion, it was decided to add American Center for Law and Justice(ACLJ) to our list of organizations to receive our donations, which will be designated toward their Global Persecu-tion Initiative. They provide legal counsel in overseas courts for those imprisoned for their faith; they push Congress to cut aid to countries that allow persecution; they work every possible media channel to bring more awareness to Chris-tian persecution; they gain asylum for many Christian converts to keep them from being forced back to their Islamic homelands and fac-ing violent retribution for their newfound faith. The ACLJ is committed to vigilance in fighting for religious freedom at home and abroad. “. . .we will not rest until Christians are safe to practice their faith anywhere in the world.” – Jay Alan Sekulow, Chief Counsel

News (from “The Church Around the World” newsletter, July 2015) “Chinese Pastor Sentenced for Protesting Cross Removal “A Christian pastor in China has been sentenced to one year in prison for defending churches where Chinese authorities removed crosses from church property. The pastor, Huang Yizi, was convicted of ‘gathering crowds to disturb social order.’ “In July 2014, Huang joined with local residents to ask the government why more than 50 people were beaten when they tried to stop police from removing a cross at Salvation Church in Ping-yang. Huang’s congregation, numbering about 500 people, met at a government building after the clash to demand answers. Huang was then arrested. “According to reports, the government has re-moved several hundred crosses and even taken down some church buildings, claiming that they violated zoning policies.” “Anti-Christian Attacks Up 55 Percent in In-dia “The number of violent and nonviolent attacks against Christians in India has increased 55 per-cent since Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi be-came prime minister last year, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of India. “During a protest by religious minorities near India’s Parliament House, rights activist and Christian leader John Dayal said there were 168 acts of aggression against Christians during Modi’s first 300 days in power. That figure com-pares with 108 such cases in the 300 days before Modi took office. Dayal claims the actual num-ber of anti-Christian incidents is higher because many cases go unreported. “Incidents ranged from false accusations of for-

Church Council

I can do all

things

through him

who

strengthens

me.

Philippians 4:13

Page 5 To Know Christ & To Make Him Known

cible conversion to desecration of church buildings to violent attacks on Chris-tians. Other anti-Christian incidents included vandalism, burning and robbing church build-ings, burning Bibles, disrupting worship meet-ings and Christmas functions, beating pastors and evangelists, and stopping church construc-tion.” Finance Committee Report

The year end financial report was submitted to council. If anyone has any specific questions, you are welcome to contact a committee mem-ber. For general information, I would point out the following:

1. Our endowment funds have been taken out of the District CD’s and now invested in the Franklin Fund Investment Group.

2. Our Capital Campaign donations are being invested in Wilshire-TD Ameritrade Funds.

3.We are paying down on our loan with the district on the rental house. Our goal is to have that paid off by the end of our next fiscal year end–06/30/2016. Those extra monies to pay down debt are coming from our general fund now. Initially at the February voters’ meeting

we voted to transfer $27,861.94 from the current building fund (not the Capital Campaign fund) to pay down this debt.

4. Donations and expenses have generally been consistent.

5. Our major maintenance fund came from in-surance claims due to the hail damage. Our roof has now been repaired–those expenses showing in July.

6. We thank our outgoing treasurer, Kate Kielhold, for all her work during her term and wish her many blessings as she moves to Omaha to be near family. We welcome our new treasur-er, Mike Lafrentz, who is digging into the job and appreciate his time spent managing our ac-counts. We continue to thank Steph who does the bill paying and bookkeeping.

Finally, I would ask you to thank our God for all that which He dearly blesses us. All that we do is to His glory and we continue to pray for His guidance, love and support as we go forward.

We trust His direction.

Respectfully submitted,

Deb Mohr, Finance Chair

Church Council 2015 Officers

continued from page 3

Long Range Planning:

Bob Stevens

334-8338

SFLS Board Rep:

Steve Jastram

334-7020

LHSSF Board Reps:

Vaughn Meyer

334-0545

Parish Nurse:

Deb Mohr

941-4909

Trustees:

Chuck Eppe

270-9462

Tom Gaffer

336-0205

Tad Leonhardt

553-3434

Jared Gross

333-9606

Andrew Leonard

323-9560

Jim Wosje

413-8742

Volunteer Coordinator:

Deb Huntsinger

553-8552

Teacher Appreciation

What is a teacher, if not a mirror in which we perceive the divine image hidden in

the soul? What is a teacher, if not a sower of seed and a cultivator of young gar-

dens? What is a teacher, if not a shaper of souls and a guide who gently shows the

right path for the journey? What is a teacher, if not the most hopeful of dreamers,

who plants and nurtures and sees the bright destiny and harvest of the work even

when the student cannot? What is a teacher, if not a shepherd watching over the

flock and leading it to abundant pastures?

Dreamers and sharers of dreams, sowers of seed and guides who chart the way, mirrors of goodness and

shepherds of grace — it is for these teachers and this ministry that we give abundant thanks to God.

—Author unknown

Page 6 CrossTies

Vacation Bible School (VBS) 2015

Gangway to Galilee!

Brothers and sisters in Christ … we were blessed to be the stewards of a great ministry opportunity, to be gathered together in fellowship as the Body of Christ, and to be the vessels and instruments through whom God worked this last week during our VBS. Our VBS focus has histori-cally been and continues to be a strengthening for children and families who know Christ Jesus and an outreach to children and families who may not.

We had 40 children in attendance throughout the week as they learned about Jesus Calling His Disciples (Matthew 4:18-25), Jesus Teaching from

the Boat (Luke 5:1-11), Jesus Calming the Storm (Mark 4:35-41), Jesus Walking on the Water (Matthew 14:22-33), and Jesus Appearing to Seven Disciples (John 21:1-14). The children explore the Sea of Galilee and experience an adven-ture filled with God's Amazing Grace. Even the wind, waves, and some South Dakota summer heat could not keep kids away from the voy-age! The children would have an opening and closing together with music, crafts, lessons, snacks, and games in-between. Our fervent pray-er for those children and families who are in the faith is that they were strengthened and continue to grow in their faith life; and, for those chil-dren and families who are not in the faith that God’s Word would take root and grow in the children and families.

We tried something new this year by having a focused Bible Study and service project on-going during our VBS. After supper, we would begin our evening with a Bible Study related to the VBS lessons and then move onto our building activities. This year we built a boat from which Pastor taught the final lesson on Thursday evening on the Family Park lake. It was a great opportunity to grow together in God’s Word.

What will become of the boat? It is being donated to the Sioux Falls Lutheran School Hearts on Fire auction in sup-port of our Lutheran schools. The offering taken on our final evening is being used to support a water project and additional details will be published in the future.

Our VBS was a great success and we thank God for raising up faith-ful volunteers and supporters within our congregation. We are thankful for all of the prayers and support throughout the week! As we begin planning for next year, please prayerfully consider being involved with VBS. We are also looking forward expanding our Bi-ble Study and service project next year to involve more of the con-gregation. Thank you and God’s blessings!

Page 7 To Know Christ & To Make Him Known

I can do all

things

through him

who

strengthens

me.

Philippians 4:13

Evening LWML On June 24th five Evening LWML ladies (Sharon Miller, Heather Miller, Barb Ewoldt, Vicki Jastram & Tina Lenz) left for the National LWML Convention held in Des Moines, IA. They toured Mission Central in Schleswig, IA along with 2 bus loads of other South Dakota ladies on their way to the convention.

The Convention (approximately 4,800 participants) began Thursday morning with servant events. Our ladies were involved in tying fleece blankets, making greeting cards, marking Bibles for prison ministry, assembling Braille books and making pil-low case dresses for little girls in mission areas. In the afternoon we did a little sight-seeing and shopping in the Des Moines area.

The theme of the Convention was: Bountiful-Sow…Nourish…Reap. Thursday evening was the opening worship service filled with a wonderful message, beautiful singing and the sharing of Communion.

Many women processed in carrying corn seeds in their hands which were planted in a large wooden cross display by the stage. Each day the planter boxes were changed to show the progression of corn plants growing…Sow-Nourish-Reap. On the final day of the convention the corn had been harvested filling buckets with overflowing bounty. The theme was to show how God plants His seed of faith in our lives and how we are nourished by His Word and grow. We too are able to help so many oth-er people of God’s creation through the collection of our mites.

Many sessions, speakers, singing and presentations took place on Friday and Satur-day. The delegates voted to adopt a 2 million dollar budget from now till 2017. Nineteen mission projects were voted on which will receive the mites collected dur-ing this time.

Sunday morning the concluding worship service took place. Patti Ross of Tulsa, OK was elected as the new LWML President. She will serve from 2015-2017. We also were able to see Pastor Morfitt and his wife Karen who were working at the Conven-tion.

Attending a National LWML Convention was such a blessing! The next national convention will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah in the summer of 2017!

A Broken Body...

The video for “Broken Together,” a contemporary Christian song

by Casting Crowns, features a married couple struggling through a

lifetime of faults and failings. But the song’s message applies to

church families, as well, according to lead singer Mark Hall.

Instead of trying to appear perfect and put-together on Sundays, he

says, Christians need to be real with one another in an honest,

“broken together” community.

“In community,” Hall says, “we can tear the plastic off and just be ourselves. We can say,

‘You know what, we don’t have it all together at our house, and it’s kind of a mess. But

Jesus lives in this mess, and he’s walking with us through it.’”

CrossTies Page 8

Stewardship Busyness is the new black. It’s stylish. We spend an inordinate amount of time comparing how busy we are with everyone else. We compare our schedules, our kid’s schedules, how produc-tive we are and how much we have because of it to everyone around us. And if we don’t do or have what the next guy does or has, we just get busier and produce more so that we can.

This consumes our conversations and thoughts. And this should give us pause: Who is con-suming whom, here? Are we the consumer or are we those consumed? It’s no accident that our adversary the devil is described as a lion prowling around seeking to devour us, to consume us. He gives us the liturgy of this world, the liturgy of productivity and consumption. For if he can keep us busy in “muchness” and “manyness,” he can be satisfied.

And this is why the Lord, after finishing all His work of creation, rested on the seventh day. This is why He established the Sabbath day—to give His people rest from all their work. As they rested, He continued to work for them, to satisfy them, to fill them with His gifts—food from heaven by His Word and Promise.

That day came when from our Lord's cross and in His death, He proclaimed, "It is fin-ished" (John 19:30). And so His work of redemption was complete. And so His body rested in the tomb, the belly of the earth. Though He is the Lord God who always works, yet as the Lord rested on the original Sabbath, now Jesus kept the Sabbath by resting in the tomb and rising from the dead to live forever. For this is why He came. This is why He became man: to draw all to Himself so that He could give rest and refreshment to the weary and the heavy laden.

The Sabbath is a gift, not a burden. It is a gift of time free from the liturgy of this world, the liturgy of productivity and consumption. Sabbath is time for rest and refreshment, a time free from anxiety to enjoy the gifts God gives, all of them—His Word, His Promises, His Sacra-ments, His creation, everything. It is a foretaste of the rest we shall enjoy in heaven.

Sadly for many of us rest has become work. It’s become drudgery. We long for it but we aren’t able to do it because there’s so much to be done and so little time to do it. But really what’s the rush? Why are we so hurried and harried? Have we forgotten that Jesus is raised from the dead and lives forever?

Sabbath is God's gift of time free from all of the anxiety and hurry of this world so that we can rest, be refreshed by the gifts God gives. Society won't do it for us. They are addicted to the liturgy of productivity and consumption. Though we are in the world, we are not of it. We are the people of God, His own children by water and Word, joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus lives. And so shall we. So rest in the promise of our Savior that sin, death, and time have not hold on you because Jesus is raised from the dead. Jesus lives. And so shall we, forever.

Taken from: http://www.lcms.org/stewardship/resources

June Financial Information

June Expenses: $38,170.40

June Receipts: $36,666.11

Page 9 To Know Him & To Make Him Known

To Know Christ & To Make Him Known

God’s Blessings to:

**Note: If we missed your birthday or anniversary,

or have the wrong date, please call the church office and let us know!**

August Birthdays:

McKenzie Perry 8/5

Chloe Sheridan 8/5

Lexus Larson 8/8

Robert McDaniel 8/8

Kyla Floyd 8/9

Stephanie Shoup 8/9

Dawn Klumper 8/10

Marley Scheidt 8/10

Danielle Eppe 8/13

Lori Sterling 8/13

Seth Leet 8/17

Rachel Cressy 8/18

Brooklynn Gross 8/20

Cindy Stanga 8/21

Vicki Jastram 8/22

Caleb Waldner 8/22

Brock Eppe 8/24

Debra Strasser 8/25

Blanche Gjoraas 8/26

Robert Graham 8/28

Abigail Eppe 8/29

Felicia DeHaan 8/30

Bonnie Ellis 8/31

Charles Stanga 8/31

August Anniversaries:

Duane & Mary Henry 8/1

Kenneth & Orlene Eichhorn 8/10

Michael & Valerie Voigt 8/12

Stephen & Deborah Neumeister 8/14

David & Jean Olson 8/14

Donald & Jean Hennies 8/17

Justin & Dawn Ver Hoeven 8/26

Vaughn & JoAnn Meyer 8/28

Norbert & Janet Griebel 8/29

Frank & Kimberly Thuringer 8/29

Roger & Kathryn Lueth 8/30

CrossTies Page 10

Kid’s Page

“I thank God

every time I

remember

you”

Philippians 1:3

Page 11 To Know Christ & To Make Him Known

Elders:

Jason Henry

A-Cl

376-1918

Bob Berg

Cm-F

767-0371

Steve Neumeister

G-He

371-1094

Mike Clemens

Hf-Ki

338-7083

Bryan Eden

Kj-M

338-5971

Tim Eden

N-Pe

360-0747

Chuck Stanga

Pf-Sg

373-1017

Rod Lenz

Sh-Th

977-3705

Ed Harmdierks

Ti-Z

350-4455

Date 8 am Service 10:30 am Service

August 2: Greeters: Cal & Donna Neumeister

Organist: Kathy Smith Kathy Smith

August 9: Greeters:

Organist: Kathy Lueth Kathy Lueth

August 16: Greeters:

Organist: Kathy Smith Kathy Smith

August 23: Greeters:

Organist: Rev. Howard Shane Rev. Howard Shane

August 30: Greeters:

Organist: Kathy Lueth Kathy Lueth

Ushers: 8 am Service 10:30 am Service

Ron Gjoraas

Chuck Eppe

Communion

Ware:

Beth Dobbs &

Blanche Gjoraas

Esther Schladweiler &

Phyllis Joyce

Altar: Charlotte Bradwisch & Jean Olson

Funeral Co-Chairs: Heather Miller, Dori Sterling, & Marlys Bultje

Offering Stewards: Ella May Kelly, Seth Leet, and Chuck & Cindy Stanga

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church

2200 South Western Avenue

Sioux Falls, SD 57105