First Evangelical Covenant Church, Superior, WI Fall 2017

Welcome to the Re-Launch of our church newsletter! You can expect to see one of these coming out every quarter so that you can keep tabs on all that’s going on in our church community and catch a glimpse of the work that God is doing through us as we seek to be a blessing to our neighborhood and to the broader community of Superior.

We’ll have some “usual” church newsletter kinds of items (calendars, letters from the pastor, recipes, etc.) but we’d also love to have your contributions! If you have something to share, please contact Sally Thompson or Sandy Petzold and we’ll see about including it in our next edition. If you would like to be part of getting this newsletter published, we’d also be happy to have the help!

The Scoop �1

Coming this Fall

Fall Kickoff Block Party! September 10 at 11:30am. Be sure to come out as we invite our neighbors to join us for pulled pork sandwiches, music, fun, and fellowship. Gather for prayer and setup at 10:30am.

Jr. High Hangout. Details are still in the works, but we are planning to open up the church on Wednesdays to students from the Middle School as a safe space to burn off some energy, get some homework help, have a snack, build some positive relationships, and generally have a good time. Let us know if you can bring treats or help supervise on occasion!

Parents-Kids Group. Details are still in the works, but we are planning to open up the church for parents of small children to come together for fellowship and play!

His Kids. His Kids will be back on Wednesday evenings this fall! Stay tuned for a start date and for ways that you can participate!

T H E S C O O P Love God | Love Neighbor | Make Disciples

First Evangelical Covenant Church, Superior, WI Fall 2017

The Scoop �2

Dear Sisters and Brothers,In Jeremiah 29:7, God speaks to his People who are exiled in Babylon, telling them to “seek the good of the city to which I have carried you.” God told them to pray for its peace and prosperity, because if the city would prosper, so would God’s People.

The point of this charge wasn’t wealth or affluence, yet it was a very tangible, material command, rooted in the physical reality of the world and God’s promise to Abraham that his family would be blessed and be a blessing to the world! And it was about being present and living where God had placed them rather than dwelling on dreams of “somewhere else” (in this case, the land of Israel).

Friends, it’s sometimes easy to get so caught up in “spiritual” concerns or so focused on taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth, that we forget to do the hard work of seeking the good of our own place. Maybe it’s because it feels so…ordinary. Or maybe it’s because it demands vulnerability! (It can be a whole lot easier to send money somewhere else than it is to walk across the street and invite a neighbor to dinner!)

This coming year, my hope and desire for us as a church body is that we will begin to intently focus on how God has called us to be a blessing right here in Superior, and specifically, at the south end of

Mark Your Calendar

September 10: Fall Kickoff Block Party

September 10: Fall schedule begins, Sunday worship moves to 10:30am.

September 24: Community Dinner at 4pm!

October 22: Baptism for Amos Oliver

October 22: Stephanie and Mike’s Wedding

October 22: Community Dinner at 4pm!

November 23: Thanksgiving Day

November 26: Community Dinner at 4pm!

(Continued on p. 4)

Financial Update

(General Fund)

Quarter 2 (Apr-Jun)

YTD (through July)

Income $32533.31

Budget $70393.75

Deficit -$37860.44

Income $13274.50

Budget $30168.75

Deficit -$16894.25

First Evangelical Covenant Church, Superior, WI Fall 2017

The Scoop �3

Cook’s Corner

Fresh Strawberry Pie

CRUST: Whip together 1/2 cup cooking oil and 2 T milk in a bowl with a fork.

Add 1 tsp salt, 2T sugar and 1 1/2 cup flour to the above mixture and mix with the fork.

Press into a glass pie plate but do not roll it. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until light brown. Cool.

FILLING: Combine 1 cup sugar, 2 T cornstarch and 1 cup water. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Take off heat and add 3 T dry strawberry jello and 4 drops red food coloring. Fill crust with berries and slowly pour filling over berries-pouring from the center of the pie. Refrigerate immediately.

Serve with whipped topping, if desired.

NOTE: You can make this with fresh raspberries, fresh peaches, etc-just change the type of jello used.

Greeter Schedule

Sept 3 Curt and Dan Deck Sept 10 Curt and Carol Edwards Sept 17 Curt and Ulla Gustafson-Carlson Sept 24 Curt and Lynn Johnson Oct 1 Curt and Dave Elmgren Oct 8 Curt and Sandy Petzold Oct 15 Curt and Don Johnson Oct 22 Curt and Kathy Skandel Oct 29 Curt and Marge Smith Nov 5 Curt and Carol Hursh Nov 12 Curt and Sally Thompson Nov 19 Curt and Nels Hursh Nov 26 Curt and Tom Levine

Birthdays and Anniversaries!

September 1 Dan & Cindy Deck 11 Charlotte Young October 1 Chet Petzold 3 Zander Covill 8 Richard Thompson 12 Steve Staurseth 13 Pastor Luke & Carolyn Oliver 14 Marge Smith 17 Nels & Carol Hursh 20 Catherine Eliason 24 Trevor Grahn 27 Carol Edwards 31 Lane Eliason November 5 Joe & Catherine Eliason 19 Kaden Covill 27 Curt Christianson

Are we missing your birthday or anniversary? Let us know!

If you are unable to make

it for your assigned date

or if would prefer to not

participate, please contact

the church office or find

your own substitute!

First Evangelical Covenant Church, Superior, WI Fall 2017

The Scoop �4

In fulfillment of the Great Commandments and the Great Commission…

First Covenant Church exists to love God and neighbor and

to make disciples for Jesus Christ in our community and

around the world. We fulfill this calling through…

Worship: …gathering as a community to proclaim and respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to be empowered by the Holy Spirit for God’s Mission.

Discipleship: …nurturing growth in the Way of Jesus among women and men of all ages.

Hospitality: …welcoming all people—no matter their appearance, circumstances, or spiritual condition—into our community.

Mission: …carrying the Gospel into our community by building relationships with our neighbors and engaging in acts of compassion, mercy, and justice.

Our vision is to be an inter-generational community of Jesus’

followers, actively engaging in worship together, seeing spiritual growth in all of our congregation,

welcoming and loving all who enter our doors without condition, and

purposefully building God’s Kingdom in our community through

word and deed.

First Evangelical Covenant Church 3311 Hammond Ave, Superior, WI 54880

715-392-4051 www.firstcovenantsuperior.orgFind us on Facebook!

Luke Oliver, Pastor luke@firstcovenantsuperior.orgCharlotte Young, Office Manager office@firstcovenantsuperior.org

Leadership Team: Ulla Gustafsson-Carlson, Nels Hursh, Sandy Petzold, Sally Thompson (chair), Charlotte Young, Pastor Luke

Hammond Avenue. This is where we are! This is where God has placed us! And rather than getting overwhelmed by the task of reaching an entire city or the whole world, let’s focus on what is right in front of us: our neighbors, the middle school students who walk by our church every day, the myriad ways that we can use our building and resources for the good of our community.

On the front page of this newsletter, you can see a few of the ways in which we will be seeking to bless our neighborhood and our community this fall. It all starts on September 10 when we will invite our neighbors, those who live right next to and across the street from our church, to join us for a meal and some fun. This is a chance for us to reintroduce ourselves to this neighborhood, to let them know that we care, to seek their good, to be blessing (which, as we discussed this spring, is at the heart of evangelism!).

Our primary goal with this event is not to get people to join our church or to convert them. It is simply to BLESS. And as our neighbors encounter God’s love in us, maybe they will be compelled to explore who we are and join us in what God is enacting through us. But let’s not put the cart before the horse. God has called us to bless others. Let’s just do that!

I hope you’ll mark your calendars and be sure to be with us on that Sunday. We will need your help! You can check out your First News for ways that you can help us out with supplies and such, but most of all, we need you to show up and be a smiling face and warm handshake. Let’s pray for God’s blessing upon this event and that we might indeed be a blessing as we seek the good of our city.

Grace and peace to you,

Pastor Luke

(Continued from p. 2)