July/August 2015

Submissions are

requested by the

19th of the month

preceding

publication.

The Chi Rho is

published by St. John

Lutheran Church,

PO Box 70

Bartlett, TX 76511

Newsletters:

July/August

September/October

November/December

January/February

March/April

May/June

Inside this issue:

Word from the Pastor 1

Offerings/Stewardship 2

Upcoming Events 3

Birthdays 4

Upcoming Events/News 5

WELCA 5-7

Church Council/News 8

Worship 9

Asst. Schedule /

Calendar-July

Blue

Asst. Schedule /

Calendar-August

Yellow

Vacation Bible School Lime

In Mark 4:35-41, the disciples are being tossed about in a storm, and fearing

for their lives. Jesus is asleep on a pillow. They wake him up screaming, “Do you

not care that we are perishing?” Jesus immediately woke up and rebuked the winds

forcefully with this double command: “Be silent! Be still!” The response of the winds

is immediate. They ceased and there arose a great peace and calm. When you are in

the storms of life, no matter what they might be, turn to Jesus. He has the power to

bring the great peace and calm that we need in the midst of storms. There is no other

source. And when we embrace Jesus in faith, an amazing thing happens. Jesus not

only brings peace and calm into our lives, he also brings this gift into the lives of

others in their own storms. St. Francis of Assisi, an ancient church father, put it best

when he prayed, “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace! Where there is hatred,

let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where

there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. Oh,

Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be

understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we re-

ceive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born to eter-

nal life! Jesus’ peace and calm are infectious. They spread from him to his disci-

ples, from his disciples to the world, and in the world they have the authority to say to

those storms; Be silent! Be still! I couldn’t help but consider these words in the

context of the slaughter of so many of our Christian brothers and sisters at Emmanuel

AME church in Charleston, SC. The Reverend Clementa Pickney and eight of his

congregation were gunned down by Dylann Roof, a young white man who wanted to

start a race war. The Rev. Clementa graduated from my seminary. I have many

friends who knew him well. I also personally know the ELCA church in Columbia

that Dylann Roof attended and his pastor. This hate crime should strike close to

home for all Lutherans. It is the worst of storms. Can you imagine if you or your

loved ones were gunned down, simply because they were a particular color, and had

gone to a holy place of peace to study God’s word?

In Texas, we have experienced two mass shootings in Killeen and at Ft.

Hood, one recently in Waco, and another nearly averted at a museum in Garland.

Our president said it best in his address to the nation. With a look of exhaustion and

anger in his face, “I have come up here too many times to talk about these kinds of

tragedies.” We should all feel the same way. We cannot accept these kinds of hate

crimes, terrorism, and acts of mass violence and rage as commonplace.

We are in a storm, and it is past time to go and wake up Jesus in our hearts

and in our nation. I don’t presume to have all of the answers to calming the storm,

but I know who does. Jesus says to the evil and destructive storms of life “Be silent!

Be still!” We need to say the same thing to the forces of evil and violence in our lives

and communities. After these kinds of tragedies the news always interviews the as-

sailant’s pastor, church, friends, and family. These people always say the same

things. I knew he hated and feared that group of people. He talked about a plan to

inflict mass violence upon them, but I never thought he’d act on it. It’s time we

start taking these kinds of words and actions seriously. When you hear a hateful com-

ment, rage, or plan to act these notions out on others, it’s not ok to dismiss it. You

should stand up and say with Jesus to such evil forces; Be silent! Be still!

The greatest barrier to being instruments of Jesus’ peace in the midst of this

storm is our own complacence, dismissiveness, and silence. We are his disciples, and

Jesus needs our voices, outrage, and actions to bring these acts of hate, mass violence,

and terrorism in our country to an end. Jesus calls us to speak his peace and calm into

our stormy world.

OFFERINGS FOR MONTH OF MAY

Date Attendance Offering

May 3, 2015 88 $2752.70

May 10, 2015 84 $2062

May 17, 2015 123 $3289

May 24, 2015 80 $2437.26

May 31, 2015 103 $2669

May totals 402 $13,209.96

Year to Date Totals 2107 $54,034.96

Date Attendance Offering

June 7, 2015 65 $2435

June14, 2015 77 $1974

June 21, 2015 82 $1984

June 28, 2015 N/A N/A

June totals 224 $6393

Year to Date Totals 2331 $60,427.96

OFFERINGS FOR MONTH OF JUNE

Our stewardship committee has decided to start

working on the parking lot lighting. We have placed

stewardship lighting envelopes in the pews.

Please give what you can. Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. "Let your light shine before

men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

1st….Men’s Bible Study (Lois&Jerrys)@7:30am

2nd….Piecemakers @1pm

4th….Independence Day

5th…Worship @ 9am

6th….Will-O-Bell with Communion @ 10am

Dominoes @12:30am

VBS 6pm-8:30pm

7th….VBS 6pm-8:30pm

8th..Men’s Bible Study (Lois&Jerrys)@7:30am

VBS 6pm-8:30pm

9th…Piecemakers @1pm

VBS 6pm-8:30pm

11th..Altar Guild Training 3pm-5pm

12th..Worship @ 9am *Faith 5 after Worship

13th..Will-O-Bell @ 10am

Dominoes @12:30am

15th..Men’s Bible Study (Lois&Jerrys)@7:30am

Youth leave for ELCA Youth Gathering

16th...Piecemakers @1pm

Deadline for cookies for Clifton

18th...Will-O-Bell Social 3pm

19th…Worship @ 9am

20th….Will-O-Bell @ 10am

Dominoes @12:30am

Church Council meeting@ 7pm

21st ..Women’s Bible Study @9:15am

22nd..Men’s Bible Study (Lois&Jerrys)@7:30am

Crafting 9am

23rd….Piecemakers @ 1pm

26th….Worship @ 9am *Faith 5 after Worship

27th….Will-O-Bell @ 10am

Dominoes @12:30am

29th...Men’s Bible Study (Lois & Jerrys) @7:30am

30th....Piecemakers @1pm

July Birthdays

Charles Hill

Zachary Janke

Stan Koonsen

Pam Fleming

Lynn Roy Friedrich

Erin Goodnight

Dale Motl

Stephanie Motl

Dale Davis

Harvey Huber

Erin Bielss-Perez

Curtis Wolf

Leland Gersbach

Connie Horak

Sarah Steglich

Cooper Thaler

Tyler Tschoerner

Noel Lovellette

David Tschoerner

Dylan Kallus

Melinda Kurtz

Milton Sturm

Sheldon Fritz

Shirley Fischer

July July continued

2nd….Worship @ 9am

3rd…Will-O-Bell with Communion @ 10am

Dominoes @12:30am

5th….Men’s Bible Study (Lois&Jerrys)@7:30am

6th….Piecemakers @1pm

9th....Worship @ 9am *Faith 5 after Worship

10th...Dominoes @12:30am

12th..Men’s Bible Study (Lois&Jerrys)@7:30am

13th...Piecemakers @1pm

16th…Worship @ 9am *Faith 5 after Worship

17th….Dominoes @12:30am

Church Council meeting@ 7pm

18th….Women’s Bible Study @9:15am

19th..Men’s Bible Study (Lois&Jerrys)@7:30am

20th….Piecemakers @1pm

23rd…Worship @ 9am

24th….Dominoes @12:30am

26h...Men’s Bible Study (Lois & Jerrys) @7:30am

Crafting @ 9am

27th….Piecemakers @1pm

30th….Worship @ 9am *Faith 5 after Worship

Pot-luck Meal

31st…..Dominoes @12:30am

August

August Birthdays Justin Baker

Johnny Kallus

Peggy Kurtz

Jerry Decker

Reid Bielss

Zoe Farmer

Joan Kurtz

Gloria Steglich

Rylan Thaler

Sharon Koonsen

Timothy Steglich

Alyssa Persky Taube

Jill Thaler

Debi Janke

Lucille Zander

Bo Smalley

Katy Thaler

Darrell Weir

Randall Rafay

Linda Wolf

Vicki Steglich

Neal Dawson

Rick Fleming

Justin Young

Mila Wegner

W-ELCA AT WORK!

Help Needed

We need volunteers to

mow and trim every other

week. Call the office to find

out a good day or time.

LWR: Nepal

During a called meeting following the May 10 worship service, members of St John's WELCA voted to donate this year's $1,000 benevolence fund to Lutheran World Relief to assist survivors of the Nepal earthquakes. Thank you again la-dies! News reports indicated that LWR and our LWR quilts were already having an impact in the devastated area. In addition to annual local relief projects such as Food for Friends, area food banks in Granger, Bartlett, Holland and Little River-Academy, and special projects like school supply and backpack drives, WELCA has in the past donated the fol-lowing to special Lutheran World Relief disaster efforts:

2004 $1,000 Thailand Tsunami 2008 $5,000 Hurricane Gustav/Ike (Galveston area)

2013 $500 Philippines Typhoon Haiyan, where Mila Wegner's family was spared

2015 $500 Ebola victims & $1,000 Nepal earthquakes

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Did You Know???

The Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod wrote a memorial for the 2008 Triennial in Salt Lake City, Utah, to eliminate the use of bottled water. The statistics they gathered revealed that more than 1.5 million barrels of oil were used annually to manufacture the bottles. That is enough to fuel 100,000 cars in the U.S. for one year. The U.S. is the leading consumer of bottled water, yet we have the safest water. One billion people live without access to clean water (only 1% to 3% of

Auto-matic

Draft Offering

We are still offering automatic

drafting of offering. You will con-

tinue to receive your year end

statement. We draft accounts

on the 15th of every month.

Ask for a form and Sign-up

today.

Fifth Sunday Pot-Luck Dinner

After worship on August 30th.

Please bring your favorite dish or

dessert to

share with all.

Looking Ahead

Pam Fleming & Pat Bruggman, Activity Directors (July-September)

Thursdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:00-3:00 p.m. PieceMakers work on Lutheran World Relief Quilts

Early July . . . . . . . . . . . . . Watch our web page for the latest issue of our NT-NL Synod-wide Organization Tapestry newsletter at www.stjohnbartlett.org

July 16 Thursday . . . . . . . Cookies for Clifton Sunset Home Deadline

July 18 Saturday. . . . . . . . . 3:00 p.m. Will-o-Bell Social, Donna Campbell & Melissa Rafay, leaders

July 21 Tuesday . . . . . . . . 9:15 a.m. Morning Bible Study in the TRC - Linda Ferguson, study leader

July 22 Wednesday . . . . . 9:00 a.m. Advent Fair Crafting

July 25 Saturday . . . . . . . . HOT Conference Joint July/August Bible Study, St. John-Coryell City

August 21 Tuesday . . . . . . 9:15 a.m. Morning Bible Study in the TRC - Ruth Janke, study leader

August 27 Wednesday . . . 9:00 a.m. Advent Fair Crafting

September 6 Sunday . . . . . 10:30 a.m. Third Quarterly ThankOffering

September 20 Sunday . . . Congregational potluck & WELCA Officer Election

Peggy Kurtz & Paula Unberhagen, Activity Directors (October-December)

October 9-10 Fri/Sat . . .. NT-NL Fall Retreat Light Through the Generations, Brookhaven Retreat Center, Hawkins, TX

October 22-25 . . . . . . . . . . KAIROS Cookie Ministry Weekend

November 8 Sunday . . . . . Youth Advent Fair Work Day & Pizza Lunch

November 12-13 Thur/Fri . . Holy Rollers go to work

November 14 . . . . . . . . . . . 2015 Advent Fair

A big THANK YOU to our April-June Activity Directors Ruth Janke & Shirley Fischer!

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WoB Social: Important Date Change

At the request of Will-o-Bell, our next Social is being held on Saturday, July 18, a week later than published in the WELCA 2015 Yearbook to accommodate a schedule conflict. July Social leaders are Donna Campbell and Melissa Rafay.

Helpers are Audrey Rafay, Denise Baker, Brenda Kessler, Pansy Lange, Mila Wegner, Tina Steglich, Betty Truelove, Pat Bruggman, Lauren Patterson, and Cindy & Caite Gunn. Leaders are asked to contact each helper in advance of the party to coordinate refreshments. Helpers are asked to prepare a refreshment item suitable for a light luncheon. Suggestions include finger sandwiches such as chicken salad or pimento cheese (no nuts), potato chips, summer sausage and crackers, fresh cut fruit, muffins, donut holes, cake and cookies. NO NUTS, please. And of course it's always delightful to invite some friends to help celebrate the event. Thanks, as always, to Will-o-Bell Birthday Socials coordinator Mag Thaler for coordinating arrangements with WoB.

W-ELCA AT WORK!

HOT Spring Gathering

Special thanks to Debbie Caldwell & Rachel Burklow for joining the 106 attendees to represent us at the first Spring Gathering of our new Heart of Texas Mission Conference. Rachel Burklow graciously coordinated our participation in this year's Gathering, including providing a silent auction from St. John's that helped raise $662 for the Synodical Women's Organization scholarships for participants to attend NT-NL and WELCA conferences. In addition, the $1,249 love offering was split to support: NT-NL SWO, the Killeen ISD Homeless Awareness and Response Program (HARP), and the Oaks Indian Mission, which serves Native American children who have been abused and neglected … thank

you SO MUCH, Rachel!

In concert with the realignment of North Texas-Northern Louisiana Mission Area organization, our Central Texas Conference merged with the Waco Conference this year. The new HOT Conference includes 18 churches. Appropriately, the April 18 event was held at the new Immanuel Lutheran church building. The conference theme "Deeply Rooted…and Being Made New" was inspired by the beautiful grove of oak trees next to Immanuel's new facility in Killeen. As did other WELCA groups in the former Central Texas Conference, at our General Meeting this January, St. John-Bartlett voted to transfer the Central Texas Conference Treasury to the new HOT Conference.

Eleven churches from the HOT Mission Conference area (including two non-conference churches) donated 143 boxes for Lutheran World Relief for 2014, including: 671 quilts; 513 health kits; 185 school kits; 30 sewing kits; 411 bars of soap and 29 layettes. This does not include the boxes St John-Bartlett (LWR quilts) and others delivered on their own to the official collection site in Dallas. Attendees were reminded that boxes must weigh no more than 30 pounds.

Among those memorialized at the annual meeting were the following members of St. John's whose funerals had been

celebrated since the Spring 2014 Gathering: Estelle Coker, Peggy Thaler and Mary Helen Goodnight.

The biennial NT-NL synod-wide WELCA Fall Retreat will be held October 9-10, 2015, at Brookhaven Retreat Center in Hawkins. It will be hostessed by the ETNL Conference. The Tenth Triennial Gathering, our national ELCA meeting, is scheduled for July 13-17, 2015, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Additional SWO information, including the Report from Heart of Texas Spring Conference for 2015, is published online in the May 2015 issue of our Tapestry newsletter at

www.stjohnbartlett.org.

*****************************************

Congratulations, Graduates!

WELCA was pleased to again honor our graduating high-school seniors with a small gift and the promise of a $200 scholarship to support their continuing education, payable to their new school following acceptance and enrollment. Recognized May 17 were Salado High grad Casie Wadford and Holland high schoolers Hunter Holtzman, Lauren Janke, Ryan Marwitz and Wesley Weir. Receiving special recognition for graduating from A&M was Kody Janke. We are extremely proud of you all!

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Coming up

The next WELCA General Meeting is scheduled for September 20, following a potluck lunch after Sunday worship. Highlight of our Fall Meeting is election election of officers. Serving as this year's Nominating Committee are Dorothy Marwitz, Cynthia Gersbach & Gayle Bielss.

*****************************************

Reminder to our Youth (& their parents)

Thanks to our Advent Fair successes and all the work our members contribute to the annual fundraiser, WELCA donates $500 per year for our youth to support their ELCA conference -- a total of $1,500 per triennial event. After traveling to New Orleans in 2009 and 2012, our youth are attending the 2015 conference in Detroit this month (July 2015).

St. John issues community service hours for our youth to get credit they can use for scholarship and college applica-tions, etc. Helping with projects in the life of St. John, including work days, the Advent Fair and other special projects, certainly counts when it comes to community service. For the Advent Fair, turning in the count of EVERYONE'S volunteer hours helps St. John earn Thrivent supporting funds. Our Thrivent coordinator, Cynthia Gersbach, took receipt of $800 from Thrivent on our behalf following the 2014 Advent Fair.

W-ELCA AT WORK!

President Duane Kurtin 527-3898 dkurtin@gmail.com Vice President/Evangelism Walt Saverse 770-8381 waltsaverse@gmail.com Secretary Rick Fleming 983-2050 217-3462 rpjfleming@yahoo.com Treasurer Dorothy Marwitz 657-2369 718-6061 ramdam2@embarqmail.com Financial Secretary Sharon Koonsen 657-2568 sharonkoonsen@earthlink.net Property Steven Wentrcek 718-3106 stevenw1572@msn.com Property Lynn Stroud 541-4390 jlstroud56@yahoo.com Worship Joann Zieschang 527-3948 512-563-3591 jazz1281@gmail.com Membership/Fellowship Catherine Spiegelhauer 527-4603 Public Relations J.R. Gersbach 913-7736 jrgersbach@gmail.com Parrish Education Melinda Kurtz 913-0430 melindakurtz@embarqmail.com Youth Debra Martin 913-2752 djmorrismartin@yahoo.com Stewardship Mila Wegner 512-633-4070 mila829@yahoo.com W-ELCA Sandra Jones 541-9056

ACTION TEAM LEADERS HOME CELL

COUNCIL OFFICERS HOME CELL

Pastor Joe Woodward 254-289-4454 (cell) joewoodward7@gmail.com Organist Garland Kneten 527-4235 Hm gkneten@sbcglobal.net

STAFF

Christian Braun Family Reunion

July 26, 2015

Walburg Community Center

The 80th

Christian Braun Family Reunion will be held Sunday, July 26, 2015 at the Walburg Community Center, Walburg, Texas. Descendants of the 10 children are urged to come and

celebrate the Braun Family heritage. The theme is “New Leaves from Strong Roots”.

The Traditional BBQ and trimmings noon meal will be served around 12:00. Please bring a

dessert or side. Registration Fees are: $10 Adults, $5 Ages 5-12, Ages 4 and below will be free.

A short Church Service, Business Meeting, Games, and other fun will be on the afternoon

agenda. Oh yes, there will be an auction this year! Please bring an item for the auction.

We would like to thank everyone who baked and packaged cookies for Kairos Ministry's.

It was a great success! Special thanks to the quilting ladies who helped package cookies in

a moments notice, because they had a very large batch of cookies come in late .

Thanks again,

Cynthia Gersbach

Worship Schedule

July/August 2015

9:00 A.M.

You are encouraged to attend Summer Worship for uplifting Spiritual rejuvenation! Take a vacation from stress and overload

this summer; but, don’t take a vacation from GOD and worship!

Church Council Meeting---After taking a “show of hands” vote in regular morning worship to have the same time for services in the summer or an earlier time, the vote was 3:2 for early service. After discussion, the council voted for 9:00 a.m. worship services

during the summer.

FAITH 5

After worship services during the summer we will be having a

Faith Five Bible Study in the basement. The Faith 5 / GIFT

approach is to encourage our congregation and families to

support fellowship and sharing within the congregation. Please

Altar Guild-----TRAINING

Saturday, July 11th 3:00-5:00 p.m. . St. John Sanctuary

Returning members and new members are invited. Watch for a mailing!

Bring calendars to pick your own dates to serve.

New plan includes:

Sundays 2 consecutive Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Ash Wednesday Maundy Thursday and Good Friday

July/August 2015

St. John Lutheran Church

30650 State Hwy 95

P. O. Box 70

Bartlett, TX 76511

July/August 2015

Address Service Requested Non-Profit

Organization

US Postage

PAID

Permit #7

Bartlett TX

76511

OUR MISSION

To Gather as God’s

People

To Grow Spiritually

To Go Empowered by

the Holy Spirit

To Share the Gospel

as We Serve

You’re Always Welcome at St. John

Lutheran Church…

Sunday Mornings

Worship 9 AM

Join Us and Bring a Friend!

30650 State Hwy 95 P.O. Box 70 1 mile north of Email stjohn-elca@sbcglobal.net Bartlett, TX 76511 Bartlett on State Highway 95 Web www.stjohnbartlett.org

Phone 254-527-3341 Office Hours: Fax 254-527-4522 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. M-Th