December 2007

First Lutheran’s December Schedule

Dec. 2- 1st Sunday in Advent 8:00 AM Hanging of the Greens

9:15 AM Brunch & Sunday School Program Practice

10:30 AM Worship with Holy Communion

Dec. 9 - 2nd Sunday in Advent 8 :00 AM Worship 10:30 AM Worship

Special Handbell Music at Both Services 9:15 AM Sunday School Program Practice

Community Choir Christmas Concert at First Lutheran

2:00 & 4:00 PM

Dec. 16 - 3rd Sunday in Advent 8:00 AM Service of Holy Communion

10:30 AM Sunday School Christmas Program

Dec. 23 - 4th Sunday in Advent 8:00 AM Worship 10:30 AM Worship

Dec. 24 - Christmas Eve 4 :00 PM Candlelight Service

with Holy Communion 10:00 PM Candlelight Service

with Holy Communion and Vocal Choir Cantata

First Lutheran Church 1180 8th Ave / P.O. Box 546 Cumberland, WI. 54829

Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8 AM - 2 PM Office Phone: 715-822-4416 Fax: 715-822-4402 email address: flchurch@centurytel.net Website: www.luther95.com/FLC-CWI

Pastor: Tim Schmidt Email: firstpastor@centurytel.net Home Phone: 715-822-3265

Office: Dawn Hilde

Treasurer: Lori Nyhus

Organist: Charlene Samlaska

Choir Director: Sharon Schmidt

Handbell Choir Director: Dan Hopkins

Tone Chime Director: Mary Flottum

Librarian: Dawn Totzke

Custodians: Jeff & Julie Anderson

First Lutheran Church Council

President: Roger Hilde

V. President: Mark Gargulak

Secretary: Dawn Totzke

Council Committees

Christian Ed Jennifer Turcott & Dawn Totzke Evangelism Ron Sandve & Jean Odden Property: Gene Bussewitz Social Concerns Andrea Herzan & Doris Paulson Stewardship Mark Gargulak Youth Bobbi Momchilovich & Lauri Ranallo Worship & Music David Olson & Dona Neby

FROM THE PASTOR’S STUDY

Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.” Chorus, “Oh Come, O Come, Em-manuel.” The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is a children’s classic full of Christian themes. Its author, C.S. Lewis, wanted to tell the story of Jesus in an imaginative way that children could understand. And the way that he chose to describe the state of the world before the savior came was this: “It was al-ways winter – but never Christmas.” Always winter and never Christmas? To a child – and maybe to all of us – this sounds like a very bad season indeed. To have to endure the cold and dark and snow of these months without the hope and joy of Christmas would be pretty grim. For many of us Christmas is joyful time of good feeling and treasured memories. When we think of Christmas we think of family and friends gathered together to share a meal and gifts with one another. We think of wonderful Christmas traditions and send-ing cards to old friends. We think of all of the beauti-ful decorations, the delicious cookies and our favorite Christmas carols. It is a joyful time. And for us as Christians the joy of this

season is even deeper than all of that. Because what we truly celebrate at Christmas is the birth of the Christ Child. We rejoice that God loved us so much that he sent his Son. Our Christmas joy comes from knowing that Jesus Christ was born among us in a stable in Bethlehem, and that he truly is Em-manuel – God with us. And because God is with us we have hope for ourselves and for our whole world. God is at work making all things new through his Son Jesus Christ and that is reason for us to worship and rejoice. In these seasons of Advent and Christmas, I would invite us all to worship together and share in this joy. We give thanks for the hope and promise of Jesus’ birth as we gather together in praise and thanksgiving. See once again on the front of the newsletter the worship opportunities that we will have here this month of December. In the midst of this busy time of preparations, remember to celebrate our true joy in Jesus Christ our Lord. God’s Blessings to you this Advent and Christmas.

Pastor Tim

Communion Visitors will not be going out

this month.

Pastor Tim will be bringing Communion

to all our shut-ins

Welcome New Members! On Sunday, November 25th, 2007 we welcomed Bev Alfonse, Jeanne Brekhus

Jim & Mary O’Dell, Gail Olson and Chad & Rachel Peterson, Crispin and Gregory as new members of First Lutheran.

Sponsors were Lee and Judy Jacobson, Lois Cook, Paul Hilton, Bernice Nyhus, Connie and Gene Bussewitz

Joy to the World!

May the grace and love of the

Lord Jesus Christ Give you joy and peace

in the year to come.

A Blessed and Happy Christmas to you

from the staff of First Lutheran.

MEMORIALS & GIFTS

†A memorial from Ralph Bents in memory of Patricia Larson. †A memorial from Laura and John Amundson in memory of Lillian Paulson. †A memorial from Larry and Doris Paulson in memory of Lillian Paulson for kitchen equipment. †A memorial from L. Geneva Gadow in memory of Lillian Paulson. †A memorial from Leroy and Gloria Olson in memory of Lillian Paulson. †A memorial from Jean Algeo in memory of Lillian Paulson to the Tone Chimes Fund. †A memorial from Noreen and Dennis Gilberts in memory of Lillian Paulson. †A Memorial for Gladys Kuenkel to FLCW padded chairs.

October 2007 Financial Report Monthly YTD

General Fund Budget $ 15,377.26 $ 154,272.58 General Fund Offering Received $ 12,562.12 $ 141,137.39

Mission Fund Budget $ 1,019.33 $ 10,193.33 Mission Fund Offering Received $ 703.50 $ 6,503.50

Mortgage Fund Payment Due $ 900.00 $ 9,000.00 Mortgage Fund Offering Received $ 914.00 $ 11,495.00

Average Sunday Worship Attendance Jan-Oct. 2006 - 183 Jan-Oct. 2007 - 191

The General Fund offerings pay for salaries, various programs (i.e. education, music, etc.), benevolences, utilities, building maintenance, and other general operating expenses. Any shortfalls in giving will reduce church programs; any excess gifts will be carried forward to the next year.

The Mission Fund offerings pay for outreach to the Malawi project, Cornerstone Ministries, Social Services, World Hunger, etc. Any excess gifts will be used only for mission as your council directs.

The Mortgage Fund offerings pay to reduce the indebtedness on our building. Any excess gifts will be used to more rapidly reduce the debt.

As we gather in the next few weeks to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the church council will be planning the budget for 2008. A church budget is based on the amount of giving pledged for the following year by the church membership. The pledges from our celebration on Consecration Sunday have been tabulated and we thank all of you who carefully filled out a giving card with what you can give back to God. We must always keep front and center that everything we have is given to us from the Lord and we need to give back to show our appreciation.

The council also keeps the present budget in mind each month as they meet to do the church business. Giving to the church has been very good this year, and we thank you for all your generous support. However, as we head into the final month of the year, you may notice that we are a little behind the budget. When this occurs, important ministries that we do together both locally and as a part of the greater church are not adequately funded. We would ask that you would take all of this into consideration as you consider your year-end giving.

The Stewardship committee would like to say thanks for all you do as members to make First Lutheran such a fun and inspirational place to worship and gather with friends.

Mark Gargulak Stewardship Committee Chairman

December 2 Kevin Kollock Darrian Bertelsen Mecina Garibaldi 3 Joan Gibson Carrie Beiersdorff Donny Zappetillo Shane Potthier 4 Michelle Wombill 5 Kathy Strong Julie Diesterhaft Britta Nesvold 6 Betsy Schmidt Nathaniel Painter 8 Gregory Zirwes Amanda Whitman Logan Mahowald 9 Ardis Amundson 10 Trevor Nyhus Travis Nyhus 12 Tom Nesvold Benjamin Effinger Alsia Collyard 14 Larry Paulson Sonja Fitzgerald Levi Lammers Benjamin Lammers Jacob Lammers 15 Jayne Scheurer Tammy Bertelsen 16 Jeri Iverson Hope Vicich 19 Denise Arntson 20 Carol Odden Gina Patterson Sanara Marsh 22 Preston Hopkins

December

9 Charles & Carol White 11 Brent & Heather Colburn 15 Henry & Barbara Hazelberg 18 J. Robert & Jeanne Nelson 19 Tim & Elizabeth Berens 21 Roger & Dawn Hilde 27 David & Lori Olson 29 Teri Massie 30 Ken & Kathy Greschner

If we have your birthday/anniversary wrong, or, if we don’t have it, please call the church office

and let us know!

22 Nikolas Sommerfeld 23 Ryan Payer 24 Marge Lawrence Rylee White 25 Carol White 26 Makaila Wallin 27 Delores Pederson 30 George DeLaitsch

Note to the Congregation of First Lutheran Church from your Council Your church council is in the process of revising the First Lutheran Church Constitution which was last updated in 1993. You will be voting on these changes at the annual meeting in January. Please take some time to review the changes. If you have any questions or comments – contact a council member as soon as possible. A copy of our work in progress is available on the library desk, in a blue binder. Please do not remove the binder from the church. Copies are available upon request. This is a summary of the changes: 1. Adopt all ELCA recommended changes from 1993 to 2007. 2. Council size be changed to “not more than 13”. At each annual meeting 4 or 5 new members will be elected and welcomed onto the Council

1 Members will serve a 3 year term. 2 The term “Committee” will be changed to “Ministry Teams”. 3 New members will serve with a veteran member on a Ministry Team during their first year.

4. Eight Ministry Teams will be maintained by the Council, including: • Christian Education • Worship and Music • Youth • Stewardship • Church Home Management • Fellowship and Christian Service • International Missions • Home Missions

REMINDER: All Contributions credited to your 2007 giving must

be in the church office by noon, January 2, 2008.

Congregational Secretary Update Dawn Hilde continues as the interim secretary as we continue our search for a permanent secretary. The advertisement for a new secretary has run for the past two weeks in the Cumberland and the Rice Lake newspapers. To date we have received eleven résumé’s. With this number of résumé’s to work with we are discontinuing running the ads. In the next two weeks we will hold interviews with those most qualified and make a decision regarding the new secretary. Pastor Tim and council officers Mark Gargulak and Dawn Totzke will conduct the interviews. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue this process. Church Council Executive Committee

Here is a copy of the ad that appeared in our local newspapers. Employment Opportunity

OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH CUMBERLAND WISCONSIN First Lutheran Church, Cumberland, Wisconsin is accepting applications for the position of OFFICE ADMINIS-TRATOR. Qualifications include a high school diploma, five years of business administration experience preferred and proficiency in Microsoft Office. The Office Administrator is responsible for the overall management of the church office at First Lutheran and requires flexibility in both time and responsibilities. A detailed job description is available by contacting the church office. The office administrator is responsible and accountable to the Executive Committee of First Lutheran Church and reports directly to the Pastor. This is a five day 30 hours per week part time position. Send resume to: President, First Lutheran Church Council, First Lutheran Church.

QUILTERS CHRISTMAS

POTLUCK LUNCHEON!

Bring your favorite Christmas

recipe on Tuesday, December 18th

and plan to stay for our

Christmas Potluck Luncheon.

We will quilt at our normal time, 9 AM and

have lunch around noon.

FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH WOMEN

FLCW will meet Thursday, December 6 at noon for a Christmas Potluck. Everyone, including the men are invited to join us!

CIRCLE SCHEDULE: Rebekah Dec. 10 - 12:30 PM Potluck Church Naomi Dec. 11 - 12:00 PM Potluck Church Hannah Dec. 11 - 7:00 PM Church Esther Dec. 12 - 9:00 AM Potluck Church

Successful Food Shelf Drive—Food was delivered to Food Shelf November 29, 2007.

FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH

8th Avenue and Elm Street P.O. Box 546

Cumberland, WI 54829 Phone - 822-4416

Facsimile - 822-4402

NONPROFIT US POSTAGE PAID

PERMIT NO 54 CUMBERLAND, WI

Trunk or Treats Guests, October 31, 2007

FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH WOMEN

FLCW will meet Thursday, December 6 at noon for a Christmas Potluck. Everyone, including the men, are invited to join us!

CIRCLE SCHEDULE: Rebekah Dec. 10 - 12:30 PM Potluck Church Naomi Dec. 11- 12:00 PM Potluck Church Hannah Dec. 11 - 7:00 PM Church Esther Dec. 12 - 9:00 AM Potluck Church

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