March 2020 Newsletter Grace, mercy, and peace are yours in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear Family of God at Grace, Here we are in the month of March and with it has come the Lenten season. Our Wednesday soup supper from 5:15-6:30 PM and service at 6:30 PM will focus on the hymns of Lent. In each Sunday service there is a "Hymn of the Day." We will meditate on these wonderful hymns and use them as a guide as we journey with Jesus to the cross. I pray these hymns and meditations will be for your edification in the faith and as a shield to protect you from the flaming arrows in your battle with the evil foe! Thanks be to God! We have reached our goal in the Habitat Fund. We are over $25,000 and still going. Our matching fund will put us over the $50,000 mark. The Elders' Fish Fry collection will also be going to support Habitat. WOW, thank you, thank you! You are very generous. It is our hope that we can start on our house soon and get to meet the family that will be purchasing this house. We will be praying for them and letting them know that we love them and that we give thanks to God that they will have a home to call their own! Once again, thank you to all who made this possible and a big thanks to Sue and Reid Leboza who brought this opportunity to our attention and were the driving force that made this a reality! Pastor and Sandy Kudart update. Their son John continues to battle
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March 2020 NewsletterGrace, mercy, and peace are yours in our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!Dear Family of God at Grace,
Here we are in the month of March and with it has come the Lenten season. Our Wednesday soup supper from 5:15-6:30 PM and service at 6:30 PM will focus on the hymns of Lent. In each Sunday service there is a "Hymn of the Day." We will meditate on these wonderful hymns and use them as a guide as we journey with Jesus to the cross. I pray these hymns and meditations will be for your edification in the faith and as a shield to protect you from the flaming arrows in your battle with the evil foe!
Thanks be to God! We have reached our goal in the Habitat Fund. We are over $25,000 and still going. Our matching fund will put us over the $50,000 mark. The Elders' Fish Fry collection will also be going to support Habitat. WOW, thank you, thank you! You are very generous. It is our hope that we can start on our house soon and get to meet the family that will be purchasing this house. We will be praying for them and letting them know that we love them and that we give thanks to God that they will have a home to call their own! Once again, thank you to all who made this possible and a big thanks to Sue and Reid Leboza who brought this opportunity to our attention and were the driving force that made this a reality!
Pastor and Sandy Kudart update. Their son John continues to battle with cancer and sadly his health is slipping. We continue to pray that God will bless him and the family with joys amidst sorrows in the time that God grants them. Their daughter Libby is out of the hospital and recovering from Pneumonia. Her battle with cancer also continues and there has been no reported change. We continue to pray for her and the family that God would grant many blessings. We pray for God to bring healing to both John and Libby as only He can and that He would grant comfort and peace! Pastor and Sandy wanted me to express their
gratitude for all the cards and calls of support and prayers! Dear family of God, thank you for gathering the Kudart family under your wings of compassion and support!
Saturday, March 7th we will lay to rest our brother in the faith, Marvin Manning at noon. Marv and Harriet and their family have been members at Grace for a long time and they have lived in the Naples community for 50 plus years. We pray God's blessings upon Harriet and the family as they mourn Marv's death in the hope of the resurrection.
Fish Fry! The Elders are hosting THE fish fry on Saturday the 14th. This is a great event. Come have some fish, shrimp, fries, coleslaw, and desert. Great food and fellowship. All the money collected with go to support Habitat for Humanities. See you there!
My final thought is a word of encouragement as you face the evil foe. Life is hard and the struggle against the world, the devil, and our own sinful flesh makes life at times unbearable. Don't give up or give in. Your Lord is with you! He fights on your behalf and has won victory for you! Coronavirus! Just saying the word cause panic. I don't care about the rhetoric. I'm not concerned with the statistics being better or worse than the flu. Like every other sickness it can lead to death which is all a result of sin. Adam and Eve before the fall didn't have to worry about COVID-19. But after the fall the number of ways to die, increased at an alarming rate and they are still climbing. We can live our lives in fear, or we can live our lives in faith. Do I want to die? NO. Am I going to die? Yes. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, life is still hard. Still filled with sin, death, and the devil. The battles rage on. The war has been won! Jesus has won the victory!
In His Service,Pastor Lingsch
UPCOMING EVENTS
Chicago Concordia ChoirMarch 7th7:00 pmSanctuary
Holy Land Tour Information MeetingMarch 8th12:00 pmFellowship Hall
AED/CPR TrainingMarch 12th6:30 pmFellowship Hall
Elder Fish FryMarch 14th 5:00 pm - 7:30 pmFellowship Hall
Voters Meeting March 15th9:30 amFellowship Hall
LWML SundayMarch 15th8:00 am and 10:30 amSanctuary
Habitat for Humanity BuildMarch 21st
LWML Zone RallyMarch 21st 8:30 amFellowship Hall
Easter Cards for PreschoolApril 3rd 9:00 am - 12:00 pmFellowship Hall
March 1st: Youth Night from 5-7pm in Fellowship Hall. Theme for the evening is: The Season of Lent and why we observe it today.
March: Sunday school children will be taking an offering to purchase a tree for a Habitat for Humanity Home.
March 15th: Youth Night from 5-7pm at Lowdermilk Beach
March 21st: Habitat for Humanity Build Day, 8am-12pm. Sign up in the narthex or contact Sue Leboza for more information.
ELDERS' REPORT Paul Koch
The Elders received competitive bids for providing our biannual AED/CPR training for Elders, Ushers and members, and we have selected Florida Safe CPR for these services. This training will be held in the Fellowship Hall on Thursday, March 12, starting at 6:30 PM. The Elders strongly suggest that all Elders and Ushers plan to attend, and any Grace members who wish to receive this important instruction are invited as well. There is no cost to members for this service. The Elders continued to work on issues associated with security during worship services, and Ben Borchelt has volunteered to work with any Grace Security Committee that is established. In addition, we have secured two pepper spray bottles for use in any unforeseen emergency. These will be in the possession of the Elder or Usher who remains in the Narthex during worship. Pastor and the Elders continue to pursue obtaining personal information cards for members to distribute to any prospective attendees to Grace. We also are working with the Church Council to update the Grace Member Directory and with Council and Grace staff on any upgrades to the sound system, particularly to support the opportunity to live stream Grace services. The Elders agreed to continue to support Pastor Kudart in his absence and to graciously accept Pastor Eisold's offer to support our 8:00 AM service until Pastor Kudart returns. Pastor Seth DeBartolo will also be available to assist with services, as may be required in the coming months. Based on feedback from both members and Elders, we will be developing Guidelines for: coordinating guest Pastor sermons and other associated donation requests; organizations speaking to Sunday School and Bible Study, in association with the Board of Christian Education; and the placement of tables in the Narthex before and after services. Finally, all current Elders, whose terms are expiring, have agreed to continue to be considered for service to Grace, leaving one currently vacant position to be secured in the 2020 election.
