B-I-N-G-O

Our church family has a good time together! We enjoyed some food, fellowship, and fun this Sunday evening as we shared a hot dog dinner and a night of BINGO. Some really neat prizes were awarded to all of our BINGO winners. We are thankful to our Family Life Committee for planning this exciting event, and we invite more people to join us next time!

End of The School Year Party

On Wednesday, our God Rockz kids met together for a party to mark the end of the school year. Not only did they enjoy pizza and cookies, but they also played some fun games and made tie dyed t-shirts. On Pentecost Sunday, they'll wear their personally-created t-shirts while they sing for the congregation. These kids know how to have a good time together as they celebrate what it means to be baptized and beloved children in God's kingdom. Their name says it all: God Rockz!

Mother-Daughter Banquet

This weekend, the ladies of our church gathered together to celebrate grandmoms, moms, daughters and sisters. Our guest speaker was Ms. Cristy Fossum, author of the series, Sunday by Sunday, a fictional tale about Lutheran women and their common spiritual questions, joys and sorrows througout their lives of faith.

What a wonderful time our ladies had together today as they learned more about Ms. Fossum's book, and they celebrated their sisterhood in Christ.

Born From Above

We've been excited to celebrate the beauty of new life in our congregation a lot lately. Since the start of 2009, we have welcomed at least 14 new members into our church. Today, we celebrated our 3rd baptism since Easter. Wow! What a blessing! Baptism is a beautiful gift of God. In the waters of baptism, our old sinful nature is washed away; we die with Christ, and are raised to everlasting life. In baptism, we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, anointed by the Holy Spirit, given the light of Christ to shine forth into the darkness of this world, and we are called God's children. How amazing it is to realize that God chooses us sinners and calls us his own. May God bless all of our new members and guide them on each step of faith ahead.

Fore!

A group from St. James played in the Lutheran Men in Mission Golf Tournament out at Golden Hills Golf and Country Club this week. Although St. James did not win the tournament this year, a fun time of Lutheran fellowship was had by all.

Operation Inasmuch 2009

Our operation was a success on Saturday, as our church members of all ages headed out into the community to share Christ's love through service projects. We handed out free smoke alarms and batteries; we built a retaining wall and cleaned up a local park; we made life books for foster children,

we made and served free meals to the community;

we made gifts for needy kids; we worked together to build a ramp and replace the sink and the doors for a local elderly lady's home.

We did all of these projects in Jesus' name and following Christ's example, giving glory to God and offering up our talents and abilities to serve others. What an exhausting and rewarding day it was for us all! It was certainly one that we won't soon forget.