This month is packed full of fabulous CYF events! As always, these events are for the young and young at heart. I hope to see many of your smiling faces throughout June!

VBS registration opens on June 1st! This year’s theme is ‘Twists & Turns’ Following Jesus Changes the Game! We hope you will join us as we sing, dance, explore, and play games at VBS July 31st thru August 4th from 9 am till Noon. Registration is open for participants’ ages 4 to 12 years old and volunteers ages 13+.  Sign up at www.myvbs.org/stpaulsherwood.

On Sunday June 4th, is Senior Salute! There will be a slide show at the end of each service and a reception in between 1st and 2nd service. Join with us as we celebrate this milestone with our graduating church members.  

Sunday school will resume on June 11th 9:40 to 10:30 am in the Ed building for both the preschool and elementary aged kids. We will follow in the Apostles footsteps as they spread the Good News about Jesus Christ around the world. We will make crafts, play games, and explore how to share the Gospel with everyone we know. We would love to have your kids join in on all the fun!   

Family Movie Night is June 24th at 4pm. We will be watching the classic Veggie Tales, ‘Jonah and the Whale’ in the Senior Center. Bring a blanket or stuffed Veggie doll and enjoy this vegetable masterpiece with us. Popcorn and Juice boxes will be provided. RSVP at jennifergatke@stpaulsherwood.org

Mini Camp is June 27-29th from 10-1 pm. Our theme this year is Rockets! We will build our own model rockets, launch them, make some outer space crafts,  play fun water games, and go on a scavenger hunt around campus. If you would like to join us, RSVP at 503.625.6648 or jennifergatke@stpaulsherwood.org  

 â€œCreate in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalms 51:10

Jennifer Gatke

St. Paul Youth Program Director

 

Youth Calendar June 23

Wow, it is hard to believe the school year is quickly coming to a close. It was such a blessing for us all to be in person, without masks! Here’s a recap of the past few months! In the spring, we took time to focus on praying and taught the preschoolers how to grow their relationship with God. We made prayer cubes to demonstrate different ways to talk to God. The students also learned about the many miracles Jesus performed including healing a blind man, healing the sick, calming the storm, and walking on water. During the Easter season, the kids were very excited to pass around resurrection eggs at circle time, discover what was in each egg, and learn each object’s meaning! To further their learning about Jesus’ death and resurrection, they heard Bible stories and made art projects including Jesus coming out of the tomb which read, “No gloom in the tomb!!”.

 

In addition to our bible studies, the preschoolers heard about life on the farm and were blessed to have real live ponies and chicks visit the preschool! To embrace the students’ parents (wonderful group this year!), we hosted a “Dad’s n Donuts” day as well as our annual “Mother’s Day Tea”. The children were so excited to have parents and grandparents in the church and classrooms! Diana, Rebecca, and I have experienced a wonderful year together! We feel blessed to be working with one another, instilling in these precious children just how much Jesus loves them!

 

Please make sureto be at church on June 11th for our preschool slideshow!                                                             

 

  

Library View

fireworksS.P.A.R.K.  (St. Paul Church’s Announcements to Read and Know)   June 2023

Dear friends,

 

In last month’s newsletter I wrote about my obligations to you as pastor according to my call document. This month I outline things I do around the church which are not listed in my call document. Here are some of my ancillary duties in no particular order. I’m sure I’ve left some out, as there are too many of them to mention.

  • Conduct chapel for the preschool students on Wednesday for the 4s and Thursday for the 3s.
  • Participate in preschool functions and activities such as open house, end-of-year program, Christmas program, Jog-a-thon, family mixers, recess, meet-and-greet with the parents during pickup and drop-off, and daily visits to the classroom when school is in session.
  • Attend weekly evening board meetings such as the elder’s meeting on the first Tuesday of the month, council meeting on the third Thursday of the month, board of education meeting on the second Tuesday of the month, as well as meetings for the board of outreach and children, youth and family ministry.
  • Organize, plan, and lead events and activities for the youth of the church such as the LCMS National Youth Gathering, family camp at Camp Lutherwood Oregon, winter retreats, summer Bible at the beach trips, and mini camps.
  • Attend the senior saints’ luncheons on Wednesdays when time permits.
  • Conduct daily walk-around checks of the campus for anything out of the ordinary such as unsecured buildings, fallen trees after storms, vandalism, abandoned vehicles and other items, suspicious persons (yes, all these things have happened since I’ve been here and continue to occur.)
  • Assist the office manager in solving technology problems such as internet outages, computer hangups; light facility maintenance such as changing batteries and adjusting clocks, smoke detectors, light bulbs, and the occasional “cleanup on isle four” kinds of things.
  • Assist the office manager in receiving deliveries from UPS, FedEx, et al. Sometimes these items require multiple hands to bring into the education building, or a dolly.
  • Receive visitors (scheduled and unscheduled) for various reasons including tours of the sanctuary, cemetery, sales pitches, facility rental, facility maintenance, looking for a new church, just need to talk to a minister—you name it.
  • Friday morning and afternoon devotions (20 min. each) with the 6th through 8th grade students of the Firm Foundations Academy Northwest.
  • Participate in church events such as Oktoberfest, Easter egg hunt, live nativity, and other official activities for the community in which my involvement is expected.
  • Attend monthly circuit meetings with the other LCMS pastors in the area on the second Tuesday of the month. These are all-day meetings consisting of worship, Bible or Lutheran Confessions study, a book or commentary study, and collegial sharing of how things are going in the ministry, spiritual encouragement, praying for one another, and so forth.

I would like to talk a little more about the campus. I am on campus five days a week anywhere from eight to ten hours a day, sometimes longer if there are evening meetings. My office faces the east parking lot, and I have a good view of the grove from the library windows and balcony. On any day, a good portion of my time is spent monitoring the dozens of vehicles that drive through from Roy Rogers, people wandering through (usually with dogs) kids using the playground after school hours, people visiting relatives in the cemetery, parking lot sales transactions, people parking for hours while they talk on the phone or nap, and people wandering into the deep parts of the grove, sometimes not emerging for long periods of time. I have a good set of binoculars to watch what’s going on, but sometimes I can’t always see past the trees. When it involves teens or preteens, and I can’t see what they’re doing, I walk out and tell them they are being watched—always. Just letting them know this makes them leave. More than once, Tim Grace and I have observed preteen boys riding through campus on their bikes and skateboards, checking doorknobs on buildings to see where they might get in and do whatever. I am very surprised that in 14 years I haven’t found someone camped out in the grove or squatting in the parsonage basement which unintentionally gets left unlocked at least once a year. All this is to say that as your pastor, I am happy to be the main eyes and ears of the property you love and care for so much. Jennifer, in the office, also observes much of the same activity I do, but from a different angle as her office window faces the west parking lot.

Next month I will show you what goes into putting together the two Sunday worship services we use here at St. Paul. God bless you, and may you have a Spirit-filled month of June during this season of Pentecost.

Pastor Don  

                                                                                                    

Amazing things are happening with our ministry!  The chaplain has stopped in twice since our newsletter.  I thought I would continue to share updates with all of you because if not for this congregation, this ministry would not have happened.  As you know, there is a great need for so many that have so little and here is a story that the Chaplain shared with us.

Just know that you all have made a difference to people in need and God willing we will continue to serve him by serving his people in need.  Serving the Lord—one backpack at a time!     My humble thanks to all of you.   Ellen Kulle

 

Once again, we were blessed to be THE HANDS AND FEET OF GOD with a little help from a High School Senior.

Chaplain Parrish was contacted by a Westview Christian High School senior.  She was to do a Senior Project and she choose to put kits together for the homeless and provide them to Chaplain Parrish.  He in turn is grateful for our partnership with him and brought a lot of them to us to add into our backpacks.  We all know that God works in ways we can only imagine and his works usually come out when you least expect them.  So once again what we started here at St. Paul has been blessed by an outside force that can only be God’s hand working for his poor thru others that enhance our ministry.  These kits match what we put in our backpacks and I can only think that God put that list of items in that senior’s heart to help us continue what we started.  We welcomed them with joy as it helps us serve God’s people who are in great need.

 

If you would like one of these kits for your car, please call the office and we will make sure that you get one to give out.

 

As the need will increase with the warmer months, we need more backpacks to be able to continue this ministry.  They don’t need to be fancy, just sturdy enough to hold all the items we put in them.  God bless those who give to the poor.

They will bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green. Psalm 9214

Greetings in Christ Jesus

Welcome to summer.  I pray that it will be a special time for you.  The seniors will meet through June and then in July and August only on the second Wednesday.

 This month I will share some thoughts on Ageism.  Each day is another day in our lifetime.  As we enter the latter stages, we realize time is getting shorter for our time on earth.  Research finds that negative stereotypes can affect our wellbeing.  Perhaps you hear jokes about hearing loss or memory problems.  Comments can be harmful.  Older folks need more contact with others.  Older people need the ABC’s of successful aging:  Attitude, Balance, and Connection.  Our Senior Saints ministry offers this to our members.  At Senior Saints one can find fellowship, and above all God’s Word for meaningful living.  Psalm 92:14. They will bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.  Psalm 71:18. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake the, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation.

May God bless us all are we grow older!

A Joyful Summer,

Pastor Rich

 

Bingo the Basset Hound
Bingo the Basset Hound

Greetings Folks,

 

 Good old Summer Time!    If you travel this summer and worship, bring back your Bulletin.  Pastor Rich likes to see what is happening elsewhere. 

 

How about some summer humor to keep healthy.

 

 

  • Do fish go on vacation? No they stay in school.

 

  • Why do oysters keep their pearls? Because they are shellfish!

 

  • What do frogs like in summer?

 

  • What’s gray, has four legs, and a trunk? A mouse on vacation.

 

  • How can you tell the ocean is friendly? It waves.

 

  • Why do fish swim in saltwater? Because pepper makes them sneeze.

 

  • What did the dirt say to the rain? If you keep this up my name will be mud.

 

  • My uncle named his dogs Timex and Rolex. They’re his watch dogs.

 

Enough for now.

Love from Your Basset Hound

 

Vacation Bible School

Where: St. Paul Campus

Save the Date for St. Paul Lutheran’s Twists & Turns VBS

July 31st through August 4th, 9 AM – Noon.

Registration for both participants and volunteers

starts June 1st!

 

Join us this summer as we discover that Following Jesus Changes the Game!

If you have any questions, please contact us. 

jennifergatke@stpaulsherwood.org

We can’t wait to see you there!

 Want to register, please visit our website: www.myvbs.org/stpaulsherwood

Posted in VBS

I received an email from the chaplain at the Sherwood Police Department.  I thought I should share this with all of you because if not for this congregation, this ministry would not have happened.  This is truly a ministry for our church and it helps so many homeless in places we could never imagine.  If we think we can’t make a difference for people down on their luck, this letter proves that God works in ways we can only imagine and we need to support it in any way we can.  These backpacks are shared with other Police Departments in the area that the chaplain works with and mentors so the reach is far and wide.  Not just local officers, but state officers as well.

Just know that you all have made a difference to people in need and God willing we will continue to serve him by serving his people in need.  Serving the Lord—one backpark at a time!     My humble thanks to all of you.   Ellen Kulle

 

TODAY, YOU WERE THE HANDS AND FEET OF GOD

One of our officers called me this morning and asked me to bring assistance to David and Deann.  They are living out of their car, trying to get back on their feet.  Both have jobs and are waiting for the first paycheck so they can take the next steps forward.

 

  • I drove over to meet up with our dayshift officer with a $25.00 Fred Meyer gas card (from Public Safety Chaplaincy), a $15.00 McDonald’s Card (from St. Paul Lutheran Church), and a $25.00 Goodwill card (from St. Paul Lutheran Church). 
  • They mentioned that they had missed their window for showering at Rolling Hills Community Church today, so I contacted the Sherwood YMCA and left a message for the YMCA Chaplain about them being able to shower there after they get off work this afternoon.    
  • When I arrived I realized I had given the last of the St. Paul-provided backpacks I keep in my car to my King City officers.  As I was asking them if they are keeping warm enough in their car and might need more blankets, a second officer arrived on scene, pulled two backpacks out of my patrol vehicle, handed them to me and said, “You want to explain what these are?”  Each of them received a backpack and expressed their gratitude.
  • Chaplain Joel Peterson, my partner chaplain up in Cornelius, had just replenished my supply of fleece throws and knit caps supplied to him by some good people he knows in his part of the county.  So I supplied each of them a set of those as well. 

 

I just wanted to let you all know that my police officers were backed up today by a small army (you) of generous people who are striving to get back on their feet at this chilly time of year. 

 

Thank you one and all,

 

Wilson

 

Wilson Parrish

Master Chaplain

Sherwood Police Department

fireworks

S.P.A.R.K.  (St. Paul Church’s Announcements to Read and Know)  May 2023

Dear friends,

I’m excited about the ministry of our church! There’s lots of good conversation going on amongst our volunteers concerning the things we are doing in our community, and opportunities for change to carry out our ministry in the best way possible. I look forward to working with all of you in the coming months as we bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This month’s article is the first in a series I will be writing to help you learn more about the pastoral ministry here at St. Paul. I hope these articles will be informative and a pleasure to read. While I haven’t figured out everything I’m going to write about, the following are some of my initial thoughts:

  • What I am called to do
  • Ancillary duties
  • What goes into putting together a Sunday worship service
  • What goes into preparing a sermon
  • Continuing education and sabbatical
  • Why my family and I don’t live in the parsonage
  • How I work with my colleagues and the district
  • My relations with Sherwood pastors of other denominations

Regarding my call, these are the things you have called me to do at St. Paul Lutheran Church:

  • Administer to you the Word of God in its full truth and purity as contained in the Bible and as set forth in the Lutheran Confessions (Book of Concord)
  • Administer to you the holy sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper
  • To demonstrate to you the mind and spirit of Christ as I serve you, and equip you for Christ’s mission to save the lost
  • To equip and enable you to serve one another and those outside the fellowship of this congregation
  • To aid, counsel, and guide you; to visit the sick and the dying; to warn and firmly reprimand the indifferent and the erring; to support you as you extend the ministry to others
  • To see to the instruction of the catechumens, both children and adults, in the Word and thus prepare them for communicant membership in the church
  • To guide you in applying the divinely ordained discipline of the church according to the Word of God and to assist you in practicing the forgiven life with one another
  • To promote and guide the mission activity of the congregation as it relates to the local community and to endeavors of the Synod and the Northwest District
  • To serve as a resource and guide you as we participate in the ministry of Christian education, and to train parents to teach the Christian faith to their children
  • To assist you in adopting administrative policies and procedures that will help you carry out the mission of a Christian congregation
  • To serve you as an example of Christian conduct; to endeavor earnestly to live in Christian unity with you, my colleagues, and our sister congregations in the Synod; and do everything possible for the building up of the church

Next month, I will talk about the things I do in addition to the above which are not in my call, but do them anyways out of love, interest, and necessity.

The Lord bless you and keep you,

Pastor Don

 

 

 

Where are you on your journey in this life?  On the first Easter evening two disciples were walking to Emmaus.  Jesus joined them.  At first they didn’t recognize Him.  He explained the Scriptures to them.  They later recognized Him and said how their hearts burned within them when He shared the Word. 

Do you have a Burning heart?  We live in an insane world.  Insane means shocking, outrageous, madness.  We can survive and be sane. We can be kind, generous, and loving.  Why?  Because Jesus is not only Risen, but He is Alive! Because He lives, I too am alive forever.  How do I do this?  I make Jesus a priority in my life.  I pray.  I meditate on the Word of God.  I love others.  I fellowships and worship with others.  May Jesus give us all burning hearts! 

Want to experience a prayer style worship? On Wednesdays at 1:30 pm all are invited The Senior Center Chapel for a different way to worship through prayer.

May Jesus walk with you on your Easter Journey!

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Rich

 

Time for Bingo your friendly Basset Hound


Bingo the Basset Hound
Bingo the Basset Hound

Greetings folks,

I am looking forward to summer temperatures.  Rabbits are more active and fun to chase.  That is the reason for Basset Hounds.  They give us a hard time by hiding in holes, while we give them a hard time by chasing them.  The Senior Center is a busy place with a number of different activities happening here. 

Hope to sniff you sometime.  Come see me.

 Time for smiles?  Here are some to keep you healthy.

What did the beach say to the tide when it came in?  Long time no sea!

What did the ocean say to the shore?  Nothing it just waved.

Why did the fish blush?  Because it saw the ocean’s bottom!

Why don’t fish play basketball?  They are afraid of nets.

Which fish are the most expensive?  Goldfish

What do you find in the middle of the ocean?  The letter e

What does the sun drink out of? Sun glasses

 In summer when do you go on red and stop on green?  When you’re eating a watermelon. 

That’s all, time to chase a rabbit.

Love from Bingo, your friendly Basset Hound.

Hello everyone!

I hope to see many of your smiling faces throughout May!
We have Sunday school each Sunday from 9:40 to 10:35. We are finishing up our unit on Easter and will begin our special summer unit about the Apostles. Join us for fun crafts, games, and snacks as we learn how the Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles to share the Good News with everyone around them. Preschool through elementary age meet downstairs in the Education Building. Middle school and High school are meeting with Pastor Don and the Adult bible study in the lower level of the church.

Our wonderful friends at the Purple Hen have teamed up with the youth to sell gorgeous hanging baskets that are perfect for Mother’s Day. Please fill out the form or call the church office to order your baskets today!

On Saturday May 20th from 12 noon till 3pm, you can join Pastor Don for a special model building workshop. This is open to those 12 years old and up. For more details, contact the church office.

With summer right around the corner, we want to hear from you! What activities would you like to see happening at St. Paul? Don’t be shy! We are here to grow our church family and have fun.

Do you have any ideas, suggestions, questions, and/or you want to volunteer?
My email is: jennifergatke@stpaulsherwood.org

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not
for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
Jennifer Gatke
St. Paul Youth Program Director

CYF May calendar 23