Wheelchair Ramp Build 7 September 2013

Today the Carpentry Team of Messiah Lutheran Church built another wheelchair ramp in partnership with CASA of Madison County.  This was our biggest wheelchair ramp to date.  The ramp was 62 feet long.  It was also our biggest build in terms of attendance.  Thankfully, we had a crew of 18 carpenters on the job today.

The family we built this ramp for was very grateful.  The ramp took a bit longer than normal because of the size of the project and the build lasted 7 1/2 hours including load-up time.  The attached video is a time lapse of those 7 1/2 hours.  Many thanks to everyone who participated in today's build.

ALS Walk 2013

Often referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, fatal neuromuscular disease that slowly robs the body of its ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe. The life expectancy of an ALS patient averages 2 to 5 years from the time of diagnosis.

Every 90 minutes a person in this country is diagnosed with ALS and every 90 minutes another person will lose their battle against this disease. ALS occurs throughout the world with no racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic boundaries.

This crippling disease can strike anyone. Presently there is no known cause of the disease yet it still costs loved ones an average of $200,000 a year to provide the care ALS patients need. Help make a difference and donate or join a walk today.

The Messiah Lutheran congregation has lost several members to this disease and we want to fight back.  We have supported the ALS walk for several years.  Your generous donations to this cause have helped make a difference.  There is still time to donate to this years campaign.  This Wednesday night at 5:30 pm, we will be having a spaghetti fundraiser in the parish hall.  Everyone is welcome.  The meal is free.  Donations will be accepted if you desire to contribute.  Please come out and help the cause.

You can also designate a portion of your offering to go to this cause or you can contribute directly to the ALS website.  For more information, please contact Mary Mast or the Church Office.

Thanks for your help!

New Members Reception Aug 2013

Welcome to the newest members of the Messiah Lutheran Congregation.  We are so happy that you are part of our church family!

Messiah Lutheran Church officially receives new members on a quarterly basis.  Visitors are always welcome.  If you would like to learn more about Messiah Lutheran Church, please visit our website, or call the Church Office at 256-721-0041 for more information.  

Sending our Love

The Sanctuary was overflowing this week with comforters and boxes filled with health kits, school kits and layette kits. These comforters and kits reflect the work over the last year of two of Messiah's long running ministries.

The comforters, led by Annette Joens, meet each Tuesday at Messiah Lutheran Church. They create the hundreds of the wonderful quilts like the ones seen in this photo.

The quilts and prayer shawls created by the comforters are sent to those in need both in the local community and around the world via Lutheran World Relief.

Rhonda Gaede leads the Kit Ministers.  This group collects, assembles and boxes thousands of health kits, school kits and layette kits.  These kits are sent around the world to those in need via Lutheran World Relief.




During our worship service, we wrapped ourselves in the quilts that were made with love and that we are sending in love in hopes that they will provide comfort to those in need.

Both of these ministries are looking for helping hands.  You don't need any special training or skills.  Just a willingness to help.  If you would like to learn more about how you can help these ministries, please contact, Annette Joens, Rhonda Gaede, or the Church Office at (256) 721-0041 or info@mlutheran.org.

The Unexpected Visitors

On Saturday, the Messiah Lutheran Church Adult Choir and Repertoire Players presented an original production of "The Unexpected Visitors". This hilarious two act musical/comedy mystery explores comedic result of two couples from out of town visiting a Lutheran Church. Because no one recognizes them, the congregation jumps to the assumption that they are a search committee who has come to take the pastor away.

Dinner Theater is an annual event at Messiah Lutheran Church. This year's standing room only event was used as a fund raiser for Messiah's "Lunches for Learning" Ministry. Over $1000 was raised to support this awesome ministry that feeds school age kids at our elementary school in Honduras. "

The Unexpected Visitors" was created, produced and directed by Messiah's very own Bob Gustafson. The assistant producer/director was Taylor Bono. Music direction was provided by Lois Graff and Randall Fields. The technical director was Paul Zutter.

Special thanks to Greg Kilby and the fellowship committee for providing a wonderful dinner of Marsala Chicken and all the fixings. And thanks to the youth of Messiah Lutheran Church for serving as wait staff for the event. They did an incredible job feeding a hungry mob of Lutherans.

Wheelchair Ramp Build, 13 Jul 2013

From Wheelchair Ramp Build, July 13, 2013

After a hiatus of several months for our annual habitat build, the Messiah Carpentry team came out swinging and completed a wheelchair ramp for a wonderful lady in Huntsville, Alabama.

 The Carpentry Team builds approximately one wheelchair ramp per month in partnership with CASA of Madison County.

CASA builds wheelchair ramps for needy individuals regardless of income or age and at no cost to the client. Wheelchair ramps provide CASA clients the mobility necessary for safely entering and leaving their homes, while promoting a sense of independence and freedom and access to the outside world. Each ramp is custom designed for each client and built by CASA volunteers. By providing wheelchair ramps, we are providing our clients with the knowledge that there are people in the community who truly care about their well-being.

The team can always use a few extra hands to help build the ramps. No special skills or tools are required. If you would like to help with the next build, please contact the Messiah Carpentry Team Leaders, Joe Stuart and Owen Wasmoen.

Click Here to see additional photos from this build.

Wheelchair Ramp Build, July 13, 2013

Music Camp - God Goes Fishing

Messiah Lutheran Church Music Camp presents God Goes Fishing - The Story of Jonah.

This week, 48 children from Messiah Lutheran Church and the local community participated in an original musical production entitled "God Goes Fishing" during the Church's annual Music Camp.

Music Camp is a week long event in which the youth practice during the week and then perform during both Sunday worship services.  "God Goes Fishing" tells the story of Jonah and how God is fishing for us all. 

In addition to practicing for the musical production, the children also enjoyed music, drama, arts and crafts, recreation, snacks and afternoon activities. If you watch the video above, you will easily be able to tell that the kids had a great time based on all of the smiles on their faces. 

We give special thanks to the small army of adult and teen volunteers who helped make Music Camp a success this year by putting this awesome Worship service together in just one week.

The Music and Lyrics for "God Goes Fishing" were written by Pastor Scott Peterson and our Music Director, Lois Graff.

Here are some photos from the dress rehearsal
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50717702@N07/sets/72157634017411675/

Here are some videos from previous music camps.

2012 - http://mlutheran.blogspot.com/2012/06/oh-brother.html
2011 - http://mlutheran.blogspot.com/2011/06/sam-shams-and-shepherd-king.html
2010 - http://mlutheran.blogspot.com/2010/06/lord-use-me-music-camp-2010_17.html

Habitat For Humanity Build Joplin, Missouri

Joplin, Missouri April 29–May 4, 2013 By Susan Burrer

…an ordinary lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon, they say…who knew the lives of the people of Joplin would change forever in a matter of minutes on that 22nd day of May 2011.

An EF-5 tornado (winds 250 mph) touched down beginning at 5:35 p.m. —a width of nearly 1 mile wide at one point and on the ground for 6 miles, right through the heart of this city of about 50,000. It intensified as it moved across the more densely populated portion of town and lifted at 6:12 p.m. When it was all said and done, 161 casualties, 1100 injured, 8,000 homes damaged or destroyed, and $2.8 billion damage. Blocks and blocks of houses and businesses were totally flattened or just gone. How do you literally pick up the pieces…physically and emotionally.

Our Thrivent Builds with Habitat team arrived in Joplin April 29; 10 team members from 3 states: Kyle (team lead), Pat, Ron, Tom and Norm from Missouri, Cheryl from Arkansas, and Marsha, Tim, Virg, and myself from Alabama.

Our team worked on the 5th Thrivent Builds home; the 71st Habitat house to be built in the past two years.

Habitat/Immanuel Lutheran Church hosted dinner and told the story; so sad on many accounts, but SO incredibly aware they are that someone was watching out for the countless others that were alive amidst totally destroyed structures. Christine, a young mother of two and future Habitat house owner, told of her experience surviving the tornado. Looking at the pictures of devastation, it is amazing that there wasn’t even more fatalities. …I believe we all feel that we are needed here.

Tuesday morning we took a tour of the hardest hit neighborhoods. Almost two years later the eerie ‘emptiness’ in some areas can be felt; we cannot imagine the devastation that once was here. We can, however, feel the emotion of the people telling their stories about being in the midst of that monster as if it happened yesterday, and our hearts ache for them, knowing their lives will never be the same.

Our team arrives at the house we will work on—2424 Kentucky. The ~1200 ft structure has been built by other teams; we will be putting on the vinyl siding over the next few days. Plumbing is taking place inside the house while the team, like worker bees, jump to it outside. …no standing around now, there is much to be done!

I am anxious to test out my new pink hammer since most of the Builds I’m on do not involve hammering! Each Habitat home built here now also has an underground tornado shelter in the back yard. We had two beautiful sunny 87º days of lathering on sunscreen, and then changed to a misty, windy 47º day of putting on every layer of clothes we brought…the No. 1 words of a Build…be flexible!

As I am nailing siding on, I hear the sound of an ambulance wailing in the distance. The hair on my arms stand as I imagine how it must have sounded that fateful evening with so many emergency vehicles screaming through the blackness of night to help people. ...I wonder if the residents of Joplin have that reaction every time they hear a siren.

Lunch was served in the combined ‘do good’ warehouse where Habitat builds walls and works in collaboration with several other organizations such as TransForm Joplin, Hammers & Hearts, etc., making use of each other’s services.

Our lunch speaker, a lady who was in their house during the storm, showed pictures and shared her very emotional story. She, just like the people after the Alabama tornadoes, was greatly sadden by the loss of their huge trees. I’m sure the 100-year-old trees were visually a sign of strength and stability and now without them, one would feel exposed and, it is a constant reminder of how life can change in a blink of an eye.

These Joplin people get it—their focus is not on ‘poor me’ even after all they have been through, but on their extreme gratefulness for what didn’t happen that could have, and for the outpouring of caring volunteers that came to help rebuild their lives...a BIG part in helping them heal, they say.

Yes, they did have a 17-minute warning, but like our area of Alabama, you have quite a few warnings and become complacent about seeking shelter immediately…until you’ve been through one, and then the first clap of thunder in the far-off distance makes you very nervous. It had not been even a month since the devastating tornadoes hit Alabama so we were still doing massive clean-up and healing right here when Mother Nature lashed out in Joplin!

Their stories…

It was graduation day at Joplin High School late afternoon. Rather last minute they decided to move the ceremony to a university about 3 miles away for more room for the 455 students and guests. The high school was destroyed; the sign was there with the O and P, someone added the H and E…

Stories were told of the unbelievable darkness and deafening quietness at night as there was no power and not much cell service since many of the towers were also destroyed. Since everything was gone—street signs and landmarks—it was hard to maneuver around a once familiar city. Cans of spray paint were found to paint the names of streets on the streets themselves. St. Mary’s Catholic Church and school were totally flattened except the huge steel cross by the entrance that was left towering over the remains. The 50-yearold cross quickly became a symbol of hope and faith for many.

Brush With Kindness 
Upon waking to an inch of snow Friday, the team loaded in the van for the trip to the Crutchfield area of Tulsa, OK, to share one day in their Habitat for Humanity Brush With Kindness four-day event, an area of older homes that needed some TLC. Our team’s ‘kindness’ involved repairing wood around windows, doors, and soffits, caulking, and painting the exterior of this lady’s house.

Saturday it was back to our house in Joplin—the plan was to finish the siding on the front of the house but because the weather was still not cooperating, work was done inside. The front door was installed, baffles put up, bathroom fan vent ducts secured, and areas around the electrical and plumbing in the floor and ceiling framing were sealed.

Two years later…

Trees that were left standing were debarked and are starting to come back with little tufts of green up and down their trunks; others that didn’t make it are now painted in bright colors. Stars with messages of hope created by volunteers can still be found throughout the city. A beautiful tribute to the human spirit, this community, and the volunteers has been designed by third year architectural students of Drury U. and built in Cunningham Park. The garden is made up of four concentric concrete rings of sidewalk that emanate from a center mosaic, a butterfly made from broken glass/china; each ring represents rescue, recovery, demolition, and rebirth. A tree has been planted in memory of each fatality, there is a tribute to all the volunteers who came to help, and a wall of ‘things collected’ from door knobs to a golf ball, signifying making something new out of pieces of things displaced. This was done in conjunction with the “Extreme Makeover: Home  Edition” with the show’s construction of seven houses on Connor Avenue.

Several butterfly tributes are created throughout the city, including this butterfly wall, depicting

...the most profound story of all...

the one retold through the children’s eyes,

.…butterflies put their wings around them 

and kept them safe. 

… truly there were angels in Joplin 

that afternoon…

Across the Land

The Contemporary Band of Messiah Lutheran Church presents "Across the Land" during Worship Service of May 26, 2013. The Contemporary Band provides the music at the 11 am worship service on the third Sunday of each month. To learn more about the music ministries of Messiah Lutheran Church, please visit the music ministries page on our website or talk to Lois Graff our Director of Music Ministries.

Confirmation 2013

Congratulations to our 2013 Confirmands!

Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Hummanity

From Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity 2013

Our Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity Project is off to a good start.  We have a foundation and walls.  Soon we will have a roof.  

Construction of this home will continue through June.  Please consider joining us on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday.  No special skill, training or tools are required.  For more information, please contact Gerard deJong.

Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity is a homebuilding and advocacy alliance between Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and Habitat for Humanity. This alliance seeks to increase Habitat's capacity to build more homes and promote donations, volunteerism, and worldwide homebuilding trips by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans' members.

Click here to see additional photos from the build so far.

Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity 2013

Check out photo from previous builds 2012 - http://mlutheran.blogspot.com/2012/05/thrivent-builds-with-habitat-for.html 2011 - http://mlutheran.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-habitat-for-humanity-build-is.html 2010 - http://mlutheran.blogspot.com/2010/06/habitat-home-dedication.html

Stephen Ministry Workshop

Stephen Ministry.  What is that?  Who needs it?  Why?  How does our congregation get one?

Those were some of the questions that were brought to and answered by the Bridging the Gap workshop held at Messiah on Saturday, March 3.  Nearly 30 people gathered at Messiah to hear Neal Schoorer talk in detail about how this ministry can serve a congregation.

The morning started with a session on grief.  Following training materials directly from the Stephen Ministry training, attendees explored how lay people from a congregation can minister to and care for someone who is grieving .  Starting with Jesus weeping at the death of Lazaus, participants learned that grieving is a Christian act and we are not made to grieve alone.  Participants then explored helpful and not so helpful things people tend to say to those who are grieving.  This was just a small look into what Stephen Ministry has to offer a congregation, and the participants were excited.  Only the participants from Messiah, the host, were familiar with what this ministry can offer.

Messiah's program has 8 current Stephen Ministers who have been trained in this distinctively Christian form of caring.  The program can minister to people in all types of transitions in life, and for as long as the receiver needs the care.  They are the caring people who are there when everyone else has gone back to "normal."

The Messiah team of ministers hopes that our guests decide to start programs at their home congregations.  If you or someone you know would benefit from having a Stephen Minister, or you would like to know more about the ministry, please contact Claire Strand.

Wheelchair Ramp Build, February 2, 2013

From Wheelchair Ramp Build, February 2, 2013

Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night will stop the Messiah Ramp Builders from their appointed rounds. On Saturday the Messiah Carpentry Team built another wheelchair ramp for a gentleman who lives on Monte Sano.  Though the weather was a little sketchy, the team managed to get the job done and the result was a mighty fine looking wheelchair ramp if we do say so ourselves. The gentleman was very thankful.  He said that it has been about seven years since he has been on his front porch.

 The Carpentry Team builds approximately one wheelchair ramp per month in partnership with CASA of Madison County.

CASA builds wheelchair ramps for needy individuals regardless of income or age and at no cost to the client. Wheelchair ramps provide CASA clients the mobility necessary for safely entering and leaving their homes, while promoting a sense of independence and freedom and access to the outside world. Each ramp is custom designed for each client and built by CASA volunteers. By providing wheelchair ramps, we are providing our clients with the knowledge that there are people in the community who truly care about their well-being.

The team can always use a few hands to help build the ramps. No special skills or tools are required.  If you would like to help with the next build, please contact the Messiah Carpentry Team Leaders, Joe Stuart and Owen Wasmoen.  

Click here to see some additional photos from this build.

Wheelchair Ramp Build, February 2, 2013

OWLS

From OWLS, January 29, 2013

The Older Wiser Lutherans (OWLS) of Messiah Lutheran Church had a Dominos Party for their January 2013 get together. Usually they partake in activities like mountain climbing and hang gliding but every once in a while, they like to kick it old school.

The event was hosted by Ed and Mary Ann Stasiak. Several games of Dominoes ensued. Some of the experts were teaching the others how to play their favorite game. Some of the rules had to be checked out and there was lots of good humored bickering about this. Everyone had a good evening and we thank the Stasiak's for inviting us to their beautiful home.

The OWLS are a loosely knit group of folks (over 50 years of age) who get together once a month for an activity. These activities vary from a potluck at the church, Sunday brunch at a restaurant, miniature golf, a visit to the Botanical Garden, to attending the "Living Christmas Tree" concert. Both men and women are welcome. And don’t let our name fool you. We may call ourselves the “Older” Wiser Lutherans, but we know we’re all young at heart. Please call Jan Murphy or the Church Office for more information about the OWLS.

Click here to see some more photos from this event.

OWLS, January 29, 2013

Mardi Gras Fellowship Potluck

On February 10th, the congregation of Messiah Lutheran Church will host a Mardis Gras Fellowship Potluck.  Everyone is welcome.  There will be craft activities for the kids.  And did we mention the yummy food?  Is there anything more fun than a good old fashioned Lutheran Potluck?

Please visit the welcome center in the Messiah Lutheran Church Narthex for complete details and the signup sheet?  We'll see you there!