1000 West Wilson Street
Banning, California 92220
951-849-3232 [email protected]
www.glcbanning.org
G RACE L UTHERAN C HURCH
J UNE 2017
This month we continue with another “sola” of the Reformation taken from The
Lutheran Witness (October 2016). Enjoy!
- Pastor Jason
The TENETS of the Reformation
A WATCHWORD CONVEYS THE HEART OF ONE’S BELIEFS.
SOLA FIDE – faith alone
by Christopher Maronde
Faith in Christ is bold only because of its object. When the One that you believe
in is the crucified and risen One, Jesus Christ our Lord, the very Son of God,
enthroned at the right hand of the Father, then your faith will be bold. “Now faith is
the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).
The question is not whether you have faith or not; the question is if you
believe in the right things. You can have all the sincerely held beliefs you want, but
are they true? You can have the “strongest” faith a person could possibly have, but if
the thing you believe in is uncertain at best or false at worse, then your faith is
worthless. It is not faith that saves, but faith in Christ.
Under the banner of sola fide, Martin Luther could stand before the
Emperor in Worms, just as the princes would stand before the Emperor at Augsburg.
Knowing the object of our faith makes us bold to say with the psalmist, “What can
man do to me?” (Psalm 56:11) and with the apostles, “We must obey God rather than
men” (Acts 5:29). Under the banner of sola fide, you can stand in the midst of
persecutions and threats, sufferings and disease, you can even face death, for it is
not the strength of your faith that saves you, it is the object of your faith. And the
object of your faith has destroyed death and hell by dying and rising again for you.
Just as nothing can now conquer Christ, so nothing can conquer you, for you are
connected to Christ by faith.
The debate of the Reformation, a debate that brought forth the bold
declaration “Sola Fide!” was not between good works on the one hand, and faith on
the other, but it was a debate over what relationship faith had to good works.
Namely, do good works have any place in our justification before God? The
Augsburg Confession gave the definitive answer, an answer faithful Lutherans still
confess to this day:
Our churches also teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own
strength, merits, or works but are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith when
(Continued on page 6)
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J UNE 2017
W ORSHIP S ERVICES
Traditional Service 9 am
CHURCH AT
SENECA SPRINGS PARK
JUNE 11 AT 10:00AM
Sunday School &
Adult Bible Study at 10:15 am
Holy Communion June 4 & 18
A BIG THANK YOU!
We want to express our sincere
appreciation to those who have served
our congregation in various ways.
Board of Directors:
Don McCage, Wayne Mohr
Board of Trustees:
Hailu Kinde, George Konrad
Endowment Committee:
Doug Rakow
Thank you for your faithful service,
leadership, and the giving of your time
and talents to God and His church here
at Grace, Banning.
Though these servant-leaders are
stepping down from their official
positions at this time, we know they will
continue to use their God-given gifts for
the church even without an official title.
May God honor the work you’ve done
and continue to bless you as you have
so richly blessed us! Thank you!
This annual event will be held at 10am,
Sunday, June 11th at Seneca Springs
(aka: DeForge Park in Beaumont, located
between East 1st St. and Potrero Blvd –
same location as the past several years).
Please contact the church office for maps
and directions if needed. There will be
no service at church that Sunday.
It’s a great opportunity to invite your
friends and neighbors to attend church in
the park! Flyers will be made available
for you to pass out as an invitation. Bring
your children/grandchildren with you to
join in the bean bag tournament and
water balloon competition.
The Sunday School will provide
bratwursts, hotdogs and hamburgers.
We need you to sign up in the entryway if
you will be attending so we prepare
enough food. If you are able to bring
dishes, sides (especially fruit salads),
and desserts, that would be great!
Unlike past picnics, NO ‘Pop-ups’ and
canopies are needed. Again, none are
needed. What you do need to bring are
your own drinks, beach towels or lawn
chairs for seating, and appropriate
attire (caps, shorts, t-shirts - no suits
allowed!). Contact Pastor Jason if you
have any questions.
PAGE 3
J UNE 2017
WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!
On April 30th we received into our family of faith Mike & Joyce
Cummings, Dee Moore, Robert & Vera Perez and Terry & Barbara
Rayworth. We thank the Lord for bringing us together as one family in
the name of Jesus Christ.
If you haven’t had a chance yet, please be sure to greet and get to
know our newest members! Remember, wearing your name badge
will help everyone get to know you too!
B OARD OF D IRECTORS
S UMMARY FOR M AY
INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS
The installation of our elected
officers will take place during Sunday
service on June 4th. Those who
have been elected to various
positions at our May Voters
Assembly are asked to be present
for the installation.
A regular meeting of the Grace
Lutheran Church Board of Directors
was held May 9, 2017. Reports
were reviewed along with the
agenda of the May 21 Voters
Assembly.
The church’s Yellow
Pages ad was also reviewed. The
next meeting will be held Tuesday,
June 13, at 6pm.
HAVE A HAPPY DAY
June 18, 2017
Father's Day Prayer
God our Father, in your wisdom and love you made all things. Bless these men, that they
may be strengthened as Christian fathers. Let the example of their faith and love shine
forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of
profound respect.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen
Page 4
J UNE 2017
JUNE BIRTHDAYS
6–
Ben Gray
6–
John Wright
8–
Kathie Herman
15 –
Colleen Gutting
18 –
Jo Sturm
20 –
Mike Cummings
22 –
Gene Bell
23 –
Russ Bailey
24 –
Carl Moore
28 –
Doug Rakow
29 –
Linda Mohr
30 –
Sue Pottle
FELLOWSHIP
The Fellowship Committee
wants to welcome Linda Anderson and
Ben Gray (welcome back) to our group of
volunteers. Linda and Ben have joined
together to form a team. This is exciting
for the committee because it leaves us just
one team or couple short. If you have
considered joining the committee, whose
main task is to coordinate and set up
fellowship each Sunday, please join
because we need you.
The Committee also wants to thank Nancy
Toeller and Carol Munnelly for silently but
faithfully decorating the fellowship hall for
the last year. The hall always looks so
festive and we love seeing the changes as
the seasons and special holidays go by.
Just a reminder that beginning in June, the
Fellowship Committee will be lightening
their load, by changing the Sunday
Fellowship menu.
JUNE ANNIVERSARIES
1 – Don & Pat McCage
2 – Jim & Corky Evans
25 – Harold & Lanita Buck
26 – George & Trudie Konrad
26 – Pax & Connie Reinecker III
We will continue the tradition of cake on
the first Sunday of every month, and
donuts on the last Sunday of each month.
The Sundays in between will simply be
cookies and coffee. We will no longer
serve a fruit bowl, or crackers and cheese
each Sunday. If anyone wants to donate
either of these for a Sunday you are
welcomed to provide them. You can drop
them off in the kitchen before church.
28 – Bob & Kathie Herman
28 – John & Gail Wright
30 – Roger & Glenn Ballinger
We thank you for your understanding.
P AGE 5
J UNE 2017
Meet a Servant of Christ — Robert “Bob” Holman
Bob has served in many ways here at Grace: Head Elder, Chairman of the Board of
Directors, Nominating Committee Chairman, Children’s Sunday School Teacher, Van
Driver, Choir and the Endowment Committee. Bob is always a willing servant of God
and steps up when asked to help. Bob faithfully attends church and you can always
find him sitting in the front row on the left side.
Bob was born October 22, 1943 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and was baptized as a baby
at Coon Prairie Lutheran Church in nearby Westby, Wisconsin. He, 2 brothers and 1
sister, grew up in suburban Chicago. He attended 2 years of college at Luther College in Decorah,
Iowa and then transferred to Northern Illinois University where he received a Bachelor of Science
Education degree, with a Teaching certificate in secondary education. Bob went to the National Table
Tennis Championships twice, once representing Luther College, and once representing Northern
Illinois University. He was married in 1965 during his college years, has 3 daughters, 1 son, and now
has 8 beautiful grandchildren - 13 years and younger.
Bob then served in the Navy in San Diego on Coronado Island in an Anti-Submarine Aircraft
Squadron. He served on the Bennington Aircraft Carrier in Viet Nam for 6 months in 1968, and had
one take-off and one landing on the aircraft carrier as a crewman.
After serving in the Navy he went to work for Sears and Roebuck in Oak Brook, Illinois. Bob had
enjoyed the San Diego area when he was in the Navy so he requested a transfer to San Diego, and
lived in Del Mar, California with his family for ten years. Bob was promoted to San Bernardino and the
family moved to Calimesa to a home on the Calimesa Golf Course. Bob worked for Sears for 43 years
- part time for 6 years, in management for 17 years, and big ticket salesman for the last 20 years. He
retired in 2005.
Bob was divorced in 1990 and moved to Beaumont. He transferred from First Lutheran Church in
Redlands to Grace Lutheran in 2004. The interim pastor was Pastor Irv Goehring, known as Pastor G.
A young new part-time pastor - Jason Hong - had just begun serving.
Bob’s hobbies include Charger games, golfing, skiing, and traveling the world. The only continent he
hasn’t been to is Africa (except for Egypt). He has visited several countries multiple times, Australia
and New Zealand five times. He hiked to the top of Mount Whitney in 1998, to the top of Machu
Picchu (in Peru) in 2013. His next trip is to Singapore in August. If Bob wasn’t in church on Sunday
during football season you could count on him being in San Diego for the Chargers game and tailgate
party. He attended 456 consecutive Charger games with 6 of his family and friends. Since the
Chargers are moving from San Diego, Bob says he may join Doug Rakow as a Green Bay Packer fan.
A few years ago Bob was in a car accident on Route 66, between Essex and Amboy. He was air lifted
by helicopter to a hospital in Las Vegas because he was in such bad condition. He suffered 6 broken
vertebrae and cracked ribs, and was in a coma for several days. He spent 2 months at home in bed
and 2 months in a brace. 6 months later he was back on the ski slopes. Bob says his recovery was a
miracle. That God has a plan for his life, and it’s not finished yet.
What Bob loves most about Grace Lutheran Church is being able to get to know everyone in our small
church and how friendly, and willing, our members are to cheerfully contribute when and where they
are needed. His dream is that the Endowment Fund would grow so that in the future Grace can
expand or relocate our church.
Please say hello to Bob and thank him for serving his Savior, Jesus Christ, here at Grace.
J UNE 2017
PAGE 6
A Word from Willie
This month’s article is about an experience that I recently had with prayer and God’s perfect
timing. On this past Easter, it was placed on my heart to add my friend and right-hand man at my
business, Mike Ferguson, to our prayer list here at Grace. On that Easter evening, Pam and I
received word that Mike was in Riverside Community Hospital. I spoke with Mike by cell phone
and told him that it was a good thing that I had added him to the prayer list that morning – and it
was (a good thing). Through the amazing thing that we call the internet, I sent out a prayer request
for Mike and people from as far away as Sweden were praying for him. The following Saturday,
Mike spent four hours in surgery having a football size tumor removed. The doctor that performed
the surgery, who also happens to teach at UC Irvine “Just happened to be” teaching at UC Riverside
and was there at Riverside Community Hospital that day. By the way, Mike’s doctor is a Christian
man who told him “I’ll take good care of you” and he did. God’s timing is perfect! The prognosis for
Mike’s recovery is very good, as a matter of fact, the results from the pathology tests show that he is
cancer free and does not require chemo or radiation! Speaking with Mike’s daughter about how
God has blessed this situation and the amount of prayer support, she said that she is almost
embarrassed to ask any more of God as He has blessed Mike so much!
Years ago, Mike and I were musing over old times (we’ve been friends for over 40 years) and we
were discussing the age-old saying of “If I only knew then what I know now”. Mike stated it very
well when he said “If I only knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done half of the stuff that I
did!” You see, it was at this time in our lives where our faith in Jesus Christ had become paramount
to both of us. Without going into it any deeper, we had both experienced things in our lives that
had shown to us the power of prayer and how God’s timing is perfect and the above story is just one
more example of that.
We serve an awesome God!
In His Grip, Deacon Willie
(Continued from page 1)
THE TENETS OF THE REFORMATION
they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven on
account of Christ, who by His death made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God
imputes for righteousness in His sight. (AC IV)
Sola fide is the battle cry of the Reformation because it puts all things in
their proper order. Good works follow, but they never precede; believers are
exhorted to good works, but not for salvation. Sola fide is created by the
proclamation of [Scripture alone], and its object is [grace alone] found only [in Christ].
Sola fide means that faith is never alone: it always has its object, and when the object
of faith is [Christ alone], then no works are needed, for Christ has done it all for you!
J UNE 2017
P AGE 7
GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes for May 11, 2017
Members Present: Ben Gray, Don McCage, Darryl Craft. Members not present: Colin
Pay, Bob Taylor, Hailu Kinde.
Old Business: Minutes from last meeting reviewed and amended to specify the correct
source of funding for the new storage shed: Funds will be taken from the Benner
Memorial rather than the Gail Gray Memorial. Funds for the new round tables will be
taken from the Gutting Memorial and the Gail Gray Memorial. Minutes approved as
amended.
Trustees are still waiting for a quote from the Electrical Contractor to add sensors to
control the parking lot lights. Will continue to follow-up until the quote is received,
approved, and the project is completed
Development of a Physical Property Notebook as noted in the April Trustee meeting
minutes, is complete. A special thank you to everyone who volunteered their time to
compile the information and complete the notebook.
Consideration of changing monthly Trustee meetings and work days to Saturday has
been tabled and will be discussed during the June, 2017 meeting.
NEW BUSINESS:
The new round tables have been received. Rectangular tables have been removed from
the Fellowship Hall and stored until needed. New round tables have been setup for the
next Sunday Bible Study.
Alarm has been added to the new storage shed.
Decision has been make to paint the metal framework around the Church Sign on Wilson
Street. Trustees will request that the Board of Directors provide input regarding the
selection of the paint color.
Trustees will seek the advice, and request a quote from a Locksmith, for new “keyed-alike
padlocks” for the storage sheds.
Meeting adjourned @ 8:30am. Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 14,
2017 @ 7:30am. Work day to follow @ 9am.
Respectfully submitted by Darryl Craft, Secretary.
Join Us!
WORK DAY
June 14
9am
Mekane Yesus (“Place of Jesus”) University Under-formation
Project Newsletter (MY-UUFPN)
[email protected]
May 2017 Newsletter
On April 25, we were blessed with
close to 3,000 books for the
Bishoftu Campus library!
by [Article Author]
A blessing of this magnitude has
not been experienced in many
years!
The First Special Community
Day - Observed on May 4th!
The purpose of this day was, for
the entire campus community, to
come together in unity to pray,
Currently the books are being
counted and logged by category
to be placed on the library
bookshelves.
Since the establishment of a
complete library is one of the
accreditation requirements,
through this donation, it is
believed that we are at 90% in
fulfilling the library obligation.
We are extremely grateful for our
donor and we praise The Lord for
bringing us together! We are also
thankful to our donors in the area
of scholarship for our students
and purchases of instructional
materials for the Bishoftu
campus. A special chapel praise
and prayer service was held for
our donors and the Lord’s work at
the Bishoftu campus.
fellowship and praise The Lord for
all His blessings! The day started
with a two hours of praise and
worship service led by faculty and
students from the school of
Music. This was followed by
sharing, praying and teaching of
the Word, outdoor activities,
lunch and student led praise and
praise worship with languages
representing different regions of
Ethiopia.
This was a spiritually uplifting and
an amazing day!
[email protected]
May 2017 Newsletter (page 2)
Praises and Prayer Requests:
Praises
-> Library books received.
-> Donors and partners from
different parts of the world to
advance The Lord’s work in
Ethiopia.
Special Community Day…..
Students enjoyed the event and
were commenting that we should
do this more often! The next
similar activity is planned for,
after final exam before students
leave for their home regions, June
10 and 11. Please pray for another
spiritually filled event for our
Campus community.
Closing prayer of community
day!
-> The success of the first
community day.
Pre – Defense Presentation:
-> Spiritual growth of our students
and the Seminary community.
Currently our second year MA in
Organizational Leadership
students are preparing to defend
their thesis before June 10th. As a
result, to help the students in
preparing for their defense, we
had a pre – defense presentation
day. That is, each faculty was
assigned to two groups consisting
of 6 students, each student
presented to their group and
received feedback both from
their peers and the faculty.
I had the opportunity to be one of
the faculty in facilitating the
presentations and advising my
assigned 12 students. I was
impressed by the quality of their
work.
Since most of our MA students
are currently working in a
leadership role of some capacity
at their organizations, it gives me
a great joy and confidence to
have contributed in building their
professional life as they become
future leaders of the country.
Please pray for:
-> Bishoftu Campus activities
being planned for June 7 and for
fall 2017.
-> graduating students and all
graduation related activities.
-> June 10 and 11 campus-wide
conference.
-> Partners in renovating the
Bishoftu campus dormitories and
the dining hall.
To provide tax deductible gift to
support this mission work, please
go to
https://missionofchrist.org/projec
ts/haragewen-kinde/
Or send your gift to the address
below and specify the support is
for:
Haragewen A. Kinde Mission
Partner in Ethiopia work.
Mission of Christ Network
P.O. Box 533
Concordia MO 64020