Seminary Notes

 

My first year of Ministry in Context will conclude on May 11.  The emphasis of the first year of the program is observation and reflection.  I have observed many things at Gloria Dei during the past several months, including the Church Council/Chairs retreat in January, the Capital Campaign, and a variety of styles of worship.  Gloria Dei has been a good setting in which to integrate my classroom learning with parish experience. 

Though my year of MIC will conclude this month, I will continue to serve part-time at Gloria Dei.  This summer I also will be completing another contextual education requirement: Clinical Pastoral Education at the Cincinnati/Fort Thomas Veterans Administration.  I am thankful that the location of my CPE site will allow me to live at home all summer. 

I thank you for your continued prayers and support.                                                  –Tom Pairan

Capital Campaign

 

Congratulations to Gloria Dei Members.   Thanks to your outstanding support we have had a successful capital fund raising campaign thus far.   As of April 16 we have received 169 individual pledges totaling $783,687 plus a Memorial Fund pledge of $25,000 for a grand total of $808,687.   This is 95% of our goal of $850,000.

For those still considering what to pledge, we urge you to prayerfully consider what you can contribute and to submit your pledge.  For those who can give some more or pledge a fourth year, please let us know.   We will pledge new members and continue our follow-up with existing members. Prayerfully consider what more you can do to push us over the top.     

We have loan commitments for both the construction phase and to finance any shortfall between pledges received and final construction bid amounts.  Our project will go forward.        

We thank those who were able to make their pledge all at once this year, since that reduces our finance costs on the construction loan.  If there are some of you who can accelerate your payment, we would appreciate it.

Easter Breakfast A Big Success!

 

Easter morning saw 120 Gloria Dei members and guests come in for our traditional breakfast cooked and served by the Men’s Group.  Not only has the breakfast become a popular activity for families, it’s also a good fundraiser.  Money raised from this event helps us support the Angel Tree gift program and sponsor the marionette show.

Generosity was the key word.  We always appreciate the volunteers who set up, cook, serve and clean afterwards.  Where would we be without all who attended, many contributing more than the cost of the breakfast?  And this year, everything was donated: from the meat, to all of the rest of the food, to the flowers on the tables, to the bright table coverings.  With additional funds from Thrivent, we raised $800. 

Thank you to those who helped in so many ways: our leader Jim Eason, Jim Eichinger, Herb Wedig, Julie Weber, Jim Corbit, Bob and Bonnie Handahl, Gene Brown, Jim Wolter, Duane Skavdahl, Erik Hanson, Rebecca Brode, Ched Thornton, Jim Bianchi, and Thrivent Financial.

The Power of Prayer

 

“You must love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind…” (Deuteronomy 6:5)

 

OUR PRAYERS….LOVE LETTERS TO GOD? 

 

The first commandment of God is to love Him with all our hearts, souls and minds.  And as in any relationship with those we love, we often send cards to share in the joys, sorrows and challenges of daily life or write e-mails just to say, “I am thinking about you.”  As we share these semi-autobiographical moments together, we become closer. Our Heavenly Father wants to have this kind of relationship with each of His children as well.  He clearly states this in His first commandment.

So, how do we cultivate this type of relationship with our Lord and Savior?  Most of it evolves by spending time with Him through prayer.  We can even take this one step further and write our prayers in a journal.  Just this one step can make a tremendous difference by causing us to keep our thoughts focused on the Lord and to more closely consider what we want to share with Him.  When this suggestion was made to Pastor Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church, he responded as follows:

“The second part of my path to spiritual authenticity, may prayer life, was amazingly weak, and had been for years. It’s wasn’t that I hadn’t wanted to pray.  I always had good intentions. I tried to pray.  But I would get down on my knees and say, ‘Dear God…’ and in five seconds my mind would be in outer space.  I would start thinking of people I hadn’t seen in years, making up solutions for problems that didn’t exist, strategizing for new ministries, or planning family vacations.

 

“It was so frustrating.  I normally have tremendous ability to concentrate.  I pride myself on being able to stick with a project till it’s done, but prayer did me in every time.  I would hear people speak of praying for four hours, and I would feel terrible knowing I couldn’t pray for four minutes.

“I would probably still be a prayer-less man if a friend hadn’t suggested his habit of writing out his prayers.  He said God created him with a very active mind, and the only way he had been able to ‘capture’ it and focus on God was to write out his prayers.  I thought; That’s me!  That’s what I need to do.”

If you find yourself relating with Pastor Bill Hybels and countless others like him, you now realize this struggle with prayer is not unique only to you.  Your Lord & Savior longs to hear from you, and what better way to do it than by a love letter of prayer written straight from your heart.

 

On May 4 and 11, we will complete our DVD series entitled “Answering Islam: Countering Terror With Truth.”  Islam claims the allegiance of more than 1.3 billion people worldwide.  What does Islam teach and what is the threat posed by its most ardent followers?

“Despite the threat posed by militant Islam, we as believers should not be afraid,” Dr. D. James Kennedy, founder of Coral Ridge Ministries has said.  “They are not our enemy, but captives of our enemy, Satan.  We must pray for them, share the Gospel with them, support mission enterprises into Islamic nations, and refuse to allow fear to enter our hearts.”

Join us for this enlightening study each Sunday at 9:50 a.m. in Room F-1.  May 11 is our final class until September.

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While we have water, who else doesn’t…?      

In a small East African country called Rwanda, the size of the state of Maryland, 1994 was a year that brought deep rooted hatred to the surface. People belonging to the Hutu tribe hacked away at people from the Tutsi tribe resulting in millions of displaced refuges, both internal and external. This situation left millions of children orphaned and lost with no food, no shelter and no water. Many international organisations have since provided shelter and education facilities for the resettled refugees and the orphaned children. However, one of the biggest problems is the provision of clean water that is easily accessible to all so that daily life can continue.

Since August 2007, I have become involved in an organisation called Engineers Without Borders (EWB) which has a local chapter in Cincinnati (EWB-GCP). EWB-USA is a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve quality of life. The EWB-GCP chapter is made up of professionals living in the greater Cincinnati area.

Our current project is partnering with the Muhororo community in Rwanda to provide the community with drinking water through sustainable engineering solutions. This project will benefit about 200 families (1500 people). There are also three orphanages in the village that care for 200 children. The project will provide a reliable source of drinking water to both Muhororo community and village orphanage. It will also provide water storage to aid the community during the dry seasons. Our projects are typically designed to be a “Hand Up” and not a “Hand Out”.

Our team is planning to travel to Rwanda in 2 phases in July and August to implement the project. With your prayers, wishes and commitment, we hope to enable the people of Muhororo to not only get water more easily, but also to know that someone in USA, someone in Greater Cincinnati area and someone at Gloria-Dei is praying and partnering with them in their thirst for clean water.

On May 18, there will be a chance for us to support this project by placing a donation in the designated water barrel. Your donations will be matched by Thrivent. So I encourage you to pray about how you can support this project, spiritually as well as through your donations.

As our Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 25: 35…“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,”

We have an opportunity to do this for a community that is far away in distance. By this gesture, we bring this community closer to us, and us closer to them. 

How can we do this?  Pray about this project and all the people involved in it and let the Holy Spirit move you accordingly. Donate at the table in the narthex or make cheques out to Gloria-Dei and indicate “Rwanda water project” in the memo field. Sign the message board with you wishes and prayers. The EWB project team will deliver this to the orphanage in Rwanda.

I thank you all again for your kind and generous gifts and prayers.

                        Yours in Christ, 

Hansel Ramathal

Helping United Ministries

 

United Ministries on Graves Ave. in Erlanger is one of several agencies that strive to meet the needs of the unemployed and underemployed of Northern Kentucky.  You can help meet this growing need in several ways:

1) Continue to bring food, household items and personal care items to church and place them in the grocery cart. 

2) Send a check to United Ministries or place it in the offering plate and Gloria Dei will forward it.  Money is needed to meet the operating costs of the agency AND to provide assistance to the clients for utilities and rent.

3) Donate usable household items, furniture and clothing for the thrift shop.

4) Donate your time once a week or once a month. Contact Becky Ewing at 727-0300.

5) If you are a Kroger shopper you can help earn a 4% rebate for U. M. by using a special gift card that works like a debit card.  If interested call Becky Ewing, Ginny Huenniger at 372-0857, or Sue Schmidt at 635-2006 for more information and to obtain the card.

            6) Eat at MAX & ERMA’S on Thursday, May 22. Pick up a FUNDRAISER coupon in the Church narthex.

Financial Results Year-To-Date

 

As you can see from the weekly bulletins, we are at or close to expected giving levels for the General Fund to meet our budgeted expenses for the year to date. Thanks for your generous commitments and fulfilling of same. 

I continue to remind all of the easiest way to meet your giving commitments and that is to sign up for automatic checkbook deductions through the Simply Giving Program.   Forms at the Church office or see Paula Ebert.  

THANKS, to the many leaders and participants in the Capital Campaign organization who worked so tirelessly and diligently to achieve our outstanding support.  The building committee and its members who have worked even harder at their task are also to be thanked for their success management of this arduous process.  Thanks also to the entire Finance Committee membership for their continuing service 

                                                                   -Bob Frey

 

WELCA News

 

 

WELCA would like to thank everyone for attending and volunteering at the Lenten dinners.    Money collected and Thrivent matching funds has allowed us to donate $200 to the New Hope Center, $350 to the Brighton Center for a room of furnishings, $500 to the Youth for their summer mission trip, and $500 to the building fund.   Thanks again!!

 

Mary Circle - will meet at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 15 at the home of Gail Cato, 10880 St. Andrew Drive in Union. Call Gail at 657-6390 for directions.  Charlotte Himmler will lead a Bible discussion titled FOREVER FRIENDS. It will be helpful to read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 before hand, but not required. Bring cleaning supplies or laundry detergent for United Ministry.

 

 

Ruth Circle – will meet on Thursday, May 1 at Max & Erma’s at Crestview Hills Town Center and then to church for the National Day of Prayer Worship Service at 7:30 p.m.  For more information, contact Donna Kimball at 356-3480.

 

Hannah Circle - will meet at Dewey's Pizza in Crestview Hills on Thursday, May 22 at 7:00 p.m.  Our service project for May will be collecting assembled Health Kits to send to Lutheran World Relief.  If you need information about this project or about Hannah Circle, please contact Tina Smith at 261-6030 or hannah@gloriadei-nky.org.  Hannah Circle welcomes all women of the church to our meeting. 

 

Martha Circle – will meet on Monday, May 26 at 7:00 p.m. at the home of Val Eason, 303 Beechwood Road in Ft. Mitchell.  Mary Chapin will co-host and the program will be a report from Mary on the Indiana-Kentucky Synod Convention.  All ladies of Gloria Dei are invited to attend Martha Circle’s meetings whenever their schedule allows.  Call Lisa Miller at 331-8655 for carpool information or Val at 344-6675 for directions.

 

The Quilters - will meet on Thursday, May 1 at 6:30 p.m. in room F2.

 

The Stitchers – will meet on Monday, May 12 and 26 at 7:00 p.m. in F2.