January lifeGroup

January lifeGroup will meet on Sunday, January 8at 4:30 at the Rasmussen home. Directions to follow. Randi would like to do an "italian" theme, so bring dishes like garlic bread, salad, desert, etc. You could comment on this blog what you can bring so we have a great variety! We have lots to talk about for the new year. Hope everyone can come! (Ralph or Randi, could you please comment on how to get to your home? Thanks!) Carol and Newton will bring plates, cups, napkins, silverware and drinks.

IMPORTANT new information!

New important information for all!

There will be a new group of greeters starting up to welcome people to church. Some of them may be members of our lifegroup; if so they may be unavailable to "serve" during our week in the position they signed up for. So the word for the day is flexible! There are enough of us to step in and fill their shoes if needed! Johna is one of these greeters! Go Johna!

There will be NO Thursday night service during the month of December.

There will be name tags coming for those serving. Look for them to wear on your service day!

Important coffee cart information!
-There needs to be 2 people working the cart; one to make coffee and one to collect money/mark cards. No more than 2 people working at a time. Older teens can be one of the workers, but not 2 teens.
-Lessons in coffee making/first time coffee making needs to happen on Thursday, not on Sunday when we have more visitors and people.
- Free coffee is ONLY for first time visitors! Free coffee for workers ended quite awhile ago!
-Empty and low coffee supplies (except milk) needs to be written down and placed in Kathy Buchers box so she can replace them. She also keeps tabs on milk, just don't need to write her a note about it.
-If you run low on dollar bills, tell Kathy B and she will get change.
- Coffee orders need to END 15 minutes before service starts; 615 Thursday, 1015 Sunday. This way all orders can be filled and the stand can be cleaned by service starting time. And please make sure cleaning is done completely.
- NEVER deliver coffee into the sanctuary after service has started!
-Last but not least, kiddos with hot chocolate need to be seated in one place while drinking, preferable not in foyer due to stains on carpet.

Caroling this past week was a great success! Thanks to Johna for organizing this... the residents we sang to were truely a blessing!

Merry Christmas!

We were busting at the seams with our December lifegroup! Welcome to Leann; we are so glad she has joined our group! This special Christmas gathering included turkey dinner, white elephant gift and cookie exchange.

Our next meeting will be January 8 since the first Sunday of the month is New Years Day. More on exact time later.

Remember Christmas caroling Friday night and Saturday morning; Johna has the details if you can make it.

Prayer requests: Pray for safe travel for all those going places during the holidays.
Pray for Christmas service at the Liberty! and be sure to start inviting all your
friends and family.
Pray for the lifeEast midweek service in Knappa!
Please add any prayer requests you may have in a comment to this blog; we
will make sure it gets prayed for!

November Life Group Notes

Another awesome meeting of the Langston lifegroup! We have new members this month... YEAH!! Welcome to Angela and Ralph, Randi and family; we are blessed to have you join us.

After an amazing dinner, and great fellowship, we got down to business:

December meeting will be our Christmas party. Turkey dinner with all the trimmings, cookie exchange, and white elephant gift exchange. December 4th, 4pm, at Doneys.

Got our jobs all lined out for serving this month; see Johna's e-mail for the list.

Christmas caroling in December: sign up sheet will be at church. Teen caroling will be on the 8th; with the 9th, 10th and possibly the 16th as dates for the rest of us!

Jeff gave an wonderful life lesson on the "Battlefield of the Mind"; and the importance of having a heightened awareness of how we behave in situations we find ourselves in. It may be so easy to react in the "same old way", but we need to abide in Jesus, and redirect our behavior as He would have us do. HALT! Be aware of how we react when we are hungry, angry, lonely and tired. Important verses: Phil 4: 8, Romans 12: 2, 1John 4: 1.

Prayer requests:
Angela's friend Krystle
Vera's friend, Heidi O
Safe traveling for the teens and that they would grow closer to God
Khayla's sickness
Michelle, upcoming medical tests
Church expansion, where does God want us?

Addendummmmm.....

See Janae's comment below.... and add prayers for them to find a home to your list! We missed you too James and Janae, but knew you were hunting and celebrating! Happy belated BD!

October Home Group

I am loving how our group is starting to feel like a family! I appreciated so much those that opened up and spoke during a discussion on walking by faith and trusting what you can't see, and how hard that can be!

Let's get the business out of the way! Thurs 20th Michelle and Vera in nursery, Johna coffee, Adam, Rick and Newt usher. Sunday 23rd Johna and Janae in nursery, Michelle coffee, Rick Jeff and James usher with Newt helping to close. Remember goodies to go along with coffee on these nights! Special instructions for nursery/coffee from Suzy were passed out; will also be posted in areas. All nursery workers need background checks; Newt will give wild Vera one to fill out this week! Ushers need to empty garbage at the end of services. Try to have church workers park in back or across street so front lot has open spaces. Keep an eye on both doors after services so kids don't leave without parents!

No Thanksgiving evening service. There is a Dec 25 service, but don't feel like you have to attend; family is important!

Church needs a vacuum cleaner; anyone have one to donate?

Now to exciting stuff!
To paraphrase Pastor, Khayla and Adam have the responsibility of the teens and our group has been given the opportunity to be blessed to support them in that! And boy did our group step up! A and K have some great things planned for these kids, and I won't go into details as some may be reading this! But Oct 13 is next teen night at Caves and remember to bring the things we discussed to church by then to give to Khayla! Also there is one teen girl that wants to attend conference but can't financially and we will make sure she can go! We also talked about a December activity for the teens.... caroling at the care centers, etc.

The teens will also be invited to join our home group Christmas party in December... white elephant gift exchange.... more to come.

This is really exciting... Newt told the group we need a teaching person and I think just about everyone there at the same time said "I think it should be Jeff!" and looked at him; how's that for confirmation. He will do awesome!

Had a great discussion on another really exciting, very important issue, but again it is a secret at this time!

Prayer requests:
Pastors home group with other pastors and wives
Teen conference in November
Christmas service at Liberty on 23rd at 7
Women from our church going to Women of Faith conference this weekend!
Teaching pastor
Lead vocalist/guitar for music group
Financial needs of families in our church
Vera's friend Donna, another woman Hiedi needs clear mind and true salvation
Praise God for answered prayer for Vera's other friend from last month
Pray for Michala Sarin, that nothing will stand in her way of attending teen conference
Pray for visitors last Sunday, some are already being "attacked" for coming

Talked about a fun night with our group bowling, Johna and Rick will let us know more!

Be sure to check blog weekly, PLEASE add comments, post prayer requests, praise notes, any information for our group. And remember Ralph and Randi are part of our group, encourage them to come!

Can You Say EXCITED!!

Oh My Gosh! We have the BEST LIFE GROUP!! Awesome people, awesome discussion, awesome plans! Don't have time right now to tell you all we talked about, check back tomorrow morning, but we are doing life with Jesus! And did I say we have the best life group......

Home Group Coming Up!

Our next home group meeting will be Sunday, October 2, 4:00 at Jeff and Michelle's home. Michelle is making lasagna-YUM- and she will be contacting you to bring something.

Small, but very enjoyable...

Much smaller group this time (really missed those that couldn't make it!) but it was a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other better. Speaking for myself, I came with the weight of a hard day of work, and left much lighter!

We firmed up our schedule for our service week; thanks to Johna for sending out the updated information.

Next lifegroup meeting!

Just a reminder that the next lifegroup meeting is just 1 week away, next Thursday, September 1, at 6:00 at Jeff and Michelle's home. Newton is BBQing salmon; Michelle will be letting everyone know what they can bring.

Also, PLEASE go back to the first post on this blog and read Khayla's comment telling about the evening the teens "did life with Jesus", ministering to the family that lost their mom. It is AWESOME!

Update Your Calander!

OK gang, we have some dates.

We are group #4 so we will be serving on Thursday, Sept 22 and Sunday, Sept 25 and then every 4 weeks after that.

Since the first Sunday of Sept is Labor Day weekend, there will be no life group that day.
Instead we will meet on Thursday evening, Sept 1 as Pastor will be gone and there will be no evening service.

Exciting things from our first meeting!

Thanks to our hosts Jeff and Michelle for opening their home and cooking a delicious meal! Tim C gave us a short, well-done lesson on the importance of life groups taking on alot of the work of the church, freeing Pastor to focus on the Word and his messages for us. We then talked about possible community service projects we could be involved in and there were alot of great ideas! We are so excited to get started this week thanks to a suggestion from Lena! She has a friend whose family has suffered horrible losses this past week and she said that a card letting them know our love and concern for them would be much appreciated. She also suggested that something as simple as fresh baked cookies would really be welcomed. So Thursday night our awesome teens will be going to her friends home taking a card of love and cookies! I just have to add that I am busting with pride over this awesome teen that is part of our group and immediately went to the side of her friend when this tragedy hit... this is what living life with Jesus is all about!

Newton and Carol will be the prayer leaders for the men and women... please call with any prayer needs and praises and we will pray and pass requests on to the rest of the group!

Rick and Johna are our home service coordinators... they will make sure that the coffee, nursery and ushering duties are filled for the week we serve. Thanks you!

Prayer requests:

Pray for the life groups, their leaders.

Pray for our church, our pastor, church finances.

Pray for the Crowley family, who has suffered one painful tragedy after another. (Lena's friend)

Vera asked for prayer for friends of hers with physical problems.

Clarks: for wisdom and discernment concerning housing.

Lena will be attending her friends mothers funeral Tuesday and wants prayer to support her

friend.

Michelle: mom is halfway through chemo and tired, still has 3 more months to go. Also pray

for family members, especially her brother.

Pray for Adam's business and income, as they trust God with their finances and fuel for his

log truck.

Jeff: pray for him and Michelle to be open and responsive to God's will in their life.

Rick: pray for safe travel for his kids this week.

Johna: pray for a successful school year for all those going to school. Pray that their friend

Ellen would find a good church in Rhode Island.

Thanks to my techno-savy daughter Cassie for helping her techno-deficient mom create this blog!

I LOVE to write and am looking forward to doing this. Anything you may want added to this blog, please let me know!