There are several people at Messiah who can lead worship services…  but when the stars align and none of those people are available (like this Sunday!), the team calls upon the minor leagues…  me!

This Sunday at the 10AM service, I will be giving the sermon.  As a professional speaker, I am comfortable speaking in front of people.  As a former council president, I am used to speaking in front of the church.  However, putting together a sermon is a different animal altogether.  The biggest difference is the source of the message.  When preparing for a seminar, I first think about what I want to get across to the audience.  When preparing for a sermon, I quickly realized that I need to be open to what message God wants to get across to the audience.

A week ago, I had no clue what that message was.  Then I received an email from Pastor Dan with the Gospel verse for the week and I knew what I was going to talk about within a few seconds.  It really hit me that fast!

The challenge this weekend will be to allow myself to stay open to God’s message and to allow myself to be a vessel.  I truly look forward to the challenge!

A simple way to nurture our youth and strengthen your own faith walk…

Join our youth and adult leaders who are at the ELCA Youth Gathering in New
Orleans every night at 10:45 PM for the Final 15. The Final 15 minutes of each
day is set aside for the group to gather wherever they may be to ‘touch base,’
hear the Word of God, reflect on the day, care for each other, and pray
together. It is a time to take a deep breath, pause, give thanks, and prepare
for the crossing from today to tomorrow — together and individually. While
they pray and reflect on their experiences in New Orleans, we can pray for them
here in Springfield. This will start on Wednesday night, July 22.

For more information, following this link on the ELCA website.
www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Ministry/Youth-Ministry/Youth-Gathering/Theme-and-
Program/Final-15-Devotions.aspx

On my way into work this morning, I was listening to “All Because of You” by U2. I love this song – I love its message.  The first lines say something like, “I was born a child of grace.  Nothing else about the place, everything was ugly but your face. … All because of you, I am.”  The song goes on until these words are sung, “I’m not broke but you can see the cracks.  You can make me perfect again”.  I know that is the Good News I need to hear each and every day – and probably 100 times during the day.  I’m thankful to be a Child of Grace, and I am glad that God can make me perfect again, and I am glad to be part of a faith community that has as its very core the grace of God.

200 People Singing Praise at Thursday's VBS

by Don Harkey

On Thursday night, there were almost 100 kids and over 100 volunteers wandering the halls of our expanded church… but there was also someone else…  ROMAN SOLDIERS!

As our own Pastor Dan lead the “secret church” and our young Christians hid in the dark cave, the sound of Roman Soldiers searching for Christians echoed outside in the halls.  Luckily, they found no one.

Another Roman soldier captured a thief trying to steal some bread, but the woman in the marketplace took pity on the thief and gave the thief some of her own money to buy the bread, saving her from a flogging from the Roman soldier.  That soldier got a view of Christians that he will never forget!

So if you visit Messiah this week, make sure you visit the marketplace, attend the secret church, sing, dance, and have a great time at VBS.  Just watch out for the Roman soldiers!

Kids watch one of the many demonstrations in the Marketplace

by Kris Callen – Ministries Coordinator

OK, true confessions – I love VBS (Vacation Bible Schoo)! There is something about having all those little (and big kids) in one place with excitement (and mischievousness) in their eyes. There is something special about hearing the songs for the first time –fumbling through the words and trying to learn the motions without looking like a total fool. I guess it is knowing that by the end of the week, the music and words of those songs will not only have new meaning to me, but will also penetrate the hearts of over 100 kids who God is eager to know His love, and about that many adult and youth volunteers, who have been called to nurture these children with the love and grace of God. I love seeing faces I have known since they were newborns and the new faces that God brings to us seemingly from all ends of Springfield. I love knowing that this community of faith means so much to our teenagers that they choose to give up a week’s worth of summer nights to nurture a new generation of disciples. I love seeing the interaction between all of the different generations! I love seeing Pastor Dan as the apostle Paul! Yes, I love VBS!

Note: For video of Day 2 of VBS, click HERE!

This past Sunday, it was warm and rainy, but the Kids Care Club at Messiah weren’t thwarted!  They set up inside Disciple Hall (amongst the construction) and made real lemonade to raise money for the new playground to be used by the church, the community, and the Lighthouse Daycare Ministry.

Most of the kids working on the project were under the age of 10 and they worked hard!  They squeezed lemons, mixed ice, and cheerfully served drinks to thirsty parishoners.  Their goal was to raise $400 which was the amount Thrivent pledged to match.  Instead, they raised just over $570!!  After Thrivent’s match, the work will add $970 to the playground fund!

At Messiah, our Kids truly do care!  Thanks to the Congregation for their support!

See the kids at work here!

The kids sure like it and the adults don’t seem to mind at all!  That’s All Folks!

As often happens, our youth are leading the way in realizing our Mission as a church!!!  Thanks to Kate Schenk, Jamie Boyd, and other volunteers who have lead the Kid’s Care Club this summer on Wednesday nights from 6-8PM.

Today we held our second week of services in our new sanctuary.  The space is just incredible!  The lighting is open and shear size of everything is humbling.  The sanctuary combines a nice modern feel with tradition.  Best of all, there really isn’t a bad seat in the house!

The first two weekends had their own glitches, which we are getting through with the extraordinary work of dedicated staff and volunteers.  Nate Cornelius has put in a ton of hours learning the new sound system and putting together the multimedia displays for the contemporary service.  Mary Sabin has pulled together a Tech Team to help with the lighting and soundboard.  The Thursday before “opening day”, the band rehearsed for 4 hours checking the sound and troubleshooting bad wiring and bad cords (normal startup stuff).  The following Thursday, the band rehearsed extra time again working out the remaining bugs. 

Let me tell you a little about the sound system.  The band area is actually designed to absorb sound so that the congregation hears mostly the speakers.  Each insrumentalist is equipped with their own headphones/ear buds and their own board which can mix the sound coming from the board.  For example, as the acoustic guitar player, I can turn up my guitar in my ears so I can hear what I am doing.  We actually had a major improvement this morning (Sunday) when Alex Scranton (who is rapidly becoming our resident sound expert) added a “master” channel.  Without getting more technical, let’s just say that Alex’s work made it MUCH better for the band!  I actually felt this morning like we sounded better than ever.  Now we are ready to do some more things…   stay tuned!

Before I end, I want to thank one more person.  Steve Thomas has been critical from day 1 in getting the contemporary service up and running.  He has donated LOTS of equipment and time to the church and continues to support not only our efforts in the new sanctuary, but also in the Fellowship Hall.   I have learned a lot from him both on the technical side and also as a musician (he is a GREAT guitar player). 

As we move forward and get more used to our new sanctuary and new equipment, we will remain focused on providing an inspiring service.  The old system in the Fellowship Hall had certain limitations that prevented us from getting “creative” at times…  now that this constraint has been removed, we hope to provide the congregation with some truly moving moments to accent Pastor’s message, our fellowship, and God’s grace!