The Scribe – October 2021

From Pastor Ken

“The time is fulfilled; the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the good news. Then follow me.”


These are the first words our Lord speaks in Mark’s Gospel. They are also the words that Greg Finke will focus on this week, Sunday, October 3. Greg is a Lutheran pastor and author of the book, “Joining Jesus on His Mission”. We’ve been hearing about him for over a year. Now we’ll get to meet him and talk with him.
Don’t miss Greg this Saturday morning, October 2 from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM in the BFLC Fellowship Hall for a workshop on “Being an Everyday Missionary”. The goal is not to add to your already busy schedule, but to encourage you to live out your faith in your regular places and activities. How can you give a little encouragement, a little care, to the people you see there?

Don’t miss this Saturday morning workshop!

Then on Sunday, October 3 at 9:30 AM in the Fellowship Hall, Greg will preach in worship and will lead our class entitled “Why Missional Life Fizzles”. Greg has the clearest, most practical and faithful response to Jesus’ call that I have heard. We have such a great opportunity to learn and grow this weekend.

Don’t miss it!

Schedule
Saturday, October 2 9:00 AM-12:00PM – Workshop “Being an Everyday Missionary”
Sunday, October 3 8:00 AM, 10:30 AM – Worship “What Will You Do?”
9:30 AM – Class “Why Missional Life Fizzles”

From Pastor John

Follow Me”

Here at Black Forest Lutheran Church, we have been using the term “Joining Jesus” a lot. It is a class. It is a book title. It is the name of a weekend workshop with Greg Finke. Hopefully the primary meaning you hear is how it means to live the Christian life. Jesus says to us, “follow me”, and so we do follow Him where He goes, thus ‘joining’ Him.

Where is Jesus working? In the lives of all who need reconciliation to God (2 Corinthians 5:19). He is loving people, forgiving people, redeeming people, giving people life in abundance. This is where we join Him.

How can we join Jesus at BFLC? He calls us to learn from Him, so joining a class is a good idea. He also calls us to get together in His Name, so joining a Life Group or another small group is a good idea (and worship on Sundays). Jesus calls us to do good works for others, so a person can join the many people here who help at the soup kitchen, or the many small projects done to help others, or even a random act of kindness to help a complete stranger. He also calls us to make disciples and share the good news of all He does for us, like our salvation. We can join Jesus in this way not only by our deeds of love, but by the words God gave us: pointing people to Jesus, to His love, to His reconciling of the world to Himself.

Jesus is my Lord, and Savior, and is super awesome! When you hear the term “joining Jesus” I hope you will think, “This is my life as a Christian”. We are here to help. God bless you all.
-Pastor John Graham

From Youth and Family Director, Jacob

Greetings all Jacob here,
As we close out the month of September, I am reminded of just how blessed we are here at BFLC. We have had the opportunity to worship at our outdoor worship area and now that we have moved back inside to two services we are blessed to move back to a more normal weekly schedule.

Throughout this month we have continued to offer youth group sessions every Sunday evening from 6-7:30 PM. Be sure to Invite your friends and classmates because it is an absolute blast. These continue to be a great time for us in the life of the church and I am enjoying the time I have with the students. We play games, get to know each other better, and we also get to share in a Bible study as well.

Along with these weekly set meetings with the youth I am still connecting with the students on a regular basis, including youth and young adults. We are offering confirmation class to students every Wednesday from 6:30-8:00PM, Sunday School from 9:30-10:15a, and one young adult meeting every month.

We typically hold at least two youth events every month. These have been a blast and have varied from volleyball to table tennis, from smores to late night movie events. During the month of September, we had to postpone two events due to potential COVID exposure. Even though we had pushed these events back we have still had the opportunity to host many great events for both youth and families and are looking forward to the events we will be able to host in the future.

We have also begun the Fall semester of both Sunday School and Wiggle Worship. We have had a great time in planning and running these classes in the past and are excited that we get to continue offering them this semester.

Sunday School is from 9:30-10:15 AM, and the ages are Pre-K to 5th grade with Maureen Lang; 6th to 12th grade with me; and all others are with Pastor Ken or Pastor John. Wiggle Worship is after the children’s message in the second service and is for 3- to 7-year-olds.

We are looking forward to some amazing events and times in October including our first communion retreat on Confirmation Sunday on October 17, and our annual pumpkin carving event from 2:00-4:00 PM on Saturday, October 23. We look forward to seeing you there!
For His glory,
Jacob Oglesby

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