Sunday Worship - 9:00 am Monday Worship - 7:00 pm

www.portagelutheranchurch.org crossofchristportage@hotmail.com

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Church: (608) 742-5609 Pastor Scott Schultz: (608) 617-8409

Where You Meet Jesus and Find A Friend

News & Notes

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Inside This Issue Daily Walk with God 2

Pastor’s Article 3

Campfire 4

Reformation Service 4

WELS Reformation Service 4

Mission Fest 5

College Student Info 5

Thank You 5

LWMS Fall Rally 5

School Calendars 6

Tuition Assistance Fund 6

NPH Items 7

WELS Websites 7

Committee Reports 8-9

New Members 10

Shut-Ins 10

Church Council 10

Thankful Giving Opportunities 11

Newsletter Information 11

October 2017 Issue

My Daily Walk With God

Oct. 1 Psalm 118, Isaiah 46 - 48 2 Isaiah 49 - 53 3 Psalm 145; Isaiah 54 - 57 4 Isaiah 58 - 62 5 Isaiah 63 - 66 6 Jonah; Nahum 7 Obadiah; Zephaniah 8 Jeremiah 1 - 4:4 9 Jeremiah 4:5 - 6 10 Jeremiah 7 - 9 11 Jeremiah 10 - 13 12 Jeremiah 14 - 17 13 Jeremiah 18 - 24 14 Jeremiah 25 - 27 15 Jeremiah 28 - 31:20 16 Jeremiah 31:21 - 33 17 Jeremiah 34 - 36 18 Jeremiah 37 - 41:3 19 Jeremiah 41:4 - 45 20 Jeremiah 46 - 48 21 Jeremiah 49 - 50 22 Jeremiah 51 - 52 23 Lamentation 1 - 3:39 24 Psalm 79, Lamentation 3:40 - 5 25 Psalm 25, Ezekiel 1 - 3 26 Psalm 88, Ezekiel 4 - 7 27 Ezekiel 8 - 11 28 Ezekiel 12 - 15 29 Ezekiel 16 - 17 30 Ezekiel 18 - 20:44 31 Ezekiel 20:45 - 23:10

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Pastor’s Article

Why Should We Attend A Bible Study On A Regular Basis?

Every year in my church’s confirmation service, I impress upon the new confirmands and their parents in my sermon that confirmation does not mean graduation. Just because they are confirmed does not mean they no longer need to attend worship services or a Bible study. Unfortunately, often they did not listen to my advice. After they got confirmed, many of my church’s confirmands stopped attending worship services on a regular basis and never attended one of my church’s Bible studies. I have talked to many pastors from all different types of churches over the years. Every single one told me the same thing happens at their church. There are certainly many reasons for this. Some children are so glad to be done with confirmation class, they just want to be done with church. Some children do not go because their parents do not go. Some are very busy in high school. In this column entitled, “Questions About Christianity”, we learned last month it is very important we attend worship services on a regular basis because God commands us to, because we praise God for all he did for us, because we grow in our faith through God’s Word, and because we share God’s Word with others. In this month’s column, we will answer the question, “Why should we also attend a Bible study on a regular basis?”

To help us understand why we should attend a Bible study on a regular basis, think for a moment about how much of the Bible you really know. If we are truly honest with ourselves, we have to admit we do not know very much about it. We may know many of the Bible history lessons. We may know what the main teachings of the Bible are. We may even know many Bible passages by heart. However, there is so much God tells us in the Bible about who he is, what he did for us, what we are to believe, and how we are to live our lives that the greatest Biblical scholars in the world only scratch the service. Since it is very difficult to go into a lot of details about the Bible in worship services because of time constraints, it is important we attend a Bible study on a regular basis so we dig deep into the Bible and learn more details about what the Bible says.

Some may argue, “Why is that really important? All I really need to do is believe in Jesus as my Savior so I can go to heaven.” Though we must believe Jesus is our Savior to go to heaven, God tells us many other things he wants us to know and believe in the Bible as well. When we attend a Bible study on a regular basis, we learn other teachings from the Bible God says we must believe to go to heaven. In addition, God the Holy Spirit strengthens our faith through God’s Word so we believe them. This is extremely important for us to do because we are constantly told by social media, books, and acquaintances about different things we should believe. When this happens, we must be able to compare what they say with the Bible so we only believe what the Bible actually says so we can go to heaven.

One other reason it is so important we attend a Bible study on a regular basis is because God commands us Christians to teach his Word to our children, family, friends, and others. We cannot do this if we do not know what the Bible says. For this reason, it is important we attend a Bible study on a regular basis so we know what we are to teach to others, so they may believe it and join us in heaven.

If you are not currently attending a Bible study, I encourage you to try one out at your church. If you do not have a church you are currently attending, you are welcome to attend a Bible study at my church, Cross of Christ Lutheran Church. We offer a variety of different Bible studies. We have some that I lead. We have some that our members lead. We have some that focus on the teachings of the Bible. In a month, we will begin a Growth Group Bible study where we discuss in more detail the previous Sunday’s sermon and apply it to our lives. If you are interested in attending any of these Bible studies, you can email me at crossofchristportage@hotmail.com.

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Campfire

On Saturday, October 7 at 4:30 p.m. we will have a campfire on the lower parking lot at church. The Fellowship Committee will provide hotdogs and drinks. Please bring a dish to pass, lawn chairs, and games you would like to play as well. Everyone is invited to attend. Invite your friends and family, too. Please sign-up on the sheet on the table in the back of church.

Reformation Celebration

This year is the 500th Anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. To celebrate this historic event, we will have a four week celebration on October 15/16, 22/23, 29/30, and November 5/6. We will have special worship services.

The theme for these worship services is “Reformation 500”. In each service we will focus on one of the four main pillars of the Lutheran Reformation: By Grace Alone, By Faith Alone, By Scripture Alone, By Christ Alone.

The Sunday School children will study the life and teachings of Martin Luther.

Our Sunday morning Bible study is entitled, “Reformation: Grace, Faith, Scripture”. In this Bible study, we will watch a short video about Martin Luther and then discuss some of his main teachings.

Everyone is invited to join us for this historic event!

WELS Reformation Service

On Sunday, October 29, the Western Wisconsin District of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) will hold a special 500th Anniversary of the Reformation service at the Alliant Energy Center Coliseum in Madison, WI. The service starts at 4:00 p.m. The money received from the offering will go to the Wartburg Project (ie. Bible Translation) and the Western Wisconsin District Scholarship Fund. The Musical group Koine will perform a concert after the service at 6:00 p.m. The cost for parking is $7 per vehicle. Everyone is invited to attend this event.

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College Student Information

It is that time of year again when some of our young people are be away at college. We do not want to lose touch with them while they are away. Please give Pastor Schultz or Sandra Beimborn their school contact information so our church can stay in contact with them.

Mission Fest

We will have a Mission Festival on Sunday, November 12. We will have a special worship service at 9:00 a.m. Our guest preacher will be the WELS Mission Counselor for Nepal and Pakistan. After the service he will give a presentation on the mission work being done in Nepal and Pakistan. At 11:30 a.m. we will have a potluck meal. More information will be in the bulletin in the upcoming weeks.

LWMS Fall Rally

The Fall Rally of the Beaver Dam Circuit of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society will be held on Saturday, October 21 at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Markesan, WI. Registration begins at 9:15. The Reporters’ Meeting is from 9:30-10:00 a.m. The rally begins at 10:00 a.m. The theme for the rally is “God’s Amazing Love and Grace.” The Bible passage is Romans 3:23-24 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” The guest speaker is Pastor Dustin Blumer from Amazing Love Lutheran Church in Frankfort, Illinois. He was our church’s Befriend a Missionary pastor in 2015-16. The Service Project is providing funds and supplies for the people affected by the Didion Milling explosion. If you would like to carpool please talk to Sandra Beimborn.

Thank You

Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary sends their thanks for the gift we gave to them for their Tuition Assistance Fund.

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School Calendars

231 Woodland Beach Rd. Lake Mills WI (920) 648-2321 www.llhs.org

St. John’s Lutheran School 505 E. LaFollette St. (608) 429-3636 Pardeeville WI 53954 www.stjohnspardeeville.org

Tuition Assistance Fund

In order to assist parents in sending their child(ren) to one of these schools or another WELS school, Cross of Christ has established a Christian Education Tuition Assistance Fund. The goal of this fund is to give parents $100 a month for 10 months every school year which will be applied to their child(ren)’s tuition. If you would like to contribute to this fund at any time, please mark on the front of your weekly offering envelope how much you want designated to go to this fund.

OCTOBER EVENTS

October 2-6 Standardized Testing Grades 3-8 AM

October 11 Pardeeville Late Start St John’s in session

October 19-20 Pardeeville Off St. John’s in session

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Northwestern Publishing House

WELS Websites

www.wels.net The official website for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. www.nph.net Northwestern Publishing House’s website that sells religious materials. www.whataboutjesus.com Learn more about Jesus, the Bible, how to deal with social concerns, etc. www.christianliferesources.com Stay up-to-date with important life issues and get answers to difficult ethical questions. www.goodsearch.com A search engine (comparable to Google or Yahoo) that donates money to the Wisconsin Synod when it is used. www.lwms.org The official website for the Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society.

You can place your order by visiting www.nph.net or call Northwestern Publishing House at 1-800-662-6022.

Luther Lives Essays in Commemoration of the 500th

Author: Edward C. Fredrich

Collection of twelve essays, each written by a member of the 1982-1983 Wisconsin Luther-an Seminary faculty from their own special area of interest in Luther's abiding impact and influence. Whether it be hermeneutics or exegesis, liturgics or missiology, dogmatics or symbolics -- whatever the theological study, Luther has his say and his sway.

Hardcover. Size, 6 x 9 inches. 168 pages.

Published 1983.

Catalog Item Number: OL-150408

Price: $ 36.99

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Church Council September Meeting Recap At their September meeting, Church Council decided to pay musicians $10 to play in church through the remainder of the year. They also discussed removing a back pew to make a place for wheelchairs. They discussed the Ministry Area Profile and other everything that needs to be done for our Monday worship service.

Stewardship Committee September Recap Current Members: William Beimborn, Bonnie Dorniak, Bill Eckert, Dan Heckmann. At our September 7 meeting we decided to try to complete our 2017 plans yet this year. They are: Bring our General Fund into non-negative status Emphasize the Building Fund as a way to make a down

payment for expansion and/or remodeling. Establish prayer chain groups (phone, e-mail, Facebook, etc.). Invite a WELS Planned Giving Councilor to speak after a

church service so members may put the church in their wills.

Items of interest: The deadline for SCRIP orders for October will be October 8.

Festival Foods has been added to our Scrip list. Accounts were set up for automatic withdrawals in January. It

is not too late to participate. Our next meeting will be November 2 at 7:00 p.m.

Evangelism Committee September Recap Current Members: Scott & Tracy McCluskey, Gerry & Betty Gast, Dave Kreklow, Tasha Buchholz At their September meeting the Evangelism Committee reviewed the Ministry Area Profile for the city of Portage and discussed ways to utilize it. They also discussed ways they could promote the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation.

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Fellowship Committee September Recap Current Members: Adam Gaffney, Vi Burmeister, Sandy Beimborn, Joan Klappstein, Pat Eckert, Judy Trebatoski.

Church Picnic was held at Pauquette Park on September 10. A campfire will be held on October 7 at 4:30 p.m. on the

lower church parking lot. Hotdogs and drinks will be provided. Please bring a dish to pass, lawn chairs, and games you would like to play. Invite your friends and family.

Everyone will be contacted about being on a Fellowship group.

Mission Fest has been moved to November 12.

Cross of Christ Ladies September Recap

Officers: Sandra Beimborn, Joan Klappstein, Pat Eckert, Jill Schultz, LWMS Reporter: Sandra Beimborn On September 21 the Cross of Christ Ladies had a Growth Group Bible study and elected officers. They also discussed the WELS Church Librarians Organization Conference in Pardeeville and the upcoming Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society Rally in Markesan.

The service project for the Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society fall rally of the Beaver Dam Circuit is collecting items for those affected by the Didion Milling explosion in Cambria. Donations should be brought to the fall rally in October. The Stewardship Committee will also purchase Northwestern Publishing House gift cards for the church’s two Home Missions (Savior of the Nations Ev. Lutheran Church-Vancouver and Immanuel Hmong Luther Church-St. Paul) and our World Mission (Thailand).

The Cross of Christ Ladies encourage all ladies of the congregation to come to their gatherings. Children are welcome! Do not forget, they start at 6:30 p.m. All confirmed ladies of the congregation are members of Cross of Christ Ladies (CCL) and of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society (LWMS).

Worship Committee September Recap Current Members: Scott Crosby, Cheryl Nicholson, John Otto At their September meeting the Worship Committee discussed their 2018 calendar and their long range calendar.

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Questions or Concerns?

If anyone has questions, concerns, or comments about our church, please feel free to talk to someone on the Church Council because God has provided these men to assist you.

Shut-Ins

Lila Freber Lois Plath

Elmer Glaeske Donna Portzen

Marian Kreitzman Audrey Zunker

Margery McCluskey

Even though these members are unable to come to regular worship services, please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Cross of Christ Church Council Members

Todd Miller President/ (608) 566 - 0344 Elder’s Comm. Chairman Matthew Buchholz Secretary/ (608) 354 - 8708 Education Comm. Chairman William Beimborn Financial Secretary/ (608) 566 - 6403 Stewardship Comm. Chairman Vacant Treasurer Adam Gaffney Fellowship Comm. Chairman (608) 617 - 9971 Scott McCluskey Evangelism / Outreach (608) 742 - 4025 Comm. Chairman Tim Scharenbroch Property Comm. Chair. (608) 742 - 2421 Vacant Worship Comm. Chairman (608) 617 - 4703

New Members

Infant Baptism: Eleanor Hyacinth Kampen, daughter of Ryan Kampen and Amber Stensrud.

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Newsletter

Cross of Christ’s News & Notes monthly newsletter will be placed in your mailboxes the Sunday before the first of the month. If you have an article, meeting recap, note, or flier for publication, please either email your newsletter item to crossofchristportage@hotmail.com or place it in Sandra Beimborn’s mailbox by October 15, 2017.

If you do not wish to continue receiving this newsletter, please e-mail Cross of Christ at

crossofchristportage@hotmail.com or call the church office at (608)742-5609 and leave a message. Thank you!

Thankful Giving Opportunities

In 1 Corinthians 16:2 God encourages believers to give their first fruits as offerings in church in proportion to their income. Believers do this to thank God for what he did for them and to support the gospel ministry.

Cross of Christ encourages all of its members to give their offerings for these reasons. It also offers other programs for its members to give to the church above and beyond their offerings, which do not support our church’s budget.

SCRIP: We offer a SCRIP program where members can buy gift cards for many different stores. A percentage of the money our members pay is given to the church. SCRIP deadline is always the second Sunday of the month. Order forms are available at church in the mailbox labeled SCRIP. If you need help, talk to Jeannine Heckmann.

MILK MOOLA: We offer a Milk Moola program where members can turn in their KwikTrip Milk Moola caps and labels into a box in the church basement. Church then gets money from these caps and labels. Keep saving those labels and bottle caps.

BOXTOPS: We also offer a Boxtop program where members can turn in their Boxtops for Education into a box in the church basement. These Boxtops are then turned into St. John’s Lutheran School in Pardeeville.