Sunday March 16, 2025

This Week's Message is:

"Body of Christ: Are You an Elbow?"

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

ACCESS WORSHIP

Join us for our Traditional worship Sundays at 8:00 a.m. and at 9:45 a.m. for Praise worship which is livestreamed on our Facebook and available on YouTube any time after. Our most recent worship services are also posted to our website. To view last Sundays Service click here.

LENTEN WEDNESDAY WORSHIP

Continue to join Pastor Heather tonight and on future Wednesdays at 6:30pm until Holy Week for services centered around Taizé practices. Join her for this midweek reset for your faith and life!

LIBERATING THE PEACEMAKER WITHIN 2.0

Come join us on Sundays at 11am through April 13 for this amazing class! Elton Tylenda and Josie Pradella have graciously agreed to offer it again and they've updated and streamlined it so even if you were a part of it last year, there are new things. This six-week class began last Sunday but there's still time to join in! We will together go on a journey to discover our inner peacemaker. Thank you Elton and Josie for offering this gift! Check out www.lifeworldreconnect.org for more information!

THURSDAY WOMENS BIBLE STUDY

The whole Bible in 7 weeks? Sounds a little overwhelming, doesn’t it? In this study called "Seamless," we will be led through the whole Bible, Genesis to Revelation, and learn how it all connects into one seamless thread. Join us as we explore! We meet each Thursday morning from March 13 to April 24 in the New Life Classroom from 9-11:00am. If you have any questions contact Melanie Stepherson at Melanie.stepherson@gmail.com.

EASTER FLOWERS

This year we decided to try a different approach when ordering Easter Flowers. We have a sign up sheet on the welcome table in order to select the type of flower you want. We have only ordered so many so once the list is full we will not be accepting any more. Deadline to sign up is March 30. There are 4 daffodils left.

WOMEN'S MINISTRY EVENTS!

Here are the next two events to put on your calendar:

WINE & DESIGN NIGHT Thursday March 20 at 6:30pm

We will gather at Wine & Design on Fair Oaks to paint and have fun together. The cost is $36, payable to New Life Church, and we have filled all 30 spots! If however, you'd like to get on a waiting list please let Pastor Heather know. Payment will need to be made before the event.

DECORATE WOOD ORNAMENTS WITH TYANNA LOTEGELUAKI

If you missed out on the above event, come paint beautiful barn quilt ornaments with Tyanna Lotegeluaki! You can paint one ornament for $10 or two ornaments for $18. Thursday, April 10, 6:30, at New Life Church. To sign up, click on the link. This is a list of all of her classes! So choose "Private event for Jillene--1 ornament" or "Private event for Jillene--2 ornaments." Pay there. Tyanna will send a Google form later for you to pick your design. LINK: https://redesign229.com/events-1

SAVE THE DATE FOR BRAT FEST 2025! (May 19-27)

The volunteer sign up goes live April 5th at 10am. After that date and time you can sign up at: www.Bratfest.com  The sooner we sign up the more choices we get for days, times, and jobs- take note our own Mad City Funk is playing on Friday at 1:40 PM-2:20 PM. We receive $12 for every hour we volunteer to go to New Life Church-if you check St. Matthew’s ELCA as your charity. This year absolutely everyone has to sign up online with their own email address. (If you don’t have one then contact Judy 608.348.9057 or stop in the office.) More information to come.

OFFICE HELP NEEDED

Liz, our Office Manager, will be on vacation on July 1st-3rd and 7th-8th and she is looking for some help in the office from the hours of 8:30am to noon on those dates. We'd ask you to answer phones, collect mail from the mailbox and check for urgent emails. Please email Liz if you are available and can help; she will train you and give you all the information you'd need.

MEN’S GROUP

Hey guys! Join us as we get together on the third Saturday of every month. We offer a time for the men of our community to gather and be strengthened in their faith. The group will gather again this Saturday, March 15 at 8:00-9:00 a.m. in the Community Room.

NEW LIFE KIDS needs YOU! VOLUNTEER!

If you would be interested in being a part of the New Life Kids teaching team, please let Ashley and take a look at the sign up sheet.

NEW LIFE TEENS!

We are hoping to get the middle and high school programming up and running as soon as possible! Please complete this survey if you have a middle or high schooler

NEW LIFE KIDS - Sundays at 8:50am.

Kids in Kindergarten through 5th grade are invited to join us each Sunday morning in the ReCreation Center! They will be learning about the parable The Prodigal Son

BABY TO 4K FAMILIES - Sunday at 8:50am Families with babies - 4K are invited to meet in the Kidzone to spend time together. This is a time for children to play together and for families to connect.

NEW WAY TO HELP CALLED CarePortal COMING TO NEW LIFE!

Our Social Purpose Team is very excited to introduce this community to a new way we'd like to help the most vulnerable in our community! CarePortal is connecting technology that drives action for the local church to restore and strengthen families. Child-serving professionals enter vetted needs of a family in their care into CarePortal, and with the support of the community, church responders show up to make connections and meet these practical needs. Nick Ertz, CarePortal's Church Ambassador will be with us on Sunday March 16 to answer questions and get volunteers signed up!

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WORKSHOP

On March 23rd from 2-4 pm Pastor Walter Baires and Iris Christenson will lead a workshop called "Know Your Rights" to be held at New Life Church. We will be talking about what an immigrant (or a bystander) should do if an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agent comes to an immigrant's home, school, church, place of employment, or approaches him/her while in any public space. We'll talk about an immigrant's Constitutional rights and how to best assert those rights. We'll provide informational handouts that explain everything we cover in the workshop. This workshop is intended for Allies who wish to support immigrants and their families and will be conducted in English. If you have any questions, call or text Iris Christenson at 608-239-6060."

Please note: A Know Your Rights workshop for immigrants and their families will be held on a different date and include translation into Spanish.

ST MARK'S FOOD PANTRY

Mark Taylor, coordinator of St Mark’s food pantry, did a ministry minute last Sunday to talk about volunteer opportunities at the pantry. He began his presentation by sharing an experience of the pantry shelves being uncomfortably empty last week. But then generous donations from our church, another partner church and 2 individuals were dropped off before the doors opened to shoppers. Thank you for continuing to support St. Mark’s food pantry! The pantry is also in need of volunteers to stock the shelves and help shoppers. Pantry hours are Thursday evening from 5:00 to 7:00pm and Friday from 11:30am to 1:30pm. Typically volunteers come 15 minutes before the pantry opens and stay 30 minutes afterwards to help with restocking. Any help is appreciated whether it be once a week, every other week, every third week or weekly. Currently, the biggest need for help is on Friday. If you are interested in volunteering Mark can be reached by email at stmarksfeeds@gmail.com or by phone 608-256-8463.  Thank you!

ROOTS ETHIOPIA FUNDRAISER

You are amazing! New Life supplied ALL of the books needed for the High School in Ethiopia! (see pictures above) Over $2,000 donated! Of course, there is always room for more - ANY additional amount that comes in for this will go to the next project at the high school, which is renovating a room to create a hands-on science lab. This is the final project to improve this High School in southern Ethiopia. Please follow this link to donate and we'll see if we can complete this project before Pastor Heather's next sabbatical leave in May/June! Thank you!

SOCIAL PURPOSE FUND

We continue to need your help in order to be able to distribute gift cards to those in need - which totals on average about $1,000 every month! Because of the increased need, if you would be able to give to this fund, please submit checks with "Social Purpose Fund" in the memo or give online to that fund. Thank you! Also, please know that if you are experiencing any financial need (rent/mortgage, utilities, groceries, medical, unemployment/furlough, etc.) you only need to let Pastor Heather know. This information will be keep confidential to her and our financial officers (treasurer and bookkeeper).

Prayers needed for

Hospitalized, Injured, Ill or Medical Prayers



Don Skaar

Barb Zimmerman

Dave Kolmodin-Mild heart attack



Dave Kolmodin's Son Paul

Patti Kolmodin

Jean Krebs, Ann Krebs Byrne's mother

Every Day Prayers

Connie Losse

Russ and Shirley Theel

Donna Butlers Stepson Lamarcus

Donna Butlers neighbor, Sally

Burke Bowie, friend of Wayne & Barb Meyer

Condolences

Jean and Vickey Hoover and family in the death of their granddaughter, Hailey Brown

Family of Greg Mueller-a friend of Karen Tribbey

If you would like to be included on our prayer list, please contact the church office. Permission is required from the individual for us to print their name. Individuals will be on the list for one month unless requested to office.

Office hours are Monday through Thursday. Please feel free to contact staff members of New Life by email at newlifelc@newlifelc.com or by calling the office at 608-223-9337. Contacts are listed here.

New Life Staff:

Rev. Heather Hayward, Pastor

pastor@newlifelc.com

Ashley Reinke, Children & Youth Ministry Coordinator

youtheducator@newlifelc.com

Liz Rusch, Office Manager/Newsletter

newlifelc@newlifelc.com

Jim Manos, Bookkeeper

bookkeeper@newlifelc.com

Shakia “Queen” Turner, Property Manager

shakiamturner@yahoo.com

New Life Church Council:

Jillene Fisch, President

Linda Sime, Vice President

Tom Olson, Secretary

Ken Wundrow, Treasurer

Iris Christenson

Brian Coel

Shannon Erb

Deb Kohlwey

Louise Miller

Shawn Peters

Uriah Reppert

Russell Theel