Sunday April 6, 2025

This Week's Message is:

"Body of Christ: The Head of the Body"

Colossians 1:15-20

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 the last Sundays Service click here.

OUR LENTEN FOCUS

This year as we journey to the cross and empty tomb, we are centered on Sundays around “The Body of Christ.” Come discover what it means that Jesus not only came in bodily form to love and save us, but that we're also called to form the Body of Christ as a community of believers. Come and join us on Sundays for this sermon series through Palm Sunday, April 13.

Easter Sunday - April 20

Worship at 8:00, 9:30, and 10:45am

Come on this festive morning to celebrate that the body of Jesus is ALIVE!!! Death has been swallowed up by life – He is not here; He is Risen!!! Share this worship opportunity with others in your life so they can also experience the joy of this morning. 8:00am service will be more traditional, and the 9:30 and 10:45am services will be led by the band. Please share our events for this Holy Week on Facebook.

EASTER EGG HUNT VOLUNTEERS!

We need your support to make the egg hunt a success! We need:

Individually wrapped candy and Plastic Eggs

Please bring these to the church

We will also need help during the event. Please email Ashley to let her know you can help!

Set up on the day of the hunt- arrive at 9a

Crowd Control - arrive at 10a

Clean up/Tear down - stay until noon

BREAKFAST THIS SUNDAY!!

Thank you so much to the Skaar and the Sime families for serving breakfast between services at 8:45 am-9:40 am only. Hope to see you there! They will be serving French toast bake, egg bake, ham, carrot cake, gluten free options, milk and juice. 

BRAT FEST Volunteer-Sign Up

The Volunteer sign up goes live THIS SATURDAY April 5th at 10am. Sign up by going to: www.Bratfest.com  This year we will receive $12 for every hour we volunteer. Shifts are available from May 19th to May 27th. Be sure to check select St Matthew’s New Life as your charity. This year absolutely everyone has to sign up online with their own email address. If you want to volunteer but do not have an email contact Judy at 608.348.9057 or Liz in the church office and we can help you. There are information sheets on the Welcome table describing rules, shifts, parking, etc. This year all the money we raise will go to the Social Purpose Fund's gift cards. These cards assist church and community members experiencing a financial need with $100 Woodman's card.

PROPERTY/LANDSCAPE UPDATES AND SPRING CLEAN UP

We have contracted with Good Oak ecological services to properly care for and enhance our prairies. We will work with them to help develop and strengthen the prairies until they are established and self-sustaining. We also have a quote for painting services for the front entrance of the church, and will be scheduling that work for the month of June. Lastly, we have scheduled the Spring Clean Up Day for Saturday, April 26th from 9am-noon. Please contact Micah Zielke or sign up at the welcome table if you are able to participate in the work day. Many hands make light work, and these events help build relationships while honoring our property with good stewardship. Thanks for all the ways you help us care for what God has given!

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! Rain, snow or shine!

NEXT WOMEN'S MINISTRY EVENT

Registration and payment due by April 7! Fill out Tyanna’s email after you register!

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

WOMEN'S GROUP SERVICE EVENT

On Monday May 5th, 9:00-12:00, the New Life Women's Group will be volunteering at Babies & Beyond (1922 S Stoughton Road). The work involves sorting and organizing donations of clothing and diapers. Hope to reward ourselves with lunch afterwards. We have seven signed up so far - plenty of room for more. Contact Kathy Michaelis ksmichaelis@gmail.com

NEW ADULT FAITH FORMATION AFTER EASTER

Join us on April 27th and May 4th in the classroom at 11am for a two-part workshop focused on improving communication through a Christ-centered approach. Led by Heather Strand a mindset fitness coach, these sessions will provide practical tools to help us listen with grace, speak with love, and build stronger relationships within our families, church, and daily lives. Let’s grow together in faith and understanding!

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.

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.

EGG HUNT VOLUNTEERS!

We need your support to make the egg hunt a success! We need:

Individually wrapped candy - Bring to church office

Plastic Eggs - Bring to church office

Set-up/Tear-down on the day of the hunt- arrive at 9a

Crowd Control - arrive at 10a

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! This week, they will be learning about the disciples.

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: CarePortal

Our Social Purpose Team is very excited to launch this new way we can help the most vulnerable in our community! CarePortal is technology that connects the local church to families in any need in our community. 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. We had Nick Ertz, CarePortal’s Church Ambassador, with us a couple weeks ago and many of you already signed up to learn more about this way to serve, but we want to be sure that we have a complete list. If you would like to be invited to an interest meeting and/or further training to be on the New Life team, please click here to sign up. For more info please contact Nicole Hines.

ST MARK'S FOOD PANTRY

Mark Taylor, coordinator of St Mark’s food pantry, did a ministry minute the first Sunday of Lent to talk about volunteer opportunities at the pantry. He began his presentation by sharing the food pantry shelves were uncomfortably empty that previous Thursday evening and he was on edge because of it. However, before the pantry doors opened to shoppers generous donations were dropped off by our church, another partner church and 2 individuals. 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 the shoppers. Pantry hours are Thursday evening from 5:00 to 7:00 PM and Friday from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Typically volunteers come 15 minutes before the pantry opens and stay 30 minutes afterwards to help with any restocking. Any help is appreciated and can be tailored to fit your schedule whether it be once a week, every other week, every third week or monthly. Currently, the biggest need for help is on Friday. If your 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's Son Paul

Jean Krebs, Ann Krebs Byrne's mother

Shirley Theel

Karen Tribbey

Stan Phillips

Arielle and her family

Every Day Prayers

Connie Losse

Russ Theel

Donna Butlers Stepson Lamarcus

Donna Butlers neighbor, Sally

Burke Bowie, friend of Wayne & Barb Meyer

Patti Kolmodin

Condolences

Patti Kolmodin- Passing of Dave Kolmodin

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