Please Pray...

for Betty Mowery, who was taken to the hospital on Monday. She is undergoing testing to determine what her health issues may be.

This past Sunday's prayer list for healing included the following names: Ed Anderson, Gloria Arnold, Zachery Joel Baron, Dorothy Beougher, Jenny Brown, Violet Carpenter, Pat Dearing, Pam Dotson, Pastor Paul Elhard, Jennifer Fawbush, Myrna Gabriel, Ralph Griffith, Laura Hopstetter, Greg Huston, Barbara Hutton, Amanda Johnson, Bob Johnson, Phyllis Koska, Vera Lindsey, Joanne Magle, Dee McLain, Craig Mehr, Dale and Elaine Meyers, Judy Mohr, Betty Mowery, Helen and Dick Mowrey, Mike Schneider, Betsy Shoults, Helen Sigler, Marvin Smart, Carolyn Stallman, Sarah Starner, Priscilla Stevens, Mary Jane Stofcheck, Sonny Taylor, Emma Jean Turner, and Wib Wallace. Please keep them in your prayers.

To help you prepare for worship this Sunday...

see here.

It's Summertime...Plenty of Lutheran Camping Opportunities

The summer months bring plenty of camping opportunities for Lutheran young people of ALL AGES in Ohio.

If you, your young people, or your family are interested in taking advantage of these opportunities offered by Lutheran Outdoor Ministries of Ohio (LOMO), you should check out the LOMO web site, where you'll find all the information you need on camping opportunities, costs, and locations.

What Happened at the Synod Assembly?

from Pastor Mark Daniels
The Southern Ohio Synod Assembly happened May 29-31 on the campus of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. It brought together lay voting members and pastors from more than 230 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregations that are here in the southern part of the state.

Here is the official release from the synod on the actions taken during the assembly.

Here is the press release from the ELCA on the re-election of Callon Holloway as the synodical bishop.

Highlights of the event for me were presentations and a sermon by Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, and Patrick Kiefert, a professor of systematic theology at our seminary in the Twin Cities. They spoke of the importance of churches as communities that form Christian disciples. We can no longer count on the culture to form Christian disciples. We must go back to the basics of disciplemaking as chronicled in the New Testament.

Central to this is dwelling in God's Word and asking two central questions:

• What is God doing right now in the midst of us?
• What does God want us to do?

Christian faith is not nostalgia for Jesus' first time on earth.

It's not hunkering down and waiting for Jesus' return.

It's not pining for the glory days in our churches.

It's living in a vital relationship with God and our fellow believers right now. It's about being instruments of God's grace today!

We will be receiving DVDs of both Hanson's and Kiefert's presentations soon and I hope to show them to as many Saint Matthew people as possible.

Thanks to Christa Myers and Dave Libben for being our congregation's voting members at the assembly.

To help you prepare for worship on Sunday...

see here.