Bethesda Living Current - August 16, 2024

A weekly e-newsletter of

Bethesda Lutheran Church

Ames, Iowa

August 16, 2024

Special Congregational Meeting August 25th

There will be a special congregational meeting after worship on Sunday August 25th in the Commons to discuss calling a new associate pastor to Bethesda Lutheran Church.

Bring Your Bottles and Cans SATURDAY!

ASIP will be collecting cans, glass and plastic bottles on August 17th from 8am-4pm. Please bring your separated, redeemable glass bottles and cans to the Bethesda parking lot. This fundraiser will help with the special medial needs for our Venezuelan’s family back home.

Grieving a Loss? Join Us at GriefShare

Sundays August 25th - November 24th in the Conference Room. Call the church office or contact

Kathy Slocum (kslocum@prodigy.net) or Pat Swanson (swansonrp@gmail.com) for more information.

Best Of Story County Voting is Open!

Best Of Story County voting is open NOW through August 23rd! Bethesda Lutheran Church made the top five for Place of Worship AND Wedding Venue in the entertainment and leisure category for the Best Of Story County! Voting is open NOW through August 23rd!

You can vote once a day to help us all secure the win for the seventh consecutive year!

VOTE for Bethesda!

Resignation of the Facilities Chair, Kathy Harris

Kathy Harris has resigned from the facilities chair position. We appreciate and recognize all the work Kathy, and her team have put into the church building over the years. As we move forward, we hope to develop an ad hoc team of individuals who would be willing to dedicate their time and talents to Bethesda Lutheran Church. Let Pastor Bryan know if you are interested in joining an ad hoc facilities team!

Bethesda is excited to introduce our NEW Wednesday night programming for all youth! SPLASH Children's Church, OASIS Confirmation, and FLOOD High School Youth Group are now all on the same night! Each Wednesday, all congregation members and friends of the church are invited to have dinner in the commons at 5:00 pm, followed by CrossGen Worship (a service for ALL ages) at 6 pm!

SPLASH Children's Church is transitioning to Wednesday nights! Starting September 11th, kids pre-k to 5th grade get to explore Bible stories through the Spark Rotation Curriculum's eight different workshops, all with hands-on activities! Programming begins at 6:45 pm.

Learn More!

Parents of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, you can register your child for OASIS confirmation TODAY!

OASIS Confirmation starts Wednesday, September 11th at 7:00pm!

Give your high schooler a safe environment to grow in their faith every Wednesday during the academic year from 8 - 9 pm by registering them for FLOOD High School Youth Group! They can register alone or along with a friend to experience fun games and fellowship every week.

Help Make Rally Weekend a Success

Making Rally Weekend a success is a congregation wide effort. If you would like to lend a hand in our kick-off to programming, we are in search of canopy tents to provide some shade for our attendees. If you have one or two canopy tents you would be happy to let Bethesda borrow, please drop them off in the office by Wednesday, September 4th.

*Reminder that there will be no Saturday service and instead all congregation members are invited to join us on the East patio for service at 9:30 am on Sunday, September 8th.

Upcoming AMOS Events

Gathering on Saturday, October 5th from 9 - 4 pm at St. Patrick’s Catholic School (1302 5th St., Perry, IA 50220)
Fall Variety Show Fundraiser on Saturday, November 9th (time TBD)

August Book Discussion

The next book discussion book will be The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin on August 21, 7:00 pm, in the Crossroads. Everyone is welcome!

Coming Soon to a Church Near You!

Bethesda is going digital! With the help of several gifts, the Memorial & Gifts Team has the funds needed to install a digital sign out on the front lawn. The sign will be easy to see from both directions and will be able to quickly update the information with Bethesda happenings. A Big thank you to all the donors who supported this project and to the church council for their support! The new sign is anticipated mid-September.

Gauging Interest in In-Home Supper Club

Do you want to build connections with other Bethesda members? The purposed in-home Supper Club could be for you! Bethesda adults would meet monthly at 5:30 p.m. at the home of an attendee for a potluck-style meal for open conversation. If enough people are interested, this program would start the mid-September. Locations and meals would be decided monthly. If you're interested in this endeavor, contact Sandi Philips at 515-290-9157 or sandi1707@aol.com.

Join Bethesda's CROP Walk Team!

The 2024 CROP Walk is being held October 13th at 1:00 pm at Ada Hayden Park. Help provide life-saving support by donating or joining the team today!

Donate or Register

Give a Gift Online

Don't carry cash or checks? You can set up a recurring or one-time gift to Bethesda online, so you never miss an offering opportunity!

Shelbynext

Refresher to log onto Shelbynext:

On your laptop or Desk Top Computer - https://bethesdanet.shelbynextchms.com

On your cell phone go to the App Store or Google Play Store

search for ShelbyNeXt Membership - download the free app;

On first screen replace the word domain with Bethesdanet

Enter username and password.

You should be ready to go! If you have any questions or concerns please contact Linda Fevold on Monday's 12 noon till 2:00 pm.

What's The Difference Between The Current and The Living Current?

The Current is a double-sided sheet consisting of four or more announcements that may widely affect the congregation with a schedule of Sunday-to-Sunday activities and order of worship.

The current, the physical copy members pick up each weekend, is limited to a certain number of announcements and is determined by what events will largely affect the congregation as a whole, often on a first come-first serve basis.

The Living Current, an e-newsletter sent every Friday at 9 am, consists of the larger announcements that make The Current as well as other announcements and events that may not affect the majority of the congregation. Such things may include:

An announcement for an event more than a month away. (As the event nears, it will be placed in The Current while holding its place in The Living Current.)
Ongoing support and prayers

If you have an event that you would like advertised in The Current for weekend services, submit your announcement event via email to Tess Hanson and Lynn Anderson no later than the Tuesday before you would like it advertised. Please specify where you want it to be published. If submitted after the stated deadline, it will be integrated into The Living Current e-newsletter and The Current for weekend services the following week.

Healing Prayers: Andrea Blythe; Philip Coney; Charlene Doyle; Shirley Stromer; Dana Woolery

WELCOME!

We invite you to join our community, which is committed to inclusion, racial equity and anti-racism. We share in God’s abundant grace knowing that we cannot be separated from the love of God by our age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, political beliefs, socioeconomic status, physical or mental abilities or faith background.