Were you there? Were you in church last Sunday? If you were, you might agree with me that our worship experience was one of the most exciting, inspiring, blessing filled  church services I have ever attended.  People were encouraged, people were built up, people were thanked, people were inspired, and people were sent out into their world  to live differently than they ever had before.

            You may remember about three months ago we passed the offering plate and  invited people to take money out!  Specifically $50 per family. I reminded people of the concept of Biblical stewardship and told them quite plainly, “This is not your money! You are just a caretaker, just a steward of this trust. You are to use it to build up the Kingdom of God.”

Last Sunday people came back to church and shared with the congregation how they had invested their $50.  It was amazing! People were so creative and faithful to their charge. Some  gave it to ministries and organizations doing good work in the community,  like Animal Welfare League, Phil’s friends (a ministry to teens with cancer),  Together We Cope, ELCA international missions, and the South Suburban Pregnancy Center among others. Others gave it away to needy individuals  who were unemployed or otherwise struggling to make ends in this difficult economy. Still others, like the good and faithful servants in Jesus’ parable of the talents, invested their money, using their talents and abilities to make more money and brought it back to the church as a donation. Of the $5,000 that was taken out of the plate we have to date received a little over $5,000 back in, and that figure continues to grow. This is quite amazing given how many people gave their money away to important causes and needy people. To top it all off the leadership of our church decided that 80% of the money that came in would be given away to meet needs outside the congregation. A powerful statement to the world of what  St. Mark is  all about.

            Thank you to those of you who accepted the “St. Mark Stewardship Challenge.”

Your creativity and hard work are an inspiration  to our church and  our community. In the words of our 5^th Guiding Principle, “You have changed our world!”

            We were very fortunate to receive  a great deal of good press. Two major articles in the Southtown, Sun Times, MSNBC, and I have been promised by the editor of the Lutheran Magazine our church will be featured in a two page article in their November Edition. If you are a computer person, you can check out a couple of those articles at these addresses: http://www.southtownstar.com/news/tridgell/2587646,081110tridgell.article

http://www.southtownstar.com/news/tridgell/2654588,083110tridgell.article

or you could go to our St Mark web site at www. stmarkworth.org and click on the link at the top of the page. In fact while you are at the web site, I invite you to click on staff on the left side of the page, and check out a dozen or so pictures of my daughter’s wedding.

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            I am very excited to tell you that this year our church will be offering a number of  opportunities for us to grow in every area of our lives; spiritual, physical, emotional, financial, and social .  We are calling these offerings, “Care Groups” because they will be a  place where people will genuinely care about you and your family, and pray for you and your needs during the week.

This fall we will once again be offering Dave Ramsey’s course on personal financing. Susan and I took this course this last year and so I can recommend it without qualification to any  of our members who  struggling to make ends meet in this difficult economy. Date and time to be announced. 

          On Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM John Carey will be leading an amazing class entitled “The Truth Project.” The purpose of the class is to help us understand what is going on in our secular culture from a Christian point of view.

Also beginning this fall is a course in  low impact aerobics.  Debby Sernus has led this class many times at the park district and now is offering it to our members. Details will be soon forthcoming.

This year we will be offering a course for parents of teenagers called simply, “5.”

It is a six week class designed to help parents raise Christian children in our secular world.?  The claim is that being a part of this course will help you raise teenagers who will talk with  you,  who will be honest with you, who will grow up as Christian believers, and all through the use of an exercise that will only take you 5 minutes a day. Anyone parents interested in that?

People who are open to making some new friends will sign up in groups of  8. Those groups will meet monthly  to share a pot luck dinner and Christian fellowship together. They will meet either at the home of one of the 8 members or at the church, depending upon the desire of the  person who volunteers to be  the host for that particular meal. The group will meet for 8 months.

                                      Pastor Jay