JUNE 2017Volume 26 Number 6

The

Dear Beloved:It is not my intention to shrink away from the

duties of eldership here at our church, but hear me out as I begin to test the waters during our transitional period, as we continue to seek a senior pastor.

Someone claiming wisdom once said, “A person who speaks freely often provides evidence of his own foolishness while the man who holds his tongue at least proves nothing and at best provides potential hope.”

In this manner, I declare that I may proceed cautiously and confess, I may significantly lack in the skills required of born leaders. i ask your patience and encouragement as we unite our efforts to glorify God in all we do.

The idea of my not having to “reinvent the wheel” caused me to consider that good men have gone before and led many men to come to the Lord and begin discipleship. However, the real problem with men is that they are fallible and even with the best intentions wander away from Scripture and God’s eternal design and plan. What man can know God’s mind? (Romans 11:34) This is a basic shortcoming everyone has. And it cuts all down to be be right-sized compared to God’s sovereignty. It also drives us back to dependency on or Lord, Jesus Christ, the only true way back to God’s acceptance and salvation.

Is this troubling, churning in our stomachs similar to the thorn in Paul’s side? Does it alert us so powerfully that we cannot ignore, deny, or trivialize it? Dee believers are on the path of the straight and narrow leading to our ultimate reward - glorification! Amen!! Hallelujah!! Believers love the Lord. They want to know Him more and be drawn closer. They want to obey His righteousness and help others come to believe in Him. They want to reach out to the world and share the Gospel message of salvation. Believers know the peace that is beyond our worldly knowledge and understanding. We shout with joy. We want this joy for everyone!

Hold on. Slow down. Such emotion and zeal can also be so powerful that it can inflate us from being right-sized next to God. Thank You, Lord Jesus,

Elder’s Message by George Schneider

for the Guiding Spirit of my thorn, to remind me that God is sovereign and bigger than I am (see 2 Corinthians 12:7).

These pesky thorns we each have, may just be gifts, being markers along our paths of sanctification as we shed sinfulness and put on the garments of holiness. These markers may signify that we are about to be drawn closer to God and ore will be revealed as to God’s greatness. Let us run to our Bibles and find confirmation of these revelations, if they happen. And let us pray to the Holy Spirit to guide us along our paths in these challenges. Do we see them as opportunities as opposed to obstacles? May we shouldn’t turn away from them too quickly.

We all need to be firmly rooted in God’s Word. Truth is there, as is God’s perfect plan. Nothing in this world can replace it; always keep it nearby. It is the Primary Source given to us by our loving God.

Let us remain grounded to our Rock and Refuge, and know He does all things for good (see Romans 8:28), and He is always in control.

Amen!

VOICESpeaking the truth in loveFaith Community Church(an Evangelical Free church)

ofFaith

Sunday, June 18, 10:30on the riverfront

at St Feriole’s Island

The best FatherUnlike an earthly prince, God didn’t take a

high-and-mighty title, notes 17th-century British preacher Thomas Watson. Instead, God calls himself Father to encourage us to pray to Him.

But God isn’t just any father. Watson offers these reasons why God is “the best Father”:

• He is the most ancient (Daniel 7:9). • He is perfect (Matthew 5:48). • He is the wisest (Romans 16:27). • He is the most loving (Zephaniah 3:17;

1 John 4:16). • He has unsearchable riches (Ephesians 3:8). • He can reform His children (Acts 9:11). • He never dies (1 Timothy 6:16; Revelation 1:8).

Yahweh MekaddishkemThe Lord Sanctifier

(makes holy)“Speak to the entire

assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am

holy..”

Jesus said, “ I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate,

Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever — the Spirit of Truth,”

John 14:16, 17a (Amplified)I know I focus on the fact that there's very little of

significance, worth that we can accomplish through our own efforts. The corollary to this is why would we want to go it alone when we have One who is able and delighted to help us? Yes? The primary purpose of the Holy Spirit in our world is to help us - read again Jesus' words about the Holy Spirit and what He does (John 14:16 – especially the Amplified Bible). So why not turn to Him for help?

Never forget that you are a work in progress - you don’t wake up one day knowing all. Also, to a greater or lesser degree we all slip, sin but we all also have the choice to start again - seek forgiveness, grow, and choose to continue... or not. I believe we never really 'make it', until the ultimate call to come home. 

 If I were to title this article, I’d call it – What YOU bring - because sometimes we forget our role. In this process, never forget what it is you bring. You are the primary actor. God chose to work through us, with us - though He is more than able to accomplish (fill in the blank) on His own. Therefore, you are a critical part of the process. So what is it you bring? You bring your commitment, self-control, purposing, intentionality as well as your gifting. Those are your foundations though there are other behaviors and mindsets you bring. Bottom line: You bring YOU!

Be encouraged!Editor’s note: You can read more of Carolyn’s thoughts at http://yourthoughtsandbeliefs.blogspot.com/

Saturday, June 245:30 - 8:30 at the church

Theme: Mid-Summer Night’s DreamAgenda: Eat, play, Bible study, pray, replayCost: Free will offeringMenu: New England boiled dinner with fixingsLesson: Seventy Times Seven: Jesus’ Teaches

on Forgiveness Contact: George Schneider (608) 988-6011Sign-up: Please sign up so we can prepare enough food. You may sign up at the Information Center in the church lobby or call the church to make a reservation.

Bring friends!

Sunday, June 18

Author Steve Farrar encourages Christian fathers to be spiritual submarines under the surface of their children’s lives. “Through your prayers you have the ability to affect situations where you are not physically present,” he writes in Standing Tall. “You may be undetected, but that does not mean that you are ineffective.”

A man who puts on the armor of God and goes to war on his knees for his children is a force to be reckoned with, Farrar adds. “When it comes to battle … understand that you have been given awesomely powerful weapons.”

Wednesday, June 14

We were delighted to receive Sean and Clarissa Russell

as the newest members of Faith Community Church

on Sunday, March 26.

Tucked within my cocoonI spun for protection and rest

safe from the world outsideComfy, at first, then

I notice a changewas taking over from within me

I rested in the thought“I am safe within my cocoon”

But a restless heart beganto beat and wanted to be set free

Time passedI started to peck away at my cocoon

and inch my way outA beautiful body emerged

I s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d my long legsI f l u t t e r e d those beautiful wings

They carried me away from the oldlimited caterpillar to

a boundless butterflyA change only God could

develop within meAs my God’s hands spread apart

I took flight~ metamorphosis!

Save the Date!September 8-10, 2017

Faith Community Churchturns 35 on June 6!

Rendezvous Trash ProjectEach year we provide a team of garbage

collectors to empty trash three times a day during the Rendezvous event on the island. In exchange, the Jaycees provide funds we use for various projects at the church. Last year we spent the money on the Community Care Clinic. This year we would like to help support the 2018 Guatemala Missions Team. If you would like to be included on the clean-up crew, please see Bob Meier or Diane Slotman, or sign up at the Information Center in the church lobby. Each of the three shifts each day is approximately 30 minutes. The dates are Thursday through Monday, June 15-19. Turn this year’s trash into next year’s treasure…for eternity!

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4 Cayson Gruber 14 Ainsley Hollenbeck 16 Jack Schneider * * Missionaries’ child

JUNE BIRTHDAYS

A Prison within a Prison by Cary Kann

One of the opportunities for prison ministry is meeting with an inmate one on one, a pastoral visit. This is at his request. I have often wondered what brings the individual inmate to ask to meet with someone like me. The Holy Spirit? Of course. Seeds planted by fellow workers in this harvest. A mother? Another inmate? Absolutely. A sinner's recognition of his need for salvation? All of the above and more.

In a few cases it comes down to being locked up in a prison within the prison, segregation or what used to be called solitary confinement, a procedure that falls in and out of favor and use depending on who is in charge. Offenders are taken out of the general population and housed in a separate unit to give them time to think things over or perhaps bore them into better behavior. Look at it from a offender's point of view. Put yourself in his shoes.

You're in a cell as sparse as any monk's and you aren't given a whole lot to do. You don't have a television or a radio. You don't go to work. You don’ t have any interaction with other inmates. You have very little interaction with your guards. You have hardly anything to do. You can read, but the selection is limited. You can stare at the walls, or the ceiling, or the floor, or the door. You can write. You can daydream, think about the life you once had out beyond the walls and chain link fences topped with razor wire. You can go over how you came to be locked up. You breathe in. You breathe out. Time seems to slow down when nothing changes. This day the same as the last, the same as the next. You read a book. Maybe you read a lot of books. After awhile they all seem the same. Maybe you want something different. You might start reading that book your Christian cellmate reads all the time - that Bible. It is a strange book. Seemingly a collection of histories and songs, letters and short pithy sayings, curses and blessings and prophecies all jumbled together. How do you make sense out of these stories about Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, or Noah and the flood, or Abraham or Moses or King David? Then there is Jesus, the Messiah, the One who came to set the prisoners free. Jesus, the Son of the living God who came down to earth to die a horrible death on a Roman cross for our sins. This same Jesus rose from the dead on the third day? He went up to heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father. He promised to come back someday at the head of angel armies to gather His followers and make the world new. And you can be part of that grand story if only you believe in Him? Really? Wow! Who believes this stuff? Maybe you can ask that cellmate of yours who reads the Bible all the time. He says he believes it, and he even acts like he believes it. Maybe he can give you a reason why.

How important are fathers? And He shall go before Him in the spirit and power

of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children…(Luke 1:17)

How important are fathers to their children? First of all, the role of father was given to us by God. But over the last several decades, some have tried to redefine or redesign the family in a way that makes fathers unimportant or unnecessary. Numerous studies have shown what happens when we do this.

Between 1960 and 1990 the percentage of children living apart from their fathers doubled to 36 percent. Studies show that it is much worse for a child to lose their father through divorce than through death. Fatherlessness has been shown to be a contributing factor to early sexual activity. Teen suicides, shown to increase in fatherless families, have tripled since 1960.

Scholastic Assessment test scores have dropped 75 points since 1960; the drop is linked to the lack of fathers at home. Teenage boys raised without a father are more likely to get in trouble with the law. Children without their fathers are much more likely to suffer child abuse, according to several studies. One 26-year-long study found that the most important childhood factor in developing empathy is a father's involvement in the family.

Yet another study has found that 90 percent of the children who go to church with mom and dad will remain active in church through their teens. If neither parent comes with them, only 40 percent remain faithful. If only dad comes with them, 80 percent remain faithful. We must admit that we cannot improve on God's design for the family.

~ written by Pastor Paul Bartzand taken from

www.creationmoments.com

Creator’s Corner

One inmate told me that while in segregation he experienced something that he could not explain. He had been reading the Bible, trying to understand the God that it described, the God his mother prayed to about him, the God that he wasn't even sure really existed. He had prayed to this God to reveal Himself. God answered his prayer. That inmate asked the Chaplain to set up a visit with one of those “church” people who volunteer to come into the prison. He wanted to talk with someone about what he experienced while he had been in segregation. It was my privilege to be that volunteer. He told me later that prison had saved his life. He thought he would probably be dead if he hadn't been arrested, convicted, and incarcerated. He wouldn't have been set free by Jesus if that hadn't happened.

Right now there are offenders who want to know more about Jesus. Something has touched their hearts and soften them towards God. Maybe they have been put in a quiet place where they can, perhaps for the first time, hear that still small voice speaking to their spirit telling them that they are loved. They want to know more. They are waiting to talk to someone. Maybe that someone is you.Wouldn't that be something?

Prison Ministry MeetingSunday, June 18, 12:15

The Voice of Faith newsletter is a publication of Faith Community Church (an Evangelical Free

church). Editor is Sharon Meier. Sunday Worship is at 10:15 a.m. Website is www.faithchurchpdc.org

Visitors are very much welcome!

If you wish to mail this, fold it in

half, tape the open sides, and place a postage

stamp here.

Faith Community Church1110 E. Cass StreetPrairie du Chien, WI 53821

Food for Thought ✤ The greatest single cause of atheism in the

world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

~ Brennan Manning ✤ Worry leads our minds away from God’s love

and promises. ~ MaryAnn Sundby ✤ Your children will become what you are, so be

what you want them to be. ~ David Bly✤ Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock

of the night. ~ George Herbert✤ For those who trust Jesus Christ, death is not a

sheriff dragging us off to court but a servant ushering us into the presence of a loving Lord.

~ Haddon Robinson✤ We cannot pray in love and live in hate and still

think we are worshiping God. ~ A W Tozer✤ There is no exercise better for the heart than

reaching down and lifting people up. ~ John Holmes

✤ He who demands a reason from God is not in a fit state to receive one. ~ Charles Spurgeon

✤ When hard times come, people should lose their faith in false doctrine (teaching), not in God.

~ Randy Alcorn✤ How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness

to me? ~ Psalm 116:12

The mission of our church is to glorify Christ,

proclaim the Gospel, reach the lost,

and train and instruct Christians in the faith for service and daily living.