Inwood Lutheran Parish

Think Bible Camp this summer!! The Bd. of Youth and Family voted to supplement 1/2 the cost for camp after the registration fees. As a member church our youth get a $15 discount. See Joy Yunker for a brochure for camp and registration forms. Don't miss this opportunity to have an awesome experience with your friends and a chance to make new ones!!! http://www.okoboji.org/

There will be an Informational Meeting regarding the future of Bethlehem Congregation April 25 at 4:00 pm at Bethlehem.

Register online for VBS: Get ready to sail the seas with this summer’s high-energy Vacation Bible School. "High Seas Expedition" is set for June 7-11, starting at 6 p.m. at Bethlehem Lutheran Church. (Supper will be served at 5:30 p.m.) A donation of $8 per child is suggested. Pre-registration has begun online at http://www.groupvbspro.com/vbs/ez/inwood This is a community ministry sponsored by the Inwood Lutheran Parish. All children who have completed K-6 are invited to join us. Register online, or call Jennifer Lee at 753-2822. Pray about who you could invite to join in on the fun!

Love Days have a lot of quilts that can be put together but we need some help to get them all tied. We meet on Monday afternoons at 1:00.

Fellowship Village Auxiliary Mother & Others Banquet is Monday, April 26, 6:30 pm at Bethlehem F.H. It begins with a delicious meal. Speaker for the evening is Shirley Halleen, a retired teacher from Sioux Falls. She is a well known speaker and writes a weekly column in the Argus Leader on Mondays. Tickets are $8 at FV, the Bank, Sew & More or from Marion Matzen or Sandy Thomas. Deadline for tickets is April 21.

Are you a Walter Wangerin, Jr. fan? Pastor Wangerin has a Web site, www.walterwangerinjr.org, which features stories, essays, drama, and poetry. Check it out!

The Memory Loss Support Group will be held on the 4th Wednesday of each month (at 7:00) at the new Senior Citizen's Center at Whispering Heights in Rock Valley. This is a professionally led support group for caregivers, family members, or others dealing with Alzheimers or other dementia. For more information call Melinda or Judy at 712-476-8214.

Starting Over Single is a Christian ministry whose purpose is to touch the lives of widowed, separated & divorced person and to let you know that there is a life after! Weekly meetings are held at the Sheldon Methodist Church, 506 8th street at 7 pm on Sunday evenings.

Your Community Needs You! Be a volunteer for Iowa Hospice! If you have 1-4 hours a month to give to a person in the end of life stage you could be the one God uses to make a difference. Training is free. A manual will be waiting for you at the Community Center, 404 1st Ave, Rock Rapids, Mon & Wed, November 17th & 19th, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

A new adult study resource, "Genetics and Faith: Power, Choice, and Responsibility," is now available for congregations interested in exploring the implications of contemporary genetics for Christian faith and life. It features a five-session core exploring the relation of Christian faith and ethics to genetics. An optional additional eight sessions focus on topics such as stem cells, genetics and human identity, and a primer on genetics with a glossary. This study marks the initial phase of developing an ELCA social statement on genetics expected to be considered at the 2011 Churchwide Assembly.

The study is available online or you can order printed copies of the study (ISBN #978-6-0002-2205-5) are available for $4.00 each from Augsburg Fortress at 800-328-4648 or augsburgfortress.org. A free DVD is also available (ISBN #978-1-5937-5169-2) about the science of genetics from Augsburg Fortress.

Barnabas Uplift -- Siouxland Mission Health - Healthcare for uninsured and underinsured Iowans is now a reality!!

What Mission Health is: Mission Health is a program offered jointly by St. Luke’s Health System, Mercy Medical Center and the Siouxland Community Health Center to provide affordable healthcare services. Anyone who is uninsured or underinsured can qualify for Mission Health.

What you can expect from Mission Health: Mission Health will provide routine medical care on a sliding fee scale at the Siouxland Community Health Center. In addition, those enrolled in Mission Health will be pre-qualified for financial assistance at St. Luke’s Health System and Mercy Medical Center based on income guidelines.

Find out more about Mission Health: Visit the Siouxland Community Health Center to complete a simple application. For directions, hours and answers to all your questions call toll free 888-371-1965, ext. 1062, or locally 712-202-1062.

A few ideas about how your congregation can support Barnabas Uplift and Siouxland Mission Health:

1 – Advertise this service (brochures are available)
2 – Volunteer at the Siouxland Community Health Center
3 – Raise funds or make donations to the Siouxland Community Health Center
4 – Have an “Over The Counter Drug Drive” and make donations to the Community Health Center Pharmacy

ELCA Evangelism Resources to Help Your Congregation new life, new growth, new adventures. The ELCA has some great new evangelism resources to help your congregation find new life and passion in reaching out to others. One of the most interesting is a 23-minute video focusing on Lutheran revival. This DVD examines prayer and revival in the Bible, in Lutheran history, and in the ELCA today. Viewers hear from Bible scholars who tell the history of God’s reviving work in the church, ELCA pastors who have witnessed revival in congregational life, and ELCA members who tell their stories of revival. This DVD is free – you can view it online or order it and pay only shipping. A study guide is also available.

Do you dream about traveling to the Holy Land, not just as a tourist, but to learn about the lives of people in this region, about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and about the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land? The ELCA Peace Not Walls Web site offers some intriguing possibilities for alternative travel in Palestine and Israel. Visit www.elca.org/peacenotwalls/accompany/travel.html to learn more.

Remember when Iowa Prison Industries had the monopoly on manufacturing vehicle license plates? They still do, but also have much more to offer. Iowa Prison Industries (IPI) is the work arm of the Iowa Department of Corrections and consists of manufacturing, farming and private sector work programs. They are now a competitive manufacturer of church furnishings. Church furnishings from IPI are custom designed to your church’s specifications. If renovation or replacement of church furnishings is in your future, visit www.iaprisonind.com to view their work and for contact information. The direct link to the church furnishings catalog section is www.iaprisonind.com/html/publit/catalogs.asp.

A congregation communicates in many ways, both to its own members and to the rest of the world. Better communication to members means better responses to the things they care about. Better communication to the rest of the world means more effectively reaching out to people with the Gospel. How can congregations improve their communication?

ELCA synod communicators and staff have joined to produce "Effective Communication: A Guide for Congregations," an online series of resources to help congregations improve internal and external communication. Resources include how to conduct a communication audit, how to establish a communication committee, news releases, telephone ministries, bulletin boards, Web pages, newsletters, radio, video resources, and more. Check it out!

Equal Exchange Offers New Items from U.S. — Equal Exchange is offering three new snacks from U.S. farmers: almonds, pecans, and cranberries. But exactly how does this fit into the Fair Trade mission? Equal Exchange is “Bringing Fair Trade Home” by extending the model of partnership to family farmers, farm workers, and farmer co-operatives here in our own backyard. The first farmer partners in Equal Exchange’s domestic program come from across the U.S. – a co-op of organic almond farmers in California, organic cranberry farmers in Massachusetts, and a pecan co-operative in Georgia. All are family farmers and people with a commitment to their communities, to growing delicious, nutritious crops, and to stewardship of the land they work. To learn more or to order some delicious snacks, visit www.equalexchange.coop.