What a beautiful summer God has given to all of us this year! We hope you are continuing to enjoy it and praising Him for the many wonderful gifts that summer brings. We are grateful to Nancy Schuett and all the children and teachers of VBS who had a wonderful, spirit-filled week and shared with us at a service in July. Many thanks to Karen Smith and Naomi Beck, our organists, to Kathy Henson, our pianist, to Steve Dix, our trumpeter, and to the members of His Own for faithfully leading our services this summer. Everyone appreciated the special bulletin board for the servicemen from our congregation on the 4th of July. Thanks to all who took care of that.

    On August 5th, Kyle Pagel will play his saxophone at the services. We look forward to that. Kyle is home from college (at Marshall) for the summer. Thank you, Kyle and Kathy, his accompanist.

    Now, as we come to the month of August, we also begin to think about fall a little bit. The music department is already working on fall and winter plans. We also have a new Worship Team, under the leadership of Theresa Ribar and Michael Polzin, who are making new and exciting plans for the worshippers of our congregation, with the main goal of bringing more people to Christ from outside the congregation. The other members of the team are Pastor Drews, Phillip Hinz, Allison Lutterman, Doug Tatarek, Keith and Cheryl Bratsch. We have been meeting all summer and seeking answers to some of the many challenges our congregation faces as we try to reach out to others. Watch for news in this area.

    This month we say good-bye with sadness to a family who has made good use of their many talents in their time with us. Scott, Joy, Shelby and Brenna Swanson are moving away and we will surely miss them. They have served as usher, deacon, builder of sets and props, singers in the Celebration Choir, His Own, and the musicals, soloists, duets, handbell ringers, at work in the youth groups, Sunday School, VBS, the nursery, etc., etc. We will surely miss them and we know they will use their gifts in a new church home. We ask God to bless them. Jon Swanson will be staying here and we are happy he will be able to continue to use his many musical gifts in the Alleluia Ringers and as an instrumentalist. Thanks, Jon!

    You may want to start thinking about what you might do as a congregational member this fall to help our whole church reach out and fulfill the mission and vision set before us. If you feel so led, we would love to invite you to take part in the music area as a member of the Alleluia Ringers, His Own, or the Celebration Choir or as a soloist or part of an ensemble as a singer or instrumentalist. There are places all over in our congregation for your particular talents. We look forward to seeing all the wonderful things our members can do for the Lord!

    ~Keith & Cheryl Bratsch, Music Coordinators