Pastor Bolick
JUST Life 2010
JUST Life 2010 will kick off on Sunday June 27th at 7:00 pm, with Worship in the Youth Room (yes the Youth Room!) and the whole congregation is invited. (I know what you're thinking - if a lot of us show up, we'll figure it out!).
Our Youth will be volunteering throughout the week with Adult Day Services, the Melting Pot, the VA Hospital, and Second Harvest Food Bank, in addition to other service work.
JUST Life is 9:00 am to 3:00 pm each day, Monday through Friday, with a Lock-in on Thursday night, and a trip to Fun Expedition on Friday afternoon.
This year's theme is Solar Power and Life in the Son, from Romans 8. All OSLC youth are invited to bring friends!
APPALACHIA SERVICE PROJECT: Love Thy Neighbor
Dear Friends In Christ,
What do hammers and nails, sweat and laughter, new friends and growing in faith all have in common? They will all be a part of our Mission Trip for Summer 2010 with Appalachia Service Project!
What is Appalachia Service Project all about, you may ask?“Volunteer for a week with Appalachia Service Project and you’ll come back a different person,” - this is the promise of ASP. How would you be different? The short answer is- new skills, new friends, and a deeper, stronger faith in God.
Every summer more than 13,000 teens, in youth groups just like ours, from all over the country come to our region, Appalachia, to make homes safer, warmer and drier, and in the summer of 2010 we will be joining this great effort!
At night, we’ll crash in one of ASP’s several base camps— often a school or community center rented for the summer to put us closer to Appalachia’s remote communities. And after a hearty supper, we’ll enjoy time to hang with friends, to worship, sing, play games and to think and talk about the service we’re doing and how much we’ve learned.
During the day, we’ll work alongside our friends to lay shingles, replace linoleum, fix foundations and much more. Our group will get all the tools, construction materials, and supervision we’ll need to be productive. Even if you’ve never swung a hammer before, don’t worry--with a little training, you’ll be working like a pro in no time.
Most of all, ASP is not just about buildings—it’s about building relationships. We’ll spend a lot of time interacting with the family we’ve been assigned to serve. We’ll have fun, share meals, forge friendships and learn lessons that will impact each of us for the rest of our life!
The OSLC Youth Mission Trip with ASP will be next summer July 11-17 2010, but we will be having our first organizing meeting on Thursday April 22, where you can learn more about ASP, get to know who is going, and where we’ll brainstorm fundraising ideas (as always, friends are welcome, through priority will be given to OSLC members).The cost to each participant is $225 but if we all help fundraise with carwashes, bake sales, and your fundraising ideas - no one should have to pay anything - OSLC loves to support our youth!
If you any questions or concerns you can contact me (423) 282-2313, Carolynn Bailey, who works for ASP, or check out their website at www.asphome.orgPeace to you,
Pastor Joseph
(423)282-2313 Office
(423)768-1100 Home
(704)798-8037 Cell
Josephbolick@hotmail.com
Thoughts From The Associate Pastor
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace and peace are yours in abundance! Amen
God is doing great things here at OSLC, through the Word that dwells richly in us and among us making us disciples and calling us to grow in grace, and one of the great joys of being at our Synod Assembly is the chance to witness that we are just a part of what God is doing! All over the Southeast – in Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, and across Tennessee – God is at work! Evidence of this could be seen in the nearly 600 voting members representing nearly 170 congregations in our synod, all called by Christ into all the world.
At the assembly we talked extensively about what a gift our church’s infrastructure is. Much like our nation which has infrastructure that makes life possible (systems that bring electricity, transport fuel to power our cars, the roads themselves, the internet, police forces and hospitals), in the same way our church has infrastructure in place – campus ministries, seminaries, camping ministries, colleges and schools, Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Volunteer Corp, Lutheran Disaster Response (just to name a few!) that make our life and ministry possible.
I myself can sometimes take this infrastructure for granted and it was good to be reminded of all that God is doing in Christ to bring new life for the sake of the world! One such group at the assembly which shared what they do was Lutheran Disaster Response, a collaborative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) that seeks to demonstrate Christ's compassion for people by promoting hope, healing, and wholeness for disaster survivors. Their work is far reaching and the bishop told the following story to illustrate the impast LDR makes:
Keith Johnson, the Executive Director of Lutheridge and Lutherock Ministries, sat down on an airplane and struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to him. She introduced herself as Earnestine Neville and seemed disappointed that Keith didn’t know who she was. When she said that she was Aaron Neville’s daughter, Keith still didn’t know who she was (but now knows that Aaron Neville is an R&B and adult contemporary musician with a 40 year career and several gold and platinum records). They continued the conversation and Keith Johnson explained who he was, saying, “I am a Lutheran.” To this Earnestine Neville full of joy said, “A Lutheran! The Lutherans are the only ones still in New Orleans!”
New Orleans is the hometown of the Neville family, and so many others, who still see the damage done by Hurricane Katrina and know that the Lutherans are still there helping to rebuild. The ELCA is able to remain in places of natural disasters long after the initial impact because of the infrastructure the ELCA has in place, which is supported by individuals and congregations all over our synod and across the nation.
At our assembly, I found myself so filled with gratitude to God for all the gifted leaders that we have been given in the Southeastern Synod. I am thankful for this congregation and the gifted leaders at Our Saviour and I pray for continued passion in ministry and compassion in service, for continued work and witness, and for God to sustain our faithfulness as the Body of Christ called into all the world.
God's blessings in Christ Jesus to you!
Pastor Joseph