MenuSpecial Voters Meeting: August 12th at 9:00 AM: As discussed in the June Voters Assembly Meeting, the current furnaces in the church are at the end of their serviceable life and the council is recommending replacement. After several rounds of quoting we are prepared to make a recommendation to the voters. Please plan on attending this special Voters Meeting to discuss and hopefully approve a modified budget and a plan to move forward. More information will follow, but please feel free to contact Doug Garlapo or any Council member for more information.
National Youth Gathering Car Wash: Our next event will be a car wash at Holy Cross on Sunday, August 12 to raise funds to attend the National Youth Gathering. Youth from Holy Cross will be going next year. The LCMS Youth Gathering is scheduled for July 11-15, 2019, in Minneapolis. If you are interested please speak with Pastor Nickel or Rachel Nickel. We strongly encourage all youth who will be 14-19 next July to pray about participating.
Pastor Vacation: Pastor Nickel will be on vacation from July 26-August 7th. Rev. Robert Spilman will preach on Sunday, July 29, and Rev. Dr. Chris Wicher will preach on Sunday, August 5. In the event of a pastoral emergency during this time, please contact one of our Elders: Peter Olsen (406-2494), Francis Cote’ (568-1373), Scott Brooks (636-4858), Dave Chalmers (759-7377) or contact Rev. Spilman (839-4316).
Hearts for the Homeless News: On August 19th at 9:15, Ron Calandra, the founder of Hearts for the Homeless will be here to give a brief presentation on what Hearts does and new ventures. Due to illness, he rarely makes appearances so please come and show up to support him and enjoy a coffee hour. Starting August 12th we will be having a three week mini collection for Hearts for the Homeless for the 3 most requested items: Bibles, blankets, and backpacks. Several Holy Cross couples have offered to go downtown to help serve the clients and they will be able to pass out these
Worship in the Park: Sunday, August 26, 2018 10:30 a.m. Clarence Town Park Pavilion Clarence Town Park, 10405 Main Street, Clarence, NY Lutheran Church of Our Savior (Buffalo) and St. Paul Lutheran Church (Clarence Center) have accepted our invitation to join us in worship of our Triune God at Clarence Town Park. Rev. Micah Glenn from St. Louis will be our guest preacher. Music will be provided by the Holy Cross praise band. Picnic and games will follow immediately after our joint service. Bring a potluck dish to pass, lawn games (and a lawn chair if you prefer that to the pavilion picnic tables.
Lutheran Church of Our Savior Partnership: August 25 Workshop on Holy Cross. As part of an effort to develop an urban-suburban ministry partnership with Lutheran Church of Our Savior (Buffalo), we have invited Rev. Micah Glenn, the Executive Director of the Lutheran Hope Center in Ferguson, Missouri, to Buffalo for the weekend of August 24-26 to lead a workshop on urban-suburban church partnerships. The workshop is funded by a grant from the Lutheran Church Extension Society of Buffalo. The workshop will be held at Lutheran Church of Our Savior, 23 Brunswick Blvd, Buffalo, from 9:30 am – noon on Saturday, August 25.Based upon Rev. Glenn’s experience with urban-suburban congregational partnerships in the St. Louis area, the purpose of the joint workshop is to: Identify and de-mystify the misconceptions of each other that exist in both suburban and urban communities; Describe examples of healthy partnering congregations who assist each other in humility AND reach out into their communities; Facilitate discussion among the leadership of both congregations towards the development of common ministry goals and objectives, and practical applications of common support of outreach activities and youth development; and Provide an opportunity for the congregations of Our Savior and Holy Cross to pray, reflect and worship together in an open and neutral context.
Panera Bread Fundraiser: Please join us for a evening at Panera to support the Holy Cross Youth Group raise funds for the National Youth Gathering! Mark your calendars for Thursday, August 23 from 4-8 to enjoy dinner – 20% of sales that evening will go to Holy Cross! You will need to present the flyer either electronically (will be in weekly newsletter) or pick up a printed flyer in the back of the church or the church office. The Youth appreciate your support! Thanks! Amy Olsen.
Ice Cream Social: The Tuesday women’s Bible study group invites you to a “Meet and Greet” ice cream social, where we will welcome Rev. Micah Glenn to Holy Cross. The Ice Cream Social will take place on Friday, August 24th, at 7pm at the Nickels’ home, 6440 Conner Road, East Amherst. Rev. Glenn is the LCMS national missionary at the Lutheran Hope Center in Ferguson, Missouri. Our Tuesday women’s Bible study group has been supporting him and his family in their mission work. He will be in town to lead a joint urban-suburban ministry partnership workshop that Holy Cross is co-hosting at Lutheran Church of Our Savior (Buffalo) on Saturday morning, August 25th, and will be preaching at our Service in the Park on Sunday, August 26th. All are welcome to meet “a real life missionary” that we support.
Worship in the Park: Sunday, August 26, 2018 10:30 a.m. Clarence Town Park Pavilion Clarence Town Park, 10405 Main Street, Clarence, NY Lutheran Church of Our Savior (Buffalo) and St. Paul Lutheran Church (Clarence Center) have accepted our invitation to join us in worship of our Triune God at Clarence Town Park. Rev. Micah Glenn from St. Louis will be our guest preacher. Music will be provided by the Holy Cross praise band. Picnic and games will follow immediately after our joint service. Bring a potluck dish to pass, lawn games (and a lawn chair if you prefer that to the pavilion picnic tables).
Volunteers and the New York State Fair Booth Ministry: The New York State Fair Booth ministry distributes New Testaments, Scripture Activity Books for Children, Preschool Activity Books, “What Lutherans Believe”, Listing of Central NY Churches, and other religious items. This year, the New York State Fair (Syracuse) begins Wednesday, August 22ndand ends Labor Day, September 3rd. The fair is open 10am to 10pm. If you would like to help staff the booth (especially in the evening) please contact Fred Neebe, (607) 203-1970 fneebe@stny.rr.com
Wear n’ Share: Members of Holy Cross generously donated $750 to Wear n’ Share. Wear n’ Share is a volunteer run organization that is 100% funded by donations so Holy Cross’s support means a lot to keep the mission running. Since our inception 9 years ago Wear n’ Share has helped over 9,000 children through clothing donations. Your generosity will help Wear n’ Share to reach more families in need in our local area.
Hearts for the Homeless News: On August 19th at 9:15, Ron Calandra, the founder of Hearts for the Homeless will be here to give a brief presentation on what Hearts does and new ventures. Due to illness, he rarely makes appearances so please come and show up to support him and enjoy a coffee hour.
Starting August 12th we will be having a three week mini collection for Hearts for the Homeless for the 3 most requested items: Bibles, blankets, and backpacks. Several Holy Cross couples have offered to go downtown to help serve the clients and they will be able to pass out these items.
Call for Young Adult Volunteers: Real. Present. God. is the theme of the 2019 LCMS Youth Gathering in Minneapolis. Thousands of young people and their leaders will gather from July 11-15, 2019 to study God’s Word, worship, and serve others. Not only is the Gathering the largest gathering of LCMS teens, it is also the largest gathering of young adults between the ages of 19-25. Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs) can be identified by their orange shirts and extreme enthusiasm at the Gathering. These 19 – 25 year olds play a huge role in making the Gathering a successful and memorable experience. They serve as role models and servant leaders while working in specific areas of the Gathering in the convention center, stadium, hotels and off-site servant events. An integral part of the Gathering is the community developed leading up to and during those five days. Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs) have the opportunity to serve, encourage and support adult and youth participants who will be present at the Gathering and the community of Minneapolis. Here are some of the highlights and expectations as you prayerfully consider applying to be a Young Adult Volunteer:
- A Young Adult Volunteer is a SERVANT LEADER at the Gathering.
- A Young Adult Volunteer puts in many LONG DAYS including early mornings and late nights.
- Young Adult Volunteers CONTRIBUTE to many areas of the Gathering including interactive learning centers, session hosts, servant events, mass events, and other areas of the Gathering.
- There will be LOTS OF WALKING each day!
- Being a Young Adult Volunteer is a COMMITMENT of mind, body, and spirit!
- Young Adult Volunteers need to be able to arrive in Minneapolis on July 9, 2019 by 5pm for training and stay until the conclusion of the Gathering July 15, 2019 (be available until 1pm).
As a Young Adult Volunteer, expect to grow by connecting with other young adults, understanding God’s calling, and serving others. These are expressed through prayer, Bible study, work, and community building.
The National Youth Gathering office is accepting applications NOW through December 31. For details, check out www.lcmsgathering.org/yav/ or talk to Pastor Nickel or Helen Grinstead.
All Holy Cross youth aged 14-19 (next July) are strongly encouraged to attend the National Youth Gathering: Held every 3 years since 1980, the National Youth Gathering of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod provides thousands of youth and adults the opportunity to come together as a community of God’s people to learn more about Jesus Christ, the Christian faith and their Lutheran identity. The next Gathering will be held on July 11-15, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. During the five days of the Gathering, youth spend time together in God’s word, worship, service, and fellowship with others from across the synod. And we already expect that our youth will be joined by those from Lutheran Church of Our Savior (Buffalo) and St. Luke Lutheran Church (Cheektowaga). So far, 12 Holy Cross youth (5 boys, 7 girls) have expressed an interest in going. For youth who desire to go, a non-refundable deposit of $150 is due to Holy Cross by September 30. Our preliminary estimate of the cost to attend the Gathering is $1200. With the Lord’s help, we expect to be able to send every youth who wants to go, just as we did in 2016. As of June 30, we have already raised over $5600 to send youth to the Gathering. Planned youth fundraisers include a car wash on August 12th (after our 10:00 service) and a Panera restaurant fundraiser (8200 Transit Road) on August 23rd. Please continue to pray for youth, that they may grow in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and encourage them to attend the Gathering. For more information on the National Youth Gathering, see www.lcmsgathering.org or talk to someone who has attended in the past, such as Pastor Nickel, Rachel Nickel, Natalie Nickel, Laura Nickel, Emma Wiepert, Matthew Wiepert, Stephen Hare, Charlie Wood or Helen Grinstead, all of whom attended in 2016.
Shipwrecked VBS: VBS will be August 6-10. There are still many needs to make this a success. VBS is one of our greatest community outreach opportunities. In fact, out of the 11 current registrations, 9 are non-members and 8 are children who have not attended our VBS in the past! Please consider helping in one or more of the following ways: Volunteer! We still need volunteers in many areas. Most require NO preparation. Just show up and help! We need helpers every day, but especially early in the week. While we always love adults, this is also ideal for our youth helpers! We need volunteers for our Friday party. There will be set-up, cleanup, serving as needed, food donations needed, etc. We are having a lot of YOUNG registrants. With our MOPS program getting ready to be implemented, we want to make a good impression for these parents. It is our hope that some of the people who plan to watch the kids during MOPS would volunteer to be with these kids. This will start a relationship with these kids and parents before the program even launches. Donate! As we mentioned in our letter that you should have gotten in your church mailbox, we welcome donations: both monetary and physical. There are slips of paper in the Narthex of specific items we need, if you want to shop (or let us borrow some of the items). Help Set Up! On Sunday August 5th, we will be decorating and setting up after the late service. This won’t take a ton of time, but the more people, the quicker it goes. Please consider giving us a little bit of your time that day. Make or Buy Food for the Party! The church will provide hot dogs and their accessories. We will need sides (including individual packs of chips) and desserts. Please keep in mind that we have at least one, but possibly multiple, kid(s) with a severe peanut and/or tree nut allergy so please avoid anything with peanuts and/or tree nuts. Please let us know what you are donating so we can make sure to have a good variety. Register your kids! We would appreciate it if kids could pre-register so we can make sure we have enough supplies. The link is here: https://vbspro.events/p/events/holycrossclarence-shipwrecked2018. Register as a volunteer! Using that same link above, you can sign yourself or your youth to be helpers. We want to have volunteers registered so we can have a record of who helped. Spread the Word! Invite your relatives, neighbors, and friends. Share it on Facebook! We have it on the Holy Cross Facebook page. Feel free to share that invite! If you are savvy with other social media, use that as well! PRAY! Even if you can’t help in any other way, you can pray for us. Pray that the Holy Spirit will work within us to spread the message about how we are “Rescued by Jesus”! Please feel to contact me or Katie if you have any questions, would like to volunteer for something or are willing to donate a food item for Friday. Let’s make this the best VBS week ever! Ruth & Katie Marzano Holy Cross VBS Directors themarzanos@gmail.com Katie cell: 270-3170
Finding Peace in Conflict: Written in partnership with Ambassadors of Reconciliation, a new course from LHM Learn covers the topic of conflict which can manifest itself in different ways and at various points of our lives. This course explores a biblical approach to handling conflict and the peace that reconciliation brings. It will equip the learner to seek reconciliation with God and others in everyday situations. The course can be found at: https://www.lhm.org/learn/
Eastern District Convention: The Eastern District Lutheran Laymen’s League will hold its convention Saturday September 10th at: St. Paul Lutheran Church 158 East Avenue Hilton NY 14468
SAVE THE DATE: On Saturday, October 13th, Holy Cross will be hosting it’s second Oktoberfest at the large pavilion at Clarence Town Park on Main Street from 4 to 10 PM. All proceeds will go to the youths of our church to help them attend the 2019 Youth Gathering in Minneapolis, MN. We would like to have a silent auction at this event and are looking for someone to spearhead this. More information will follow but please, reserve the date on your calendars.