This evening our small congregation joined with extended family and friends in our annual Christmas eve candle lite service !! Even with several inches of new snow on the ground and freesing rain in the air we filled the church !! Being born and raised in west-central Wisconsin a little thing like a winter storm wouldn't stop our service !! We hear stories about how traditional churchs are in a downturn ,but tonight as we lite our candles and turned down the lights and sang Silent night I knew G…
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Added by bruce metcalf on December 24, 2009 at 9:31pm —
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By looking at the number of people who belong to this web site (3100 out of millions) we as a people still aren't studying the Bible in any great numbers !!. I know in our congregation only our core group is really involved!! It appears that many people still rely on clergy to hold all the Biblical knowledge they need and I,m unsure how to change that other then what I,m already doing !! Both my wife and myself belong to Northwest Wisc. synods Lay School of ministry, we are in our 2nd year and a…
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Added by bruce metcalf on December 16, 2009 at 9:49am —
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Between reading assignments for our N/W Wis. lay school which I attend and the Bible study Our Pastor is doing and my own daily reading I am becoming much more fluent in scripture then at any time in my life . Between the professors at school and our own Pastor I have found answers to my many questions !!
We have friends and family who belong to many other religions and a number who belong to other synods within the Lutheran faith and untell now I have felt uncomfortable discussing scripture and…
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Added by bruce metcalf on December 5, 2009 at 9:53am —
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It's not even Thanksgiving yet and the radio stations are playing Christmas music !! And although it comes at no surprise there is not a Christian song amoung them !!!! For example they play 3 versions of the "12 days of Christmas " !! The old standard,,,, a comic version,,, and even a "Red Neck " version with 5 flannel shirts,and some parts to a Mustang GT as some of the gifts !! What the gifts have in common in all 3 versions are they were,what my true love gave to me !! Now I have a great fam…
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Added by bruce metcalf on November 25, 2009 at 10:53am —
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Yesterday I received the fall issue of "The Story " which is a magazine from Luther Seminary in St. Paul Mn.
I was suprised as I hadn't ordered it and was unaware any reason why someone else would have ordered it for me,but also excited as this publication is full of valuable resources !!! One article I found extremely usefull, "Enter the Bible" is a free resource that explores all 66 books of the Bible as they say "in a fun,interactive and completely unique way.!!! The story tells that it took…
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Added by bruce metcalf on November 10, 2009 at 9:55pm —
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I get 2 online daily devotionals plus I have a yearly daily devotional from guidepost. I get something nearly everyday from each but somedays one touchs me more then others,,, today Guidepost did that for me !!! A devotional from Mary Lou Carney really hit home and I felt I needed to share it !!
She writes
I had been out of town for several days ,so it had been a while since I'd seen my three year old grandson Drake . Now he and I were setting at my kitchen table late in the afternoon ,eating ap…
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Added by bruce metcalf on September 27, 2009 at 8:35pm —
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Over the last several years we have tried a number of different curriculums for our sunday school and confirmation programs .One think we have found lacking in all is there is no training in the actual church service!! In my class I have incorparated the altar colors ,church calendar,meaning for ringing the bell and candle meaning into my class but have meet some resistance from other teachers because of my "straying" from the scheduled assignments. Does anyone know of a good program that includ…
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Added by bruce metcalf on August 29, 2009 at 7:56am —
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An experience this weekend reinforced my understanding of God's presence around us !! While at a wedding reception friday night I met a classmate of mine that I hadn't seen since gratuation 40+ yrs. ago!! We struck up a conversation and spent the next hour telling each other how our faith journey has evolved in ways we could never have imagined .. I told him about meeting my wife after several years searching after my divorce and how now we are involved in not only our church but are 1/2 way thr…
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Added by bruce metcalf on August 16, 2009 at 7:43pm —
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A retired gentleman who has been attending our church for several years and untell today has never explained why he hadn't joined our congregation. He told me that one word in our creed bothers him very much and he had even asked other members with no answer that fully explained it !! I asked him if he had asked Pastor and he explained he was embarassed with his lack of knowledge !! I explained that I wasn't brought up in the Lutheran faith and wasn't qualified to properly explain but would see…
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Added by bruce metcalf on August 2, 2009 at 7:30pm —
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Our church uses Lay people to fill in when our Pastor is away,and this last week my wife and I did the service !! We had many very possitive comments during fellowship and I suggested to several members that they should do a service as I feel it's a very good learning experiece!! Just reading and rereading the gospel and the readings is a great experience ,,let alone writting a sermon !!
Their negitive reaction got me thinking about rural ministers years ago .. A friend of my fathers had several…
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Added by bruce metcalf on June 17, 2009 at 7:59pm —
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The church we attend has it's roots in a small Scandinavian church about a mile south of Bloomer,In 1909 a city church was built and for a time both churchs were ran. As transportation improved the country church closed and it's congregation blended into the
city church. In 1…
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Added by bruce metcalf on June 7, 2009 at 6:30pm —
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On friday and saturday we were deligates to the northwest synod of wisconsin Synod assembly held in Eau Claire wi. Besides voting on resolutions and other church business we could choose workshops to attend and both my wife and myself were able to get new ideas we can take back to our congregation !!
The speakers chosen this year were exceptional and really stirred your thoughts !! But the most enjoyable part of the weekend was the interaction with other congregations !! Being a proud graduate o…
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Added by bruce metcalf on May 31, 2009 at 6:55am —
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I'm enjoying the site very much ,,,the amount of resoures we have tapped in to is unbelieveable !!
one problem I would like to see addressed is a search engine that would help in locating all the info!!
unsure if this is possible ,but would hate to see valuable info lost without a practical way to orginize it !!
any ideas???
bruce metcalf
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Added by bruce metcalf on May 15, 2009 at 5:47am —
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Today saturday May 9th was the last day of the school year for the Northwest synod of wisconsin Lay school of ministry where both my wife and myself finished our first year of training !! This school I'm told is very unique among lay schools by it's ablity to attract the finest professors in the country !!An example of these teachers is Philip Ruge-Jones an assistant professor from texas lutheran univerity who on friday evening did a "story telling session " of the entire gospel of Mark from mem…
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Added by bruce metcalf on May 9, 2009 at 8:11pm —
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This forum I am finding is the most unbelieveable resource for new ideas I have ever seen !!!
I shouldn't be surprised when you think that before "NING " A new idea probably took a year or more just to advance through your own synod by first advancing through your congregation ,then to the Bishop's office ,and then to the synod assembly to be shared with all attending!! Before it could possibly be shared with all synods church wide it could take years !!
Now we can share with the entire church b…
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Added by bruce metcalf on May 3, 2009 at 7:13am —
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Being close to a resort area our church has visitors who may come only once while vacationing !!
WE feel blessed that they have joined us even if only once and would like to reach out to more of these Christians in need of a temperary church . We plan in addition to our other advertising to print business cards that could be handed out . my question is does the elca have a site to order business cards with the ELCA logo and our church on them and if not where would I find out if I can use the lo…
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Added by bruce metcalf on April 19, 2009 at 4:07pm —
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just started a book of faith group for our church (Our Saviors of bloomer wi) and would appreciate any ideas for getting our youth involved !! I could use all the help I can get!!
thanks bruce
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Added by bruce metcalf on April 14, 2009 at 9:41pm —
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