Christus Victor Lutheran Church

Summer time is coming to Minnesota, with vacations, trips, summer camp, and all of the other activities we love.  Make worship a regular part of your summer activities, to continue to stay connected and growing in faith!

SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP at 9:30am!

3 WEDNESAY NIGHT SUMMER RECHARGE Services– 7:00pm

JUNE 20

JULY 18

AUGUST 22

***WE NEED YOUR HELP!***

We’d like to have some special fellowship events on Wednesday nights with Recharge, but we need your help!  If you are interested and willing to help, we’re looking for:  COOKS/GRILL MASTERS, ICE CREAM SUNDAE MAKERS, FIRE MAKERS/S’MORE experts, and HELPERS IN GENERAL.

If you are interested and willing to put in some time and energy to make this summer a time for a spiritual Recharge and fun for our community, please contact Pastor Kent at (952) 454-6927!

We’ve got an awesome co-ed softball team who are playing on Friday nights in Apple Valley at the Johnny Cake Ridge fields (off of Johnny Cake and 140^th).  Got some questions about what this is all about?  Well here are some answers… 

Meet Matt Zarras, Coach:

 What is our team’s name?  The CV God Squad

Where are the games played?  All games are played at Johnny Cake Ridge Park in Apple Valley

How many members on our team?  We have 19 members from CV

Limited to members of CV? Or open to others, too?  For now only members of CV

What league will the team play in? We are playing in the City of Apple Valleys softball league

How long does the season run?  Summer season goes from Apr 27 to the beginning of August

How can others not playing on the team get involved?  We would love to have people come to the games and support the team. We are going to be selling fan shirts soon too for people to show their team spirit. We will also be having a BBQ for church members before a few games this season- stay tuned for more info on that

What prompted you to start a team?   I’ve grown up with this church and seen many things come and go and I had a softball team that had a few members of CV on it already and I thought this would be a great way to get people involved and something to help connect people. I know some people prefer to be in choirs or do bible study and others are more active and would like to do something a bit different and I thought softball would be a great option for members to engage in fellowship with others while also being out in the community

Have you done something like this before? I have been managing softball teams for 8 seasons now.

What did you learn from that similar experience that will come in handy here?  It’s has to be about having fun and winning second because people who are willing to go out and try something they may never have done before don’t want to feel like they’ve let you down and you don’t want to make people discouraged. If you are trying and having fun that’s what it is all about.

What do you and others on the team hope to gain from this experience?  That getting together in fellowship with other members of church can be a lot of fun! Plus by openly stating we are a church team I would hope we get some people possibly interested in attending the church with such a “cool” softball team I hope it might make them wonder. What else the church would have to offer for them.

What is the game schedule?  Double headers every Friday night:

For some, it’s the stories about struggle that resonate most. For others, it’s a tale of abuse, addiction or loss that grabs opens their heart.

Over the course of three days, kids who attend Minnesota Metro Lutheran Teens Encounter Christ weekend walk away with a deeper relationship with God and a better understanding of where to find Him in their everyday lives.

Started 25 years ago, Minnesota Metro Lutheran Teens Encounter Christ is a peer-led retreat aimed at bringing youth (9^th grade through 1 year post high school) together to explore their faith, experience God’s Love and develop a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.  “At TEC, kids share their personal stories and show how through different things going on in their lives, Christ has been there for them,” Paula Nierengarten, one of the adult volunteers at Christus Victor who has long been involved with TEC. “When kids come back from TEC weekend, most have a better relationship with God and they learn to look for Him in the little places.”

The weekend begins at 4p.m. on a Friday afternoon, known at camp as “Die Day.” That first day serves as a time of personal reflection. Saturday is Easter, “Rise Day” – a celebration of the newness of life through Christ’s resurrection. Sunday is “Go Forth Day,” where participants prepare to go home and meet the challenges of sharing Christ with those around them.  While some might think of TEC as just another bible camp, Nierengarten has seen firsthand the impact TEC can have on youth.

“All of us come to the table with different opinions and ideas about what our faith is,” Nierengarten says. “To begin to evangelize about your faith and what you believe, you have to do it in a safe environment because otherwise, you could be shut down right way. TEC provides that sort of safe environment.

The kids that walk in reluctant to explore their faith, or perhaps unsure of what they believe, leave with a fresh perspective and an open heart. TEC helps them build up confidence in their faith and figure out how they can share God’s word with others, Nierengarten said. By the time the weekend is over, most of the kids are ready and willing to share that faith with others.  Many walk away with such a high level of confidence, that they return to the church leaders; helping with communion, leading at Sunday School and volunteering more time with the younger kids of the congregation at Vacation Bible School.

“These kids figure out their faith, share their faith, do deeper bible studies and become leaders in the congregation,” Nierengarten said. “Those are the kids that keep our youth programs alive.”

The thinking, planning and anticipation has begun!!

VBS 2012 is going to AWESOME!!

We will be rocking with Backstage with the Bible by the popular local children’s Christian rock group Go Fish!! Invite your friends, family and neighbors as this will be a VBS experience like no other. The fun will happen July 22-26 with the VBS worship and family picnic on July 29th.

Registration and volunteer sign-up will begin on May 13th.

May 2 – Regular Large and Small Group Time

May 9 – BBQ Potluck Picnic with parents and kids!

We’ll provide the hot dogs, brats, and buns, families bring a dish to share (salads, side dishes, desserts).  We’ll have some activities and then end the year with a rocking Recharge worship service!

Next Fall:  Confirmation Service of Affirmation of Faith, Sunday, October 28 during the 11:00am service!

HOLY WEEK

Come gather with us to celebrate God’s love revealed and given to us through the death and the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Maundy Thursday – 7:00pm Worship – drama by JIFY, plus 4 of our youth will be receiving their 1^st Communion.   We remember that Jesus gives us a new commandment to love one another as he has loved us, and instituted the meal of forgiveness and new life at the Last Supper.  Spaghetti Dinner – 5:30pm before the Maundy Thursday service.   Proceeds benefit WAPO Camperships. 

Good Friday – 7:00pm Worship

Service of Light and Dark as we remember Jesus last words to his disciples from his betrayal, trial, and death on the cross. 

Holy Saturday – 9:00am

The preparations and decorating for Easter begins at 9:00am on Holy Saturday.  We need lots of people, so please come and help. 

EASTER SUNDAY WORSHIP

7:00am, 8:30am, and 11:00am

Join us for the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and the new life we are given out of God’s love for us by grace through faith! 

8:00am-10:30am – Easter Breakfast – waffles, ham, fruit, yoghurt, juice, and coffee – FREE WILL offering will support kids going to Church Camp at WAPO. 

9:45am – Easter Story and Easter Egg Hunt for the kids.  Meet in the Sunday school wing!

By Ed Odden

A few weeks ago one of my co-workers came to work not looking so good. Inquiring about his health, he told us that they had a small get-together with his family and his wife made two different hot dishes.

The guests ate from one and he and his wife ate from the other. That night he and his wife got very sick. Yep, they had given themselves food poisoning.

Have you ever had a food borne Illness? I have, and it was not what I would call a fun time. It can also cause death in some groups of people.

To prevent this from ever happening at CV, I will be putting together a training course on Food Safety and offering it to all at CV. My goal is to get 100 people to take the course.

The course will run approximately 30 to 40 minutes and there will be NO test.

Why are we doing this you ask? Certainly to prevent food borne illness, but also because the state of Minnesota is telling us we must have a trained food safety person for some of our food events that we have at CV.

Our leaders at CV feel that at ALL of our food events we should be adhering to good food safety practices.

So keep your eyes open for the signup sheet and please sign up.

In the meantime, here’s a good food safety tip: WASH YOUR HANDS with soap and warm water for 20 seconds before beginning food
preparation, after handling food, and after using the bathroom, changng diapers, or touching pets.

The Golden rule of food storage is “When in doubt, Throw it out!”

Gods blessings and Happy Safe Cooking.
The Food Cop (Ed Odden)