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Advent dinners and services provide opportunity for fellowship
 The Wednesday Advent dinners have been organized by Brandi Kalinka this year. Brandi explains why COS mid-week services and dinners are important to her. "I always feel happy when Advent and Lent come around because I love our mid-week services and dinners! It's such a fabulous opportunity for fellowship and I never feel like I have to add it to the always hectic schedule as I make a good attempt to put dinner on the schedule for my family every night!"
Advent dinners will be on Wednesday evenings from 5:30-6:30ish with church following at 7 p.m. The following is a menu and volunteer schedule.
 Brandi encouraged all to come join in fellowship and preparation for Christ's holy birth. "Everybody is welcome and everybody should come, in my opinion! There will be sign up sheets to give us an estimate of how many supper-eaters we'll have so appropriate amounts of food will be available. Hope to see everybody there!!!"
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Christ Our Savior welcomes Gloria Rolofson, new COS office secretary
 | Gloria Rolofson
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There will now be a secretary in the church office to serve Pastor and the congregation. Gloria Rolofson, a member of Christ Our Savior will take her seat at the church office desk beginning Monday morning, Dec. 2. Gloria explained that she feels this is more of a Call than a part-time job and she is looking forward to taking ownership of the position. "I had been praying about something new for my life. Something that will make a difference for God's kingdom. The answer I kept hearing was 'Church Secretary'. It's amazing how everything falls into place when you put your faith in God and let him lead the way."
Gloria said that she is excited to be the new church secretary and with her technical and business background, as well as her personal experiences, she feels she can be an asset to the congregation. "Since we've been without a church secretary for a while, my hope for the first few months is to be a support for Pastor while I build my own methods of organization and communication. Most of all it will be good for the congregation to have a personal contact in the church office."
Gloria is a graduate of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln with a B.S. in Education, majoring in Administrative Office Management. She has over 15 years of technical and managerial experience and business leadership. She has been a stay-at-home mom for ten years and for the past few years has worked for the Louisburg School District as a paraprofessional and food service secretary. She has also been the Louisburg Elementary PTO Treasurer and has extensive volunteer experience. Gloria and her husband Bob have two children, a daughter Grace, 14, and a son, Garrett, 11. The Rolofsons are members of Christ Our Savior.
Gloria will be in the office Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. You can contact Gloria at office@christoursaviorlouisburg.com or the church office phone, (913)837-4502.
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Pastor Andy Writes...
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Pastor Andy Keltner
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Christmas
The Deist believes that the world was made by a higher power and a process was set in motion following natural laws. "Deism: The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation." (The American Heritage dictionary) Christmas for those of us who believe that Jesus Christ is Lord stands in direct opposition to the Deist.
The God who created the heavens and the earth is not willing to abandon His creation. He comes to us in the person and work of Jesus. Jesus is true God and true man. He redeems us from the power and consequence of sin. God has not abandoned us. He desires our salvation. This is meaning of Christmas.
There are many Christmas miracles that demonstrate God's activity in our world. A virgin bears a son. The angels announce his birth. The star leads Gentiles from the east to come and see a child of humble birth. John leaps in his mothers' womb and Mary keeps all these things in her heart. God fulfills the promises made in Scripture to send a Savior for all nations.
The message of Christmas is that God desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of his truth. Christmas is the historical reality that God comes to us. He remains with us interceding in our lives to give us hope and peace. We are the beloved of God. We are his redeemed and chosen children. The fool in his heart says there is no God. The Christian proclaims God is with us.
During the Christmas season there are many opportunities to come and worship the God who comes to us. In December we will gather beyond our Sunday services to worship our God. The First 2 Wednesdays, 12/4 and 12/11 at 7pm, we will anticipate the coming of Christ during the worship services. December 18 at 7pm the children will sing praises to the Lord during their Christmas program. Then on the 24th at 7pm and 11 pm we will have Christmas Eve worship. Christmas Day we will have communion worship at 10am. The last worship service of the calendar year will be December 31 at 7 pm. I pray that you will take time during this busy time of the year to worship the God who comes to us.
God desires to exert influence on your life. His influence brings peace hope and joy. Christmas is a time when we celebrate that God is with us. Come and share your worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
May God richly bless you this Christmas Season.
Pastor Andy and family
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Ten COS Veterans honored at Sunday worship services for Veterans Day
 Christ Our Savior veterans were honored for their service to the country at Sunday worship services on Nov. 10. In attendance and honored at the 8:00 a.m. service (above) were Leon Fortney, Bill RIchards, Bob Richards, Harvey Lightner, Glenn Pooler, John Schlegel, and Kyle Littrell.  In attendance and honored at the 10:30 a.m. service (above) were John Schlegel, Larry Swinnerton, and Billy Weissend. 
Each attendee was presented with a commemorative coin (right) courtesy of Teresa Schlegel. Back to top |
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A report from Youth Group leaders on Kansas District Youth Gathering
 | | Austin Raetzel, Zach Waite, Christian Eickhoff, Michelle Eickhoff, Matt Fuchs, and Gerry Eickhoff. |
We left Friday, November 22 from church and headed to Wichita to the Kansas District Youth Gathering with four youth and two adults including Matt Fuchs who joined us from First Lutheran in Paola as they did not have anyone else going in their youth group. We were all excited and couldn't wait!
Once we arrived, we hit the floor running to unload the vehicle and make it to the opening session - What if I knew my origin with guest speaker Brad Alles. We learned a lot about evolution and how to defend our Christian beliefs regarding it. Then it is off to the "Rooms of Fun" where we joined up with some friends of ours from Natoma, Kansas - Peace Lutheran and let some energy before lights out at midnight.
The next morning, it was an early rise for a group picture outside in the cold before the next session , "What if I knew my purpose again," with Brad Alles. He again left us with lots to think about regarding our gifts and talents, why we are here and what we should be doing with our lives. Most importantly, what is God's purpose for us? Then came lunch break followed by our afternoon breakout sectionals where we decided to go meet the 211 band, find out about their ministry, and ask them questions.
After meeting the band, we went to the "ABC's of Apologetics" with Brad Alles, where Brad gave us more ways to defend our faith using tangible proven evidence. After, we decided to go back to our rooms to rest for about an hour as we were worn out, leaders included! Then came free time- where we were off to Gander Mountain - a sporting store like Cabelas, then off to dinner to join our new friends from Peace Lutheran, and then Target for evening snacks for the boys.
After supper we went on a Prayer Path. This was where we were placed in a room, no one was allowed to talk and we prayed for various things around us, people in our lives, gifts/talents, hurts, and more. We went to eleven stations with a booklet to guide us through different prayers to help us. Next, we had a mass worship experience with communion and an offering for the victims of the typhoon in the Philippines--it was something! Then we made our way back to our rooms for the night around 11:45 pm.
The next morning - we began with the closing session, "What if I knew my destiny," with Brad Alles. We also learned that the youth raised a little over $1300 in their offerings the night before and that next year's District Youth Gathering will be in Topeka - of which the boys seemed pretty enthusiastic about going to.
Once the session ended, we said our good byes to our Natoma friends and loaded up to head back to Louisburg. We had a lot of fun, learned a lot and had some great experiences that we can't wait to share with you.
 | | COS Youth and Natoma friends. |
Thank you all for supporting us and giving the boys a chance to experience such a great opportunity. It was truly a blessing to be with them this past weekend.
Youth Leaders,
Gerry & Michelle Eickhoff
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Update from Grace
 Greg Graham's Fish Fry on Sunday, Dec. 15- Side Dishes and Christmas Sharing Gifts are needed for another "COS Goes to Grace" event, an unusual opportunity for our people and a really special Sunday fellowship lunch for those at Grace. Greg Graham fried up 250 crappie filets two years ago and has agreed to a repeat on Sunday, Dec. 15. We need people to prepare side dishes for us to take, and some people to help serve. The timing of the fish fry is also perfect to collect for Grace's Christmas Sharing event that happens the next day. As many as 400 families will shop for their family Christmas celebrations at Grace. We can always use certain special grocery items, but especially more nice toys, plus blankets, sweats, underwear, socks, mittens, and stocking caps. Bob and Kathy Richards donated a huge supply of clothes for our Clothing Closets; some nice sweaters, sweatshirts and kids clothing are being saved for Christmas. Teresa Schlegel has again worked all year to crochet 100 beautiful scarves for kids. In the Grace newsletter, the lady who edited my draft called Teresa a "special angel," and that she is! That same newsletter also lists our church as collecting items for Christmas at Grace, right along with six far bigger metro churches. I love to be able to point to support coming from Louisburg! FYI, Grace also got 300 nice coats from Coats for Folks! Donica Littrell created a nice sign-up sheet in the narthex for food for the 15th and there will be a box for Christmas items you might care to donate. I do not want to pull people away from our own church, during Advent especially, so I urge anyone going on the 15th to also attend worship at COS at either 8 a.m. or 7 p.m.
New Executive Director, Michael Mayberry, started on Sept. 3, and is proving to be an excellent choice! He is off to a VERY FAST start! One week later he gave the Board his action plan for his first 30-60-100 days, and after one more week he spoke to a Rotary Club. In addition to one-on-one interviews with all the Board and staff, he has already met with 35 community groups; he plans to submit his findings and recommendations in a few weeks. Michael grew up in Chicago with no dad, in a family of six kids. He now holds two Masters degrees from UMKC and has excellent experience as an executive director. We are blessed to have him. He is currently working a full week, at part-time pay. As finances and programs grow, all our staff will be paid better.
Funding We have had several miracle gifts, including $5,000 from a doctor who had never visited Grace before participating in a Lions Club Health Fair linked to the Oct. 26 Reach Out. He said the Holy Spirit led him to donate. The following is a list of other funds we have received are $10,000 from H&R Block and a $5,000 grant from the Hispanic Development Fund. We currently have the following grant applications in the works that need your prayers: Kauffman Foundation $35,000 for tutoring this school year, United Way funding for Greg Parr's Substance Abuse Recovery area, and United Way's 3-year funding cycle to begin next May. Tutoring is a top funding priority for United Way and testing shows our model program works. We are now tutoring 87 kids, up 50% from a year ago. We have 19 Tutors on Thursdays, but if interested, we need many more on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Board Matching Challenge Grant
Like last Christmas, our Board is committing to a matching grant of at least $10,000, as a way for both the Board and other donors to leverage their giving. Donations to "GUCM" must be received by Dec. 31, 2013; if helpful, PayPal is available. As always, THANK YOU for your prayers and support.
Bob Kirkpatrick - Home: 837-5804 - rwkirk@mokancomm.net
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RERUNS! Make a dish with leftovers for Friends for Christ
Friends For Christ will meet Saturday, December 7th at 6:00 p.m. at the home of the Keltner's.
"Reruns" - using leftovers to make dishes. If you don't have leftovers - bring a dessert or salad.
The evening includes a short Bible study. Everyone is welcome - the more the merrier!
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 Craft Group meets Saturday, December 7
The Craft group will meet Saturday December 7th! Join us if you have any Christmas projects and enjoy the fellowship of others while you work. Working on those Christmas letters or Christmas cards? Bring them to the church basement and join us! Gifts to wrap without prying eyes around? Bring 'em to the Craft group! What happens in the group, stays in the group. We will meet at Church from 9 am to 3 pm. We will have lunch and you may bring a snack and something to drink if you wish. See you there! Contact Cindy Karrow 837-3323 or ckarrow524@yahoo.com for more information.
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 Order personalized baking gifts by Dec. 8 to support Youth Group
Christ Our Savior Youth Group and That's My Pan! ® have joined forces to raise money for our project, National Youth Gathering 2016. You can order great personalized gifts at better than retail pricing, and feel good that you are helping Christ Our Savior Youth Group in the process.
A display and brochures are available in the narthex. The cut-off date for orders to be able to make Christmas delivery is December 8. So hurry and place your orders. You will be called when orders arrive.
Thank you for supporting our youth!
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 Join the Youth Group for nursing home caroling tour, Dec. 15
Youth Group would like to invite the congregation to join them for caroling at the Louisburg nursing homes, Sunday, Dec. 15 (times to be announced in the bulletin). Just bring your favorite soup or dessert and join us in fellowship.
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Christmas Carol Special Report children's program, Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m.
Come celebrate Christmas Carols around the world with Christ Our Savior children on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7:00 p.m. Be sure to come early for the Advent dinner. Pizza will be served from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
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Lutheran Women's Missionary League
Lutheran Women's Missionary League (LWML) regular meeting will be held Monday, December 9, at 7:00 pm in the church basement. There will be a Bible study and a short business meeting. If you have any questions, Please contact Sandy Barsh at 837-2997 or Linda Newman, 837-5116. We would like to see as many as can come. All are invited.
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Altar Flowers
Dec. 1 Micaela Eickhoff's
13th Birthday
Dec. 8 Newman's 48th
Anniversary
Dec. 15 Birthdays of Christine
Stout, Sami Traffis, and
Bob Richards
Dec. 22 Rolofson's for Christmas
Anyone that still wants to sign up for OPEN days just give Sandy Barsh a call (837-2997) or talk to Debbie Keltner.
Those who sign up for flowers have 2 options. You can provide them (picking them up and having them at church before the 8:00 a.m. service) or contact Sandy Barsh at 837-2997 and she will pick up the flowers. The cost will be $15.00. Make checks payable to Sandy Barsh. Flowers can be taken home after the 2nd service.Vases should be returned to church.
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December Education
Wednesdays
Evening Bible Study
following Advent Services
Thursdays
Morning Bible Study
9:30 a.m.
(Contact Sandy Barsh
for location 837-2997)
Sundays
Sunday School
Ages 3-Adult
9:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
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Official Acts
Baptism
Charlotte Grace Heischman baptized November 17th.
Daughter of Lisa Burk and Rich Heischman
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In the Military
Military members and friends of our congregation include:
Mark Edgar
(stationed in Africa)
Ray Gigliotti
Greg Jeffrey
Lindy Kalinka
(graduating from basic training)
James Keltner
Clara LIttrell
Kelly Streck
(deployed)
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December Anniversaries
12/4 Randy & Angie Broyles
12/10 Howard & Jinnie Willey
12/11 Don & Linda Newman
12/20 Robert & Kathy Richards
12/27 Dale & DeAnn Dotson
12/29 Troy & Christine Stout
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December Birthdays
12/1 Randy Broyles
12/1 Howard Willey
12/2 Micaela Eickhoff
12/3 Stan Flick
12/6 Robin MacClymont
12/7 Leon Fortney
12/7 Aften Graham
12/7 Chad Reed
12/7 Jeffrey Thompson
12/9 Brock Varns
12/12 Gretchen Lee
12/13 Steve Mynsted
12/15 Kara Helms
12/15 Samantha McDaniel
12/17 Jacob Bell
12/17 Chelsea Brown
12/17 Karleen Carlson
12/17 Christine Stout
12/21 Connor Lee
12/21 Sami Traffis
12/22 Michelle Holtzen
12/23 Bob Richards
12/27 Allison Bell
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Christ Our Savior Newsletter is published monthly and produced in email and print versions.
Contact Info
Jodie Berve
newsletter@ christoursaviorlouisburg.com
(913)837-5524
If we've missed your birthday or anniversary contact COS Office so we can update our records.
(913)837-4502 office@ christoursaviorlouisburg.com
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