KING
OF
Phone: 314-469-2224
Email: churchoffice@kokstl.org
The Messenger
June 2008
“Passing
Your Faith on to Your Children!”
Dear friends,
As I am writing this newsletter article, it is the day after Mother’s
Day. We just started our new sermon
series called: “Leaving a Godly Legacy.”
I keep running across articles that talk about leaving a legacy. People are giving me newspaper stories about
passing our faith on to our children.
Allow me to share with you one newspaper article called, Passing Your
Faith To Your Children Essential, by
Cynthia Fischer. She started off by
saying “All of your life you are told ‘life is too short,’ and ‘children grow
up so fast.’” She goes on to share Ten
Commandments for passing on our faith to our children:
1. It’s your job to pass on your faith to
your children. It’s not the job of the church, they are there to support you.
2. Don’t assume your child’s faith will be
formed in the same way yours was. You
still need a plan.
3. Enemy number one is our culture. Our culture is directly opposed to the values
held by most faith groups. Culture is
growing more and more hostile to our faith.
4. You have until your children reach puberty
to do most of your faith-based teaching.
Make sure you don’t over-schedule your young one’s lives and neglect
this vital time.
5. If your faith is important to you, when
your son or daughter becomes an adult it will matter more to you than anything
else about his or her life. The choice
of a college, a profession, or salary will pale in comparison to whether your
son or daughter is living out his or her faith.
6. Be real with your children. Apologize when you make a mistake. Be honest about who you are. It’s not what you say you believe as much as
what you do with what you believe that your children are observing and
“catching.”
7. When you pass down your faith to your
children, you are setting the model for passing it down to your grandchildren
and great-grandchildren.
8. Leave a record for your children: write letters, write notes.
Your words will live longer than you do.
9. Pray!
Faith-passing involves God. It’s
all about Him anyway. And He loves them
more than you do, and is at work in their lives.
10. It’s not over until it’s over. Don’t give up on your children or your
grandchildren. God doesn’t give up on us
either!
As I look at this month of June, I see a few more opportunities to share
our faith with our loved ones. 1) We
will continue the Leaving a Godly Legacy until June 15. Please join us. 2)
Do you remember God our Father’s words to you? “How great is the love the Father has
lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! …Dear friends, now we are children of God…we
know that when He appears, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He
is. Everyone who has this hope in Him
purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:1-3). May God’s legacy, love and holiness shape
you, and keep you until the end of time!
God’s
presence, peace, and power be yours
now and forever!
Pastor Doug Chinberg
* * *
Summer with the King
June 18- August 6
worship: 6:15pm
(no meals or
classes)
Summer time is highway time. With the warmer weather and the lengthened
days, we often find ourselves longing to travel and visit those we know and
love. Jesus also loves to be with the
ones He loves. He willingly took on
human form to come to earth and travel to various places in order to show His
love to those He visited. Feed troughs,
carpentry shops, wildernesses and on the water of
* * *
THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
JUNE 2008
If you ever really want to learn about the operation of your church, just
spend some time writing checks to pay the myriad of bills we receive every
month - it’s an eye-opener. Tom
periodically corrals me to sign checks, and it never ceases to amaze me how
many little things go on behind the scenes to make King of Kings the smooth-running
church we all appreciate so much. Do you
know we have three separate electricity bills and three gas bills
to pay each month--one each for the main building, the west property and the
ministry east annex? All were once
individually owned and still operate off of their own meters and the bills
can’t be combined. Go figure!
When you make copies on the machine in the Sunday School
office/workroom, the monthly lease on the copier and the paper you’re printing
were paid to our suppliers. Checks go
the Synod each month for employee Concordia Plan health insurance and
retirement, telephone bills paid so our staff can do their ministry during the
day, contractors paid for improvements made to our beautiful campus, communion
supplies, and on and on. Next time you
are walking around our campus, I invite all of you to say short prayers of
thanks for all of our dedicated staff who help make King of Kings the
place we call our church “home.”
While we are thanking those who serve, I ask you to give a personal word of
thanks to outgoing officers who will be leaving their chairmanships of various
Boards effective July 1. Your dedicated
service to this congregation and our Lord is very much appreciated.
* * *
Seniors’ Card & Game
Party!
Sunday, June 15, at 1:00
p.m. in the Concordia Room.
Bring a snack to share. Invite a neighbor to join you!
* * *
Work Day - Saturday, June
7th
First, a big thank you to the forty-nine volunteers that made our April
work day a success! A number of tasks
were completed despite the wet weather.
Praise the Lord for the wonderful members here at King of Kings who give
so generously of their time and talents.
A second work day will be held on Saturday, June 7, 8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Lunch will be served. Help is needed to
complete outdoor tasks that were postponed due to rainy weather in April, as
well as some general indoor cleaning.
Please plan to come give us a hand with keeping our property looking its
best.
- Board
of Properties
* * *
Pastor Mark’s Outreach
Comments
For the month of June, I’d like to highlight a flourishing ministry here at
King of Kings. I had a chance to speak
of it for a moment while introducing Debbie for her MOPS (Mothers of
PreSchoolers) discipleship moment on Mother’s Day, but I feel there is more to
say. MOPS is an
outreach ministry opportunity that we have here at King of Kings which
sometimes goes overlooked. In May, the
King of Kings MOPS completed their 20th year!
Many of you are already aware of MOPS and some of you have been
participating in it for years. This year
has been my first experience with MOPS and I have had the privilege of getting
to know some of the members and discover what a wonderful “side-door ministry”
this is. A side-door ministry is one in
which we, as a congregation, touch people of the community in a way that is not
direct evangelism but still brings people into a direct connection with Christ,
and this one has been very successful!
I’ve seen unchurched people joining our church and other churches through
their relationships in MOPS. I’ve also
seen other families coming to ChristCare small groups because of connections
made at MOPS. I have witnessed deep and
possibly lifelong friendships starting to be formed and children being
introduced to church and Sunday School for the first
time…all in the short time that I have been at King of Kings.
In our society, some people are trying to redefine marriage and family on
their own terms. Fifty percent of
marriages end in divorce and the number of kids who will grow up in multiple
step homes has tripled since 1960. The
MOPS organization is trying to support and build up families by reaching out to
mothers of young children. While their
children are playing together and interacting with members of our church, moms
can come together, listen to speakers, discuss relevant topics, fellowship, and
develop relationships. At our King of
Kings MOPS group, these moms get to hear the message of Christ’s love and
healing power and they experience it through the loving members of King of
Kings who coordinate and facilitate this ministry.
This month, we will honor dads and grandpas on Father’s Day, and MOPS
doesn’t ignore the dads. In May, the
King of Kings men’s group invited the dads of MOPS to a breakfast and Bible
study. We have big hopes for our congregation
touching lives outside of our church through MOPS and our upcoming “POPS”
events. This is one outreach area we all
can jump on board and pray for, support, volunteer, and participate in!
I hope that you can see the possibilities for our congregation to touch
lives in our community and connect people to Jesus Christ through MOPS. I pray that you will consider being a part of
this exciting opportunity to reach young families in our community with the
heart of the King.
- Pastor Mark
* * *
A Little Lunch Music
Late Spring and all of Summer is a time to kick
back, relax, have some fun, and have a less hectic schedule where normal
activities are concerned. Here also at
King of Kings many activities are in summer hiatus now or will be soon.
Except, that is, for A Little Lunch Music…
This weekly time of music and reflection will continue every week, except
those weeks during which I will be out of the office on vacation. Perhaps, with your own schedule a bit less
hectic and a bit more flexible, you could begin this marvelous habit of joining
the many others who regularly take time to enjoy all types of music for organ
or piano. The themes are varied, the
music is memorable, and you will enjoy good company.
Make these weeks of summer even more special. A Little Lunch Music – Thursdays from
12:15–12:45 p.m. here at King of Kings.
* * *
The ChristCare Corner
Whenever we think of what ChristCare stands for, we remember the Biblical
verses on which ChristCare is based including:
Matthew 28:18-20: “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and
John 13:34-35: “Love one another as I have loved you.” The ChristCare groups are answering God's
call to fulfill these commands and to grow in their love of God and for each
other. Now to the blessings that are happening and have happened here at King of Kings:
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and
flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is
my word that goes out from my mouth: It
will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the
purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11
May God continue to bless the members and leaders of ChristCare
- ChristCare Small Group Ministry
Team
* * *
There are times when you may
be faced with deadlines to accomplish a project or task. Discipline is required to meet
deadlines. Deadlines are not necessarily
a time for creative thinking, but a time to get down to the business at hand. Inspiration does generally surface under the
demands of deadlines.
As I write this message to
you, I am under a deadline to have an article to Helene by tomorrow morning at
9:00 a.m. I mentioned to my wife that I
was not inspired to write the article that needed to be written because there
is an important message I wanted to be more creative in writing about. My wife said to write about how I wasn’t
inspired. I reflected and then it hit
me…that is really the message I need to write. There are times when we each may feel
uninspired. These are times that take
raw discipline...simply doing what we know is needed to be done.
You see, as the year rolls into our second quarter, it is easy to loose
some of the inspiration and discipline required to continue our commitment to
our financial support for the ministries at KOK. There are times when we have other deadlines
at work, at home, with personal financial obligations, and bills to pay. It takes discipline to maintain a steadfastness in weekly or monthly giving to church. We are told in the Bible that discipline can
be painful, yet it yields a harvest: No discipline seems pleasant at the time,
but painful. Later on, however, it
produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained
by it. Hebrew 12:11
As we are bound together to
encourage one another in our work in ministries at KOK, we must also be mindful
of the financial obligations and deadlines that KOK needs to meet in order to
continue the ministries we want to accomplish in 2008. I want to encourage each of you to give
prayerful consideration of disciplined giving as we enter the summer
months. These are months when vacations
and travel may take us away from church, yet our ministries continue on each
day of the year. Thank you for your
continued financial support of our ministries and disciplined giving so that
later on a harvest will be gathered.
* * *
Campbell’s Soup Labels
and
“Box Tops for Education”
Thanks to your generosity, Bethesda Lutheran Services writes us that we
have helped them redeem almost 300,000 labels this past year.
Because of the time you take to tear off the labels and “Box Tops for
Education” coupons, they are able to provide their classrooms, workshops and
living areas with quality services to the developmentally disabled individuals
to whom they minister.
Our mailings to them in 2007-2008 have definitely been larger than
2006-2007, so we believe more of you are conscious of this service that King of
Kings can provide.
Drop your labels and coupons in the wooden box on the kitchen counter in
Strickert Hall, or in the “soup can” on the shelf in the Sunday School/Workroom
in the education wing. Thanks for all
your donations.
* * *
Gals’ Movie Night
June 9 - 5:30 p.m., in the youth
room
Gals, you are
invited to come watch a movie with your KOK gal friends. This month, the movie is an adventure/comedy
entitled: “Secondhand Lion.” It’s
a coming-of-age story about a shy, young boy sent by his irresponsible mother
to spend the summer with his wealthy, eccentric uncles in
* * *
Help us Recycle!
Paper - a paper recycling bin is in our parking lot for
newspapers, magazines, catalogs, mail, copy paper, posters and envelopes. Please No phone books, plastic, metal
or glass items. We also recycle Inkjet
Cartridges and Cell Phones (not
cell phone accessories). Please bring
them to the church office or place them in the plastic recycling cart in
Strickert Hall. Questions, talk with the
church office.
* * *
To the Ends of the Earth
This year has brought so many new experiences and blessings, this being the
most stretching for me. I was asked to
join a member of our congregation (Christ the
I learned so much about the Christian plight in
We spent the week teaching rural pastors with very little education, some
Biblical principles of management and leadership. What I found so interesting was that things
that seem “common sense” to me were revolutionary to these pastors: for
example, prioritization and helping another out, despite caste. This lead me to question, what things do they
see as “common sense” that would be revolutionary to me and my culture? One of the major things I felt we, as
Americans, would find revolutionary was the joy with which the children were
helpful and obedient to their elders, not out of fear, but out of respect.
We also had the opportunity to preach at four churches on Sunday. It was challenging to preach with a
translator, but it was awesome to see how God transcends cultural and language
barriers. One of the highlights was
being able to pray for people and to know that even though that person may not
have understood the words of my mouth, the words of my heart were heard loud
and clear. God is amazing!
Our host family in Gandepalli had a little girl. Seeing her daily made me miss my little boy
(Carter) back home. Perhaps it is being
a father, but probably more just being human that made my heart ache for the
orphans in
I will never be able to read Scripture the same after having seen the
beggars in the streets and Hindus offering prayers to idols before my very
eyes. It is easy to forgot
that this is happening in the world when we think about the culture in which we
live. The Scriptures became very real to
me as I walked the streets of
All in all, it was an incredible journey for me.
NOTE: Vicar Ted’s entire letter is
posted on a Strickert Hall bulletin board.
* * *
Youth News
SR. High Youth
All youth who will be in grades 9-12 next school year and all 2008 high
school graduates are invited to attend the Missouri District Senior High Youth
Gathering, June 27-29 at
JR. High Youth
Do you
putt-putt? Calling all Jr. High youth
(grades 6-8), please join us on Friday, June 6, when we will head to a local
miniature golf course for a round of putt-putt golf. Meet at church at 6:30 p.m. The cost is yet to be determined. Please RSVP by June 1st (churchoffice@kokstl.org
or 314-368-6443).
* * *
VBS Snacks
Does your job prevent you from helping at our
individually
wrapped crackers English muffins
mozzarella
cheese blue food coloring
pepperoni
pieces Cool Whip
honey (in
squeeze bottles) pizza sauce
brownie
mixes Teddy Grahams
refrigerator
biscuits stick margarine
large
marshmallows Cheez Its
snack-sized
Ziploc bags animal crackers
fresh
fruit crackers
pudding
(vanilla, chocolate and butterscotch)
* * *
VBS: Cosmic City Wish
List
heavy
duty aluminum foil silver duct tape
40
noisemakers (party type) silver spray paint
space related posters space blankets
bags of dried beans megaphone
yogurt cups (empty) disco ball
director’s chair director’s hat
shiny silver, flexible dryer vent quilt batting
pipe insulation (foam type tubing, slit on one side)
cardboard boxes (all size, from cereal size boxes to large
paper boxes)
* * *
Christian Family Day at
Six Flags
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Plan now to join us at Christian Family Day at Six Flags. This is an open invitation for the whole
congregation to enjoy some fun and Christian fellowship and, also, a great
concert by the Newsboys! More
information will be available in the coming weeks. Watch for a sign-up sheet in the lobby. Contact the church office with your
questions.