1. religion and spirituality
2. christianity

MARCH/APRIL 2015
LaPorte RePorte
News from LaPorte New Church Swedenborgian
J U L Y
2 0 1 2
LPNC Annual Meeting Highlights
Twenty-six members and friends attended the Annual meeting for
2014 held after coffee hour on January 25.
After the opening prayer by Rev. Kit, reports were heard by or for
the Secretary, Treasury, President, Minister, Sunday School,
Youth League, and Wedding Ministry.
The elected LPNC positions for 2015 were: Triecia Roberts
(President, 3 years), Pat Tukos (Vice-President, 2 years remaining), Jessica Saboski (Secretary, 3 years), Barb Halle (Treasurer,
3 years), Jim Kidwell (Trustee, 1 year). A By-Law was amended
11/9/14 stating that there will be one Trustee elected for a 3-year
term. Jim Kidwell is completing his 3-year term this year.
Barb Halle gave a very detailed Treasurer’s report which projected
some soon-to-be needed building repairs and maintenance for
both the church and Manna House including the following:
church kitchen wall, repair/paint sanctuary, update heating system for MH, asphalt patch in MH parking lot, remodel church
bathroom to be Handicap Accessible, and update audio system.
Tam Mounce stated that the LiPNiCKYLS group had 12-15 teens
in attendance at twice-monthly events throughout the year with a
large number of them attending Almont. They are thinking about
new fundraisers for 2015 including a possible ‘Give-Back’ Night at
Buffalo Wild Wings and a car wash.
In addition to reports for 2014, a summary report of the October
ministry evaluations was shared by Rev. Kit and Barb Halle.
Overall Church Leadership scored 91%; Overall Ministry of
Church was 86%; and Overall Church Health was 88%. This report were handed out at the meeting and also emailed to those not
in attendance that afternoon.
Jim Kidwell gave a lively report on the Minister Evaluation. Overall Minister Average Score was 97%. (Woohoo!)
Much appreciation was expressed to the congregation who took
their time to respond to the questions and make additional
thoughtful comments. Eighteen people responded which allowed
for a healthy and broad spectrum of opinions. These have been
heard and addressed by the Board.
Positive improvements and changes will be happening!
Please look for the volunteer sign-up sheet to work at this sale.
We need many people to offer their time and energy for these three sale
days as well as some for the set-up in the week or so prior to the sale.
Let your friends and family know
Thurs-Sat, March 12-14
about this fundraiser – we have an
abundance of very good quality
8:00—1:00
clothing for all ages, household
goods, all sorts of items for children,
Tell your friends!
and some small furniture.
Let’s work together to make this another great fundraiser for the church!
One Word
In their book "One Word That Will Change Your Life", authors Dan Britton, Jimmy Page, and Jon Gordon write about
how spending an entire year focused on one word, such as serving, grace, purpose, or surrender, can change your
life. Choosing one word will inspire you to simplify your life by focusing on that one word. The simple power of One
Word is that it impacts all six dimensions of your life: mental, physical, emotional, relational, spiritual, and financial.
They say, "Just as a light focused becomes a laser that can cut through steel, a life focused with One Word becomes a
force that can cut through the status quo."
What word would you like to focus on for a week, a month, a year?
Love? Forgiveness? Purpose? Fitness? Health? Surrender? Faith? Family? Something else? Reflect on what you would
like to work on. You can find a rock and write it down and carry it in your pocket as a constant reminder, or make a
note and put it up where you can see it, or focus on it in your mind every morning when you wake up.
~ Triecia Roberts
A life of kindness is the primary meaning of divine worship.
J U LAPORTE
REPORTE
New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine #124
MARCH / APRIL 2015
The Heart of It All
PASTOR’S CORNER
“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into
the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the
light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be
exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that
his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in
God.” (John 3:19-21)
charity is a living, growing feeling and spiritual energy alive
inside us, which must be actualized within good works for it
to be truly real (praise God!).
In short, deeply saving and regenerating faith is the kind of
spiritual thoughts, insights, reasoning and consciousness that
gradually grows and shines from deep inside someone--the
living compassion and goodwill from the heart. We read, "I
understand more than the ancients because I keep Your precepts." (Ps. 119:100) And the Apostle James wrote so deeply,
"faith, by itself, if it does not have works, is dead, being
alone." (2:17)
As John reveals, it is when we want to care for one another,
consciously in God's Light of Love, when we want to live in
the Lord, believing He is constantly guiding all life, that we
are saved......day by day. And God slowly multiplies His love
and wisdom within us, changing the selfishness we inherit
into love and kindness. Out of this love grows thoughts, reasoning and perceptions, which are the light coming from this
spiritual heat.
Swedenborg learned, "no one can have faith in the Lord unless he is in kindness and goodwill for all." (Doctrine of Faith
22) And he goes on, "the will leads the understanding and
makes it act as one with itself." (44) In other words, genuine
May your journeys this Lent bring you further into the heat,
light and garden of salvation. Amen.
My calling as your pastor is to
work with you and assist you in
your very real spiritual life and
One of my most favorite beliefs within Swedenborgian life
growth, helping the Lord in His
and faith is how we perceive what truly saving faith is,
extremely deep and patient molding of us all, as "you are like
compared with what is not. I offer it to you for your reflection the clay in the potter’s hands," and God is the Divine Potter,
and meditation, in your own journey of discovering spiritual
lovingly touching, blessing and shaping us into deeply loving,
love and truth in your life.
wise, faithful and caring beings. (Jer. 18:6)
Blessings!
Rev. Kit
Evening Lenten Program Series at Manna Hse
Lent and Holy Week
The Ash Wednesday evening service was held February 17
to begin our Lenten journey.
During Lent, the LaPorte Ministerial Association, of
which Rev. Kit is an active member, offers a “20 minutes
with God” noon-time Lenten series on the following
Wednesdays, all to be held at First United Methodist
Church on Michigan Avenue. Ministers from various
churches will offer the 20-minute messages.
A light lunch is offered following each service. Louie's
Café and Christo’s provides soup for some of the lunches;
our church will be providing sandwiches (for aprx. 50
people) and serving on March 25. We need more help
doing this, so please let Pat know if you can help.
During Holy Week, Palm Sunday is March 29 followed by
the Maundy Thursday service that week (April 2) held at
7:00 pm in the sanctuary. Our church will then participate in the City’s annual ecumenical Cross Walk at noon
the next day on Good Friday beginning at the Methodist
Church on Michigan Avenue. Our church will be the 6th
stop on this walk.
Our Easter worship celebration is April 5. This is a time
for the family to gather together as there will be no Sunday School that day. Childcare will be available for children under four years old. Also, there will be no coffee
hour that day.
Rev. Kit will facilitate four sessions from 6:30-8:30, the format
yet to be determined (either the Jesus of Nazareth movie, or
based on biblical stories). Please let him know your preference
and interest (see his Feb. 24th email). Program dates are Tues,
March 10 (at church) and these Wednesdays, Mar. 18, 25, April
1 (at Manna House).
Hear our Prayers, O Lord
Tina & Dwayne Scherb
Bill Ladra and his friends
Emily and Laila Pera
Jim Kidwell
Kathy Jessen
Sandy and Pete Peterson
Johanna and Angelina
Zangrilli
Penny Billings
Raymond East
KC and Adam Buell
Elise Blake
Pat Parker
Sheryl Vogel
Tammara Mounce and her
sons
Tony Kalinowski
Thank you, Gail,
…for putting the finishing decorative and historical
touches on the church’s remodeled fellowship stairwell and landing.
LAPORTE REPORTE
LiPNiCkYLS 2015
THE YEAR OF
BIG LOVE
WELCOME to a new year of Youth Group!
Heidi, Rev. Kit, and I are so glad that you are here!
These are the verses that we will be looking at and
talking about over the next few months. We look
forward to our conversations. You all are so insightful!
1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother,
he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen.
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since
love covers a multitude of sins.
1 John 3:17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his
brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's
love abide in him?
Matthew 7:12 So whatever you wish that others would do to you,
do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Proverbs 15:18 A hot-tempered person stirs up strife, but those
who are slow to anger quiet contention.
Our youth group
had a great time on
Friday, February 13!
We had our 2nd annual Valentine’s
party. We started
with a great discussion on 1 Peter 4:8.
Above all, love each
other deeply, because love covers
over a multitude of
sins.
We enjoyed a nacho
bar with all the fixings.
Then we designed
treat bags, and everyone brought a treat to share with
everyone. As you can see, it was fun!
We aim to gather twice a month, alternating Fridays. All
teens are welcome!
~ Tam Mounce, LPNC Youth League Leader
Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first.
(matthewljacobson.com)
January MLK Tween Retreat at Manna House
Three girls and thirteen boys (wow!!!) packed into Manna House over MLK weekend
to enjoy a retreat all about animals.
Adult leaders Kurt Fekete, Lori Gayheart, Heather Jerrett-Guzik, Rachael Sbrocco and
Rev. Jenn Tafel did their best to contain the energy, excitement and enthusiasm from
spilling over into the out-of-control realm. What a fun time we all had working and
playing with this group of youth!
Jenn and Heather drove a van load of youth from Michigan and did a wonderful job
helping with supervision and cooking. Sessions centered around Bible stories featuring animals. Some of the Bible stories we discussed included the serpent/snake from
the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3, fish and birds from the Day 5 Creation story in Genesis 1, the lamb from Revelation 21, the lion in Daniel and the Lion's Den from Daniel 6,
and insects from the Plaques in Exodus 8 and 10.
We also learned about the spiritual meanings of a great
number of other domestic and wild animals and had an
interesting time discussing different animals and how their
behaviors can be seen in ourselves. Rachael and Lori led
some wonderful crafts related to the animals that we talked
about. The youth made duct tape braided snakes, foil fish
and birds, cute clothespin and yarn lambs and wolves and
insect jars for paper butterflies and bugs that can also be
used to hold real insects!
On Saturday we visited the library and then on Sunday after worship and a delicious lunch, we went on a fantastic
sledding outing at the Tukos' house. After numerous runs
down the hill we returned to Manna House to enjoy lots of
rich hot chocolate. Thank you to all the retreat leaders and
all the folks at LPNC for hosting such a great retreat. Just
writing this up is getting me excited to plan the next one!
~ Kurt Fekete, SCYL Youth Director
LA
LAPORTE REPORTE
PORTE REPO
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MARCH / APRIL 2015
Ongoing Manna House Groups
AA: Sober Circle, Saturdays, 10:15 am
Looking Ahead...
MARCH
1, Sunday
4, Weds
First Sunday service
20 Minutes for God, noon service/lunch,
at First United Methodist Church
Board meeting, 6:00 pm, Manna House
8, Sunday
Family Sunday service, Potluck
11, Weds
20 Minutes for God, noon service/lunch,
at First United Methodist Church
12-14, Th-Sat Rummage Sale at Manna House, 8am-1pm
13, Friday
Youth League gathering at church, 7-9 pm
15, Sunday
Holy Communion service
18, Weds
20 Minutes for God, noon service/lunch,
at First United Methodist Church
25, Weds
20 Minutes for God, noon service/lunch,
First United Methodist Church*LPNC serves
lunch*
27, Friday
Youth League gathering, MH 7-9pm
29, Sunday
Palm Sunday service
APRIL
2, Thurs
Maundy Thursday service, 7 pm
3, Friday
Good Friday Cross Walk, meet noon at First
United Methodist Church
5, Sunday
Easter Sunday family worship service. No
Sunday School or coffee hour today.
10, Friday
Youth League gathering, MH, 7:00-9:00 pm
12, Sunday
Family Sunday service, Potluck
13-16, M-Th
Ministers’ Peer Supervision Retreat
19, Sunday
Holy Communion
24, Friday
Youth League gathering at MH, 7-9 pm
COFFEE HOUR HOSTS
Mar 1
Mar 8
Mar 15
Mar 22
Mar 29
Apr 5
Apr 12
GAIL’S GOBBLERS
POTLUCK
JUDY’S JOYS
BARB’S BUDDIES
HEIDI’S HOPPERS
No Coffee Hour
POTLUCK
Apr 19
Apr 26
May 3
May 10
May 17
May 24
May 31
GAIL’S GOBBLERS
CONNIE’S COOKS
PAT’S PALS
POTLUCK
JUDY’S JOYS
BARB’S BUDDIES
HEIDI’S HOPPERS
Your Giving
Illinois Association Dues is payable now at $10 per
member.
Illinois Association Youth Activities Fundraiser helps send our Sunday School children to Almont
Summer School/Camp by paying ½ of their Almont
fees. (Please make your IA gifts payable to LPNC.)
Other LPNC Gifts for March and April

March & April: Manna House Stewardship to help
with maintenance/utility costs, suggested $20-35/
month.

March: Gift-Back quarterly donation to General
Convention, suggested $25 per person
PASTOR’S DAYS OFF
A reminder that Rev. Kit’s days off are Monday and Tuesday. Unless it’s an emergency, please allow him this time.
LaPorte New Church Swedenborgian
812 Indiana Avenue
LaPorte, IN 46350
Pastor: Rev. Kit Billings
revkitbillings@comcast.net
Phone (219) 362-1959
www.laportenewchurch.org
J U LAPORTE
REPORTE
MARCH / APRIL 2015