SPECIAL SUNDAY CELEBRATION

The words above are how we highlighted St. Luke's May 1 worship service and Harvest luncheon to our invited guests. Truly, that was the case!

Despite the veritable chill in the air from the storms all around, nothing could dampen the enthusiasm that filled St. Luke's parish family and the warmth of God's loving Spirit that was completely present. Our parish family welcomed 17 visitors at the 10:00am worship service; 15 of those neighbors stayed for a beautifully prepared lunch.

So how does one adequately describe the Harvest experience and its culmination on May 1?

Multiple parishioners' comments such as these provide an example:
"Our worship and music were so beautiful on Sunday that they were my moments closest to Christ last week."
"Our guests were delightful and so appreciative; and they stayed and talked for a long time after lunch!"
"We have experienced a 'culture change' in our parish; we have embraced an outward focus for our prayers and actions."
"I am so proud of how we all came together for this activity - how much love and commitment was shown."

Thinking back on this four month initiative, two selections from scripture are the most salient in my mind about the Harvest. One is captured in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 10-18, and specifically verses 17 & 18. We are commissioned and called to preach the gospel - not with wisdom and eloquence, relying on our own talents, but with complete focus on the power of the love of the cross of Christ. To do this, we must think and act from our hearts, not our heads.

The other is from Matthew 11: 28-30, specifically verse 30. "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." There was a lot of work in Harvest. What blessings for us all to experience the joy and lightness of every plan, preparation, meeting, call, prayer, note, list, agreement, discussion, step, hour and minute of Harvest, with Almighty God on the other side of the yoke!

From the Harvest Leader team, THANK YOU for all your support. Isn't it exciting to anticipate how God will continue to work through all the efforts of each of us for His purpose?!

Anne Lucas
Harvest Coordinator

PRAISE HIM

As Lent is coming to a close, so has one big part of our parish family's Harvest outreach, the "invitational calling." The planning and coordinating and calling and praying and addressing and mailing that many have been so diligent and faithful to offer as part of their Lenten commitment to honor our Lord will soon bloom, like Easter, in anticipation and celebration as we call our neighbors to confirm their acceptance to join us for worship and Sunday lunch on May 1!

Our "Harvest Sunday" (or "Special Sunday Celebration," as we have called it to our neighbors) includes a luncheon that is being hosted for those families who have accepted our invitation to worship with us that day and who would like to stay for lunch.Each guest table will have volunteer parish members who will be hosts - to welcome our neighbors on behalf of the larger parish family. For those of you who have volunteered to help in this capacity, you will be contacted very soon with specific details about the luncheon and your role.

For the whole parish, please hold the date of June 5th to attend a presentation about our Harvest results. You will see some amazing numbers about how many calls were made and prayer requests accepted; you will hear some inspirational testimonials about how the Holy Spirit has worked in and through our parish family. We will discuss our plans for intentional follow-up actions and next steps as part of the Harvest program (we're not through just yet - like Easter, this is the gift that keeps giving!); and we will share a few nibbles and beverages in celebration of our first evangelism outreach! We will meet in Harman Hall following the 10am service. Please join us!

This next week, please continue to hold our neighbors in your prayers: that as we call them to confirm, and as they prepare to come to St. Luke's, the Holy Spirit will draw them to Christ. And please pray specifically that all who have indicated their interest or desire to visit will not forget, not procrastinate, or let fear or hesitancy stop them from coming.

Thank you! Wishing you all the joyous blessings of Easter,

Anne Lucas
Harvest Coordinator

Let Us Pray

As our St. Luke’s family continues to evangelize in the Harvest outreach…

• Pray together and believe together that through this outreach, many lives will be touched with the truth of the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Pray for Fr. Robert, the Harvest outreach leadership team and volunteers, our church staff, and our parish family as we work to make this one of the most impactful outreaches in the history of St. Luke’s church.
• Pray for our community & for our neighborhood. Pray people will be open to the truth of the Gospel and to the work of the church. Pray they will hear and respond to the Good News of God’s love.
• Pray for all individuals and teams planning and doing the work of this outreach – that everything will be done with a “spirit of excellence”.   Saving souls is in the balance!
• Pray that the work which needs to be done will be completed and on time.
• Pray for all of the volunteers – that they continue their parts in this outreach with diligence, and realize that as they do their parts, it will result in ministering to people who are hurting, souls being saved, and the church being blessed and built up.
• Pray the homes that are being reached will be receptive to the call and invitation to visit.
• Pray specifically that every phone call will be led by God’s Spirit and that callers will be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading.
• Pray that as guests prepare to come to St. Luke’s, the Holy Spirit will begin to draw them to Christ (and He will.)
• Pray specifically that all who indicate their interest or desire to visit St. Luke's will not forget, not procrastinate, or let fear or lies of the enemy stop them from coming.
• Pray that the touch of God will reside on every piece of mail and every contact.
• Pray that the mailings that go out will not be discarded or set aside, but are read and will have impact.
• Pray that all the details of the Harvest Sunday will come together without any unnecessary difficulties.
• Pray that a spirit of unity will prevail and a rising tide of spiritual renewal will be demonstrated as the parish family steps out in faith.
• Pray asking for Christ’s vision of what His will and desire is for the long-term relationship with our guests.
• Pray that we develop a heart for the lost and hurting and will accept anyone who comes through the door as a result of an invitation.
• Pray that as relationships are developed, people will feel “at home” and will become involved and a regular member of the parish family.
• Pray that people will demonstrate God’s tenacious love to reach out & develop friendships and relationships.
• Pray that we will respond to God’s leading to meet needs, reach out in friendship, and demonstrate the heart of the Father.

LET US PRAY...

ThanksLIVING

God is making Himself a living reality in this world through the ministry of St. Luke’s.

Through our worship He makes His presence known in word and sacrament. That presence takes the shape of a spiritual community that welcomes individuals and families into its loving fellowship of prayer, study, praise and discipleship.

These paraphrased words from our website fit perfectly for what is happening night after night through the Harvest outreach efforts of our parish family. Each evening the calling and praying teams usually have the same people as team members. Beautifully varied gifts and talents shine through each individual as they ‘try on’ and find his/her own role in reaching out to the un-churched. A passion for outreach is growing in our St. Luke’s family. We are passionate about supporting each other and passionate about practicing discipleship and prayer. Communicating our Harvest numbers: at the end of 13 days, our teams have logged 106 hours of calling. We have shared conversations with 854 people and have accepted and prayed for 292 prayer requests. Of these numbers, 33% of our live conversations and 18% of shared prayer requests have been from un-churched families. We ARE making inroads as disciples. There is a palpable, positive energy of the Holy Spirit working in us and in those we contact. Week 3 of Harvest is already underway with similar, positive results. Let us please give God thanks and praise for His having brought St. Luke’s to this particular opportunity, as it is enriching our community and blessing us and those we touch. Anne Lucas, Harvest Coordinator

Report from the Field: An Energizing First Week of Calling

Daily we track things such as: completed calls, when we connect and speak to an actual person; how many of the people we speak to already go to church or not; would they like to visit; and would they like us to pray for them. 

For the two-hour commitment each night, these are the results so far (averaged numbers):

·         220 calls made nightly by the 4-5 callers who are calling

·         70 completed calls per night

·         20 prayer requests received per night

·         4 to 9 prayer team volunteers each night, praying in the church  

Keep an eye on your email for the full update from Anne. In the meantime, a glimpse into the first night...

 

All the first night volunteers. After this, they warmed up their dialing fingers and did some practice prayers.

Callers hard at work. Someone get those boys some file folders.

 Working hard, having fun... what's the difference?

 My favorite part of this is the Cookie Monster hat that matches Charlie's shirt (and smile!).

 Prayer request delivery.

 Prayer requests go to one of these people, the Sunday night prayer team.

Go Team!

Stay tuned for more excitement from the Harvest. Until then, this is your Field Reporter, signing off.

Fantastic Harvest Start!

It is with such pleasure that I write this Harvest update. St. Luke’s parish family can be so proud of itself! The diligence, enthusiasm and dedication to task that is being demonstrated by each person as they embrace their role in this Harvest outreach is a pure delight to witness and be included. As of this writing, we have had three most excellent evenings of Harvest calling and praying. Daily we track things such as completed calls – when we connect and speak to an actual person; how many of the people we speak to already go to church or not; would they like to visit; and would they like us to pray for them. For the two hour commitment each night, these are the results so far (averaged numbers): · 220 calls made nightly by the 4-5 callers who are calling 70 completed calls per night 20 prayer requests received per night 4 to 9 prayer team volunteers each night, praying in the church And like these numbers, which are true to the statistics provided by Harvest, about 60% of the people we speak to say they already go to church – which is good news for the Kingdom! The really exciting piece is: whether or not our neighbors already go to church, they are requesting our prayers and we are in dialogue with them about shared daily activities. One woman’s son is taking organ lessons, so she was very interested in our beautiful Aeolian Skinner organ; her interest was piqued by our music program. We made sure that she was invited to the next Michaelsen Arts Series concert on Sunday evening April 3. Another person knew the parishioner who called her! They had a good chat about Harvest and what St. Luke’s is doing. Another caller discovered that a family’s son went to a local school and knew one of our parishioners - his teacher! These things are such positive examples of bridge building out from our hearts to the near-by community. From the conversations I have had with those working each evening and many in the parish, there seems to be large agreement that Harvest is providing us the framework by which we are taking action to answer many of our own fervent prayers about how to share the Good News of the saving power and love of Jesus Christ and to build up His Kingdom, and St. Luke’s. I invite you to speak with any of the Harvest call and prayer team volunteers - they will tell you, it is a very moving, humbling and thrilling experience to be involved! Everything our parish has done together to this point is making this such a positive experience. Thank you all for your contributions to this fantastic start! Please keep Harvest at the top of your prayer list! God Bless! Anne Lucas/ Harvest Coordinator

Prayer is Powerful - our Harvest Prayer

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we pray that You will bless our efforts to reach out to our neighbors in this Harvest experience, that many lives will be touched with the truth of Your Gospel and the power of Your Holy Spirit. We pray for our leaders that all our efforts will be centered on You, Lord, as we strive to make Your truth known to the people we contact. Open the hearts of those we will call, that they will hear and respond to Your love for them. Open our hearts that we may welcome our neighbors in Your name. May all that we do be led by Your Holy Spirit, and may You draw us and our neighbors closer to You, that Your church and Your kingdom may be built up to the glory of Your name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.