WELS Church Abandons "Christmas" in Its Program for Colleges. WELS Documented Blog

"CHRISTMAS Break - You Ninny-hammers!"

http://welsdocument.blogspot.com/2014/12/awake-and-alive-winter-break-2015.html

Friday, December 26, 2014

Awake and Alive Winter Break 2015

Awake and Alive kicks off the new year on January 11th 2015 with a great event for the college age and young professionals in SE Wisconsin.  Come and join us starting at 6pm for a chance to kick back and relax with friends and food.  The main session with live music from the Awake and Alive band and the session topic of "Freedom".  We're praying for a generation of 18-25 year olds that are asking God to wake them up to and remind them of their greatest identity as a child of God and the courage to come alive to living out that identity on their campuses, in their work places, families and neighborhoods that more people would find the freedom promised through Jesus.  We hope you will join us!

When: 6:00pm January 11th, 2015

Where: At "The Bridge" on the grounds of St. Paul's Lutheran in Muskego.  S66 W14325 Janesville Rd, Muskego, WI 53150

Awake and Alive

What: Awake and Alive Winter Break 2015.

6:00pm - 7:00pm:  $2 dinner with the ever awesome "Mary Burger" (brats, barbeque and good!), veggies, and the fixings.

7:00pm - 8:15pm:  Main Session with live music from the Awake and Alive band, icebreaker and interactive session talk.  The Session topic for this year is "Freedom"

8:15pm - 10:00pm:  deserts, games, community stuff... bonfire?  In January?

Who: Anyone in college, or out of college.  Young professionals, single people, couples, newly married, Seniors in High School... if you are 18ish to 25ish, this event is for you!

Why? 

* It's a great place to meet new people.

* If you haven't tried a Mary Burger, then you need to come.

* What else is there to do in the middle of January?

* Those that came over the summer, wanted to see us do this again sooner than later!

* Come away encouraged by what God's word has to say to you.

* It's a great place for people hoping to see the better side of what the 18-25 generation can be about!

* We have GREAT volunteers

* Have you seen Alex Bennet and Marshall Holm play guitar?

* The Awake and Alive band is Amazing!

* MC Jack Albert is going to be in Greece so he put Steve Avery and Mike Krill in charge of MC'ing the night... you won't want to miss that!

Best of all, because Jesus is the center of why we do this.  To be reminded of our best and truest identity as a child of God, asking God to help us live it out in the everyday.  To be encouraged by other people who are at different places in this time of grace called "life".  To go deeper into God's word applying it to our lives in this generation and that through Christ, we might reach one more with life to the full - Jesus!

- See more at: http://mikewestendorf.com/winter_break_2015/#sthash.PbCXEb8J.dpuf

***

GJ - I never write "Winter" Break at any school where I teach. As long as people get Christmas presents instead of Winter presents, I will call it the Christmas break.

Boycott the Emmaus UOJ Conference - Or Turn Out in Droves

One does not simply defend Justification Without Faith.

We just came back from the site of the next Emmaus Conference, where all three synods will gather to promote Justification Without Faith, Universal Objective Justification.

A friend said, "I would pay money to see you at the mike."

I am tempted, but not much. I have no use for the manipulations and abuse of WELS, the LCMS, and the ELS. They are like the Ringwraiths chasing the One Ring and swirling down together into Mt. Doom.

UOJ is their One Ring. The SynCon leaders are afraid of losing that magical token, which empowers them to defend clergy adulterers and predators, while excommunicating those who question their dogma, their corruption, and their trail of destruction.

The Snoqualmie Falls are near the Emmaus Conference, Seattle area.
We stayed at the inn in the background.

If people really oppose the anti-Christian UOJ message, they should turn out in droves or boycott the conference entirely. Either statement would rattle the snakes.

I am glad that the laity have smoked out the false teachers, who feel they must defend their blasphemy as a step toward uniting the Synodical Conference again. All three sects know they are doomed. Look at the garbage they are shamelessly promoting!

The SynCons have returned to Medieval Romanism, where the ignorant sit passively in church while the clergy entertain them. As Martin Chemnitz said, "It is either a comedy or a tragedy." No wonder the bright clergy skip out to EO and Rome, where they do a much better job of it and add incense as well. That has to smell better than Ski's gardening clothes.

New Book for Emmaus
I will prepare a new book for this conference, laying out the differences between the Gospel of the Bible and the blasphemies of UOJ.

I will also do a lot more in describing study books for the topic.

Josie's Christmas cat.

Getting Ready for Spring - The Peace Rose Trifecta - Plus Seeds and Canes

Peace

Chicago Peace

Pink Peace

People laughed when I mentioned my membership in the American Rose Society. I said, "I really am a member." Last night I began planning the 2015 rose gardens - note the plural. Mrs. Ichabod approved the Peace trifecta - the original Peace Rose, the Chicago Peace version found growing there, and Pink Peace.

I ordered the Peace roses from http://www.regannursery.com/

I ordered Double Delight from Jackson and Perkins - no relation - sigh.

Double Delight - colorful and fragrant.
Order early or forget it.

Gardening is a lot easier when preceded by a lot of reading. Yesterday, I spoke to my military veteran neighbor - Vet for short. He revamped his entire yard before I got started, but his roses were engulfed in weeds after he believed the line about "weed barrier" under his mulch. I explained Jackson Mulch, which is simply a layer of newspapers covered by wood mulch. "No weeding and no spraying."

Vet said, "I remember you had some fine roses." I added, "Only the best in the region - no spraying and hardly a weed pulled. Add some red wiggler earthworms." He thought of red wigglers as great fishing worms. I am sure red wigglers are ideal for fishing, but they are even more important for gardening.

All summer, everyone was giving me newspapers, including Vet. I was cutting roses and they were cursing weeds. Soon I will talk to Mr. Gardener about his rototiller dependency, the need for rotting mulch rather than whirling blades.

I ordered the basic seeds I needed. I was disappointed with the Harris Seeds website, so much that I gave up on them and went to Burpee. Last summer I was stuck with what was left, which is not fun. I had expensive little sunflowers, etc. Yesterday, Burpee had:

• The largest sunflowers.
• Silver Queen corn.
• Jack-o-lantern pumpkins.
• Bee balm - a great hummingbird plant. Butterfly weed - for Monarchs.
• Ever-bearing raspberries.

Some plants and seeds will be bought locally. The vegetable gardens will include:

• Spinach and garlic, already planted for spring.
• Potatoes and strawberries - in and on straw bales.
• Lots of tomatoes, various kinds.
• Three sisters - corn, beans, and pumpkins in the same plot.
• Edible pod peas.
• Borage, dill, and bee plants.

Last summer I spent time on mulching the areas to be planted. Bargain roses ($8 a plant!) began the process. We planted first, and mulched around them. Our helper was great in expanding the areas for the future, so eventually we had these areas mulched in advance for 2015:

1. Maple tree rose garden (Mister Lincolns and JPIIs, red and white)
2. Three sisters garden.
3. Vegetable garden.
4. Fence perimeter garden. Asparagus and gourds. Peas.
5. Back area - for screening out the alley - butterflies, bees, and hummingbird garden.

I vowed to stop buying mulch, after a stint at Betty Ford, and began using autumn leaves -  Creation methadone for mulch addicts. Rain-soaked newspapers and soggy leaves are an easy way to mulch, even in stiff breezes. My latest leaf/newspaper conquests are the dead tree and a nearby small tree, both to be used as props for Trumpet Vines. I will have three orange TVs running up one tree and three yellow ones on the other. Those will serve as our primary hummingbird feeders.

This is how the latest tree got mulched. Our neighbor with four daughters sent a Christmas card over with a bag of newspapers. Drizzle was falling and more was on the way. I spread the newspapers around the base of the small tree, then raked soggy leaves on top, to hold them in place and provide another organic ingredient for the soil.

I told Mrs. Ichabod that I went over and thanked that neighbor, telling her I already used the bag of newspapers. "You told her you mulched their card?" I said, "No, the bag of papers. I thanked her for the card." We don't mulch Christmas cards.

When I take out a few banana peels, coffee grounds, and tea bags to the compost, it seems like so little. Why bother? The Creation gardener does not stop to measure the individual effort but adds up the long-term benefits. As our helper said about a backyard full of leaves, "Look at all that beautiful mulch!" The organic materials are food for the soil, and soil teeming with life feeds the flowers, vegetables, fruits, bushes, and trees.

When a husband and wife raise their children, each day's activities are minor, trivial, routine. But over time, when the Gospel prevails and the Word of God is taught, the benefits accrue. Just as a healthy plant must bear fruit, so will a child, as John 15:1-10 teaches. Abiding in Him necessarily means bearing the fruits of the Spirit.