By Danielle Beneteau and Tera Michelson

Last month, you sent us to the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza. Held each year, the event’s goals are to renew, educate, and connect the leaders of children, youth, and family ministries at ELCA congregations around the country. The four-day conference crammed every waking minute with learning, collaboration and worship. The theme of this year’s Extravaganza was Disrupt, centered around the life and ministry of Moses.

We met God there in the 600 eager faces of youth leaders of all ages from all places, in the sharing of ideas and frustrations, successes and failures. It renewed us with possibilities and hope, educated us with wise words from youth ministry experts and connected us with other people like us—people that love Jesus and kids and are called by God to serve children, youth, and families. The 2019 Extravaganza did not disappoint. God showed up in big ways!

We share here our Top Three Takeaways, so you can feel like you were there with us.

1. Youth and their families are busy.

You already knew this one, didn’t you? Calendars and inboxes are full, gas tanks and refrigerators are empty. Our on-the-go families require youth ministry to be relevant and accessible. Today’s effective faith formation might not look like what you expect. You may see more hands-on activities, small group projects, online connections and at-home experiences. Each LOL family is different, and we must embrace and applaud how that shapes our church and informs how we lead God’s work in the world.

2. Youth Ministry takes a village.

Youth Ministry is all about relationships. It is at its finest when every church member takes on the challenge to engage its young people. All adults have what it takes to be youth leaders. Our youth are asking us to be the three A’s: authentic, available, and affirming. It’s the little things that make a big impact:

• greet youth by name and with joy
• carve out time to talk with youth in the pews or halls
• share your stories
• ask them questions
• encourage their gifts, skills, and personalities
• invite youth to participate in your favorite ministry area
• pray for our students by name

3. Disruptions can be good for us.

Our lives are full of disruptions. We tend to think of them as negative, chaos-causing disturbances that interrupt, confuse, and play havoc with our lives. Disruptions command our attention. We disrupted our regularly-scheduled January to attend this conference. (Just ask our families—it certainly was a disruption to be missing two active moms!) This event challenged us to view disruptions as times when God breaks through our norm and connects with us in a new way. The challenges of Youth Ministry are disruptive opportunities that lead us to evaluate, refocus, and adjust. Even in the chaos, sometimes especially in the chaos, God shows up.

Thank you for disrupting our lives with this event and the privilege of serving alongside LOL’s youth and families on a journey of faith.

Feeling called to Youth Ministry? Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to get involved, or come join us at the monthly Youth Ministry Meeting: third Wednesday of the month at 7:30 pm in the Pastor's office.

I love to travel. In any given year, I pick a couple destinations to visit for a day or even several days. Sometimes my trips are work-related. I go to a couple conferences each year to keep myself sharp and to see what is happening in worship and music outside Lord of Life. Most of the time, I’m excited to be at a conference or on vacation and it’s “Go! Go! Go!” from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. I’m exhausted by the end of the day and while I enjoy my experiences and cherish the memories, I can’t say that I’m relaxed when I return.

Last weekend I went to the Calvin Symposium on Worship and Music in Grand Rapids. Several denominations and nationalities are represented, which leads to a lot of diversity and exciting ideas for worship. It is so easy to move quickly from day to day and week to week, falling into the same patterns and not trying anything new. The conference helps us see beyond our everyday worship. Each of the three days consisted of three different worship times (morning, afternoon, and night,) a plenary, and 3 smaller sessions/classes.

One of the first sessions I attended was by Dr. Ruth Haley Barton, who wrote the book, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. At first I assumed this would be a session targeting leaders who had experienced some sort of difficult times in their congregation. But after a five-page spiritual assessment, I realized that I was in my own spiritual rut and that I really needed to take some time to reflect for myself.

Dr. Barton went on to talk about quiet moments in worship when we could be present, hands open, listening for what God has to say to us; and also about longer periods of meditation - times when we can be silent for 15 minutes, an hour, maybe even several hours - to clear our minds and let go of all the things that keep us from the connection we so crave with our Creator. She reinforced the idea that for us to be good spiritual leaders, we need to allow this time to transform us. In her words, "The spiritual practices are means of grace that open us to God’s transforming work in those places where we are not like Christ so we can be Christ in the world."

After two more days at Calvin, keeping this spiritual reflection time at the front of my mind through the rest of my weekend, I came home feeling refreshed and renewed. What a difference from past trips! I've tried, with varying levels of success, to continue mindful reflection during quiet moments over the subsequent two weeks. I find myself making better decisions not only for worship moments at Lord of Life, but in my personal life, too. 

I encourage everyone to make this a habit - it isn't just for the church leaders who stand up in front each week to preach or sing. It is for all of us who leave church Sunday morning, hopefully taking with us some scrap of spiritual nourishment so that we can go out into the world and be the church.

As part of my ongoing classwork for Trinity Lutheran Seminary, I occasionally have to attend week-long intensive courses, which seek to cram a whole semester worth of knowledge into a single week. The last week of January, I traveled to United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia to learn about the “Neglected Apostles: Peter, James, and Jude.” I won’t bore you with the key points from my twelve page final exegetical paper, because the real learning that took place for me happened through reflecting upon my overall experience.

I spent a lot of time inside the buildings at United Lutheran Seminary, partly because the classes were long and partly because my winter coat didn’t hold up to the Philly wind chill. While traveling the halls and grounds, I noticed that there were a lot of remembrances posted; there were giant statues of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (seen side), plaques of donations from donors, and even sweatshirts for sale memorializing 250 year old Lutherans. This was a place that celebrated its history and was quite proud of it. It was hard to go anywhere without seeing a remembrance, or memorial, to someone who was important in the life of the seminary.

Tradition plays a big part in the Lutheran Church, especially in how it shapes our theology (thinking about God) and liturgy (worship service). The legacy of the Lutheran forefathers is fading quickly into the past, not because we don’t memorialize them, but because their influence is no longer felt on an individual and emotional level. Despite his massive statue and his collection of written works on display in the seminary library, I doubt many (if any) of you reading this can tell me about Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. I would bet though, that you can tell me about Jesus Christ and the impact God plays in your life daily. We don’t need thirty foot statues of Jesus to remind us that God is still present with us. We feel the effects of a relationship with God when we hear the Word of God and partake in God’s holy meal, communion. Christ touches our soul on a deep and profound level.

Our congregation, and community, has experienced a lot of pain and loss in the past year. If this trip has taught me anything, it is that those people will be remembered and memorialized in our heart forever for the way that they touched our lives. No statue, memorial plaque, painting, or sizeable donation in their name will hold the same lasting and transformative power as keeping their love and influence in our hearts. Because of the way these people have influenced me, I pass it along to someone else I know, which continues their legacy and mission.

In the same way, because of the love that Christ first shared with us, we don’t show our appreciation by buying another Jesus painting and hanging it on our wall, we go forth into the world to share that love with others. Let the past continuing influence you, for there is good there, but always keep our eyes fixed forward on the cross of Christ and our call to serve and be with others.

God Bless,

Pastor Corey Wagonfield, Seminary Intern

“You (the Stephen Minister) are the only person who visits me every week in my home. Thank you."
" I am so thankful for my Stephen Minister, who through the Stephen's Ministry, faithfully visited my mom every Thursday. She is one in a million."
"Everyone needs a Stephen Minister sometime."

These are actual quotes from Lord of Life care receivers about their experiences with a Stephen Minister.

Galatians invites us to "Bear one another's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Stephen Ministry equips individuals to provide one-to-one Christian care to people in our congregation and community who are experiencing difficulties in their lives. Stephen Ministry is a confidential ministry. The identity of those receiving care and everything they discuss with a Stephen Minister remains private. A Stephen Minister is:

o A child of God who walks beside someone who is hurting.
o A congregation member who is carefully selected to serve in this role because of his or her caregiving gifts.
o A caring person with 50 hours of training in providing high-quality, distinctively Christian care.
o A caring Christian friend who listens, cares, prays, supports, and encourages.
o Someone who meets faithfully each week with the care receiver for as long as there is a need.

The Lord of Life Stephen Ministry is growing in collaboration and caring in 2019! When this ministry began in the summer of 2017, we knew there was a Cincinnati Stephen Ministry Network because we were given a grant from them to pay for part of Stephen Ministry Leader training. Guess what? We have been given another grant to help pay for Stephen Leadership training for Cindy Campbell this year, too. We have been so blessed by this network!

We have also learned that there is a "mini-network" of Stephen Ministry congregations in our area. This mini-network collaborates to provide 50 hours of Stephen Ministry training each year (January to April). One congregation hosts the training each year and Stephen Leaders join forces to teach all of the sessions of the Stephen Ministry Series coursework. What a great way to save on resources (especially time) in training new Stephen Ministers. Chrystal Green is currently attending this training at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, West Chester, who is hosting the 2019 training. Stephen Leaders from Lord of Life Lutheran, Grace Chapel, St. Max Catholic Church, St. Anne Episcopal Church, Faith Community United Methodist Church, and St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church are collaborating and sharing the teaching for ten new Stephen Ministers. What a group! Please pray for Chrystal and the other Stephen Ministers in training. We need your prayer support for this important ministry!

Another benefit of this collaboration is the opportunity to have hurting people in our congregation connected with a Stephen Minister from one of the other congregations in the network. From the beginning, we wanted to have partnerships outside of our congregation and the seeds of collaboration are already being sown with St. Anne and beyond. We currently have a Stephen Minister from St. Anne providing care for a member of our congregation. What a blessing to have built-in support within the West Chester, Liberty Township, and Mason area! Right now, all of the LOL Stephen Ministers are assigned a care receiver and "borrowing" a Stephen Minister from the network means more people get the care they need!

Thank you to all who serve as Stephen Ministers through Lord of Life: Cindy Campbell, Helen Funk, Marie Jurkiewicz, Barb Mackey, Becky Mastalerz, Aleen Miller, Jenny Smith, and Bonnie Tremayne.

If you would like more information about receiving care for yourself or a loved one, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Yours in Christ,

Ava Fiebig

I once attended a youth conference where the speaker began his talk with an invitation for the gathered youth. He asked them to look at their adult leader and make some promises about their weekend together. “Turn to your pastor, youth worker, or adult volunteer and repeat after me...”

Dear loving adult,
Thank you for bringing me here this weekend.
I promise to pay attention.
I promise to be kind to others.
And I promise not to remove things from my hotel room –
towels, sheets, televisions, couches, or anything else that should stay in my room.
And I promise to get the recommended ten hours of sleep each night of this conference. Amen!

All of these statements were said with a dose of humor, beginning with promises that were obtainable and then moving to those that were completely absurd. By the end of the list, everyone knew these latter promises were a joke.

We learn at a young age that promises are not a joke. It is important to make promises that we can keep. We promise to be nice to others on the playground. We promise to share our things when neighbors come over to play. We promise to listen to the babysitter when our parent/guardian is out for the evening. We work hard to stick to our word and keep our promises. They provide hopes for us and for those to whom we make the promise. 

But it doesn’t take long for our selfishness to get in the way. We begin to reconfigure our promises so that they meet our needs or we set aside what we’ve promised, altogether. At other times, circumstances change and, for whatever reason, we can’t hold up our end of the promise. We quickly learn that promises are hard to keep.

Childhood promises and adult commitments may fail us, but week after week we are rooted in the promises of God – the One who will not fail us. Worship, the Bible, and the world around us invite us to hear God’s promises for forgiveness, healing, strength, wholeness, community, new life, unconditional love, and much more. There is also a promise of being with us no matter what life brings. We heard it in worship, this past Sunday:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine. 
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you. 
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.  Isaiah 43:1-3

In the midst of overwhelming waters and consuming fires, God calls us by name and promises to be with us. This is not a fleeting promise, but one to which we can cling. The writer of Hebrews (10:23) says it this way:

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for [God] who has promised is faithful.

In the upcoming months, you’ll have the opportunity to explore God’s promises through the many stories and parables in the Gospel according to Luke. Please seize the opportunities in worship, Bible studies, and personal devotional moments to hear the promises of God and be renewed. 

With hope in the Promise,

Pastor Lowell

This blog by Elise Seyfried was originally published in Living Lutheran, January 3, 2019.

When I was a child, I needed a night-light and open bedroom door to let in light from the hallway so I could fall asleep. Even then, the remaining shadowy corners of my room frightened me with visions of ghosts lurking behind the rocking chair or in the closet. Fear of darkness is common among small children. Most people outgrow their fear; some—like me—never do.

For many in the Northern Hemisphere, January trudges on, marked by darkness. We dread the season of early sunsets and try not to drive, or even walk, outdoors after daylight has vanished. We hesitate to venture out at night because it’s hard to see who (or what) awaits us. The cold, bleak, dark winter is a time to endure, not enjoy. We despise the obscurity of night.

I also hate to be “in the dark” about things I don’t understand. From trigonometry to repairing malfunctioning appliances to grasping weighty philosophical concepts, I’m endlessly frustrated by the limits of my comprehension. In the darkness, the unknown often feels like the unknowable. I struggle toward a light-bulb moment when all will come clear. (Most of the time, it seems I’m struggling in vain.) Many of us fear what we cannot understand.

I wonder: Why does there need to be darkness at all?

In Isaiah 60:1-5, the prophet Isaiah acknowledges the “thick darkness” that covers us and the earth. He recognizes people are downhearted, desperate for light. But Isaiah points them (and us) to something truly wonderful—Jesus the light, dispelling darkness with the “brightness of [his] dawn.” In John 1, too, we read that Jesus outshines the darkness. Both readings teach that we need not be terrified of the dark. Instead we can be at peace in darkness, confident Jesus is near.

Can we step out in faith, even in the dark, when we can’t see the way forward? We can. We have God’s assurance that we do not walk alone.

This first month of the new year, however dark it might feel, symbolizes the coming of Christ into a world that has been waiting in fear and ignorance, a world reaching for hope and enlightenment.

Do we understand right away? Of course not. We are so accustomed to cowering in the shadows we don’t even recognize beautiful, grace-filled light when we see it. In Luke 4:14-21, Jesus is in his hometown synagogue and proclaims himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies. The darkness of poverty, imprisonment, blindness and oppression—all banished. Good news indeed, yet Jesus’ friends and neighbors fail to comprehend his message. Nevertheless, our Lord shines on, patiently helping them—and us—understand. Miracle by miracle, lesson by lesson, healing by healing, God’s glory is revealed.

Can we step out in faith, even in the dark, when we can’t see the way forward? We can. We have God’s assurance that we do not walk alone. Again, from Isaiah 43:1-7: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. … Do not fear, for I am with you.”

Is the dark still a fearful place for me? Yes, I must admit. I will never love the evening the way I love the morning. Yet I am reassured by Scripture that the God who stays with me is far greater than any darkness I face. Grounded by this knowledge, I can approach the long winter with joyful expectation. At last it’s dawning on me: spring is coming. The light, the warmth always comes. For me. For all of us.

Thanks be to God!

Elise Seyfried

Elise Seyfried is a freelance writer whose work has been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Guideposts and many other publications. She is author of three books of humorous spiritual essays and director of spiritual formation for an ELCA congregation in Oreland, PA.