The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Dear Friend:

For the past eighteen years I have greeted you with a Bible verse. This is my last “Newsletter” article. At the end of this month, I will bid farewell to you, dear members of Blessed Savior. Another pastor will soon be with you and the ministry will go on without interruption. This is because Jesus is the Lord of the church, and he is responsible for the succession of preachers of the Gospel.

I cannot think of a better Bible verse to leave with you than 2 Corinthians 13:14. These words I proffered at the end of every meeting I attended at Blessed Savior, without exception. I did this because I can think of no better way of parting from one another than commending ourselves to the Holy Trinity whom we serve.

I never considered myself worthy of the divine call to the office of the holy ministry. It is not something I earned or merited. God chose to call me to this task and to keep me in it for almost 40 years. Of course, I deemed it the highest honor to serve my Lord Jesus who died for me.

During the years I developed many friendships here. While my wife Joan and I will continue to reside in our home across the parking lot, for the time being, the bond with Blessed Savior will cease. A new pastor will be here. I will respect him as I was respected by my predecessors at Mount Calvary and at Good Shepherd and here. I cannot and will not interfere with the work of the new man to be installed in this office. I ask you, members of Blessed Savior Lutheran Church to do the same. Just to be sure, this means that I will no longer be available to preside at baptisms, weddings, or funerals, unless directed to do so by the new pastor.

As you know, the only constant in life is change itself. I will do all in my power to make this transition smooth – a small bump in the road. I pray the Lord to bless everyone who has a part in welcoming your new pastor so that the ministry is not affected or disrupted in any way.

In my heart I will keep so many, many happy memories of our time together. I thank the Lord for you! Now, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all! So long!

Pastor Martinho Q. Sander

"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible...." Colossians 1:16-20

Happy New Year! The Lord has granted us yet another year! With this new year comes new opportunities. With this new year we are still called by our loving Father to do His work! What a blessing to know that even though the year changes we have a Savior that does not! Our job as His children does not change either, we are to serve our fellow brother and sister in love.

I love being a Lutheran educator, Called by my Father in heaven to spread the Good News. Part of this includes having the chance to celebrate the fact that we have Lutheran schools, and these schools get to preach and teach the Word of God daily. Throughout the United States alone we have 1,950 Lutheran schools and we have 21,764 teachers that get to share their faith with their students and families. This year we will celebrate a little bit differently, but nevertheless we still get the opportunity to praise and thank God for Lutheran education!

This year's theme is "In All Things". This is taken from Colossians 1:15-20. We truly see that God is in all things and He is all things. Paul in six verses mentions all things seven times. We see that in everything God is there. What a great feeling to know that here at Blessed Savior we get to share with our students and their families the awesome power of our God. God created all things, He rules over all things, He is in all things, God has power over all things! God is the beginning and the end, life started with God and life will end with God.

God gives to us the power to tell others about Him. Lutheran schools afford us the opportunity to share Christ in all things. Not only do we set aside special time in our day to study God's Word, but we can pray and sing throughout the day. We can praise and share Christ on the playground, in the classroom, in church, in the gym, in the office, and the list goes on. We can praise and share Christ while learning our letters, numbers, colors, while learning how to share, while we play with friends. Christ can be found in all things and for that we are grateful and give Him all power and praise.

In all things is a timeless theme and we see that while it is the theme for National Lutheran Schools Week, it is something that is appropriate for everyday of our lives! We as God's children should strive to do our best in all things because God is in all things. And when we fall short, we know that in all things God still loves us and forgives us! So let us with reckless abandon serve God in all things and share with others His mighty love and grace!

In His Service,

Jennifer Leinss

Our second trimester of Sunday school offerings will be going to Zambia! We have the opportunity along with our preschool students to participate in a global adventure through the wonderful program Gospel Adventures by Lutheran Hour Ministries. Students will get the opportunity to meet kids from Zamiba, see how they live, work, and play. Most importantly we will get to see how they love the same Jesus that we do! Offerings collected will support the furthering of the Gospel in Zambia. With our offerings Christians there will be able to host Vacation Bible School, youth programs, workshops, and reach out to youth in need! If you feel so inclined to give, there will be a collection bin in the narthex!

If you have any questions regarding the Call process or where we stand in it, please feel free to reach out to the Call Committee Chairperson-Bob Kunz at 262-227-2617. You may also speak with any of the Call Committee Members- Melissa Best, Jim Burow, Mark Filter, Diane Gihring, Sean Malone, Jayne Rosenberg. Jennifer Leinss and Jaime Greene also serve as advisory members.

SCRIP is an ongoing fundraiser in which you can purchase gift cards for various retailers at face value, and we are able to order them at a discounted rate. The result is a profit for us to use in many different educational ways! You can purchase the cards in two ways-by visiting the table near the hallway to purchase cards immediately, or by using the order form that is attached. Orders are placed on Monday mornings and are available for pick up on Thursdays.

While SCRIP cards do make great gifts, they also work great for those everyday purchase like gas and groceries. You can also use some of the cards (like Kohls and JCPenny) to pay off your store credit cards.

We begin a New Year of Special Missions supporting the publication of two devotions books, the first is “Recipes of Love” and is for families with school-aged children. The second is called “Get Up And Walk.” It contains devotions for children that are sick – especially those undergoing extensive medical treatments. Both will be published in Portuguese, by Concordia Publishing House of Porto Alegre, Brazil.

For the past 15 years Blessed Savior has sponsored the publications of theological books, children’s Bible Story books and daily devotional books in Portuguese. These are distributed not only in Brazil but anywhere in the world where Portuguese is spoken. The Lord bless our joint efforts to His glory and the benefit of the church!