WE ConnectJULY 2013

WE Volunteersp. 6

BelizeA Journal Filledwith Hopep. 4-5

18035 Oak St., Omaha, NE 68130 402.952.4473

www.WatersEdgeOmaha.com

Prayer Requests: visit weprayomaha.com Hospitalizations/Illness:

e-mail info@watersedgeomaha.com Summer Office Hours:

Monday-Thursday: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Friday: Closed

2 www.WatersEdgeOmaha.com

CalendarJULY

6 High School Mission Trip

7 Worship @ 9 & 10:30 a.m. Planning the Excursion

14 Worship @ 9 & 10:30 a.m. Taking a Detour

18 High School Youth Volunteer Night at The Hope Center for Kids

21 Worship @ 9 & 10:30 a.m. Losing Your Baggage

28 Worship @ 9 & 10:30 a.m. ETA

Middle School Mission Trip

AUGUST

4 Worship @ 9 & 10:30 a.m. Back to Reality

11 WE Serve

Dozens of adult small groups meet at various days, times, and locations during the week. Contact jill@watersedgeomaha.com for additional information.

SAVE THE DATES

WE ServeSunday, August 11

More details to come on service projects in our community.

Oklahoma Mission TripLabor Day Weekend

Details to come.

Dear Water’s Edge Family,

We want to thank you so much for your donations and your time to tear down our old deck and build our brand new deck. Your support is a huge blessing to our home. Thank you for your time to teach and encourage our guys to help build the deck. They loved the opportunity to be part of this project. We truly and sincerely appreciate all of your hard work and dedication to seeing this big project through.

We also want to give an extra thanks to Tim Tucker and Mike Gee for taking extra time out of their busy schedules to come back to finish the deck after the main deck building day.

Sincerely, Release Ministries Boys’ Home

BIG Thank You

It’s July. Or at least will be pretty soon. Fireworks. Picnics. Swimming. Vacation Bible School. A few days of vacation—hopefully. It’s a busy time at the church. Lots of praying and planning and preparing. Getting ready for the mid-August to Christmas Eve rush. School starts in mid-August and so do the youth groups. Small groups will begin again after Labor Day. A new, Sunday evening worship service will start in September. Third graders will be getting their Bibles. We are sending a team to Oklahoma City and Uganda. The fall stewardship campaign to fund our vision will con-clude right before Thanksgiving. And we’ll do a bunch of Christmas Eve services again this year.

Fall is my favorite time of year. Cool nights give welcome relief to warm days. The colors are won-derful. One of my favorite things is running through the crisp leaves covering the trails at Platte River State Park. The Pumpkin Patch is another favorite. The boys still love picking pumpkins and we still love watching them. Football games, Thanksgiving, and making apple pies—I love them all.

I am in the July of my life. I would have thought maybe April or May at the latest. But it’s July. I’m in my early forties now. One of my grandpas died in his late seventies and the other in his early nineties. So it’s July for me. Most likely half over.

I look back on January and February. I was raised by good people. There was never a shortage of love to go around. I was shy and full of questions. I painted houses and farm buildings in the summers. I rode a bike across Iowa, climbed Long’s Peak, and spent part of a summer living in Norway.

I went to a lot of classes, read a lot of books, and wrote a lot of papers in March. I spent nearly a month of my life at Drake University in Des Moines and Emory University in Atlanta. I got married in March too. Amber and I had each other, lots of dreams, some good friends, God, and not much else—but we always had more than enough.

April, May, and June were spent working with youth at a church in Atlanta, pastoring a small church in Northwest Iowa, serving a big church in Dallas, and planting The Water’s Edge. I be-come a dad in May, two days that changed my life and two boys who continue to teach me about God, love, and life.

As I look back, I’d do some of the exact same things over and over again. I’d change others in a heartbeat. But I can’t do either, so I’ll remember and learn the best I can. My coolest discovery so far is that God’s grace is both available and abundant in the good days and the not-so-good days.

I’m looking forward to the rest of summer, fall, and even the beginning of winter. Days of laughter and tears. Times of listening and learning. Building on existing friendships and making some new ones. Developing further my relationship with God. Going places, doing things, and doing nothing with Amber. Helping the boys become men. Leading a church into its vision of helping people grow in their relationship with God and with others, helping parents disciple their children, and loving and serving our city and world. I’m blessed to be part of a large, growing group of people who are creating something incredible from nothing at all.

To those in February—dream big. To those in November—finish strong. To those somewhere in the middle—faith, hope, and love go a long way and on the days they don’t go quite far enough grace is available and abundant. To all—I look forward to going through the next months with you.

The best is yet to come…

Craig

WE Connect : July 2013 3

Faith, hope, and love go a long way and on the days they don’t go quite far enough grace is available and abundant.

WE Grow

WE Serve: Belize

4 www.WatersEdgeOmaha.com

WE Connect : July 2013 5

WE Serve: Belize

6 www.WatersEdgeOmaha.com

WE Volunteers

Job Description: Each Sunday, this team transforms Millard West High School into an inspirational worship area – complete with a stage, chairs & tables, sound system and Sunday School classrooms! Their tasks each week are to:

trailer

Why do you serve on the Set-Up/Tear-Down Team?

Scott Arkfield

Rod Welsh

Eric Geiger

Larry Ortegren

Justin Mollak

Cory Carlson

Dick Hauptman

Jeff Staashelm

Michael Schumacher

Doug Giffin

David Cook

Carly Jasa

to the team, assist with securing subs and trades,

Set-Up & Tear/Down Team

WE Connect : July 2013 7

WE Invite

Vacation Bible SchoolJuly 21 - 23

6:15 - 8:30 p.m.@ Russell Middle School

(176th & Q St)

Cost: $5 per child; $10 per child after July 14Ages: 4 years old through

Middle School

Register Kids & Volunteers atwww.WatersEdgeOmaha.com

In early May, eleven men with a passion for a men’s ministry, met to share ideas of what a men’s ministry could be at Water’s Edge. Our goal is to plan an environment and activities where men can build deeper relationships with Christ and with other men in a setting that is comfortable for those at different levels in their relationship with Christ. We want to help men be spiritual leaders in their families, their church and their community.

Planning teams are working on these activities over the next few months:

We extend an invitation to all WE men to participate in our activi-ties and events. We also encourage you to invite men who are not a part of WE.

planning teams, please contact:

Men’s Ministry Launched at The Water’s Edge

”

“My experiences with the men’s ministry have been rewarding and I know that we are just getting started. My first experience was joining a men’s small group. I had already been part of a couple’s small group, but I thought this would be a way to get to know some other men in the church. It has been great experience to share fellowship with individ-uals in a great atmosphere. As part of this small group, I kept having this feeling in my heart that this is something that I needed to bring forward here at The Water’s Edge. So I organized the first ”Guy’s Night Out” that took place on May 30th of this year. Men from the church got together and shared their visions for the ministry and good fellowship in a relaxing atmosphere. We had a great response to this first night out and we felt that some additional work could be done. With the help of Ron Christensen, a small group of people who expressed interest in the ministry got together and took on some individual tasks for planning events throughout the year. These events will focus on men’s ministry, friendships, and leadership. It has filled my heart with joy to see what this has become already with our second “Guy’s Night out” and more events to come. From just the feeling in my gut that this was something that needed to be a part of The Water’s Edge experience, to the current planning of several outings. I hope The Water’s Edge Men’s ministry blossoms into great things. From a person that did not feel comfortable in a church several years ago to being part of two small groups and the men’s ministry planning team, I have come a long way, but hope to take it further. – James Heusel

Holy Cow! It’s Going to be a Hay Day!

Come Meet

Moosie!

Summer Vacation

We are in the middle of summer.

longer days. This summer, at The Water’s Edge, we are going to investigate how God interacts with people. We will look at what it means to plan and prepare for life on earth and eternal life in heaven; how to navigate detours in life; how to lose baggage and get past our past; how to not miss out on life’s blessings by

and restful.

Summer Series July 7 - August 4

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit #1937Omaha, NE

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