ROOTED TOGETHER May 16, 2007
+ " I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that
you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his
Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you
are being rooted and grounded in love."
+ weekly communication for those connected to Willow Springs Mennonite Church .

WORSHIP SUMMARY - Sanford K. Yoder brought us the second sermon in the
series,"Deposits of Truth in Mennonite Heritage." Sanford 's sermon was
titled, God's New Covenant for both Personal and Social Ethics.
As the early Anabaptist desired to be reformed they came back to the
foundation of complete wholeness of life in Christ. A new covenant is
offered from God. The new covenant is to be lived out. The new covenant
is for all believers' private and public lives.
The old covenant was established by God and the people of God were to
respond in obedience. But because of the peoples poor response, the
covenant failed. " For if there had been nothing wrong with that first
covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found
fault with the people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the
house of Judah . It will not be like the covenant I made with their
forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt ,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away
from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the
house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in
their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they
will be my people." Hebrews 8:7-10 God established a new covenant in
Jesus that is unconditional, where God does the work in love, then God picture data found, WMF type is MM_ANISOTROPIC, picture dimensions are 529 by 397, depth 1 =-->
Lemmer as she is waiting to be well enough to have surgery on a brain
tumor.

YOUTH ACTIVITIES:
Emily Kauffman, Laura Krabill are still playing PHS Girl's Soccer with
winning the first sectional game Tuesday, in Tiskilwa. The team plays
again Thursday at IVC. The JV finished their highly successful season
with a win in Dixon last Thursday evening.
Luke Zehr will be working at Menno Haven this summer with grounds and
maintenance.
E
mily Kauffman, Jenna Zehr, Aaron Kaufmann, Laura Krabill, Heidi Zehr,
Luke Zehr, Melissa Zehr and Hannah Bachman all received awards and
recognition Monday evening at the PHS Awards Program.

GRADUATION INVITATION: Emily Kauffman and Jenna Zehr invites everyone to
the 2007 PHS Graduation, June 2, 10:00 am at the PHS football field and
to their open houses: Emily's, 3-6 pm, Jenna's 1-6 pm.
Thanks for filling out the 2007-08 Willow Springs Sunday and Church
Office discernment form. The discernment committee met on Tuesday and
hopes to get the asking done in the next two and a half weeks.

LOCAL MISSION ACTION
The church board has worked together to focus our shared vision
statement. Please reflect on this statement: " Willow Springs Mennonite
Church is a thriving Community of Believers saved by grace who love and
desire to follow Christ. We celebrate life together through joyful
worship, faithful study, intentional sharing of the Gospel, and
compassionate caring and service to others." Begin to consider goals and
action steps that will direct us towards our vision. Continue with the
vision prayers. We will have a congregational meeting on this Sunday, May 20, to review
this vision statement and beginthe goal setting process.

CALENDAR:
- Sanford Yoder, Eureka, will be preaching the conclusion sermon from the
series "Deposits of Truth in Mennonite Heritage" on Sunday morning May
20th at Willow Springs. His sermon series is part of the pre-sabbatical
time in thinking about contemporary Anabaptism.

- THIS SUNDAY - - Sandwich , Salad, Dessert Carry-in Meal , following Sunday
School. - Congregational Meeting. Agenda: Shared mission vision,
Sabbatical plans and letter of forgiveness to the Swiss Reformed Church.

- Doc Johnson Ordination Service, May 27th, 7:00 pm at Menno Haven.

- Mortgage Composting, June 3rd.

- Cal 's sabbatical begins on June 5.