Announcements for Sunday, June 21
INSIDE: Juneteenth • Sending Sunday • Outdoor Worship
Sending Sunday
THIS Sunday, June 21, at the 10am service, we invite everyone, especially those participating in Faith Webs, to help send off and bless our middle school, high school and all-ages service trips as they head out to their various destinations in July!
Join us for Worship!
Sunday Worship, June 21:
8am: live stream at 1stlu.org/live, and in-person. Nursery available.
10am: outdoor worship in-person. Current forecast for Sunday morning: Cloudy and 66º, with a 24% chance of rain. If rain threatens, worship will move indoors. NOTE: due to being outdoors, there is no live stream of the second service this weekend.
Juneteenth Celebration
La Crosse’s annual Juneteenth celebration! Uniting all members of the community in celebration of Black Americans!! Fun, food, entertainment, history, education and connection. At Riverside Park THIS Saturday, June 20, noon–8pm.
Outdoor Worship and Potluck
First will worship outdoors on Fifth Ave for the second service once a month during the summer, on the following Sundays, weather permitting…
June 21, 10am
July 26, 10am
August 16, 10am
Bring your own lawn chairs, perhaps a hat to shade your eyes, and a side dish to share at the potluck (though everyone is welcome at the potluck even if you don’t bring anything!). If the weather's bad that day, we'll move inside. NOTE: There is no live stream of the 10am outdoor service.
Monday Night Community Meals
For many years, Trinity Lutheran Church on the north side of La Crosse has hosted a meal on Monday nights. First Lutheran helps with this important community ministry, by preparing a meal, serving the food, and cleaning up. We need people to plan and prepare the meal to feed 150-200 people, and folks to serve the meal (5-6pm) and help with cleanup. Meal prep can be done at your convenience. Many times people prepare the main course a week ahead, freeze it, and reheat it. Food for the meal can be gotten at no charge from the Hunger Task Force in La Crosse. New for 2026: Cookie bakers! Help bake a batch of 4 dozen cookies! NEXT: June 22. Sign up at 1stlu.org/next.
Knitters
Prayer shawl knitters meet every Tuesday at 2pm in the narthex. Open to all!
OWLs
For their June outing, the OWLs (our Older Wiser Lutherans at First, for anyone 55+) will be attending a La Crosse Concert band performance at Riverside Park. on Wednesday June 24. The theme for the La Crosse Concert Band performance will be “No Strings Attached.” Expect a mix of patriotic, classical and contemporary American compositions that highlight our rich musical heritage. We will meet at the church at 4:30pm. and have a fine dinner at The Big Lady (used to be David Reay's) before heading to the park. Bring a folding lawn chair if you don’t like to sit on the park benches. The concert is free and dinner is on your own. If you would like to attend, connect with volunteer coordinator Brian Narveson at 630-816-5917 or owls@firstlu.org. The outing will go rain or shine as it is transferred to a local high school in event of rain.
Summer Book Read
Join Pastor Karyn and Pastor Libby (and thousands of others across the country) in a Summer Book Read this June! The book? Communion by Bell Hooks. In this third book of her trilogy on love in American culture, Bell Hooks reveals how women of all ages can achieve emotional growth and bring love into every aspect of their lives, for all the years of their lives. This is not another self-help, find your man, book. This book explores how vital love, in all its forms, is to our lives as women.
Each person is responsible for purchasing their own book. Support our local bookstores by purchasing it from them, or check it out from the library! How it will work: We will read the book during the month of June and gather on June 24, at 7pm in the Upper Room to discuss the book together. Sign up at 1stlu.org/next.
Upcoming Office Closures
The office will be closed on Friday, July 3, in observance Independence Day.
Young Youth Dog Days
On Wednesday, July 8 at 11am our Young Youth (for children in grades K–5) will meet at the Coulee Region Humane Society for a tour and to learn how we can help be good stewards of God’s faithful creatures. Then we will do a service project to help the shelter. This event is limited to 12 children so RSVP via email early to ensure your spot: katie@firstlu.org.
Summer Music Outings & Picnics
This summer, join others from First Lutheran at area music events. We will meet for a potluck picnic before the event, and then enjoy some good local music. Most of the events will feature musicians from First Lutheran or friends of First Lutheran. Looking forward to seeing you there!
July 9: Matt Mahlum Band at Moon Tunes (5:30pm at Riverside Park). First Lutheran potluck picnic at 5pm.
July 19: La Crosse Jazz Orchestra at Jazz in the Park (7pm at Riverside Park, feat. Cori and Sara on vocals). First Lutheran potluck picnic at 6:30pm.
August 13: Fayme Rochelle and the Waxwings at Moon Tunes (5:30 at Riverside Park, feat. Todd Saner on vocals). First Lutheran potluck picnic at 5pm.
August 18: Fly Casual at Great River Sound (6:30 at Dash Park) First Lutheran potluck picnic at church at 5:30pm.
August 20: Saner and Gibbs at Moon Tunes (5:30 at Riverside Park) First Lutheran potluck picnic at 5pm.
Synod Night at the Loggers
Join your friends, neighbors, and fellow synod members at the "Lumberyard" on July 12 for a fun-filled Synod Night Out of food, fellowship, and La Crosse Loggers baseball! Learn more & register.
Lead Sunday School & VBS
There are opportunities to serve as a Sunday School teacher and a leader in VBS. A Sunday School teacher is a commitment of 1 or 2 weekends a month in which you connect with our congregation's children. It is super easy with the curriculum. VBS is another way to connect, this is so fun and is high energy. If you like to play games or would like to help organize or help in any way, please consider! Contact Pastor Stanton: jason@firstlu.org.
Vacation Bible School!
Plan to be here for Vacation Bible School this summer, Monday, Aug. 3, through Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. Invite your neighbors! For 4K through Grade 5 in the fall (3-year-olds are welcome to attend in the nursery). Learn more at 1stlu.org/next.
Mini Donut 5K in Honor of Branden Brownrigg
Every year the 5k portion of the local Mini Donut races honors a local person who was lost to suicide, and the money raised is used to educate the community in the hope of awareness and prevention. The Brownrigg family would love to have members of our church support them at this event on Sept 12, honoring their son Branden Brownrigg. Registration for the event is still open and typically sells out by August. More info and reg can be found at 1stlu.org/minidonut.
New-Member Social
By choosing to become a member, individuals and families commit to being part of a shared mission. People who would like to become members of First Lutheran are invited to a social at Coulee Golf Bowl on Thursday, Oct. 8, 6pm, where you will get to know more about First and the staff in a relaxed atmosphere. To register your family or ask questions, call our church office at 608.783.2236 or email office@firstlu.org.
Behind the Scenes Changes
As Pastor Stanton mentioned in his message in church on Sunday, May 31, we currently ask members to use several different platforms in order to participate in the ministries at First Lutheran. In an effort to make signing up and registering for events and opportunities easier for everyone, and to bring giving history, signups and more all under one roof, we will be making some big changes to how we manage our membership data and our giving platform this summer. A few of the areas this will affect will be:
Membership: we’ll be migrating our membership roles from our current platform to our new platform sometime in June.
Website: as of right now we have no plans to change our website provider, but the look will change a bit as we integrate it with our new platform.
Church app: the new platform offers a church app, which we will be working on throughout the summer and hope to launch at First Fest this fall.
Giving: the platform we use for giving will be changing, and we’ll be asking members to switch their giving to this new platform later in 2026.
Signing up/registering: we will be ending our use of Signup Genius and will be transferring our sign ups to our new platform later in 2026.
We intend to make our migration over the summer, and to start a staggered rollout of features starting in the fall.
⚠️ June 9 Update: Current Online Directory
With the above changes in mind please note: As of June 9, we have migrated our data into the new platform, and therefore any changes made in our current (old) online directory will not be reflected in our new system, and will need to be re-entered. Our apologies for this inconvenience while we make this transition.
⚠️ June 11 Update: Joining of Accounts
The following was emailed to all members willing to receive emails: As we make the migration in giving, one thing you can expect in short order is an email from our new platform (Planning Center) stating that your accounts have been joined. The email will have the subject line "Your Donor Accounts Have Been Joined" and will be sent from no-reply@churchcenter.com. Please know this is not spam; this is us, at First, making necessary changes to your account on our new platform as we make the migration, and much like your bank, our new platform wants to make certain you are aware of the changes being made. No action is needed on your part, unless you don't want to have your household giving joined together; if that is the case, please let Jess know at office@firstlu.org.
Ride to Church Ministry
If you would like a ride to church for Sunday morning, Wednesday evening, or for a ministry at any other time of the week, you can now connect with Bridget, our volunteer ride coordinator, to schedule a free ride. Do so by emailing ride@firstlu.org or by calling the church office at 608.783.2236 48+ hours in advance; rides for Sunday need to be scheduled by Thursday. More details at firstlutheranonalaska.org/ride.
Fundraising to Support Our Youth
Your weekly groceries, gas, and shopping money can support youth ministry! Scrip cards are often sold in the narthex on Sundays between services, and are also available in the church office M–F, during office hours. We have Festival, Kwik Trip, Walmart and Woodman's cards. To find out what's currently available and when you can buy them, call the church office at 608.783.2236 or send email to office@firstlu.org.
OASIS Respite Program
OASIS is a weekly program for people in the beginning to mid-stages of dementia, Alzheimer's, and other brain-related diagnoses. This respite time provides socialization, brain enrichment and activities while the person's caregiver gets a much-needed four-hour break. The suggested donation is $20 per visit for the activities and a nutritious lunch. OASIS is an outreach program of Causeway Caregivers and can be reached at 608-780-0417.
Regarding Hospital Visits
For Emplify & Mayo: Our goal is to visit each member at the hospital. It is important that you or a family member contact us directly at the church office: 608.783.2236. Neither hospital gives out information regarding who is hospitalized.
Sunday School
Sunday School resumes on Sept. 13. Have a blessed summer!
More info and registration: 1stlu.org/sunschool
Confirmation
Grade 8–10 confirmation orientation will be Sunday, Aug. 16.
More info and registration: 1stlu.org/confirm.
