Announcements for Sunday, Aug 2
INSIDE: Vacation Bible School • OWLs Fly to Spitfire Grill
Vacation Bible School!
Join us for Vacation Bible School, happening THIS Monday, Aug. 3, through Friday, Aug. 7. Invite your neighbors! For 4K through grade 5 in the fall (3-year-olds are welcome to attend in the nursery). Register at 1stlu.org/next.
Join us for Worship!
Sunday Worship, August 2:
8am: live stream at 1stlu.org/live, and in-person. Nursery available.
10am: live stream at 1stlu.org/live, and in-person. Nursery available.
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.
Coffee with Pastor Karyn
Coffee with Pastor Karyn is open to all and meets at 7am each Wednesday in the narthex. See you there! Questions? Contact karyn@firstlu.org.
Sunshine Team
The Sunshine Team meets on the first Thursday of every month. NEXT: Aug. 6, 9:30am. Various jobs: cleaning, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, washing windows and cleaning carpets. Help make First look nice! Refreshments are supplied to replenish your reserves! Dues are free! Questions? Contact Dan at dan@firstlu.org.
OWLs
The OWLs (our Older Wiser Lutherans at First, for anyone 55+) will fly on Thursday, Aug. 6 to Lanesboro to see Spitfire Grill at the Commonweal Theatre. They will leave the church at 3:45pm and have dinner in Lanesboro before the play. Cost: $40, dinner on your own. RSVP to Brian Narveson by Monday, Aug. 3 at owls@firstlu.org / 630-816-5917.
New Synod-Wide Zoom Text Study
Whether you are a lay preacher, a pastor looking for a summer backup, or just a curious learner, you are invited to our new, casual Zoom Text Study! Facilitated by Pastor Carrie Anderson, this drop-in space is designed to fit busy schedules—especially for lay leaders who work during the week. Come when you can, leave when you must, and bring your questions!
When: Sunday evenings
Summer Dates: Aug. 9 & 23
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!
Aug. 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.
Aug. 18: Fly Casual at Great River Sound (6:30 at Dash Park) First Lutheran potluck picnic at church at 5:30pm.
Aug. 20: Saner and Gibbs at Moon Tunes (5:30 at Riverside Park) First Lutheran potluck picnic at 5pm.
Confirmation Orientation
For students in grades 6–10 and their parents/guardians, Sunday, Aug. 16, 9:15am in Fellowship Hall. Come and learn what confirmation this year has in store for your kids.
Faith Webs Thank You Sunday
Our youth have been blessed with summer ministries at Sugar Creek Bible camp, serving in Duluth, Milwaukee and Hazlet, NJ, and blessed that much more with a Faith Web of supporters. We want to gather all Faith Webs together one last time, to bless these relationships and to say thank you. So connect with your Faith Web and plan to worship together at the 10am outdoor worship service on Sunday, Aug. 16, where we’ll do a special blessing for all who participated. And after worship we’ll join the potluck and plan to eat together!
Last Outdoor Worship and Potluck
First will worship outdoors on Fifth Ave for the second service one more time this summer, on Aug. 16, 10am, weather permitting. 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.
Nosh with Neighbors for Teachers
As a goodwill gesture towards the community of our church, First Lutheran and Ona UMC are hosting a lunch for our neighborhood schools, on Wednesday, Aug. 19. Let's bless our friends at Irving Pertzsch Elementary, First Lutheran Preschool, and Headstart (housed at Onalaska UMC) on their upcoming school year! Servers of ALL ages can help set-up and serve. Sign up to donate items and to serve at 1stlu.org/next.
Thrivent Invites Dueling Pianos
On Thursday, Aug. 20 you’re invited to a fun night at Copeland Park, La Crosse for the Dueling Duo Piano Show!! Enjoy an exclusive pre-show picnic with all your favorite ballpark classics, reserved grandstand seats for the Dueling Duo entertainment and a post-performance firework show for only $5. Have a favorite song request for the Dueling Duo? Your song request donations will support our generosity partner, Hunger Task Force. Seats are limited so reserve your tickets by Aug. 14, whichever comes first. PS: Attendees are encouraged to bring nonperishable food donations: pasta and pasta sauce, tuna, peanut butter, and cereal.
Sunday School Teacher/Volunteer Orientation
Sunday, August 23, 11:15am. For all Sunday School teachers and volunteers: come and learn what this Sunday School year has in store. And thanks again for you sharing your gift of time and talents with this ministry! In Fellowship Hall; dinner and child care provided (if needed; please let Pastor Stanton know). Questions? Email jason@firstlu.org.
Blessing Backpacks & Devices/Students & Staff
Whether you are a student in kindergarten, high school, college, or an adult teaching or helping at any of those levels, attending in-person or online, God is with you every day, in every place. And First wants to kick off this school year with a blessing to remind you of just that. So we invite students and staff, K–college, to have your backpacks, briefcases, messenger bags, purses, laptops, tablets, etc. with them for worship on Sunday, Aug. 23, so that we may bless the start of your new school year!
Middle School Trip to Orchard
We will eat lunch at church and then get on the bus to travel to the Ferguson Apple Orchard! Invite a friend - all are welcome! Activities Include: Wagon rides, Pumpkin Jumping Pad, Giant Spinning Apple, Corn Pit, Barnyard Ball, Cow Train, Straw Bale Playground, 40' Slide, Pedal Tractors, Farm Animals, Corn Maze, Duck Races, Calf Roping, Lawn Games and more! Questions? Connect with middle school event coordinator, Madi: madalyn@firstlu.org / 612-327-2230.
Entering Middle School Milestone
At First Lutheran we are deeply committed to bringing the presence of God into the lives of children everywhere they go. This middle school milestone is for youth and their parents/guardians as they transition from elementary to middle school, and celebrates that each child is made in the image of God. WHEN: Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 6pm. Dinner is provided. RSVP at1stlu.org/next.
Entering High School Milestone
Jesus loved to gather with his friends, eat good food and talk about what God was up to. Our pastors, following Jesus' example, will host this milestone, providing time to eat good food and talk about what God is up to in the lives of our youth as they transition into the next step of their education. WHEN: Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 6pm. Dinner is provided. This event is for the student AND their parents/guardians. RSVP at1stlu.org/next.
Garden Harvest!
Extra help is needed in the garden to harvest and deliver food to the Hunger Task Force. 54 pounds of vegetables was delivered last week! Learn more at 1stlu.org/garden.
Changes in Worship Times
With summer drawing to a close, worship times will be changing once again, and will be as follows…
Wednesday, Sept. 9
6:15pm, Wednesday evening worship resumes
Sunday, Sept. 13 (First Fest Sunday)
Sunday worship changes back to 8am & 10:30am
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 at1stlu.org/minidonut.
18th Annual First Fest!
On Sunday, Sept. 13, we invite you to join us for worship at 8am or 10:30am, and after the second service relax, catch up with friends, introduce yourself to visitors or members you’ve yet to meet, listen to great music, have lunch and have some fun! FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, so INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!
Kennedy’s Cancer Project
Kennedy Everson, a member of First and an upcoming senior at West Salem High School, is excited to be working on a project to raise money for cancer and will be donating it to Emplify Health/Gundersen. Her project is going to be crocheting flowers that she will turn into magnets, that she plans to sell at a shop in West Salem, First Fest at church, and various other events throughout the year. She would love help from all of us in the form of 1) donations of specific yarn and 2) donations of money to help buy the yarn. The type of yarn she is using is 100% cotton number 4 medium. Donations of yarn can be dropped off in the laundry basket in the Narthex. Thank you so much for your consideration with this project!
Confirmation Guides
You don’t need to know the Bible backwards & forwards & you don’t need a seminary degree. Just a heart for the youth of our church & an hour each week to spend with our confirmation youth. Parents, grandparents, godparents or any faith-mature adult is welcome to facilitate conversation and build relationships between our confirmands on Wednesday nights. Contact Pastor Stanton to nominate someone: jason@firstlu.org / 608.783.2236.
Baptismal Preparation
The next baptism preparation session will be Saturday, Oct. 3, at 10am in the narthex for anyone who is considering or has scheduled a baptism. To register or ask questions call the church office at 608.783.2236 by Sunday, July 26. Min. attendance required: 2 families.
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.
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: Oct. 19. Sign up at 1stlu.org/next.
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 (Church 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. Please note, you will not see any giving activity prior to June 30, 2026 if you check your balance using the link provided in the email. Giving will be tracked in Church Center starting July 1st.
⚠️ June 29 Update: New Sources of Communication
Communication sources: Going forward, expect to receive church communications from the following domains and numbers…
@01stlu.clrsmail.com
@churchcenteronline.com
(608) 544-0853
Emails/texts coming from these new locations may initially get filtered to spam; please add these to our contact info in your phone.
HELP ministry
The Health Equipment Lending Program (HELP) is a ministry offered by Holmen Lutheran Church. People can borrow health-care equipment, ranging from crutches, walkers and wheelchairs to commodes and shower chairs. Also available are items to keep, such as transfer belts, braces and disposable briefs. For more information, contact Mary Nicolai at 608-498-0439 (text or leave a voicemail).
Salvation Army: Serving Hope, One Meal at a Time
The Salvation Army shelter in La Crosse provides 64 residents stability and an opportunity to get their feet back underneath of them and planted on solid ground. One of the ways this is done is by providing 3 meals a day. Each and every day, volunteers are needed at The Salvation Army La Crosse to help serve these warm, nourishing meals to those who need them most. These volunteers share their love and kindness with those they are serving. In addition to this, we welcome members of the community facing food insecurity to get a lunch each day of the week. In June, we served an average of 130 community meals each day. These meals are made possible by the compassion and service of volunteers—offering not only nourishment, but hope. If you are interested in learning more about how volunteers help us serve the community, please go online at centralusa.salvationarmy.org/lacrosse or call Rick at 608-782-6126 ext. 226 for more info.
Subscribe to Living Lutheran
Living Lutheran has brought back its print magazine publication. The storytelling you know and love will appear in mailboxes with four issues each year (spring, summer, winter and fall). Subscribe for the latest news, reflections and stories from the ELCA. Visit livinglutheran.org/subscribe to set up an individual subscription. If you have already subscribed – thank you!
Advocacy and Public Policy
Wondering how you can make your voice heard? Not sure how to call your elected leader or what you should say once you have them on the phone? There are two organizations that align with our values that can help!
The Lutheran Office of Public Policy Wisconsin Action Center has all the tools you need to take action on the state level. Find them at loppw.org/action.
ELCA Advocacy has all the tools you need to take action on the national level. Find them at: elca.org/how-we-serve/elca-in-society.
Direct Thrivent Choice Dollars to First Teen Clothes Closet
If you are a Thrivent member, you can make a profound impact by directing your Choice Dollars to the First Teen Clothes Closet (listed in the catalog under our exact name).
Our Mission: We provide area teens in need with free, quality, teen-style clothes, shoes, winter coats, and toiletries. We aim to give middle, high school, and college-aged youth a shopping experience where they feel nurtured, valued, and empowered to choose their own outfits.
Our Belief: Every teenager deserves to wear clothes that make them feel good about themselves.
Our Values: Our work is rooted in the Gospel, which commands us to clothe the naked, love our neighbor, and work for justice.
Your donation will be used directly to keep our doors open and operations running smoothly.
— The First Teen Clothes Closet Steering Committee
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.
