Disciple Life Magazine :: Vol 1 No 2, Fall 2024

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MAGAZINE

FALL 2024

Simple Acts,

Meaningful

Connection

Loving your neighbor doesn’t

have to be complicated.

Mike Sabbann

shares how he walks out his

faith through simple gestures…

and how you can do it, too.

Connect in a

Small Group

POV’s from

Tongi, Bangladesh

2024 Mission

Experience Recaps!

PLUS:

Join Pastor Tom each week with

Woodbury Lutheran pastors and special guests for

Living the

LIFE

Disciple

podcast

Episodes drop on Sundays this fall on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

a podcast to help you dive deeper into the weekend messages,

Scripture, and practical application for everyday life!

Living the Disciple LIFE,

Senior Pastor’s Letter

“Contribute to the needs of the saints and

seek to show hospitality.”

- Romans 12:13

At my childhood home (also the place where

Woodbury Lutheran Church was born) there

is a red gate that leads to the front door. I have

always loved that red gate — but not because it is

beautiful or fancy. The gate has always been a bit

of a mess as it never quite shut properly, and you

would have to lift it up to get it to latch. The wood

was always somewhat beat up and rotÝng, the

paint was a bit faded, and it squeaked when you

opened it. Yet, the reason I love that red gate is

because of what it represents.

I have clear memories of hearing that red gate

squeak as neighbor after neighbor would come

knocking at the front door. They understood that

our home was a safe place to find respite from

whatever they were struggling with or to share

the joys of how God was at work in their lives.

Simply put, our home was a place of hospitality

where hundreds and hundreds of people have

seen what it looks like to follow Jesus. (Thank you,

mom and dad!)

Sometimes we make sharing our faith and being

a good neighbor so much more complicated than

it has to be. Could it be as simple as having a “red

gate”? A home where our neighbors know they

are welcome? A place they can share the ups and

downs of life and see us as we model Jesus to

them?

Our neighbors need more red gates. Throughout

this magazine you will read updates and stories

and we hope you will be inspired to see the

incredible impact you can make on your neighbors

as you live out the [Disciple] Life.

Filled with Hope,

Pastor Tom

Connect in

Small Groups!

Chosen POV’s on

Tongi, Bangladesh

“Neighbors in Faith”

Oak Hill

Campus Update

WL Preschool

celebrates 55 years!

Simple Acts,

Meaningful

Connection,

with Mike Sabbann

On Mission with Jesus:

Mission Experience

Recaps

A Joyful Retirement

for Miriam Kostecki!

Celebrating and

Remembering

40 years of Bible Study

Fellowship at WLC!

INSIDE

@woodburylutheran

Vol. 1 :: No. 2

SMALL GROUPS

One of the best ways to get connected and grow as a follower of Jesus is to join a small group! Small

groups are a place for people to grow in their relationship up to God in the [Disciple] LIFE: Connect in

authentic community, and live it out in the world around them.

But don’t just take our word for it...hear what people at WLC are saying about their small groups!

We say it all the time around here: LIFE IS BETTER TOGETHER!

“In college, AJ and I met each other and our closest friends through

our church’s student Bible study. When we started attending WLC

we wanted to join a small group to again have the opportunity

to get to know and do life together with other Jesus followers.

We decided to become leaders of our own small group!

By the time the training was lined up to become leaders,

we were expecting our son, which did not seem like the ideal

time to start a small group, but it was God’s timing. Through

our group we have gotten to know more people at WLC

including singles, couples, and families. We are blessed to have

new friends to grow with and to support us with prayer and

encouragement as we have had lots of transitions in our lives.”

-Jess DCamp (with AJ and Silas)

Disciple LIFE Magazine

“For us, our small group has been an

incredible blessing to make our family’s

faith more than just worship on

Sunday. I see our small group as an

extension of the church and an

opportunity to build meaningful and

Christ-centered connections with

fellow believers. To those who may be

considering joining or leading a group,

I’d strongly encourage you to lean into

where God may be calling you.”

-Evan Parkhurst

(with Sydney and Henry)

“Being in a small group connects our family

to the practical side of living out our faith.

It allows us to share our response to what we

are learning as well as share the joys and hard

times with close friends.”

-Lucas Pillman

(pictured above/middle photo, second from left.)

“We show up on the good

days, the bad days,

and all the days in

between. We share

burdens, we wrestle

with hard questions,

celebrate life, and

point each other to

Jesus. This space and

small group continually

strengthens our individual walks to know our

identity in Jesus, become more like him, and

help others do the same!”

-Ben Kehl (with Regina)

Disciple LIFE Magazine

I had been attending a Bible study on the characters in the Old Testament. I

had noticed that over and over God gave people in the Bible something to do.

Some would run away, some made excuses, others said they couldn’t. I texted my

sister-in-law saying, “If God wanted me to do something, I would do it.” The very

next morning at church Connie Sabbann came up to me saying she had been

praying and asked if I would lead a new women’s small group. I almost fell over.

This was something I knew I did not want to do. I wanted to run away.

First I complained, then I prayed. I agreed to try…being still unsure that God

wanted me. I signed up to have training in a turbo group. The turbo group was

such a gift, and so I then agreed to lead a group, still not feeling that I could

do this, but God could.

We started our new small group and God put us all together. We are all quite

different from each other. God has a special purpose for each of us.

In September it will be one year that we have been meeting together. They are

wonderful, beautiful, and loving, and together we are following Jesus. I could not

have imagined such a great gift from the Lord. I call them ‘beautiful group.’”

-Beth Heintz

“I could not have imagined

such a great gift from the Lord.

I call them ‘beautiful group.’”

Disciple LIFE Magazine

When Terri Polzin made the decision

to be baptized at the Wakota

Ridge Campus over the summer,

she knew exactly who she

wanted to stand up with her

— her small group! After the

worship service, her small group

hosted a party with friends and

family to celebrate God’s gift of

baptism TOGETHER!

SMALL GROUP SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT

1. We CONNECT in sharing the ups and downs

of our lives and caring for one another.

2. It is a place we don’t have to have it all

together and can be truly known.

3. We read the Bible and apply it to our lives

in a DISCIPLE LIFE DISCUSSION.

4. We PRAY for and with one another.

5. As we LIVE IT OUT in the world around us,

we look to serve and welcome others.

What is it like to be part of a small group?

How to find a small group?

Scan the QR to check out our small groups

in the Church Center app or contact

Diana Vander Pas at vanderpasd@woodburylutheran.org.

Diana Vander Pas

Multisite Director of Small Groups

Whether you are a life-long follower of Jesus or just beginning, you are welcome just as

you are! Small groups generally meet weekly or twice a month on various days and times in

homes, cafés or on a church campus. We have men's groups, women's groups, couples,

co-ed, young adult, and family groups!

Disciple LIFE Magazine

POV’S ON

In the summer of 2024, Woodbury Lutheran partnered for the third time

with World Vision for Chosen to “flip the script” on child sponsorship in Tongi,

Bangladesh and put the power to choose in the hands of children!

When a team from Woodbury Lutheran travelled to Tongi they experienced

first-hand the hospitality of a people wholly loved by God. They saw the

witnessed impact that the partnership between Woodbury Lutheran and

World Vision are making on the community TOGETHER. Now, hear the unique

points-of-view from two members of the team on the experience and the

impact it made on their lives.

TONGI

Disciple LIFE Magazine

unity. Do you feel the magnitude of that?

We aren’t simply meeting the needs of

children and their communities; we are

participating in the transformation

of both body and soul.

Nothing showed this more beautifully

than seeing young girls dancing

at the Chosen party. As a dancer

myself, I have known the freedom,

dignity, community building, confidence,

and joy that dancing gives. I had the

biggest smile (and some tears) while watching

them dance. Their lives will be different and it is made

possible through World Vision & child sponsorship.

Dr. Jayakumar Christian, a pastor in India, shared with

us that we should pray for Bangladesh because we

are experiencing the fruits of sponsorship. While we

may not be physically in Bangladesh to experience

those fruits, we are playing an active role. Perhaps that

wasn’t the point Dr. Christian was making but I think

that is what God wanted me to take away from his

statement. God has connected Woodbury Lutheran,

World Vision, and Bangladesh for an intentional

purpose. Let’s pray for that!

I’m still processing (and will be for a while) all that

God showed me in Bangladesh, but here is what I

want to share with you: Woodbury Lutheran, let us

not underestimate the impact and importance our

generosity can have on what God has set on our

hearts to do for His kingdom. Behind everything He

asks of us is a beautiful person who will be welcomed

into His family.

Through the bustling city of Dhaka,

filled

with

around

million

people being transported by car,

motorcycle, rickshaws, the top

of a train, and by foot, you’ll

find a deep gaze in the eyes of

those you pass. Bengali people

are beautiful, intentional, and

kind, with a hospitality and

generosity deeper than I have

experienced before. There is a sense

of peace in this country, despite the

high level of poverty and chaos of getÝng

from here to there.

As we traveled through the city and the countryside

to see people, communities, and places, what

stood out to me the most is that very peace. Both

Muslim and Christian peoples are working together

for common good and doing it so peacefully. Not

only that, but several denominations of Christians

in Bangladesh put aside their theological differences

and opinions and work with one another to bring

Jesus to their people, the ones who do not yet

believe. They are working in a country where

less than one percent of the population is Christian.

Instead of being isolated from one another, they are

taking up the torch for progress TOGETHER.

There were rooms we walked into where leadership

and most participants were Muslim, and yet we

talked about the work they were doing to improve

their communities through World Vision, a Christian

organization. We were met with a decorated table,

snacks, and flowers. They took delight in being in

community with us, so much so that they put a lot of

work into preparing for that time.

God is working through this peace and unity,

through believers and unbelievers, to make His

name known in Bangladesh. I can’t help but sit with

this thought over and over — I am stopped in my

tracks by it. Not because I haven’t heard it before,

but because it is entirely different when you see it

in action. God works in big ways that we can’t even

comprehend. He is working in all of us, kids, families

and communities (of all different beliefs) through

World Vision and Chosen to bring hope, peace, and

BETHANY MEYER

[ L O C A L R E A C H C O O R D I N A T O R ]

PO V:

Disciple LIFE Magazine

Radical hospitality... In Hebrews 13:2

we read, “Do not forget to show

hospitality to strangers, for by so

doing some people have shown

hospitality

angels

without

knowing it.” I am certainly not an

angel, but over and over again in

Bangladesh we were treated as

such. So much food and so many

flowers, everywhere we went we

were greeted like kings and queens.

We visited a group who is working on

managing garbage in their area and they had

beautiful plaques made up for us ahead of time

with our names on them — incredible.

Integration and sustainability... In Jeremiah 29:7

we read, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have

sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf,

for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” The team

at World Vision is certainly living as exiles in the

country of Bangladesh where followers of Jesus

make up less than one percent of the population. It

would be easy to pull back and isolate, but World

Vision is working in powerful ways to bring lasting

and sustainable change to the city by integrating

strategies in the areas of education, health, clean

water, and waste management. They truly are

equipping the community to flourish.

Children, God’s kids... In Matthew 19:13-15 Jesus

says, “Then children were brought to Him that he might

lay His hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked

the people, but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come

to Me and do not hinder them, for to

such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’

And He laid his hands on them and

went away.” The work that World

Vision is doing to restore dignity

and hope to children is nothing

short of remarkable. In a culture

where child labor is an ongoing

issue and where 1 in 3 girls are

married before the age of 18 they

are starting to turn the tide. Through

strategic partnerships, education, and

the hope of Jesus, children and families are

learning that there is a better way.

The Holy Spirit... In John 3:8 Jesus says, “The wind

blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the

wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it

is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of

the Spirit.” We were so blessed to see how the Holy

Spirit is moving in Bangladesh. We worshiped in

an international church that has helped to plant

45 churches in Bangladesh. We visited a Catholic

church where more than 8,000 followers of

Jesus gather each week. We were humbled to meet

with a large group of local pastors and hear their

struggles and victories.

My biggest highlight was how many Muslim

people asked me to pray with them. What an

honor to pray in the beautiful, powerful, saving

name of Jesus Christ. We are so blessed to partner

with World Vision in the work of Jesus. Thank you

WLC for your incredible outpouring of generosity!

P OV:

TOM PFOTENHAUER

[ S E N I O R P A S T O R ]

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