The 2010 Silent Auction Is Sat. Feb. 13!                      by Erin G.

The Silent Auction is right around the corner, and I for one am excited! As most of you know, the COTS Silent Auction is near Valentines Day - this year it is Saturday, February 13th from 5:30 - 8:30 - with a Valentines Day theme. But don't worry, it is not just for romantics. Three fabulous charities benefit from this wonderful event: Legacy Ministries, World Vision and African women who make beautiful jewelry. 100% of the proceeds from the dinner and auction portions of the event are split evenly between Legacy Ministries and World Vision while the money for African jewelry is kept separate and goes directly to the women who lovingly make the jewelry in Kenya.

Many of the wonderful things about the Silent Auction will remain the same, including beautiful art for sale (such as the items pictured on this page). But don't get too complacent because we've got some exciting changes this year too! A quilt raffle that you've all been buying tickets for months will finally happen, and instead of a dessert bar, we'll have tasty desserts with dinner. Also, many baked goods will be auctioned off through the evening. That brings me to the final change I’ll mention, which is that we'll have two auction ending times: 7:30 and 8:30. You'll just have to come to see what else is different this year!

There will also be a delicious dinner of lasagna, garlic bread, salad and dessert for only $5, so you won't want to miss that! And we always have fabulous live music including this year, Knocknasheega Celtic Band and the Texas Swing Kings (complete with swing dancing).  Art demonstrations will showcase many of our artistically talented brothers and sisters in Christ.

Don't forget to invite your friends, co-workers, family members and neighbors; people from outside of our church body are what really make this event a huge success, and personal invitations are what truly get people those people there. Luckily its a fabulous, exciting, fun, delicious, enticing, and rewarding event, 'cause that makes it mighty easy to feel good about inviting people to it.  I can't wait to see you all there!

Legacy Quilt at the Home Show 

With the Silent Auction almost here, the final push to sell raffle tickets is in motion. The quilt will be on display at this year’s Wichita Home show, this week, February 4-7 at Century II. Wilt and Tina D. are hanging it in their booth to help us sell more tickets! Please stop by and take a look. If you would like to help out at the booth, please contact Wilt. And of course, tickets will still be on sale here at COTS as well. Get them before they’re gone!

Why Observe Lent?                                                   by Meme O.

Lent is the season before Easter when we are prompted to look at our inner lives and to move closer to God.   Changing a routine can help. If I’m not doing something I usually do, or am doing something different, it can remind me to think of God.  In other traditions, fasting from food items is often associated with Lent.  We also encourage you to think about fasting from things like anger and discouragement and worry and to feast on the rich blessings God offers us such as gratitude, patience, and forgiveness.

Ladwigs Move Into "God-Provided" Home:  Great Is Thy Faithfulness

The Ladwig family moved into a beautiful new home on Monday, Feb. 1, exactly fifty days after a devastating fire totaled their old house.  An amazing series of miracles culminated in this move.  God brought people together, used gifts in the body, provided generous donations, and blessed the negotiations with the insurance and restoration companies. Some of the highlights include:

• The Ladwigs moved only two doors down from their old home and thus were able to stay close to the Whittemores and other friends in the neighborhood.
• The developer who sold them their new house is a relative of a close friend and was willing to lower the price on the home. He was also willing to buy their burned home and has begun restoring it.  This was a great financial blessing and also helps the Ladwigs and the neighborhood feel better about the loss of their old home.
• The new house has a separate building in the back yard which is an ideal art studio for Tim who is an artist and illustrator.
• Church of the Savior hosted a major benefit concert and congregational members gave generous gifts to the Ladwigs. COTS also worked with World Impact, the mission organization which has sponsored the Ladwigs.  These two organizations together raised more than $26,000 to help them recover from the loss.
• Many of the cloth items such as towels, sheets and blankets which were thought unsalvageable came through the dry cleaning process better than expected.  They were delivered on Monday ready to use.
• Though much of their furniture was destroyed in the fire, more than they expected was actually able to be restored.  A team of hard working and talented COTS folks   (see picture above) were able to bring many furniture pieces back into usable condition on Monday.

We thank God for helping the Ladwigs deal with this disaster in such a creative and unusual way.  This has truly been a miraculous journey.   We also thank him for using the church and letting us be part of His body at work in the world. Great is Thy faithfulness!

Missions Team Is Newly Reorganized                        by Kevin B.

Greetings on behalf of the newly reorganized Missions Team.  We are meeting bi-monthly with the goal of re- introducing our current global and local missionaries to Church of the Savior, highlighting the accomplishments of some of our past missionaries, and encouraging evangelism as well. So be on the lookout for some short segments in upcoming Sunday services throughout the rest of the winter and spring with a possible Missions event this summer. I encourage every one to check out our missionaries on the COTS website. Who knows, perhaps some more people in our own congregation will decide that is the life for them!

Why Do We Participate in the 30-Hour Famine?        by Dan O.

As a long time participant in the 30 hour famine, I realize that it can be a confusing event. After explaining that I’m fasting for 30 hours to benefit the community and help world hunger, I often have a lot more questions to answer: “How does going without food help people who are starving?”, “Wouldn’t you do the service projects better if you weren’t hungry?”, or even “is food aid really beneficial to third world nations?”

I suppose if we saved the food we would have eaten during the 30 hours and packed it in boxes and sent it to Haiti or Africa, our fast would directly benefit those in need. However, the unbelievably tiny dent this hefty hammer swing would make in the great wall of the world’s need would render this method ludicrous. Instead, we use the hunger we cultivate over 30 hours to focus our efforts, to remind us of the hunger people live with every day, and to push us further into our service.

Maybe it is a little silly to go and do service projects when we haven’t eaten in a day. I have certainly felt the weakness of hunger when clearing brush in zero degree weather, hauling supplies, or carrying couches and tables to set up for the COTS silent auction. But if you ask those who participate in the famine about this work, they won’t tell you about feeling weak - they’ll tell you about the new strength you can find in yourself and in your fellowship when your body is at its lowest point.

This strength is the one that gives us hope and drive to participate in activities like the Famine. Many studies have shown that economic support and even food aide cannot create lasting change in hungry communities - and they’re right. The problems of the world cannot by solved by simply giving food to hungry people. The strength that will truly change the world does not come from food, but from God and from the spirit of his people. That’s why every year we use the Famine to consider the spiritual plight of those in destitute societies, to pray for God’s mission in those many lives, and to contribute to the Church’s projects to change the lives of those close at hand. But ultimately we find that in our service, it is not only those we help or those we donate to who are changed: it is we who are truly transformed.