Monday, April 12, 2010 ♦ 7 p.m.
Milwaukee Bucks vs. Atlanta Hawks

Fan Appreciation Night—all fans in attendance will receive the official full color collectible 2009-10 Bucks team photo. Surprises throughout the night!

Upper level $37 seats are only $10!

This year's theme is "Living the Adventure... with the Heroes of the Faith" in the context of teaching, learning social skills, and building caring relationships with each other. These workshops will assist you in enhancing the faith development and worship experiences of the children entrusted to you. Faith development teaching strategies with:

• Make and take activities
• New fingerplays, chants and songs
• Opening and closing worship ideas

The 2010 spring pastors' conference will be held at the Olympia Resort and Conference Center in Oconomowoc.  The theme for the conference is "Healthy Pastors Out of the Box."  The presenter, Jim Galvin, is an organizational consultant specializing in strategy, change and leadership development for faith-based nonprofits. To prepare for the conference, please read Leadership and Self-Deception, the 2010 edition, put out by the Arbinger Institute. You can find it on Amazon.com or order from any bookstore. Olan Mills will take photos for a new SWD pastor pictorial directory. 

Immediately following the conference, a pre-retirement seminar is being held at the Olympia resort.

April 23-25 and April 30-May 2, 2010, are the dates set for spring work weekends at Camp LuWiSoMo in Wild Rose. Without staff, many volunteers are needed to prepare the grounds—please share the word. Projects include cutting firewood for the campground; piers at the lakefront; general maintenance; running electrical and water lines at the campground. 

Volunteers are asked to donate $25 for food and lodging for the weekend as there is no staff and food will need to be purchased and prepared. For reservations, contact Craig Hillman by e-mail or at (608) 524-6448. Persons willing to help in the kitchen may contact Janey Heckendorf. 

If you are a modern-day “senior,” you won’t want to miss this year’s Gathering at Cedar Valley! The theme this year is “God’s Gifted Seniors—Yesterday and Today.” Cedar Valley Retreat and Conference Center is located about 10 miles west of West Bend. There is a $65 registration fee, with the option of coming the evening of May 18 (at additional cost) for a dinner and fireside chat with Rev. Mark Jeske. Brochures with registration materials will be available by mid March at your church, by mail, and online.

April 14, 2010 • Locations in Oconomowoc and Milwaukee
Concordia Plan Services and the SWD are conducting two pre-retirement workshops for professional church workers and their spouses to help them better understand the process of planning for retirement. These introductory workshops will include information on budgeting and finance, retirement income, envisioning retirement lifestyle, health concerns, where to live and what to do with your time in retirement.

National Lutheran School Funding Academy and Funding Academy Webinars
LCMS School Ministry has announced the availability of three Funding Academy options for 2010. the three programs being offered are: Funding Academy I, Funding Academy II and a series of Funding Academy webinars.

In the event of a disaster, by federal mandate any volunteers responding to the disaster must be trained and certified or they will be turned away. Our Synod’s program complies with all of the federal government’s criteria for this certification. If you are interested in this kind of in-depth training to become a certified disaster team member, you may be interested in "Lutheran Early Response Training" (LERT) offered in the South Wisconsin District this spring at Good Shepherd, 4311 104th St., Pleasant Prairie, on April 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Country Springs Hotel, Pewaukee  ♦  April 24, 2010
The theme for this the retreat is "Forgiveness," presented by Gary Janetzke.

Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible: Ancient Artifacts, Timeless Treasures brings together archaeological objects and manuscripts to tell a story 2,000 years in the making. Witness actual Dead Sea Scrolls and other early biblical artifacts to learn how transmission of these early writings has shaped the beliefs of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.