Dear Friends in Christ at Ascension,

This newsletter is full of news from our church and school staff and ministry leaders. So much goodness, so much that is faith-affirming and hope-restoring. Please read through it all and keep these ministries in your prayers. Read about and welcome our new School Administrator, Amanda Kokiousis (pronounced co-Q-sis).

In worship this weekend, I’ll be presiding and Pastor Rick Ertel will be preaching, since Pastors Tim and Chamie will be away leading a wedding for one of our church families.

I’ve already read Pastor Rick’s sermon on Matthew 25:31-40! You are in for a fascinating sermon as he briefly gives us five ways to respond to Jesus’ call to love and serve “the least of these.” Be prepared! He’ll even be asking for a few of you to give some brief answers to his questions, and I’ll be taking notes on your responses.

One fun surprise this weekend: our Fair Trade Lane will be open on Sunday before each worship service. Stop by. It’s through Founders Hall behind our sanctuary. Also, be sure to stay for our food and fellowship time after the services on the west patio.

Thanks for your prayers and love! You are in ours!

God’s blessings in Jesus,

Children, Youth & Family Ministries Corner

by Pastor Chamie

A Special Visit

HIKING UPDATES

Meet Our New School Administrator, Amanda Kokiousis

Amanda Kokiousis’ arrival as our new Ascension Lutheran School Administrator is, without a doubt, an example of God’s timing.

She and her husband had just moved to Agoura Hills three months before she learned of the job opening. Commuting to her former workplace, Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, had become a gas-guzzling grind — a 50-minute haul one way during rush hour. On top of that, the woman for whom she had been filling in decided to return to the school following a long maternity leave.

“I wanted to stay in admissions because I had just learned all about it and I loved it,” she says. Ascension’s admissions director had just retired. “So it all worked out.”

Indeed. 

Mrs. Kokiousis (pronounced co-Q-sis) brings a background rich with experience in church life, school administration, community service, and nonprofit organization work. She also brings a warm and congenial manner, a presence that is nice to be around. 

She hails from Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, where she recalls being  “deeply rooted in community and faith.”  Her mother served as a front desk assistant and, later, as a children’s pastor at Living Way Foursquare Church (now Life Church). Amanda helped with ministry, youth programs, and community events.  “I practically grew up in the church,” she says. 

After graduating from high school a year early – she was homeschooled – “I joined a Christian internship program where I developed my passion for youth ministry and community service. I returned to my home church to lead the youth girls’ group, plan events, fundraise for camp, and co-lead worship.”

Later, she worked at PathPoint, Ventura County Disability Services, a nonprofit supporting adults with developmental disabilities. While working with the clients there, she started learning American Sign Language, eventually taking classes and developing fluency. 

ASL is said to be tough to learn, but Amanda notes, “I’m a visual person. It wasn’t hard for me. I’ve always been fascinated by it. When I was younger it was kind of like a secret code.”

At PathPoint, “a lot of adults use sign language – some use baby sign language, just one word at a time, to get across something they need,” she says. Eventually, she was communicating in full sentences and taking part in activities with the deaf community in Antelope Valley, and, not surprisingly, making friends.

Amanda found helping people with special needs rewarding. She loved the PathPoint organization and its mission to help clients achieve their maximum potential. However, “I couldn’t move up any more there,” so after six years, she branched out.  In 2023, she started at Sierra Canyon School. 

The same year, she married her husband Theodore, and through him “became part of the vibrant community at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Northridge,” as she puts it. She is active in Philoptochos, the Women’s Ministry there, and other activities including the fabulous annual Greek festival. 

That is how she wound up staffing one of the most popular booths, the lamb chop and pork skewers booth, where you will usually find one of the longest lines. 

“My husband makes them and I just serve them,” she modestly explains. “His family’s been doing it for probably 30 years. His dad was doing it and he just took it over from his dad about four years ago.” 

(We are already thinking ahead to the next Pentecost Fair….)

With her first three weeks at Ascension Lutheran School under her belt, Amanda tells us, “I’m so grateful to be here. I haven’t worked in a Christian place in so long and it’s so refreshing to be around like-minded people. Even the language here is so different – to hear things like ‘We need to be more forgiving’ in conversation…It’s wonderful to be able to be part of the mission of the school.”

And as she wrote to the school, “I’m excited to be part of this wonderful community, to serve with love, and to be a light for our students and families.”

Welcome, Amanda. We’re glad you’re here.

Attention Job Seekers!

There are Career Opportunities at Ascension Lutheran School. Check out information for the Instructional Assistant and Extended Care job.

 Or go to Ascension’s Career Opportunities page to see more availabilities.

We like surprises & we hope you do too! 

Fair Trade Lane will be open Sunday, July 27 from 8:30-9 AM and 10-10:30 AM.

If you aren’t able to join us on Sunday, Fair Trade Lane will be open three times in August.  HOVER/TAP above to see August schedule.

We look forward to meeting & greeting you on Fair Trade Lane! 

THURSDAY, July 24, 7:00 PM, at the home of Cathi Peterson (this is not the same place that Word & Wine has met the last few months)

When you sign up, the address where we are meeting will be sent to you two days prior. For questions or such, email Pastor Chamie at . Sign up here. 

Women’s Monday Morning Bible Study: Sign up Sunday, July 27

Need a ‘faith’ lift? Come join us!

Question: Where can you start the week with joy, laughter and learning—and God and your sisters in Christ?

Answer: Ascension’s Women’s Monday Morning Bible Study!

For some 20 years, women have been meeting in table groups weekly during the school year to  grow in faith and enjoy the blessing of friendship and fellowship with our sisters in Christ. On Sept. 8, WMMBS will launch its 2025-26 year, and we so want you to be a part of us! 

We will kick off the year with Meredith Storrs’ “Brave and Beloved” study, focusing on some (for there were many!) women of the Bible who were instrumental in forwarding faith in the one, true God. We’ll explore what it means to be a godly woman today—and what we can we learn from women in Biblical times. Certainly they lived far differently than we do (theirs was a highly patriarchal society and women had no voice or worth) yet God valued them so much He used them to do extraordinary things—just as He can do with us.

Then, from January to May, we will delve into Dr. David Jeremiah’s study, “Matthew: The Arrival of the King.” Considered the bridge between the Old and New Testaments, the book of Matthew emphasizes “the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah and that a new kingdom on earth had begun.”  

Three sign-up opportunities: Between Sunday services on the patio, July 27, Aug. 3 and Aug. 10 (last day for book order).

Cost: $35 for BOTH study books payable at registration (cash or check only).

Please join us!

New for Young Families

Exciting news for parents of babies and toddlers — new parenting classes will become available starting in September at our Early Childhood Center’s Multipurpose Room. Parent & Me classes will start Sept. 2nd & 3rd. Baby & Me Play Group begins Sept. 29th. See Flyers for more information.

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The Camp Experience

Five of our senior high youth are attending camp this week at Luther Glen – one of the sites of LRCC: Lutheran Retreats, Camps, and Conferences. Word from afar is that they’re having a great time!

A Note of Gratitude

Thank you, Ascension Church and School, for your generosity!

“They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.” Galatians 2:10

Loving Our Neighbors

An expert in the law asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered the question with a story, the Parable of the Good Samaritan. After hearing Jesus’ story, the expert in the law responds that the person who is the neighbor is the one who has mercy.

We have an opportunity to show compassion to our local fieldworkers who are our neighbors. Ascension has partnered with “Friends of Fieldworkers” whose mission is to “befriend farmworker families in Ventura County by supporting, celebrating, and advocating for them.” Last week, Ascension members teamed up with other area churches to assemble 150 care kits.

We learned of another need for the children of the farmworkers. For the next two weekends, we will be collecting the following items. If you feel moved, you can bring these items when you come to worship and place them in a donation box at either entrance to the the church:

• new or gently used clothes, sizes 12-24 month, 2T, 3T, 4T

• diapers sizes 3, 4, & 5

• baby wipes

• coloring books

• crayons

Fieldworkers in Crisis– Intakes Skyrocket

From Friends of Fieldworkers:

The days following the raids on Glasshouse Farms our team has been continuously inundated with incoming calls from fieldworkers looking for help. If you are bilingual and would like to be a part of getting the backlog of intakes completed, read below on two great ways to volunteer.

Volunteer on the call back team

If you are fluently bilingual, have adequate access to a computer with internet access, and are able to commit to returning calls from fieldworkers in need at your own pace – please sign up! Training to follow.

Sign Up

Summer Sermon Series

This week we continue our Summer Sermon Series: Walk This Way… a fresh and simple guide to walking as a Christian.

Christians are people who build their lives on something bigger than themselves. They build it on the firm foundation of Christ.

Join us through August 31 as we go back to the basics of what it means to live as a follower of Christ in the world today.

Walk this Way and Pray

Dianne Beck will also lead a Thursday morning, 8 to 9 AM, “Walk this Way and Pray.” Join her – along with one of our pastors when available – on a walk at Dover/Hendrix Park and Conejo Valley Botanic Gardens.

The morning will start with a reading of the Bible verses from the past week’s sermon, which then participants could reflect upon and pray about as they walk for about 40 minutes, either at the park area or at the botanic garden area, then close with a time of sharing of what people noticed or thought as they walked and maybe talked about with others, and a closing prayer.

Thursday morning, 8:00 to 9:00 AM, walk dates:

July 24
July 31

Also, read Dianne Beck’s weekly blog as she reflects on the sermon from the prior weekend. On the blog, she gives journal prompts for you to grow in faith.

Our hearts break anew with each update about the catastrophic flash floods in South Central Texas. We pray for those who are still lost as well as the families of those who are lost, who have died, or who have experienced loss of home or property.” Merciful God, hear our prayer.

As ever and with your support, the ELCA, through Lutheran Disaster Response and Lutheran World Relief stands ready to walk with our neighbors in the Texas hill country as the floodwaters recede and communities begin to navigate life on the other side of this horrific flood. May we be bearers of the hope found in Christ alone and help shoulder the burden for those who grieve unimaginable loss. Thank you to those who have already joined us through your prayers and support for this work.

GIVE NOW (LWR)