Volunteer

About Volunteering

God is so faithful to us; we can be faithful to him by sharing with God’s people the gifts he has given us. There are many areas in which to serve here at Ascension. Those who wish to work with children and/or youth are required to be Safe Church Certified. All the information necessary for getting certified is in the right hand column on this page.

If you would like to explore the sort of volunteering that is best for you, you may wish to fill out the questionnaire below:

Discover Your Spiritual Gifts

Every Christ follower has received at least one spiritual gift from God and possibly more. What are spiritual gifts? They are special gifts and abilities freely given by God to his people to build up the body of Christ and meet the needs of the church. One way to discover your spiritual gifts is to take the ELCA Spiritual Gifts Self Assessment.

Go To Spiritual Gifts Self Assessment

Once you have completed the inventory we encourage you to apply your top gifts in ministry. It is in using them that you get confirmation that they are your true spiritual gifts. If you are comfortable sharing your top three ministry gifts with the church so that we may contact you when specific ministry gifts are needed, please email these to Diane Kusnierek in the church office.

About Getting Safe Church Certified

There are a few steps you’ll need to take in order for you to be Safe Church certified. Each of the steps is simple—they just take some time.

First: Let Addie Behm or Jenni Klemp know you would like to become Safe Church Certified. Soon after that, you will get an email from asking you to authorize the background check — please fill in the necessary information using the link that’s emailed to you.
We’ll also send you the link to a training video in an email. The email will come from: . Watch the training video and complete the quiz that accompanies it.
Get LiveScanned. Here is the form you will need to fill out and bring with you to get fingerprinted. We suggest getting that done here:

WellnessMart, MD, 141 Duesenberg Drive Suite #3, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362

(805) 496-7148

Read our Safe Church policy and sign the memorandum of understanding also attached. Please bring the signed memorandum to the church office.

If you have any questions about the Safe Church policy, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Addie and Jenni can answer your questions.

If you want to report a potential violation of this policy, we have Safe Church Stewards who will investigate. You can share a concern or possible infraction by calling (805-495-0406) or emailing Kaylee Searway or Mara Hassenbein, who will forward your concern to our Safe Church Stewards or share with you their email addresses and phone numbers.

Thank you so much for going through the process to become Safe Church certified!

Ascension Lutheran Church

1600 East Hillcrest Drive

Thousand Oaks, CA 91362

805 495 0406

Worship Times:

Saturday 6pm Country Spirit

Sunday 9am Traditional

& 11am Praise

HOLDEN EVENING PRAYER - Wednesdays at 7 PM March 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29

Saturday (Instagram Post (Square)) (1080 × 1080 px) (600 × 425 px) (2)

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Sam's Tram Rolls Again

by Brian Festerling, SAM’s Tram Coordinator

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the SAM’s Tram service from Ascension has been pretty quiet. However, now that many of us have vaccines and feel more comfortable being out and about, it’s time to reintroduce the program! SAM’s Tram is Ascension’s Senior Adult Ministries transportation service. We match seniors from our congregation that need rides to local appointments with Ascension volunteers that are willing to drive.

RIDERS

If you’re a senior who needs a ride (or a caregiver for one), please contact me with the ride details. My contact info is at the end of the article. The more lead time you can give me -- at least a week or two is best -- the more likely I can find a driver for you. I’ll let you know either way. The service is free! If you feel compelled to give something, you can give your driver a dollar to go to Ascension’s Caring Ones to help the needy in our area.

DRIVERS

We’re always looking for more volunteer drivers to add to our roster. There is NO long-term commitment. I blast out detailed ride requests via e-mail to all of our drivers. You need only say “yes” to a ride that works for your schedule, and your only commitment is for that one ride. Many of us work and can only drive occasionally. That’s OK! The more drivers we have on our roster, the more likely we can fulfill a given request, and the workload gets spread around. This is a simple and effective ministry and we’d love to have you join us! Please call or e-mail me if you’re interested.

TESTIMONIAL

“[SAM’s Tram was] a blessing to my mom when she could not drive anymore. The friendly drivers got her to her weekly hair appointments, and occasional other doctor/dentist appointments. The social interaction with the drivers gave her a lift and became a bright spot in her declining life quality. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased when two drivers who were more frequent came to my mom’s celebration of life service. What a dedicated group of people, making a difference in the lives of our elders!” — Excerpt from a thank you note written by the daughter of one of our riders

FAST FACTS

- Pastor Steve started SAM’s Tram in 2011.

- Since 2017 we have had 287 ride requests and fulfilled 220 of them (77%)

- 69% of our requests are for doctor appointments, 9% for worship services, 8% for beauty/barber, and 14% “other”

Please pray for our SAM’s Tram riders and drivers, and contact me anytime if we can be of service to you, or if you you’d like to join us as a driver.

Sincerely,

Brian Festerling SAM’s Tram Coordinator

805-558-8076 (cell)

ps - we've had an uptick in requests and could always use new drivers.

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