weekly email for Sept 28

I am back in the pulpit this Sunday following a wonderful sermon by Jan Woodard. Everyone loved it and we are grateful for her sharing of her faith and her message about the centrality of God's grace.  This Sunday I will be preaching on the parable of the two sons working in the vineyard. I will be preaching about how God wants not words of mercy, but deeds of mercy. We have seen these deeds of mercy in our church as we continue to respond to Ike. Thanks to all the people who continue to show hospitality and service.

This Sunday, at the 11:00 service, we will commission Stephen's Ministers and celebrate the baptisms of Conner Hill and his mother Christi Hill.  Christi is the wife of Alan Hill, a member,  and daughter-in-law of Donny and Carolyn Hill. What a wonderful Sunday it will be.

Yesterday we hosted about 60 pastors and lay leaders in a meeting to gather the leadership of our synod.  We heard from Lutheran Social Service and Lutheran Disaster Relief.  The plan for the hurricane response is still unfolding. Both of these organizations missions are to work at restoring the whole area and not specifically Lutheran congregations and members.  Thus, in terms of rebuilding our congregations and membership, this will be done by the local congregations with synod and church wide assistance. So if you have passion for rebuilding the area, give to LSS and LDR. If you have a passion for rebuilding congregations and their membership, give to Peace or to the synod disaster fund.  We have started a Disaster Fund at Peace and will be chartering a team to administer it at our council meeting this Sunday.  This fund will give direct aid to members who have been affected by the storm. We will also use the fund to give direct help to our area.  More details will emerge after our council leadership has decided the charter.

Anyone who has damage needs to register with FEMA. It is the gateway to help.

Here is our response so far to the hurricane

1.  We are trying to contact all the membership. This is difficult given everyone's schedules.  We may not be successful due to a lot of factors. If you did not get a phone call, it was just because you were not home or unavailable. Please know that we do care and let us know how you are doing.  We have Hurricane Ike report forms for you to fill out.  We also have the hurricane Ike Forum board in the narthex.

2.  We are establishing prayer partners for all who have been hard hit by the storm. This is to make sure that they know they are not alone.

3.  We are in the process of repairing the roof and leaks.  An insurance adjuster has inspected our building and we are waiting for his report. We are continuing with our refinancing.

4.  Our leadership voted to open two of our upstairs classrooms to hosting volunteer work groups from outside churches.  Word is that portable showers from the Women of the North Carolina Synod may be on its way here. LDR will be administering this program and we are not sure when volunteers will be arriving.  We will be providing the site only. They will take care of food and transportation.

5.  We hosted a meeting of area pastors and church leaders on Wednesday. Bishop Rinehart was here (see thank you below). Our head bishop of the ELCA, Mark Hanson called to greet us and to encourage us.  Many thanks to Ruth Petty and Mary Nell Wallace for hosting the refreshments.

6.  We had a community prayer service on Wednesday for encouragement, comfort and peace.  Bishop Rinehart was part of the service and it went extremely well. Thanks to Cindy Stange, Ruth Petty, Lin Peterson and Anne Joilibois for hosting.

7.  We are in the process of creating work groups to help people clean up their homes. Wayne and Anne Joilibois are leading this effort. If you would like a work group, contact the church office. If you want to help, contact the church office. We will get you in touch with the leadership.

8.  We have postponed our Appeal and the Pony Express. Our Appeal team is meeting this next week to evaluate the next step. 

9.  We have changed the "Show We Care" to an appeal for people to bring non-perishable goods and health products to the church for the next 4 Sundays.  We also are asking for monetary donations.  This is an opportunity to show our compassion for others.  The food will be distributed through Pasadena Community Assistance Ministries. The money will go into the Peace Disaster Fund.

Oktoberfest Tickets: Sunday is the last day to buy your Oktoberfest tickets. The Oktoberfest will be on Saturday, October 4^th at 5:00 p.m. at the Lyondell Recreation Hall. Tickets are $12.00/person. See Ruth Petty to purchase your tickets.

Crop Walk: On October 5^th, 2:00 p.m. at Crenshaw Park in Pasadena, dozens of Pasadena-area churches will unite for the Crop Walk. Sponsored walkers will walk either 1 mile, 5k or 10k to raise money and awareness for hunger. 25% of the funds raised will remain in Pasadena with the Pasadena Community Ministries which our church already supports with monthly food drives.  The rest of the funds support Church World Service and its hunger programs worldwide.  Last year, Pasadena had over 100 walkers and raised over $14,000.  Thrivent also matched funds raised.  This year we are hoping to have both youth and adults walking from Peace Lutheran.  It is a truly exciting day to participate with all the other churches and enjoy live music and the beauty of Crenshaw Park.  If you would like to walk or sponsor a walker, please contact David Booher or Martha Digges. 

The Men’s Brotherhood: Our next meeting will be held on Saturday, October 4^th at 11:00 a.m. We’ll have lunch at La Chine Chinese Restaurant, 10904 Scarsdale Blvd., Suite #230, Houston 77089. Gentlemen, bring your “better half” and join us! For directions or questions, call Weldon Wilkerson at (713) 941-1184.

See you on Sunday, Pastor Tart

Ike 5

Weekly Email for Sunday Sept 21

To my fellow called servants of our Lord Jesus Christ,
What a week we have had, full of fear, joy, great compassion, service, sadness, but, most of all, thankfulness. No one suffered injury from the storm. Many sustained only minor damage and loss of power. It seems that roofs, trees and fences took the brunt of the damage, though a significant number suffered from collapsed ceilings and flooded homes. We are busy trying to contact people to find out how they are doing. You know that we are here if you need assistance. I have been praying for you and asking God to continue to protect us and draw us closer.
Here is the latest.

We were a shelter for the Red Cross, Mon-Thursday. We have moved all of our guests to the Bayshore Baptist church on Spencer due to them having larger and better facilities. Our main objective was to give the Red Cross time to find a place more suitable for people. This happened. We did our duty and we did it well. I want to thank all of those who came to serve and who answered the call. We especially want to thank Lin Peterson and Anne Joibois for co-leading the effort. We have many new friends and stories to tell.

Now we move into Peace’s response. Our council will meet this Sunday afternoon to discuss what we are going to do. We will let you know what we decide as soon as we can. We will be looking to replace the roof that was damaged. We may also have to replace carpet that sustained water damage.

Sunday Services will continue with Sunday School as usual. We will have confirmation this Sunday. All activities will continue as planned for next week.
We will have a community prayer service this Wednesday at 7:00pm. Bishop Rinehart will be with us.
We will have hot dinner at 5:00 on Sunday for those without power and those just looking for fellowship. Ruth Petty is cooking so it should be good. The fellowship will also be great.

Jan Woodard will be preaching this Sunday as scheduled. I have been discussing her sermon with her and look forward to hearing it. I will be presiding. We will continue with the Women of Peace thank offering Sunday. There will be no inquiry dinner because of confusion.

The senior high youth will meeting Friday, Sept 19 at Peace from 6-10 for a meal, fellowship, movie and or games.

Congratulations to Jacob and Megan Troutman on the birth of a daughter, McKenzie Kay on Sept 18, Proud grandparents are Tom and Andie Troutman.

See you Sunday!
Pastor Tart

Ike video 4

Important News

Due to the desperate need for shelter, we now have become as of this evening a Red Cross Emergency Shelter. This will be only temporary. We anticipate being a shelter through Saturday morning. We need volunteers to be hosts and hostesses. We need at least 2 people on site at all times. There will be a Red Cross Team of six who will manage the site. We are most grateful for Lin Peterson, Joann Hutton, and Ann Joilbois for coordinating this effort. We also have others coming to ready our facility. We are expecting 75 people to be housed in the upstairs of the Education Building and the Fellowship Hall. Due to this need all activities at Peace have been canceled through Saturday. Sunday we will have our planned schedule. If you would like to help, contact Lin Peterson at 281-476-0632. Pastor Tart

Peace Has Power

I like the title for this post. Yes, we do have electric power and Internet at the church. Yesterday we emptied the freezers and refrigerators so if anyone needs cold space, please call the church office. Our offices will open this morning. If you need a place to cool off, we are also available.
I am going to spend much of my day driving around visiting homes and taking pictures. If you need me call my cell or church office.
Lots of our members have lost roofs and fences. We are beginning to absorb the shock of the event. There is anxiety about work and funding repairs. I want to encourage everyone to remember that "you are not alone". We will all get through this. The is a great time to be the church of grace and hope.
Pastor Tart

Ike Video post 3

Ike post 4

We had services this morning and were blessed by the sharing and centering ourselves on the Word and Sacrament. Thanks to John Woodard and Martha for the music ministry. We handed out crosses as a reminder of the love of God and heard our challenge to bear the cross to those around us. The people who attended the 11:00 picked up most of the shingles that have come off the roof. (Listen to my podcast for a description of the damage).
The church still does not have power, but because my apartment complex is next to the HEB I have power and internet. This will help in communication to those with the same, but I do realize that those without will have difficult time.
Our church is giving serious consideration to a relief organization that will bring truck load of supplies for us to distribute. The truck should be here by Thursday.
I will keep you informed. If you would like to help, call me on my cell. At this point we are canceling activities through Tuesday. We hope to have power back on by then. Check on Wednesday for the latest.
Pastor Tart

Mobile post sent by revdrdave using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

Ike post 3

The church is secure. Thanks to Marilyn Seich, Sandy Smyrl, and Judy Griffin for making sure our records are safe and the building and equipment are protected as possible. We collected some water for us to use on Sunday.
We will still have services as planned, but no activities. This includes confirmation. Pending the results of the storm, we will publish the next weeks activities on this blog. We also hope to do a phone tree. All depends on power.
I remind you to stay safe and to check on each other. Stay in prayer and let the peace of Christ keep you sane during the uncertainty.
God Bless!
Pastor Tart

Ike Video Post 2

Ike Post 2

A group of us are meeting at 9:00am tomorrow morning to secure the church building. If you would like to help, please come. We should be done in an hour or two. Pastor Tart

Comments about how you are doing

Please make comments about how you are coping with the storm. You can do this by clicking on the comments line under this post. Let us know where you are going if you are evacuating.

Ike post 1

Subject: Hurricane Ike preparations
Okay, Ike seems heading our way or at least near us. I am confident that you have been informed about the evacuations. Please heed our leaders’ guidance. The key to getting through these kinds of situations is to work together.
The staff has begun enacting our disaster plan. Here are some important information.
1. Communication: I will post to our website, welcometopeace.com information. We will be doing a phone tree today for those without web access. We will also be putting information on our phone answering machine in the office. I will be directing you to our Blog that will be linked to our website. On the blog you can post comments and questions. If you evacuate, contact the church office or post to the blog. If we lose phone service and electricity, communication will be posted on the office door.
2. Care for People: The church is here to help you. If you feel you need to leave your home, I urge you to go to a relative, friend or an approved shelter. They have the resources to sustain you through the uncertainty of the next week. If you would like to ride out the storm at the church, contact me at 713-992-0915. This is an option for you, but remember we are not equipped with relief supplies. So if you do come, bring water, sleeping stuff, non-perishable food, and clothes with you. We will not take any flammable things inside the church. I am not leaving and will be staying at either my apartment at The Park on Fairmont (6060 Fairmont Parkway #15208, next to the HEB by the church) or the church. Care for our people is our first priority at Peace. If you need help, contact me or the church office.
3. Care for our property: The staff is securing records and items as the disaster plan indicates. We will do our best.
4. Spiritual Care: We will be having services no matter what at Peace on Sunday at regular service times (Be sure to bring your cross). Because of the Saturday landfall, we do not have time to communicate a change in service times. This is important: Due to the uncertainty of Sunday, we are canceling Sunday School for this Sunday. I am encouraging all of us to be in prayer and use our spiritual resources to find calm. Remember the most important response to storms is to find a sense of calm so that you can make good decisions. God is a mighty source of strength. I urge you to read Psalm 46 and hear its message. Be the eye of the storm not the swirling winds and waves. If you need pastoral care, call me or the church office
5. Remember you are not alone. One of the great and wonderful blessings of following Christ is that we have our God’s help and we have each other. Peace is wonderful community of caring people and we will help each other and our neighbors. If you see an opportunity for ministry to others, do it. Call your church members and check in with them.

6. Helpful hints:

a. Do your laundry and then fill up your washing machine with water. Use this water for non-potable purposes.
b. Turn your refrigerator and freezer to lowest settings. After you lose power tape the door shut for added insulation and sealing
c. Be sure to fill up containers with water, including bathtubs
d. Fully charge your cell phone and turn it off when you are not using it. Check periodically for voice messages.
e. Most importantly have a positive attitude and look for solutions instead of dwelling on problems.

Ike Video Cast 1