For Pentecost Sunday, May 31

To my fellow spirit filled followers of Christ,

Sunday Events
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday and we will be celebrating the great mission kickoff of the church when the Holy Spirit came to the followers of Christ and propelled them to preach the Gospel. We remember how the church exists because of mission and for the cause of mission. We don't have a choice. The Spirit never ever lets us off the hook. The title of my sermon is "The Guiding Spirit" and I will preach about how, as we travel the rocky road of faith, that Spirit continues to guides us to the truth of God's grace.
We will also be celebrating the baptism of Kaylee Baker, the daughter of Lyndell and Tracy Baker at the 8:30 service and at the 11:00 service we will be confirming 6 of our young people. We are excited about this Sunday and hope that you will come and share in the joy.

Blessing of Travelers, June 7
Summer is traditionally a time of travel for many and so on this Sunday we will offering a blessing to all those who will vacation this summer. We have put up a map in the narthex and ask that everyone place a pin on the spot they will be traveling this summer. If you can think to mail a post card to the church or bring back a worship bulletin from a church you visit, it would be appreciated.  We will bless the travelers at all three services.

Synod Assembly, May 28-30
We will have our annual gathering of Lutheran Congregation in Sugar Land. The theme is "Outrageous Scandal: Living like Jesus" and we will be learning about evangelism and being re-rooted in our communities. You can go to this link http://www.gulfcoastsynod.org/SynodAssembly2009.htm for more information. We have 4 delegates and myself attending. Keep us and our assembly in your prayers.

Evangelism Workshop, Saturday, June 6, 9:00am -11:30
We will have a workshop on this Saturday to improve our outreach to the community. This is open to everyone. We need people to lead us in reaching out to others. Please come as we work on helping our church become alive with the joy of sharing the Gospel. 
We will be working on our bread minstry program, starting a sponsor ship program and brainstorming ways we can promote the Gospel in our community. Please consider helping. 

Pony Express;
So far we have collected $39000 in estimate of giving cards and donations with 29 bags returned and 10 bags left to collect. We have a goal of $100000 in order to complete all of the projects. We have prioritized our projects and we will only do projects for which we have funds. We will continue to invite people to give to this fund raiser even after we have completed the saddlebag process. 
We are very grateful for those who gave and we look forward to the results of your act of generosity toward the mission and purpose of our church to reach out to others. We also thank those who prayed for the success of this mission effort. 
If you have one of the saddlebags in your possession, please return it to the church office by June 7. We need to collect each bag. Also if you would like to change your estimate of giving, simply call the church office.  

Summer Sunday School Starts June 7

This summer, rather than canceling Sunday School for the summer or doing the "same old thing," we're introducing something new!  Starting June 7th, during the 9:45 Worship, Teachers and youth volunteers will lead a group "Word for Children" session. All children are invited to gather in the Fellowship Hall during the 9:45 hour for a fun lesson and special activities. Families attending the 9:45 service can attend worship as usual, with their young children leaving after the Children's Sermon and returning during the Offering. We are always looking for more adults and youth interested in helping too! If you have an idea for a lesson, craft, game, song, or just want to be there and help, please contact David Booher or Julie Shaw.

Pastoral Care Notes

Congratulations to Ed and Kim Buskirk and their families on the birth of Addison Nolan on May 26. He weighed 7.7lb. All are doing well. Proud grandparents are Ron and Judy Etzel. 

See you Sunday!

Pastor Tart

weekly email for May 24, 7 Sunday of Easter

Sunday Events

Today I write my email for Ascension Day. On this day we remember the great rising of Jesus to reign for eternity as Lord and Savior. The Lutheran churches in our area are gathering at New Life Lutheran in Pearland for worship, prayer and discussion about mission in our area. Pastor Kerry Nelson, our synod's mission developer, is the guest preacher. The worship will begin at 7:00. I am going to be unable to attend due to another commitment.

This Sunday my sermon is entitled, "The Great Sending" and I will be preaching about how God sends us into the the world to be agents of change. We are to bear and witness the saving grace and engage in active service to the other. We are lights of the world. We are sent with a message.

We will also be having Lutheran Process of Membership Sunday and as we journey with people as they grow in their discipleship and being apart of our community.  

Pony Express

We are still collecting the remaining bags. If you have not received a bag, please call the church office. If you have the saddlebag, please call your station agent to let them know that you have it. Some of the saddlebags, for whatever reason, have become stuck. 

We do not have the total estimate of giving yet, but it looks very positive. We thank everyone who is participating financially and those who are praying for the success of this outreach project. We also give a big thanks to all the station agents for managing the routes. I am excited about hearing the final results.

The next step is for those who have estimated their giving to send in their contributions. You may do so at anytime. You can do so online by choosing "outreach appeal".  You can also contribute by using a check and marking the envelope "outreach appeal".  Thank you for loving the future of our congregation. We would like all contributions to be in by July 30.

 After we have collected the money, we will begin the projects with a series of workshops. At the workshops we will review each project's "charter" that describes the scope, responsibilities, accountability and limitations of each project and begin planning and implementing the projects.  These workshops are open to all who have an interest and passion for the projects.  The charters will be approved at the June council meeting. 

Wednesday Morning Bible Study

We are taking June and July off due to scheduling difficulties and will resume in August. This is a great group of people and we are looking forward to getting back together already.  We study the upcoming texts for Sunday. 

Thanks to Rev. Gary Morgan-Gohlke 

We thank Pastor Gary for a wonderful Wednesday evening Bible study after Easter. Everyone who participated was blessed by some great study of scripture. We are looking forward to his next offering. 

Baptisms of Kiera and Ian Hance

I thought I would include this link to some pictures from last Sunday. The children were so excited about being baptized. I wish all of us could have the same joy all the time about the great gift of God's grace and new life. Hance Children's Facebook pictures 

Sunday May 10th Fifth Sunday of Easter

Sunday Events:

We will be blessing our mothers this Sunday and giving thanks for the gift of life for all. The title of my sermon is "Birthing Stories" and I will be preaching about the gift of life and how our church community has a birth story as well. I hope that you will enjoy it.

The parking lot project is slowly being completed. We will be able to drive on the some of the new section this Sunday. Parking should be no problem.

We will also be celebrating the baptism of Chloe Petty at the 9:45 service. She is the daughter of Sean and Jenny Petty and sister to Sammy. She comes from a family that is strongly rooted in our community and I know that her baptism will bring joy to all.

Saturday Workday.

We need workers if we are going to accomplish the tasks before us. Please consider coming to help. Many hands make light work. 

We are going to officially start at 8:00, but I will be on site before that because I am excited about how good the church is going to look after we are done. Meet me at 7:00 if you have something later in the morning to do.  I have lot of preparation to do in the offices for the painting that day. I could use some help. This is all about giving your time. 

As always I give the right to pass to people (no questions asked)  and I do in this case as well. Just because I am passionate about something doesn't mean others are. There are also very legitimate reasons for not showing up. People have guests in their house, health issues, or commitments to children, work, family and friends. Also, people give their time in many ways outside of a workday. We will make do if only a few show up. We will be very thankful for these few. However the work will not go away by itself and we will complete these tasks no matter how long it takes. Simply put, it's do them now or do them later.  Just think also of the pride we are going to have in doing these things together!

Pony Express

We had a number of bags turned in. We are hoping to have them all turned in by this Sunday. We are now aware that is not going to happen. If you have not received your bag, please call the church office. We are asking the station managers to make sure that the bags are not lost or stuck.  This is going to be wonderful and we are all looking forward to the final tally.

See you Sunday!

Pastor Tart