Weekly Email for August 9, 2009

WEEKLY EMAIL FOR THE TENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
AUGUST 9, 2009

For a list of upcoming activities go to http://www.mychurchevents.com/calendar/calendar.aspx?ci=G1K5L6N8L6I3N8

Be sure to check out our website http://welcometopeace.com
If you cannot attend this Sunday, you can still make an offering using our online service at Contribute Online. Thank you for your commitment to our mission and ministry.

We invite you to become a friend of Peace on the Peace Facebook webpage. Facebook is an online social networking site that helps communities of friends stay connected on an on-going basis. The cost is free. Facebook is a lot fun and you will enjoy the connections. You will need a Facebook account to join. Go to http://facebook.com for more information and search Facebook for Peace Lutheran Church, Pasadena Texas. We look forward to you joining.

Sunday Events
I am returning after a great 5 days with family and friends at the beach. There has always been something renewing with the sound of waves and sea gulls for me. Thank you to all who filled in last Sunday, especially Pastor Gary for always bringing a great Word to us. Having him and his wife Carol as members of our congregation is a great blessing.

This Sunday we will continue our reading from John 6. Jesus talks about being the bread of life, but this bread is not like what God provided to the people of God in the wilderness when they escaped from Egypt. The title of my sermon is "The Great Bread" and I will be talking about the sustaining power of God's grace and hope in our lives. In order to get ourselves thinking about others, we will have loaves of bread available with a flyer for you to share with someone in need, or as invitation to worship on Sunday. Please feel free to take a loaf and flyer. We will be doing this for the next 3 Sundays.

This Sunday we will also be celebrating the baptism of Giselle Giuliana Sinisterra at the 11:00 service. We welcome Rev. Ricardo Sinisterra who will have the honor of baptizing his granddaughter. The proud parents, Mitch and Mary will also be received as members as part of the service.

We will also be saying thank you for a wonderful VBS this week. We had a lot of fun. If you want to see pictures from each day, visit our Facebook page. You will need to be a "friend of Peace" in order to watch them. We do this for security purposes.

We will also be sending off some children to Camp Lutherhill. They are Damien Gonzales, Jillian Sikes, Benjamin Stereff and Brandon Bowman. Camp is such a great experience for kids and I hope that you will continue to support this ministry. Again, we have videos on our Facebook page where you can see what camp is all about.

I have also done a video on our blog of the Executive Director, Evan Molin, talking about the Capital Funding Campaign that is raising money for much needed facilities at Lutherhill. He also invites us to be involved as a congregation. Our blog is at http://welcometothepeacelutherancommunity.blogspot.com/Be sure to watch it.


Congregation Meeting July 26 Results
The congregation voted overwhelmingly to direct the council to pursue expanding the sanctuary repairs to include improvements. The next step will be the actual cost for these items. We will have a congregation meeting to finalize the project. If you would like to help with these improvements, please contact Kenny Sanders.

Google Groups
Please go to this link for access to Peace Google Groups. Google groups is a new way for us to collaborate on our mission and ministry at Peace without depending on face-to-face meetings. All you have to do to join most groups is to just click on the link. Some you might need to have an invitation. To fully use the Google Group you will need to have a Google Account using your normal email address. Just go to google.com and click "sign in" on the top right corner and follow the instructions (I have a training video to help explain hi). The model for leading our ministries will be workshops and Google Group online collaboration. Of course, ministry and mission at Peace is always more about the Indian than the bow and arrow. What matters most is your willingness to do the mission and ministry at Peace. We are moving away from a Pastor and Staff led church, to a mission and ministry led church. We are trying to establish a collaborative environment for ministry when lay people work together in doing the work of God. Collaboration is fun and exciting and I hope that you will give it a try. You can now do the work from the comfort of your home.

Property Outreach Improvement Projects
The playground and the labyrinth group are off to wonderful collaborative starts. They are enthusiastic and are now doing research. If you would like to join them, go to the labyrinth Google group on the Google Groups page or the Playground group. The playground group is meeting this coming Monday at 7:00 pm. if you would like to join the face to face meeting.

Blessing of Students, Teachers and Backpacks, Sunday August 23 all three services.
Since August 24 is the first day of school we will have a special blessing for students, teachers, education staff and workers at all three services on August 23. We will also recognize all children starting kindergarten and their first step toward graduation. We ask all the youth and children to bring their backpacks as part of the blessing.

Rally Day, August 30
We will begin our new Sunday School year with a kickoff Rally at 9:45. We will have a new curriculum this year called "Witness". Go to this website: http://www.augsburgfortress.org/learning/sundayschool/witness/ for more information. The format goes back to the use of colorful handouts for children to take home with them.

Our Christian sympathy to Pearl Stockum and family on the death of her niece this week

See you Sunday!
Pastor Tart

Confirmation Class Begins August 16th
All 6th, 7th and 8th grade students and parents are invited to join us at 6:00 pm on August 16th for our Orientation and Q&A Session for Confirmation. Confirmation is a special class designed to help these young students grow deeper in their faith through lessons, discussions, games, service projects and more. If you have any questions please contact David Booher or Pastor Tart.

LWR Fair Trade Coffee Project
The midweek Bible Study group continues to sell coffee, tea and hot cocoa mix through the Lutheran World Relief Fair Trade Coffee Project. By using Fair Trade coffee and other products in our congregation and homes, we are helping farmers receive a fair price that covers their cost of production and guarantees them a living wage for their labors. Stop by the table in the narthex on Sunday and pick some up.

Back To School Events For Parents & Kids
We will be having a special series of awareness events to provide safety and positive preparation for another school year. All of these events are open to the public, so please invite your friends and neighbors. Babysitting will be available.

(NOTE DATE CHANGE) August 20, at 7:00 pm, We Will Have A Special Guest Speaker Who Will Address The Rising issue of "The Choking Game," and the deadly risk it poses to kids who try it. This session will be for parents and adults.

August 27, at 7:00 pm we will be hosting very special professionals from Innovative Alternatives to train parents, students and teachers in Bully Proofing. They will teach kids and adults on how to prevent, address and stop bullying in all its forms. This is a must-attend event! See the form in your bulletin this morning.

If you have any questions about these events, please contact David Booher.

"Peace Alive" October Preaching, Teaching Reaching Mission Oct 4-7
"Peace Alive" will be a 4 evening (Sun-Wed) event that features a meal, 30 minute preaching service with an outside speaker and a variety of 60-90 minute workshops. The intent is to help Peace focus on our mission and ministry to the community. We have a Google Group and invite you to join. We will have our next workshop on Wednesday, August 12 at 7:00 pm at Peace to work on this project. This workshop and the Google Group are open to anyone interested in growing our church with the Gospel and reaching out to our community. We are looking for gifts of organizing, publicity, meal serving and music. Come with your ideas.

Mission Trip Thank You Dinner
Our second annual "Thank You Dinner" will be held Wednesday, August 19 at 7:00 pm. All those who purchased "stock" in our summer trips are invited to attend, enjoy this special dinner and receive a special DVD documenting our Mission Trip and Camp Trips this summer. If you have not purchased stock, you still have a chance to support Youth and Family Ministry at Peace with a $10 ticket purchase. Please note that Wednesday, August 19 is a change from the originally planned Tuesday, August 18.

Godly Play Group at Peace
The Godly Play Group at Peace is for young children and their parents to enjoy free playtime and fellowship in Christ. It is geared for infants to 5 years old, but siblings are always welcome. What we do… usually we begin with free play time, have story and song time with David Booher then close with a coloring/art activity. We then move to the Fellowship Hall for prayer and lunch. (Bring a sack lunch.) This is a loosely structured play group where parents participate in play with their children. We meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. If you have any questions please contact Alycia at (281) 478-6070. We hope that you’ll join us on Tuesday, and bring a friend!

Choir Rehearsal
The Sanctuary Choir will resume rehearsals starting Sunday morning August 23. We are going to rehearse on Sunday mornings from 8:00 to 9:35 and sing at the 9:45 service. If you have been wanting to join the group, this time may work out better for you. New and returning members are most welcome! For more information, contact Martha Digges at 832-498-1658.