[DCE Youth] Area B & C Paul's MMF E-Letter 09.02.06 Three Mission Reports
Krentz, Paul
krentztx at txdistlcms.org
Sat Sep 2 21:21:05 CDT 2006
Paul's MMF E-Letter <*}}}><
September 02, 2006
Area B & C (Circuits 21, 25, 30)
Texas District, LC-MS
<mailto:Krentztx at txdistlcms.org> Krentztx at txdistlcms.org
800.951.3478
Mobile: 512.769.6734
<http://www.txdistlcms.org/krentz/>
www.txdistlcms.org/krentz/
Your Texas District Mission Dollars at Work - 3 Mission Stories Direct from
Missionaries
>From Deacon Charles Cooper, New Hope Community Lutheran Church, LINC:
"Hello Brothers and Sister in Christ,
God is good all the time and all the time God is good. The 1st Anniversary
of New Hope Community Lutheran Church will be on September 10th 2006 at 3pm.
Our congregation started first with a Monday night Bible Study for a year
and from the Bible Study, 22 new souls were added to God's Kingdom through
baptism. We used Pastor George Masih's worship service to do the baptizing
of the new members into the family of God.
As time continued along with more baptisms, the members of the Bible Study
wanted to start an English speaking worship service. At that time there were
no funds for me to lead a congregational worship. LINC explored all avenues
and resources diligently and it looked as though the worship service could
not start up until February 2006. In May 2005, the New Hope's Bible Study
members and I had the vision to start worshiping on 9-11-05 in commemoration
of what happened in New York City on 9-11-01. The opportunity to start the
service looked bleak at that time but our hopes were alive and well in the
Lord. As we remember the words of Apostle Paul in Romans 8:28 "For we know
that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called
according to His purpose." Through the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in
the New Orleans area, that storm brought about the starting up of our New
Hope congregation. After Katrina hit New Orleans in August of 2005 thousands
of evacuees were moved to Dallas and many of them were placed in apartments
close to our church.
Through the generosity of faithful Christians, our brothers and sisters in
Christ aided our church to be of service to our new arrivals and also to the
neighborhood around New Hope Community Lutheran Church. Thus, our
congregation was born. The theme for our First Anniversary is "Born Out of a
Hurricane." Jesus answered, "Truly, truly I tell you no one can enter the
Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh give birth
to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit " John 3:5-6
You are truly and graciously invited to come and praise the Lord for raising
up this congregation to His glory. This great and blessed event is scheduled
for Sunday Sept.10th at 3pm, with dinner served after the Anniversary
service.
The Peace of the Lord be with you.
Charles Cooper, Licensed Deacon -Texas District
Missionary - LINC; Pastoral Care Specialist
New Hope Community Lutheran Church
2835 Peavy Road
Dallas, Texas 75228 Church Phone: # 214-327-5462
>From Jerry Nichols and Abu Thampan, Living Waters Lutheran Mission,
Richardson - First Sunday Worship Service
"God has been so good to us. We were planning for 100 in our worship
service and there were 106! We prayed for God to send us children for
Sunday School and he sent us 7! In the Adult Bible Class there were 21.
There was one teacher for the adults, plus three teachers for the children.
That meant a total Sunday School attendance of 32 (students plus teachers)!
We had great hosts, great food and time to reflect on what things can be
done to improve our future Sunday services. It was so helpful to have it
freshly in our hearts and minds --just how to make our Sundays run more
smoothly. But I must say, I was delighted with everyone's dedication and
support on our very first attempt to have an appealing service and Sunday
School. I thank God for the facility that we have. And I thank God for the
support from those at Road Adventure. And I thank God for friends who
donated time, creativeness in preparing hand out gifts, and transportation
for some of our extra large items and ----I hope I didn't miss anyone,
because I am so grateful for everything that everyone has done.
God has also answered our prayers for restoring the hearing in my left ear.
I just returned from the doctor's office where they told me my hearing was
much better and may in time return to the level before I had the viral
infection. Yea, God!
We will not be having our midweek Bible Study for the next two weeks. But
we will resume on Wednesday, September 13 with the Bible Study entitled
"Disciple's Prayer Life: Walking in Fellowship with God". Beginning this
Sunday morning, September 3rd, I will begin teaching the New Members Class.
This is for all of our core group members. Abu will be teaching
"Experiencing God" as a prerequisite for others interested in taking the New
Members Class at a later date.
Pray daily for God to bring new people each week to our service, and pray
daily that each of us excitedly tell others about our church."
>From Patrick Mueller, Waters Edge, Frisco - Sunday, August 13th and 20th
"As your journey continues, below are a few quick ministry updates and faith
growth opportunities.
How awesome it is that has God blessed us with a new Pastor (Pastor Mark
Schaefer), and the timing is uncanny.
We were privileged to host an all time record number of souls in worship
this past Sunday (250+), and the number of children/youth among us was
almost unbelievable. With that blessing in mind, Pastor Mark is already in
high gear empowering teams and implementing engaging paradigms with our
Tweener, Jr High, and Senior High Youth. While Pastor Mark will be
concentrating much of his initial efforts on these 3 key areas, he will also
be working among us in other key capacities as well. All of us working
together is the key to being a healthy and effective body of Christ. You
are needed and important.
As the new school year kicks into high gear, and Fall sits right around the
corner (Praise God!), things are really being blessed in our midst. Last
week we were blessed with a 2nd all time record of souls in worship,
including a whopping 44 children attending children's church at the 10:30
service (and that count only includes children grades Pre-K through 2nd
grade.
INTRODUCING the Lutheran Service Book
This fall, the LCMS Commission on Worship and Concordia Publishing House are
offering over 280 workshops throughout the United States and Canada to
introduce Synod's forthcoming hymnal, Lutheran Service Book (LSB). Each
workshop will be three hours in length and will be held from 9:30 a.m.-12:30
p.m. on Saturday mornings.
Workshops have been carefully scheduled so that most congregations will have
choices as to which dates to attend a workshop in their area. These
introductory workshops are designed to appeal to a broad range of
individuals, including:
* pastors
* church organists and pianists
* choir directors
* Sunday School teachers
* church secretaries
* members of the Church Council and Board of Elders
* other interested leaders and lay members
* anyone who loves to sing!
Click on the link below to see the workshop sites in Texas.
Workshop
<http://www.lcms.org/ca/worship/lsb_workshops/01/seminar_info.asp?st=TX>
registration and payment by credit card can be made by clicking here.
If you reside in the United States or Canada and wish to send in your
payment by check, download
<http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/Worship/LSB%20Workshop%20Sites%20
and%20Dates.pdf> and print out the registration form and mail it with your
check ($20 US or $23 Canadian) to:
LSB Workshop
Commission on Worship
1333 S. Kirkwood Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63122
Retirement Planning Workshop
Concordia Plan Services of the LCMS is conducting a two day Retirement
Planning workshop October 16-17 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Houston to help
Professional Church Workers and their spouses understand the process of
planning for retirement. The workshop will includes sessions on budgeting
and finance, retirement income, envisioning your retirement lifestyle,
health concerns, where to live, and what to do with you time in retirement.
Both professional church workers and their spouses are encouraged to come.
Registration is $20.00 per person (which basically covers the cost of three
meals) plus $20.00 for each registrant to take the online Retirement Success
Profile from CPS.
The workshop begins at 9:00 a.m. on Sept 16 of which there is an evening
session. Both lunch and dinner are provided that day. The workshop
continues after breakfast on the 17th and after the provided lunch ends at
3:00 p.m. A list of local hotels will be provided those who will be
attending. Room reservations and payment are separate from workshop
registration.
If you have any questions, contact John Hirsch at 800-951-3478, cell:
512-769-6736 or e-mail: jhirsch at txidstlcms. <mailto:jhirsch at txidstlcms.org>
Retreat for Prayer and Spirituality
The next all professional church worker and spouse retreat on prayer and
spiritual formation will be this Oct. 2-4 at Canyon of the Eagles Lodge and
Nature Park outside of Burnet, TX. This retreat is for those who have never
attended this or a similar retreat ("101") in the past as well as those who
have attended and would like to move further along in this process
("alumni").
Pastor Walt Waiser will facilitate the 101 and Pastors Randy Haedge and
Steve Stutz will facilitate the alumni. All facilitators are LCMS pastors
who are well trained with years of experience in leading these retreats.
Both tracts of the retreat will be held at the same place at the same time
sharing the same schedule for meals. This means if one spouse has been to a
retreat and would like to return for further depth and the other spouse has
not, both could come and participate in separate retreats while sharing
meals.
Both tracts are designed and organized to provide time, space and
intentional opportunity for one's personal growth and spiritual formation
based on God's Word. Dress is casual and the accommodations are excellent.
This event is subsidized by the District and Thrivent.
The registration form is on the Texas District web site (txdistlcms.org),
and listed on the menu in the center.
The Annual Stewardship Emphasis
Many LCMS congregations do their annual stewardship emphasis in the fall,
usually about the same time as the presentation of the budget. This is
okay, but it can leave the impression that stewardship is more about the
budget and money than anything else. Some congregations have found that
other times of the year, like January or the seasons of Lent or Easter, are
better times for teaching and preaching whole life stewardship. Most annual
resources are adaptable enough to be used most any time of the year.
One such resource is available free of cost by going to
www.lcms.org/stewardship <http://www.lcms.org/stewardship> and clicking on
"Stewardship Emphasis 2007." Others are available by clicking on "Resources
for Stewardship" and browsing through what is available. Ron Chewning, an
LCMS Lutheran layman, of Stewardship Advisors also has a variety of good
resources available to assist congregations with their annual emphases. You
can find out what is available by going to www.stewardshipadvisors.org
<http://www.stewardshipadvisors.org/> or calling Ron at 1-888-783-2790.
Another good option for doing a stewardship emphasis is "Consecrated
Stewards," an adaptation of Herb Miller's "New Consecration Sunday" program.
Dr. Art Scherer, former president of the Southeastern District, received the
permission and blessing of Herb Miller to adapt his resources for LCMS use.
Capital Funding Services of LCEF took the lead in this process. Two
training sessions for certifying Consecrated Stewards Guest Leaders have
taken place with another one in September. A number of districts now have
certified Guest Leaders to help with the process. Congregations using the
"New Consecration Sunday" program have seen their envelope giving rise from
15-35%. Go to
http://www.lcef.org/services/capital_funding/consecrated_stewards/default.cf
m
<http://www.lcef.org/services/capital_funding/consecrated_stewards/default.c
fm> for more information on "Consecrated Stewards."
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