From the Pastor s Desk: Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd- Happy New Year! I say that every year, I guess a wish is good, but I have found that the wish doesn't always come true. I guess some years are better than others... maybe last year was better for you than it might have been. For some it was good and for some it was not so good. We have ended this year on both a sad and hopeful note. The Saturday before Christmas we gathered in what may have been our largest Memorial Worship service to celebrate the life of one of our members. It was a day of giving thanks and a day of tears. It was a day of remembering the depth of God's love and the promise that God is with us always. The Sunday before Christmas we gathered for the baptism of one of our young folks. She is one of our confirmation students and was surrounded by her fellow students for the baptism. It was a day of giving thanks and a different kind of tears. It was a day of remembering the depth of God's love and the promise that God is with us always. The circle of life encompasses us. We are reminded that our Lord is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and everything in between. In birth, life, and death we are the Lords. It isn't about new years and old years, it is always about Grace, about this is the day that the Lord has made. This year I offer you no specific wishes, rather I offer you these words from St. Paul in his letter to the Church in Rome as we enter into the new year. May they hold you fast in the days to come. "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am certain, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd 3099 Chapel Hill Road Douglasville, GA 30135 770-949-9522 Mylcgs.org Sunday Worship Services: 8:30 and 10:30 am Sunday School 9:40 Pastor Mike Bovingdon 770-949-2444 pastormike@mylcgs.org Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd Douglasville, GA and Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd Youth Pastor Mike
Our Council: President, Spirit Team Don Larsen donlarsen43@gmail.com Communications Charles Craton ccraton@comcast.net Treasurer Adam Holzhauer adam.holzhauer@gmail.com Fellowship Stephen Austin autorip@aol.com Girl Scout Liaison Anne Stephens Anne_stephens@bellsouth.net Evangelism, Education Linda Boynton Bossmare92@hotmail.com Stewardship JoAnne Craton jcraton55@comcast.net Community Ministries Shannon Weathers weath451@aol.com Property Don Larsen donlarsen43@gmail.com Pastor Mike pastormike@mylcgs.org Council Corner: Welcome Good Shepherd Church Family to the year of our Lord, 2019! Your Council Members wish you all a year filled with peace and joy. The Council and several of our committees will hit the ground running in 2019. To name just a few activities, our first Council Meeting is scheduled for Monday, January 7 th at 7PM. The Finance Committee will meet on Monday, January 14 th at 7PM. The Evangelism team is concentrating on a new church directory while The Spirit Team is looking for new opportunities to help the church grow. Meeting times for these and other ministry groups will be announced. Be a part of it in 2019. Please speak with a Council Member or Pastor Mike if you are interested in participating in any of our ministry areas. You are welcome, and you are needed. Happy New Year Don Larsen, Council President January 18 th 7-10 pm Daily Bread Needs: Water, Toilet Paper, and Canned Protein Adults Night Out Saturday, January 12 th 6 pm at the church Painting, Food, and Fellowship Sign up by Jan. 6th Email servers are constantly updating their Spam filters. Email sent from the church is increasingly being blocked by these filters. Please make sure you have set your email settings to designate our church email addresses from Anne Stephens, Robyn Taylor, and Pastor Mike as safe senders. If you are not receiving emails, please let Anne Stephens know at: AnneStephens@mylcgs.org.
Upcoming Events: Our next Council Meeting will be held Monday, January 7 th at 7PM. Book Study! Our book study begins again January 8 th. We meet at 7:00 on Tuesday nights at the Church! The Book we are focusing on is "Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading". Wednesday Night Dinners start again at 6:30 pm on January 9 th. The Men s Service Group: Will meet January 12 th from 8:30 11:30 am. Adults Night Out: Painting Party on January 12 th at 6 pm at the church. Sign up by Jan. 6 th on the Fellowship Hall door. The Finance Committee will meet on Monday, January 14 th at 7 pm. Confirmation Class: Friday, January 18 th, 7-10 pm Don't Miss out on our Bible Study of "The Story". We meet just after dinner on Wednesday evenings and each session is self-contained! You are wanted in this study! Dinner and activities resume January 9 th. Wednesday Night Bible Study Join us as we continue our journey through the great stories of the Bible! Our Book Study resumes on Tuesday, January 8 th. Thank you to everyone that worked so hard and/or donated to make Operation Christmas a complete success. All of our gifts, along with 10 bicycles, were either picked up or delivered to grateful families. It is always a thrill to see the joy and the family's reaction... their demonstration of thanks and love. Thanks to all who made this possible!
Book Study: Our book Study continues, meeting at 7:00 on Tuesday nights at the Church! The Book we are focusing on is "Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading". You can start any time! We will follow this with another book, feel free to share with Pastor Mike any suggestions you have. This is also a great place to invite friends... Adults Night Out: The next Adults Night Out event is a painting party on January 12 th at 6 pm at the church. Join us for appetizers, painting, and dessert. Come demonstrate your artistic talents or just to have a great time. Sign-up on the Fellowship Hall door. The last day to sign up to paint is Sunday January 6 th. Men s Service Group: The Men's Service Group will be meets on the second Saturday of each month from 8:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. Youth: Exciting News!! We are reigniting our Youth group! The plan is to have both Junior and Senior High together and begin monthly events! Watch your email, announcements, and newsletter for upcoming events! There is a sign-up sheet at the church where you can say you are interested and share with us the best way to contact you! Library News: We are in need of a flat screen television to be mounted on the wall of the library. If you have one you would like to donate, please contact Pastor Mike. We are also in need of volunteers to continue to organize and catalogue our books. Please let Pastor Mike know if you are interested.
If you shop at Kroger, you can earn funds for our church. If you have a Kroger Plus Card, simply enroll your card in the Kroger Community Rewards Program at: krogercommunityrewards.com Our organization number is: 44835 and the church is listed as: Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. If you don t want to carry a Kroger Plus Card, there is an option to give your phone number, instead of a card, at the register when you check out. You can also sign up to do this at the above link. If you have any questions, feel free to contact one of the Kroger team members in Public Affairs at 770.496.7538. Members must swipe their registered Kroger Plus card or use the phone number that is related to their registered Kroger Plus card when shopping for each purchase to count. If you use AmazonSmile, you can support our church, or other charitable organizations, simply by logging into AmazonSmile, instead of Amazon. Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. You can also sign in to your Amazon Prime account. Simply go to the Amazon Smile site, log in to your account, and you will be asked to select your charity. You can select to support Lutheran Services of Georgia, Lutheran World Relief or our church, among lots of other charities. To select Good Shepherd, type in: Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd and make sure you select the one in Douglasville. If you are a Thrivent member you can form an Action Team and help Good Shepherd with various projects around the church or in the community. For more information go to: https://www.thrivent.com/making-a-difference/living-generously/thrivent-action-teams/. Cardboard Recycling: There is a gentleman who collects cardboard to recycle as part of his livelihood. He picks up the cardboard from our Daily Bread Ministry on Tuesday afternoons. If you would like to bring your corrugated cardboard to have it recycled and to help him, please put it outside the church, near the benches, on Mondays or in the morning on Tuesdays. Please DO NOT leave it out there any other time. Thank you!
The Daily Bread Ministry: Our Daily Bread Ministry has received a grant from the Greystone Power Foundation which will allow water lines to be installed at the County Camp. This will be a blessing for those living there and allow for improved hygiene. Thank you, Greystone! Donations of water, toilet paper, and canned proteins are currently needed. Also, please save your plastic grocery bags and bring them to the church for this ministry. Thank you for all you do to support this Ministry! Stewardship: Please pick up your 2019 Offering Envelopes in the Narthex. Using the envelopes makes it easier for our counters and avoids confusion when members have the same last name. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 1 Peter 4:10 Evangelism Committee: Our Evangelism Committee is working on a new directory for Good Shepherd. This style of directory will allow for easy updates. Anyone interested in helping with the directory, please contact Linda Boynton at: Bossmare92@hotmail.com. Birthdays: 1/3 Isabella Parker 1/11 Chad Kelley 1/3 Shirley Sneddon 1/18 Susen Sanders 1/3 Joanne Craton 1/18 Diana Calhoun 1/3 Doug Stuart 1/19 Joan Larsen 1/4 Andrew Alexander 1/20 Susan Murphy 1/4 Tim Carder 1/21 Leah Austin 1/6 Doris Doebler 1/23 Jonathan Taylor 1/7 Edward Meyers 1/27 Jacob Buterbaugh 1/8 Tim Wilkie 1/28 Amanda Detraz 1/8 Lisa Schad 1/29 Jill Zuehlke 1/9 Rebecca Kigwana 1/30 Tahryn Stephenson 1/9 Paul Dammes 1/30 Cindy Wilkie 1/9 Christine Martin 1/18 Susen Sanders Anniversaries: 1/1 Randy & Anne Stephens 1/5 James & Gayle Cole 1/22 David & Jane Bucko
January 27th January 20th January 13th January 6th Serving in Ministry for the Month of January: 8:30 Guitarist: Pastor Mike; Acolyte: ; Crucifer: Reader: Shannon Weathers; Ushers: Shannon & Kristi Weathers; Greeters: Jill Zuehlke 10:30 - Organist: David Slim; Choir Director: Randy Stephens Acolyte: Emma Brown; Crucifer: Ethan Sanders; Reader: Adam Holzhauer; Intoning the Psalm: Skip Welch; Communion Assistant: Paulette Bovingdon; Altar Guild Member on Duty: Sue Murphy; Ushers: Joe Sneddon, Eric Reinhard; Counters: Linda Boynton & Jo Welch; Greeters: 8:30 - Guitarist: Pastor Mike; Acolyte:; Benjamin Steer; Crucifer: Reader: Tony Ritchie; Communion Assistant: Jason Stear; Altar Guild Member on Duty:; Ushers: Tony & Laurie Ritchie; Greeters: Leonard & Sue Murphy 10:30 Organist: David Slim; Choir Director: Randy Stephens; Acolyte: Bradlee Ray; Crucifer: Sage Smith; Reader: Randy Stephens; Intoning the Psalm: Adam Holzhauer; Ushers: Joe Sneddon, Eric Reinhard Counters: Seth Gunnells and Tarice Nail; Greeters: 8:30 - Guitarist: Pastor Mike; Acolyte: Crucifer: Reader: Charles Craton; Ushers: Don & Joan Larsen Greeters: Leila & Paulette Bovingdon 10:30 - Organist: David Slim; Choir Director: Randy Stephens Acolyte: Mallorie Breneman; Crucifer: Jackson Stear; Reader: David Slim; Communion Assistant: Gary Breneman; Altar Guild Member on Duty: Intoning the Psalm: Gary Breneman; Ushers: Joe Sneddon, Eric Reinhard Counters: Bethany Holzhauer & Wendy Flory; Greeters: 8:30 - Guitarist: Pastor Mike; Acolyte: Jackson Stear; Crucifer: Reader: Joanne Craton; Ushers: Butch Myers & ; Communion Assistant: Mary Graham; Altar Guild Member on Duty: Joan Larsen; Greeters: 10:30 - Organist: David Slim; Choir Director: Randy Stephens Acolyte: Emma Brown; Crucifer: Bradlee Ray; Reader: Bethany Holzhauer; Intoning the Psalm: Skip Welch; Ushers: Joe Sneddon, Eric Reinhard; Counters: Jill Zuehlke & Lois Waldmann; Greeters: If you cannot serve at your assigned time, please try to find a replacement. If this is not possible, please let Pastor Mike (pastormike@mylcgs.org) or Robyn Taylor (robyn@mylcgs.org) know in time for them to get at replacement. Thank you for your service!
Happy New Year! The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26