CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE: www.sactownchurch.com I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : President s Note 2 November Highlights 2 Featured Events 3 Grief Class 4 Food Closet 4 Women s Ministry Cantata Information 4 5 GS Kids 5 Military List 6 Book Review 6 S H E P H E R D S S T A F F * D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 Pastor Todd s Thoughts Once again I am taking the opportunity at Christmas time to write you a personal note from our family and to tell you how much I appreciate all of you who make up our awesome church family. The blessing of this year for us is that the whole family is now living in California! Our oldest son, Lieutenant Nathan Wallace, drove his car from Virginia Beach, Virginia to his new post at Naval Air Station Point Mugu near Ventura. When he is not flying the E2 Hawkeye, he is surfing. We have seen Nate more in the last four months than we have in the last four years. That makes mom really happy, and dad likes it also. Our daughter Joy is living in Berkeley while her husband winds up his MBA. She comes home often, mostly to wash clothes, but we will take it! They don t know whether they are going back to Australia where Moses (our son in law) is from after he is done with school. God has a plan, but we are praying they stay nearby. Official Church Acts Wednesday Night Live 6 7 When you read this, Noah will have competed at the state cross country meet. He qualified as a high school sophomore which is honestly impressive. Soon he will be working in the nursery on a regular basis at church. He is our true California boy and we are proud of him and thankful for all the opportunities that living here affords him. (Cont. on Page 5) Deacons 7 SEE PAGE 5 FOR EVENT DETAILS The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd * 1615 Morse Ave Sacramento, CA 95864 * (916)483-0451
P A G E 2 President s Note Gretchen Eischen Council President The Church Council wishes you all the joy of this holiday season and God s richest blessings in the coming year. This has been another wonderful year of mission and ministry here at Good Shepherd. We look forward to an exciting 2015 and opportunities for continued spiritual growth and adding more members to our church family. Blessings to you All! Please make submissions to Shepherd s Staff (monthly news) by the 15th of the month to shepherdsstaff@sactownchurch.com. Please make submissions to November Life Together (weekly news) Highlights by the 12:00 p.m. Wednesday to lifetogether@sactownchurch.com. November Highlights Thanksliving Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service Confirmation Operation Christmas Child
CHRISTMAS Every Sunday Every Week Wednesday Chancel Choir: (Fireside Room) at 7:00 p.m. IKON: (Youth Room) at 7:00 p.m. Thursday Men s Breakfast/Bible Study (Fireside Room) at 6:10 a.m. Prayer Fellowship (Welcome Room in back on Sanctuary) at 9:00 a.m. Bible Study (Fireside Room) at 10:00 a.m. Bell Rehearsal (Sanctuary) at 6:00 p.m. Friday FROGS (Fireside Room) at 10:00 a.m. (12/5 and 12/12 only) PAGE 7:45 a.m. Come As You Are Service (Fireside Rm) 8:30 a.m. Traditional Service (Sanctuary) 11:00 a.m. Contemporary Service (Sanctuary) 9:50 a.m. Bible Study (Fireside Room) 9:50 a.m. Children s Ministry (Choir Room) Kid s Christmas Service - December 21st at 11:00 am! 3 This Month 12/2/14: Council Meeting at 6:00 p.m. (Church Office) 12/3/14, 12/10/14, 12/17/14: Advent Prayer Service(Sanctuary) at 6:00 p.m. 12/6/14: Men s Fellowship Breakfast (Fireside Room) at 7:30 a.m. 12/13/14: Christmas Cantata Night One (Sanctuary) at 7:00 p.m. 12/14/14: Christmas Cantata Night Two (Sanctuary) at 2:00 p.m. 12/20/14: F(4) (Fireside Room) at 9:30 a.m. 12/22-23 and 12/29-30: impact Camp (Fellowship Hall) at (9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. 12/24/14: Christmas Eve Services (Sanctuary) at 3:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. 12/25/14: Christmas Day Service at 10:00 a.m. OFFICE AND PRESCHOOL CLOSED12/25-26/14 and 1/1-2/15
P A G E 4 Time to Mourn, Time to Dance If you are grieving or experiencing loss in your life this holiday season, please join Gordon and Kristi McCall for A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance, an evening of solace and support on Thursday, Dec 11th at 6:30 p.m. in the IKON Room. If you are unable to attend on December 11th, plan to join an ongoing group on Thursdays beginning in January. Gordon (MA Counseling) and Kristi (MSW) are experienced in providing therapy, death and dying classes and Stephen Ministry. No advanced sign up, just come. All are welcome, no matter where you are in the grieving process. If you need more info, contact Gordon atgfmccall3@sbcglobal.net or 916-383-8444 Sierra Arden Neighborhood Food Closet Update During October the Sierra Arden Food Closet served 281 households, 34 more than last month. It is always hard to imagine 325 children being food insecure in our immediate neighborhood. Our ongoing needs continue to be for 150 jars of peanut butter each month. We need ramen noodles, canned chili, and mac and cheese as well. We always can use oatmeal packets and fruit cups for our children s bags. By the time this gets published in most of our congregation newsletters, we will have completed our Thanksgiving Basket program. We plan for about 400 households. We are filled with gratitude with the tremendous outpouring from all of you. Many of you came directly to the closet to donate our needed turkeys and all the trimmings. We are again planning to provide holiday baskets to families in our two zip codes for Christmas. Our needs include hot chocolate packets, spaghetti pasta, small pancake mixes, canned meats for a breakfast as well as small syrups or jams. We plan to include canned corn as well as scalloped potato type mixes and canned pineapple. Donations are accepted during regular hours Monday through Friday: 9:30 to 11:30 am. have questions. We wish for all of you a very blessed holiday season! Women Rebecca Circle will meet at the home of Dolores Jacobson, 1826 Carmelo Drive, Carmichael on Monday, December 8 at 10:00 a.m. Phone 481-6633. We will continue the DVD Fire on the Mountain. All women are welcome to join us. Call us at 483-1942 if you (F) 4 meets on Saturday, December 13, at 9:30 in the Youth Room. We ll share a time of refreshment and socializing along with a teaching devotional led by Connie Van Berkel on Mary, mother of Jesus and Elizabeth. Women, please bring your daughters, babies, and granddaughters for this special morning as we reflect and dig deeper into how God orchestrated the miraculous events surrounding the birth of Jesus. Faith Circle check your Life Together for this months meeting details. Women s Gathering Recap: The (F)4 Saturday women s group thanks you for participating in the Women s Fall Gathering to welcome Elizabeth Shults and Sandy Long. Moms with babies and mothers with younger daughters and granddaughters joined in the fellowship. Besides, the Fellowship Hall never looked so good. Thank you all for a great intergenerational time of fellowship. May God richly bless the many hands who generously gave of their time to provide a comfortable and enjoyable morning.
P A G E 5 (Cont. from Page 1) For Cathi and me, the big news for the year is that we did a major kitchen remodel and survived it. I think many of you can relate. In all seriousness, we sit in our home and we know that we are truly at home. We are here, with all of you, our church family, and it feels right. So, from our family to yours, may the blessings of Jesus whose birth we celebrate this month surround you and those you love in a very special way. Pastor Todd, Cathi, and the Wallace family GS Kids There s lots coming up for our GS Kids in the next couple of months! Kelly Leann Hillman Granddaughter of Barbara Grandin. Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo Degree in Construction Management Dean s List December 5: Do-gooder 456 Kids dress as Superheroes for an evening of games and service projects. December 7-December 14th: Kids prepare for Kid s Christmas Service during the Sunday School Hour December 21: GS Kid s Christmas Service at 11:00 am. Throughout December and December: Kids who wish to be a part of our GSKid s Choir will be released from Sunday School at 10:40 to rehearse songs in the Choir Room for performance in service.
P A G E 6 Book review of The Christmas Shoes by Donna VanLiere The Christmas Shoes by Donna VanLiere is a delightful and uplifting book to read as we celebrate the true meaning and the joy that Christmas brings. The story basically revolves around two families: The Laytons and the Andrews. Robert Layton is a lawyer who spends all of his time and energy on becoming successful and in acquiring all of the luxuries that money can buy, leaving him no time or thought for his wife, Kathy and his two children, Hannah and Lily. Kathy finally tells him there marriage is over and she wants him to leave, but not until after Christmas because she doesn t want to spoil their children s Christmas celebration. While doing some very last minute gift shopping, Robert has an encounter with a young boy standing at the cash register. The boy wants to buy a pair of shoes sparking with red blue and green rhinestones for his mother for Christmas but he doesn t have enough money. He turns and asks Robert for the money because his mother is dying and he wants her to have the shoes for a very special Christmas present. Robert very, very reluctantly hands him the $5.00 he needs. Little did Robert know that this encounter would change his life. Jack Andrews is a mechanic who adores his wife and children, Nathan and Rachel, and spends every possible minute with them. His wife Maggie is dying with cancer and since she can t work he is struggling to make ends meet. Fortunately her mother is living with them to help with Maggie s care and also to be there for the children at this difficult time. They are happily involved in the many preparations for their traditional Christmas celebration. On Christmas eve they know Maggie will not make it through the night. Nathan goes out and buys a pair of sparkly shoes and places them on his mother s feet so she will be beautiful when meeting Jesus. The story continues to reveal the relationship between the two families as the children grow up. Another book by this author, The Christmas Blessing continues the interesting story of the two families. Submitted by Bea Shupe Please continue to pray for our military as many are returning home after a long war: Ryan Baker Peter Charbonneau Joshua Cole Matthew Cournoyer Blake Fair Joshua Green Daniel Harrison Michael Harrison Zachary Jensen Cody Johnstone Kevin Kirkbride Joel McMillan Michael Nolan Matthew Sirko Eamon Turnbull Nathan Wallace Official Church Acts Confirmation - 11/09/14 : Georgia Bracchi, Casey Harris, Declan Hogan, Derek Shelton, Jeremy Sigl, Tyler Smith, Katherine Stenger Baptisms - Henley G. Ljung 11/16/14 New Members - 11/16/14 : Bonnie Floyd, Ellen Haas, Kathy, Ashley & Halle Hamre, Phyllis Khatri, Mary & Dan Kroger, Sandra & Christopher Long
P A G E 7 Coming Next Year: How Are You Going To Use Your Wednesday Nights to Enhance You Life? Good Shepherd Wednesdays are revving up in January. Starting January 14th through March 25th, Good Shepherd will be running two classes: one on faith and one on finances. Start clearing your calendars now so you can join us for: The Alpha Course: This group meets for ten weeks and answers the basic questions of Christianity. A shared meal, a thoughtful presentation and small group discussion create a great venue to ponder the big questions. (Free Event) OR Financial Peace University: This class meets for nine weeks. FPU is a financial boot camp and incorporates small group discussions that help encourage accountability and discipleship and teaches members how to handle money God s way. (There are costs for materials for this class, watch for details as the class start date gets closer.) More information coming during services between now and January. From the Deacons In spiritual service to our congregation A big thank you to everyone who attended the celebration for Pastor Todd s 25th Anniversary of Ordination on Friday evening November 7. As members of the hosting committee, Deacons were thrilled to hear all your positive comments. Especially the expression by so many that they had always desired to have the experience of quality fellowship and social interaction with their church family in an environment off campus.and this evening far exceeded any of those expectations. Deacons and the committee are blessed by your enthusiasm, and your message has been noted. In December Deacons will also serve Communion on Christmas Eve at the 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. services. Our new Healing Prayer Ministry will be available on Sunday, December 28 at the close of all services. Plus, we are always available to pray with you anytime, anywhere: just ask one of us. As we grow and reach for God s will to serve you better, please keep us in your prayers too. The Deacons, Rita Danial, Cosette Gilmore, Gordon McCall, Kristi McCall, Rachael McKinney, Edgar Monroy, Tonja Sarette, Dewey Smith, Lucy Stewart, Connie Van Berkel, Mary Wood
The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd 1615 Morse Avenue Sacramento, CA 95864 Contact Us Cathleen Demant Director of Children s Ministry and Communications 834-0663 cathleen@sactownchurch.com Karen R. Ellyson Office Manager, (direct # (916) 488-8651) or ext. 108 karen@sactownchurch.com Suzanne D. Ferris Receptionist suzanne@sactownchurch.com Cathy Johnson Bookkeeper and Financial Secretary, ext. 104 cathy@sactownchurch.com Sandy Long Director of Discipleship & Assimilation, ext. 102 Sandy@sactownchurch.com Sandy Oakes Preschool Director 483-0466 preschool@sactownchurch.com David Robinson Chancel Choir Director 273-0261 david@sactownchurch.com Jeff Schulz Worship Leader for 11:00 am Service, 200-5849 jeff@sactownchurch.com Elizabeth Shults Director of Operations, ext. 103 Elizabeth@sactownchurch.com Tammy Sigl Worship Coordinator & Director of Hand Bells tammy@sactownchurch.com Amy Smith impact Director 213-1586, ext 110 amy@sactownchurch.com Drew Wademan Director of Student Ministries, drew@sactownchurch.com www.ikonstudents.com Rev. Todd R. Wallace Senior Pastor, ext. 101 pastor@sactownchurch.com www.sactownchurch.com 1615 Morse Avenue Sacramento, CA 95864 916-483-0451 Fax: 916-484-5433