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Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Crazy No More

Free to Be

God's Dinner Etiquette

Sermon for my Aunt Olga

          Recovery The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. While driving home on Fairview Road atop Big Ridge in Hixson, I saw a bright new road sign.  It read, Recovery.gov.  When I checked it out, I noticed that it is the official government website to track the money from the recent Recovery Act. Some journalists say our nation’s economic recovery is doing fairly well while others say it is rapidly diminishing.  I’ll let you form you own opinion about this issue. Last Sunday’s Congregational Meeting is also about our recovery as a congregation.  Our Assistant Treasurer, Fred Weinhold, reported that since we had our vote in March to remain in the ELCA and not affiliate with another Lutheran denomination, our offerings have declined by 17% and our average Sunday worship attendance has also declined.  I figured it has declined about 23%.  Moreover, we have lost faithful and good leadership since March. The good news is that we are on the road to recovery.  The congregation voted to make Pastor Sharron Lucas our new Pastor of Family Life.  In this role, Pastor Sharron will provide oversight for our nursery, children’s ministry and youth and family ministry.  I believe that Pastor Sharron is a gift from God to help our recovery. In the past couple of months, Pastor Sharron and other leaders have renewed our Sunday School by introducing a new curriculum focused on lively Bible study, art, drama, and music.  With her help, our confirmation studies for middle school students are enriched with a new curriculum using Bible, catechism, power point presentations, music, and small group discussions.

   I can’t wait to see what Pr. Sharron will do with our youth and family leaders to renew this ministry. At our Congregational Meeting, we also voted to change the by-laws of our constitution to convert the Endowment Fund into a Mission and Ministries Fund so that monies are more readily available for new ministries.  We also approved recommendations from our Building and Grounds Committee and our Congregation Council to install a new floor for Parent’s Day Out main classroom, replace rotten wood in our chapel, install two new roofs, and install a new air conditioning system for our Parent’s Day Out area. I also shared with the congregation an idea to gather young families on Sunday mornings especially unchurched families from our PDO ministry by looking at the possibility of developing a Family Worship Service.  This would be our third Sunday worship service. With the Holy Spirit leading us, we are indeed on the road to recovery.  Let us continue to support each other in the body of Christ and welcome new people God has sent our way. Will you continue to join me on this road to recovery?  God has joyful surprises for all.                                                                                          Pastor Gary Schimmer                              We welcome Pastor Sharron Lucas to the staff at Trinity.  Pastor Sharron is now our Pastor of Family Life and is available most days at the church.  You can reach her by email at pastorsharron@lutherantrinity.com.