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Youth News

Work Camp July 10^th – July 17^th

Work Camp 2010 is finally here! Good Shepherd is sending 23 youth and adults to help repair homes in Montgomery, West Virginia. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

Camping Trip July 31^st-August 1^st

Head away for a weekend of camping with the youth at Hickory Run State Park. We are planning an overnight full of hiking, campfires, fun and games!

Food Pantry Volunteering Tuesday, July 27^th and Thursday, July 29^th, 8:00 am – 12:30 pm

The youth group is planning to send some volunteers to help at the St. Stephens food drive run by Lutheran Community Services. Volunteering involves collecting food, and organizing and packing food bags. This is a great way to help out in our local community! Above are the tentative July dates. Keep an eye out for August dates as well!

Family Promise

Sign-up sheets for our next hosting week will go up in July on the Family Promise bulletin board. Once again, thanks for all the hands that helped make this a reality last time!

Volunteer Opportunities

As we sit in the sanctuary and share in the rite of Holy Baptism with each new member of our church family, we are reminded of the commitment that we share aloud to Grow in Faith, Love and Obedience to the will of God with these new members.

We ask that you prayerfully consider participation as a Sunday School Teacher for the coming year with whatever time you have to offer. See the chart on the bulletin board in the narthex for more information and to sign-up.

- Christian Education Committee

Help! We are in desperate need of Children's Activity leaders for the 11:00 service. If you are able to help out in the Fall, please complete the “Count Me In” form at Sunday worship.

We would like to provide rides to church for people who need them, especially those living in Assisted Living facilities or those who can no longer drive. If you require a ride to church each Sunday, or if you can help with the driving one Sunday per month, please contact the church office or Nancy Griffith.

Council Corner

Council met on June 9th. Craig Hooper led devotions centered on God’s Work - Our Hands. What motivates us to do our work?

Council agenda and May Council minutes were approved without change. Malcolm Styer gave the financial update with no issues highlighted.

Several committee and group reports were received or discussed. Pastor Bob highlighted that a new bishop will be elected at the June Assembly. Jim and Nancy Simpson, Craig Hooper and Stephen Harris will be attending as our adult/young adult voting representatives along with Pastors Bob and Kathy.

Other happenings and news during the month included:

· Six 8^th graders were confirmed on 5/23.

· Our graduating seniors were recognized.

· The congregation went to the single service schedule for the summer.

· The Women’s retreat is scheduled for Sept 24-26.

· The congregational leadership event has been re-scheduled for Oct 2, 9 am - 3 pm at the church.

· The Stewardship Committee has a new bulletin board highlighting the three themes of the committee.

A series of chapel talks are planned beginning in July around the theme of “God’s Work - Our Hands.”

· John Otto was nominated and approved to chair the Mission Endowment Committee.

· Child Protection Policy Revisions – The proposed policy & related documents were discussed &

amended and will be discussed again at our July meeting.

· Columbarium Committee – The presentations after church on June 6th and 20th were well attended

and several people have reserved niches.

· Church picnic was on 6/13 and was well attended. A BIG THANK YOU to the organizers.

· HVAC – Kay Gallogly submitted a status update on the work of the HVAC project. The HVAC team expects to have final proposals from the bidders by the end of June and to make recommendations to the Council by the July Council meeting.

Council closed with the Lord’s Prayer.

Please feel free to contact any Council member with questions or concerns. Thank you.

FOR WOMEN FROM WOMEN

Since May 2006, For Women From Women has held sales the third Sunday of the month during the after-worship coffee hours. The mission of this program is to donate money that will benefit women’s causes. The items for sale are all handcrafted by women (and a few generous, talented men) hence the name “For Women From Women”. In addition to handcrafted items, there have been two very successful sales of homemade soups and a sale featuring treasured items that members of the congregation donated from their households. The sale of homegrown produce is popular during the summer months and in June it was homemade casseroles.

Since the inception of the program, nine donations of $1,000 each have been made. The first donation in 2006 was sent to the Kathryn Wolford Global Fund for Women in honor of her work as the retiring director of Lutheran World Relief. Following that, donations have been made to the ELCA’s “Manna for Madagascar project; the Business Council for Peace providing ten knitting machines for women in Afghanistan; the United Nations Fund for UNIFEM; Delaware’s Fund for Women; Lutheran Community Services home repair program aiding elderly women in particular; the Central Asia Institute founded by Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea” which builds and maintains schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan; the ELCA for a $500 wool spinning machine and four microloans of $125 each for women starting up a business, and the most recent $1,000 donation was sent to The Worldwide Fistula Fund, which is one of the few charitable organizations in the world devoted exclusively to the problem of obstetric fistulas.

FWFW not only benefits those receiving its donations but it also underwrites the Midwife Kit project. Every quarter 45 midwife kits are assembled and sent to Global Health Ministries in Minneapolis for distribution to third-world countries.

All donations of handcrafted and food items are gratefully accepted for the sales and are acknowledged for tax purposes at the end of the year. Members of the congregation have been extremely supportive of this program and the to-date donations of $9,000 plus countless midwife kits is the manifestation of this support. Any questions about the program can be directed to Karol Hitt Rowan or Arlene Steigler.

Good Shepherd Women’s Retreat

Son and Sands Retreat Center

Ocean City, MD

September 24^th- 26^th, 2010

6 p.m. Friday to 3 p.m. Sunday

We will visit the newly renovated Son and Sands retreat center, a ministry of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in the heart of Ocean City, MD. This time away will explore ways to deepen our spiritual lives through various practices of faith, and mutual conversation and relationship-building time. We will center our days in worship and prayer, enjoy morning walks and worship on the beach, and simply enjoy getting to know one another in community. We will draw from the book Soul Feast by Marjorie J. Thompson.

Cost is $60, which includes housing, meals (excluding Saturday night dinner at a restaurant) and transportation. Sign up on the Count Me In form or on the bulletin board. Questions? Contact Pastor Kathy. All are welcome, but space is limited.

The Columbarium Garden at Good Shepherd

In response to a strong expression of interest from members of the congregation, we are pleased to present this final plan for a columbarium garden at Good Shepherd.

What is a columbarium?

A columbarium is a vault with niches that hold urns containing the cremains (ashes) of our loved ones who have died. Cremation and inurnment are the choice of many people, and are accepted as being both dignified and respectful. Just as the church is our spiritual home, a church columbarium is a suitable resting place for our cremains.

Where will the columbarium be located?

The proposed columbarium will be located on the Foulk Road side of the church in the area between the library and the fellowship hall.

What will the columbarium look like?

Our columbarium will be a free standing octagonal structure of granite. It will contain spaces for 144 urns in a combination of single and double niches. Each niche containing an urn will have a bronze nameplate identifying the deceased along with the dates of his/her life span.

Please see the pamphlets available at church for drawings of the columbarium and the garden.

Who can be inurned?

Niches in the columbarium may be reserved for the use of members of the church and their families. In certain cases niches may also be reserved for other people who have a relationship to Good Shepherd. This would be done only with the approval of the Pastor and the committee that administers the columbarium.

When will the columbarium be constructed and how will it be financed?

The columbarium will be a self-financing service and ministry for those who desire it. It will be constructed only when enough niches have been reserved to cover construction costs. Once constructed, income generated from the use of the remaining niches will be used to maintain the garden area and structure, and to build funding for future columbarium structures as needed.

What does it cost to reserve a niche?

Before construction, double niches may be reserved for $2500 and a single niche for $1250. After installation has started, the respective costs will be $3000 and $1500. There will also be a fee at the time of inurnment which initially will be $300 and adjusted periodically according to the cost of the bronze nameplates.

Can a person reserve a specific niche of his/her choosing?

Once the columbarium is constructed, people who have reserved niches may work with the columbarium administrator to choose a particular niche location (with order determined by the order in which their completed reservation forms and payments are received). Anyone purchasing a niche after construction will be able to choose a niche location at the time of purchase.

The design of the octagonal columbarium offers a number of options in choosing a niche. On four sides of the structure the niches are deep enough for two cremains in a deep double niche. Niches on the other four sides are deep enough for only a single cremain. These sides are well designed for people wishing to purchase a single niche or for couples who prefer to be inurned in adjoining niches, side-by-side.

What urns will be used to hold cremains?

The niches are sized such that they can accommodate a variety of urns.

It will be the responsibility of the family or friends of the deceased to select and purchase an urn. This can be done with the help of local funeral homes.

What will the bronze nameplates for each niche look like?

The double and single nameplates feature the names and birth/death years for the deceased. These plates will be ordered at the time of inurnment.

What will the garden look like?

Initially the garden will include the installed octagonal columbarium, a sidewalk for accessibility, and landscaping appropriate for the contemplative place this will be. More will be done to improve the landscaping as additional niches are sold.

If you have questions about the columbarium or would like to reserve a niche, please contact one of the members of the columbarium committee listed below. Niche reservation forms are available at the church; checks should be made out to the church and should accompany the reservation form.

The committee members are Ann Bogda (chairperson), Kevin Loney, Nancy Griffith, Tom Belk, Richard Bogda, Steve Hallsted, and Pastor Bob Ierien

You may also call or email the church office and leave a message for the committee.