Our Fall Kick-off will happen on Sunday,

September 13th, and that is the same Sunday

that I will begin our next sermon series called

Urgent Church.

The Holy Spirit is bringing a sense of urgency

about being the Church in this present

generation.

It is not panic; there is no need to panic

because Jesus promised that He would build his

Church and the gates of hell will not prevail

against it.

It should not be anxiety because if we look to

Jesus and trust him he will make us faithful and being faithful is always enough.

The sense about the Church these days is urgency by which I simply mean this:

what the Church becomes in the next 10 years in America will have lasting and

profound implications for generations to come. (Cont. on pg. 2)

9.6.15 Resume Café

9.13.15 Fall Into

Church Carnival and

Ministry Fair

9.16.15 Wednesday

Night Programming

Begins

This Month

Pastor’s Message //

September 2015 * www.sactownchurch.com

Pastor Todd Wallace

The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd * www.sactownchurch.com * 1615 Morse Ave, Sacramento, CA 95864 * 916-483-0451

Message From Pastor Cont.

So what will the Church become over

the next 10 years? If you are reading

these words you should know that the

answer to this question is something

you will decide to a large degree.

Why? Because you are the Church!

The Church is not buildings or

bureaucrats and the Church is not

priests or polices; the Church is

people. You are the living stones that

make up the Church.

How you live in relationship to the

congregation and what you bring to

your church commitment will mean

more than you have ever imagined.

There is destiny at stake in the Church

today and you stand at the crossroads.

Come and hear the call and rise to the

challenge.

From The Council //

I love this church! This congregation ROCKS!!! Thank you all for your overwhelming support for the Basketball Court fundraiser! Fundraising hit a fever pitch this past Sunday when leadership vs staff hit the court (otherwise known as the Fellowship Hall) for the game of the year. I haven’t seen a game like that ……well, ever! The challenge was on from tip off to the final buzzer. The lay ups, passes, dunks and sweat was flying! I have a feeling we’ll be talking about this one for a long time to come. Keep your eye on our special basketball tote board. The net is about to be filled with lots of balls as we come ever close to reaching, perhaps even exceeding our $10,000 goal! I truly wish I knew a word better

than Thank-you…….can’t say it enough!

Fundraising will continue through the end of the September. You may contribute by check, cash, or online donation. Checks should be payable to Good Shepherd. Checks and cash can be dropped in the offering plate. Lastly, be sure your check or cash donations are clearly marked with the word

Basketball.

Me: Fab 5 (Jeff Haskins, Arne Bracchi, Joe Love, Justin Lewis, Steve Branham)….now, that you’ve won the Leadership vs Staff Basketball game….where are

you going next?

Fab 5: We’re going to Day of Hope!

That’s right, Day of Hope is coming soon! Good Shepherd is taking the lead in this first time collaborative effort with several other congregations in the Arden Arcade area. The Day of Hope event is designed to create relationships and partnerships to meet needs in our local area with things like clothing, health, hygiene, kid’s fun, food and entertainment. Day of Hope is coming Saturday, November 7th and will be held on the Campus of Encina High School. Save the

Date – this project will need and offer a multitude of volunteer opportunities.

Lastly, don’t forget – September marks the beginning of a variety of Fall classes/small group offerings. There is quite a variety, so find the class that most interests you and plug in. These Wednesday night offerings are another

great opportunity to invite a friend.

Sunday Services at 7:45 am (Come As You Are), 8:30 am (Classic), and 11:00 am (Contemporary). Fellowship at 9:30 am. Educational Hour from 9:50 am 10:45 am: Adults (Fireside Room), IKON YOUTH (Youth Room), Kids (GS Kids Room). Library open on Sundays.

Gretchen Eischen, Council President

September 2015

Baptisms :

Alexander Tyler Braafladt - 07/12/15

Nick Rebholtz - 08/02/15

Deaths :

Rudolph Ramseth - 07/29/15 Edith Lunden - 08/04/15

Marcella Robinson - 08/02/15

Official Church Acts //

Submissions to our Monthly Newsletter must be made by the 15th of the month to

shepherdsstaff@sactownchurch.com.

Submissions to our Weekly Newsletter must be made by 12:00 pm on Wednesday

to lifetogether@sactownchurch.com.

Fall Line Up //

Fall Programming starts on Wednesday September

16th.

Check out the following offerings and sign up at

www.sactownchurch.com

September 2015

Wednesday Nights

Starting 9/16 Starting September 16th on Wednesday nights, we

will be offering something for everyone including:

The Alpha Course : 6:30-8:30 pm Get questions

about your faith answered in a fun group environment

Legacy: 7:00-8:30 pm Advanced financial planning

from a Biblical perspective

Falling Deeper: 7:00 pm Marriage Course led by

Gordon and Kristi McCall

P+KMIC: 5:45-6:30 pm (Parents + Kids Maturing in

Christ) A dinner and family discussion aimed at mak-

ing faith stick in all facets of our family lives.

GSKIDS Choir: 5:15-5:45 pm With special help from

worship leader Jeff Schulz

Rummage Sale // October 2nd and 3rd

IT'S RUMMAGE SALE TIME AGAIN!

Prepare yourself and reserve the week of Septem-

ber 28 - October 3 for the FALL RUMMAGE SALE.

Do your fall house cleaning now and set aside the

"good stuff" you'd like to donate to our Rummage

Sale. We'd like helpers for Monday through Satur-

day of that week. Please write us into your calendar

so you can spend some time helping. It's hard work

but lots of fun and very rewarding. We will accept

items for sale on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

of that week. (No earlier! Storage is non-existent)

Someone will be available to receive your donations

from 8:00am to 6:30pm. Monday through Wednes-

day. The sale will be held on Friday, October 2nd

and Saturday October 3rd from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Don't forget the goodies! Good Shepherd Preschool

will hold their bake sale on that Friday.

September 2015

GS KIDS //

We will take a one week break from Sunday School (on September 6th) before our Fall Carnival on Sep-tember 13th. The Carnival is going to be awesome for the kids and an awesome opportunity for you to regis-ter for Sunday School and learn about the Ministries

we have going on campus.

Also, if you’re a procrastinator, you’ll have a chance to sign up for our Fall Offerings in the Fall Into Church

Booth during the carnival.

Women’s Ministry // Sign up at Sactownchurch.com Companions in Christ // Tuesdays @ 10:00 am

Companions in Christ is a 28-week course in spiritual formation, We will journey through five parts-including topics like prayer, scripture, spiritual gifts, discernment with breaks for Ad-vent & Holy Week. Each part is five to six weeks in length. Participants follow the same pattern each week—a weekly reading and five daily exercises followed by a two-hour group meeting. During the meeting, participants share their insights from the past week’s daily exer-cises, and then engage in a deeper exploration

together.

Page Turners// Mondays @ 6:30 pm

A new group of women who read through books by great Christian writers, chapter by chapter. Starting September 21, they will meet on Monday nights in the Good Shepherd Li-brary to discuss what they've read and to work through ques-tions together. The group is facilitated by Maria Johnson and is for women who love Jesus, books and friendship. The group will start with Henri Nouwen's classic book, The Return

of the Prodigal Son.

Rebecca Circle // will resume meetings on Monday, September 14, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. at the home of Eleanor Van Dyck, 4333 Edi-son, Sacramento, 971-1338. We will commence the study of Ray VanderLaan’s DVD “With All Your Heart”. All women are welcome to join us.

Friends of the Preschool We have started our new school year! Good Shepherd has lots of new little friends and some old friends. This school year, like all the

past ones is going to be incredible.

A heartfelt thank you to the Donna Christensen and family. Your church preschool was the recipient of Memorial Funds in memory of

Harlan Christensen. Harlan is truly missed in our church family.

Your preschool recycles aluminum, glass and plastic CA CRV (California Cash Redemption Value) items. Recycle Sunday is

every third Sunday.

Also on this Sunday, our needs and wants board is available in the courtyard. If you could take a tab, and return that item to the church, we would appreciate it. If you would like to add us to your shopping list every other month, we are in constant need of select-a

-size paper towels and 5 ounce paper cups.

Other items: construction paper, glue, and napkins.

Just a reminder to Thrivent Choice Dollars Donors, you must actively designate your dollars, They no longer give you reminders that those dollars are available. Thanks through your donations; we

have earned over $3000.00 so far this year. Thank you.

Thank you for all you do to support your church preschool ministry.

Sandy Oakes, Preschool Director preschool@sactownchurch.com

September 2015

iMPACT News

Backpack & School Supply Drive

Thank you Good Shepherd for all your donations! This summer, with your generous donations, iMPACT was able to purchase new backpacks and get fresh school supplies for approx. 70 neighborhood kids! And a special "thank you" to Linda Smith who purchased all

items (for each age group) needed.

All campers were called by name to the front of the sanctuary were they received their gift. A sweet sound to the ears: Kids squealing in

delight when they see backpack for the first time.

Note: Extra school supply funds went directly to support students who attend Encina High School. This Title I High School serves about 550 students, has a 57% graduation rate, and 40-50% of students are considered homeless (living in "non-permanent"

housing).

All-in-all, Good Shepherd supported over 100 under-served students

with school supplies! A blessing for so many. Thank you again!

Pictured: Everette is a "happy camper" with his new backpack.

IMPACT Sunday Highlight - Nick's Baptism

Nick joined our program in the 4th grade-- and now is a 10th grader. Nick's commitment to iMPACT has been spot on-- never missing an outreach camp. In the last two years, Nick has turned into one of our fearless youth leaders. We can always count on Nick's help. And he just graduated from our job training program called Resume

Cafe. Congratulations Nick on this huge faith milestone!

September 2015

Ryan Baker * Heather Campbell * Joshua Cole * Matthew Cournoyer * Blake Fair * Daniel Harrison * Michael Harrison * Zachary Jensen * Cody Johnstone * Kevin Kirkbride * Alex Kraal * Andrew Kraal * Kiel Lovekin *

Cosme Munzo * Michael Nolan * Liam O'Brien * Matthew Sirko * Eamon Turnbull * Nathan Wallace

Pray For Our Men and Women in the Military //

Book Review // Hiding in the Light by Rifqa Bary

This is a statement no one wants to hear. “Remain a Christian and I will kill you.” Rifqa’s father was so ingrained in the Muslim faith he would not tolerate her new religion. At the age of 12, when her Christian friends seemed to find it so easy to communicate with Jesus, she became very interested to find out more. In order to continue on this journey, she would cover her time in the Christian meetings by lying to her family where she was going. This went on for 4 years until she was discovered and she ran away from home to save her life at the age of 16. She is now a young woman who tells her story of challenges to be able to worship as a Christian. She lives in hiding and declares Jesus as her Lord. Consequently, her family is unable to find her and take this freedom away from her. Reviewed by Penny Zacher

Food Closet Report // During June and July our numbers started to increase a bit with 212 and237 households served consecutively. We are so

thankful for all our faithful volunteers who put in 350 hours in July alone.

This month we are in particular need of small jars of peanut butter as well as small fruit cups for children’s bags. We continue to need boxed cereal, canned tuna, chili, mac and cheese, oatmeal packets, and small juice drinks. There is almost nothing

we cannot use.

During the past 2 months we were faced with the death of George Spencer who put in many faithful years making sure the Sierra Arden Food Closet ran smoothly. The past years he delivered food from Senior Gleaners. Blessed be his memory and

may we never forget all he did to promote solutions to food insecurity.

It is early to think of Thanksgiving, however not too soon for us to ask you to consider the donation of a turkey for our Thanks-

giving basket program. We will need about 200 turkeys and 100 whole chickens for that project.

If you are interested in donating volunteer hours please leave your name and availability. There may be some help needed as our regulars go on vacations! Thank you to all of our great volunteers we do have. If you would like to just do one or two

times per month we can arrange some opportunities. Leave your name with Pepper (916 880-0703).

Donations are accepted during regular hours Monday through Friday: 9:30 to 11:30 am. Call us at 483-1942 if you have

questions or know of anyone in need of food.

September 2015

The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd

1615 Morse Avenue

Sacramento, CA 95864

Contact Us

The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd www.sactownchurch.com Info@sactownchurch.com

1615 Morse Avenue Sacramento, CA 95864

916-483-0451