Four Letter Words 1 September 2021 Dear Friend in Faith, What four-letter words pop into your head? A few naughty ones? Or ones that bring a smile? F-o-o-d? G-o-l-f? B-e-er? W-i-n-e? H-u-g-s? One of you pointed out with a smile that some Michiganders might think O-h-i-o is a four-letter dirty word. After Sunday’s sermon, several of you shared that you’re …
Help for Haiti 25 August 2021 Dear Friends in Faith, “God’s got the whole world in God’s hands!” What a fantastically encouraging song we sang growing up. Good news that God’s got all of us—around the world—in God’s loving hands. God’s got you and me, in Georgia (or wherever you are reading this.) God’s got Afghans who have left or …
Help 18 August 2021 Dear Friends in Faith, Oh my gosh. Which world issue of concern should this WFW highlight? The heart-breaking chaos in Afghanistan? The Haiti earthquake bringing more death and homelessness followed by tropical storm Grace? The wait times in our local hospital emergency rooms and continued deaths, sickness and worries around the Delta variant of the coronavirus? …
Sandra Singing Goodbye 11 August 2021 Dear Friends in Faith, Over the last several years, Sandra Bohlken has shared her spectacular heart, smile, voice, and coordination as our Director of Contemporary Worship. We are deeply and forever grateful. We are also very sorrowful today to pass on her decision to step down from her position. As you can read in …
Lunch Lady Extraordinaire 04 August 2021 Dear Friends in Faith, One of the “God’s Work, Our Hands” ministries that brings so much joy, energy, and impact is our Summer Sack Lunch Program. Check out this little video interview with Jayne Troy, our amazing “Lunch Lady” who pulls COS together for this amazing effort: If you prefer to read some …
Olympic Motivations 28 July 2021 Dear Friends in Faith, The Christ Our Shepherd Usher Team asked me to show a picture of the new usher outfits they’ve selected to wear for Fall of 2021. So here you go: Good luck to our USA #TeamSpeedo athletes as they prepare for the #SwimTrials16, starting today! #WinningElements pic.twitter.com/ORlrIyjVdJ — Speedo (@speedo) June 26, …
Vacate Into Refreshment 21 July 2021 Dear Friends in Faith, When I was little, the verb “vacate” was a bit scary. For instance, “When the alarm rings, everyone must vacate the building.” But over the years, I’ve realized the beauty of God’s periodic invitations for us to “vacate” our typical schedules, pressures, duties, or ways of seeing things for something …
A Prayer for Haiti 14 July 2021 Dear Friends in Faith, During March Madness a few months ago, Christ Our Shepherd demonstrated amazing generosity by sharing $17,500 in the HOOPS FOR HAITI campaign to support Jesus’ ministry among the poorest country in our hemisphere. Therefore, I thought you’d be interested in the most recent update from the Haitian Timoun Foundation …
It’s Not That Easy 7 July 2021 Dear Friends, We tried to book Kermit, but summer is his busiest time of year. Sorry, he was not available to record our new “progress” song, but here it is: It’s not that easy being green:* We celebrate not being red or yellow. CDC once scared us painting some of those colors, But …
Get Back to Where You Once Belonged 30 June 2021 What fun LuAnne and I had on Saturday attending the beautiful wedding and joyful reception of our own COS Martha Kahley to Dr. Chris Martin. I REJOICED we could celebrate IN PERSON! As the stunning Martha walked down the aisle with father Kevin, I could see all the faces of …