REPORTER

God’s Work. Our Hands. The annual ELCA day of service is on September 9. Fortu-nately this coincides with the city-wide day of packaging food for Feeding Children Every-where. The event is in par tnership with the City of Richardson, Richardson Chamber of Commerce, Compassionate DFW, and the Richardson Interfaith Alliance. Sign up now for the 1:15—2:30 shift so we can serve together in our yellow shirts. Sign up online at https://feedingchildreneverywhere.com/event/compassionaterichardson2018.

Rediscovering Jesus in the Gospels Adult Sunday School: Fall 2018

We intuitively know there are four separate Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Yet, after listening to the Gospel reading on countless Sunday mornings, we tend to blend the four Gospels into one fifth Gospel where we quickly lose each author’s individual emphasis on the person, nature, and role of Jesus. Beginning September 9, Larry Wecsler will be leading us to “rediscover Jesus in the Gospels”.

In Rediscovering Jesus in the Gospels, we’ll look at the unique literary framework of each Gospel and review important issues concerning Jesus within those Gospels: His first century environment, his relationships with disciples and opponents, Old Testament references to Jesus life and death, and most importantly, his teachings.

Note: We will supply all lesson handouts, which will include all bibli-cal references (NRSV) – this means we won’t have to continually thumb through our Bibles looking for specific citations.

Please join us the Sunday after Labor Day (September 9) so that together, we can rediscover Jesus in the Gospels.

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In June, I started working with Executive Coach, Dana Leonard-Cialdella, whom I met through my husband, Dan, in Frisco. Dana has been an executive coach for about twenty years and she wanted to express gratitude to God for the blessings in their life by offering her coaching free of charge to a pastor! She also wants to experiment with how her coaching methods work in a non-profit and religious setting. I’m so glad I met her! Her services would normally cost a corporation $6,000-$12,000 for six months. The Holy Spirit has blessed us with a special gift as we begin ministry together. This executive coaching process is different from other ministry coaching I have done because of the way it engages “stakeholders” in the coaching process. Each Council member is a stakeholder who knows my goals and action steps, and who engages in a 1:1 conversation with me each month to give feedback on how I am fulfilling my goals, and, “feedforward,” which are behavioral ideas for the fu-ture. Because St. Luke’s administrative policies need updating, and this is not an area where I have natural skills, I decided to work on administration. In addition, be-cause members can remain quiet if their opinion differs from the pastor, I set a second goal related to active listening before sharing my thoughts. These goals are below, including the action steps for July-August to fulfill those goals. Leadership Goal #1: Implement the needed processes and procedures to max-imize a healthy church (e.g. updating the Constitution, Bylaws, Employee Manu-al, Building Use Policy, hire a new Administrative Assistant).

Interview primary candidate for Administrative Assistant on Wed., August 1, 2018 with the President of Council, Shirley Wilson-Sigler. If this falls through, advertise the position with congregations and other network channels by August 15, 2018.

Continue to read the existing Constitution, Bylaws, Manuals, and Policies to prepare for working with the Administrative Team.

In August, begin to meet monthly (or bi-monthly if possible) with Adminis-trative Team beginning to work on revising and updating church policies to recommend to Council.

Leadership Goal #2: Proactively seek out other points of view with an open mind before giving my opinion, and address conflict constructively.

Continue to visit members of the congregation to listen and get to know them.

Practice asking for others’ opinions first when I take the action steps for goal #1 and in other conversations.

When I do give my opinion, ask others to push back on me, asking “What am I missing? How do you view this? Is there anything I’m not seeing?”

I welcome your ideas, input, and questions regarding these goals, or any other thoughts about growing in discipleship and moving forward in the mission of the Gospel.

+Pastor Linda

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New email address: Gail has a new church e-mail address. It is churchoffice@stlukeslutheranchurch.org.

The Flock will again be taking part in the God’s Work. Our Hands event on September 9th. We are planning to sign up for the 1:15 shift. We will go out for lunch after worship and then head out to the Civic Center. If you aren’t familiar with this annual event, please read the article on the first page of this newsletter or go to ELCA.org to read more about this day of service. Sign up soon before the time slot fills up. Questions? Contact Carol Herrman or Gail Johnson.

Betty Seaborn 500 Coit Road #429 Plano TX 75075 Phone: 469-879-3313

Update on building repairs

In April a letter went out to the congregation outlining a Capital Cam-paign to raise $20,000 for several repairs and upgrades to keep our build-ing in good condition. If you remember there were six items on the list that needed some TLC. Thanks to the generosity of our members, we actually raised over $24,000 and have begun making headway on the list. 1. The water leak has been found and taken care of. 2. The roof leaks have been stopped (for now!) 3. The painting of the exterior requested by the city has been done. It looks great! 4. We are scheduled to have the phone system replaced the last week of July. 5. The work on the fire alarm system is in progress. 6. The installation of windows on the office doors has not begun yet, but will be soon.

The Social Seniors will have a game day on August 3rd at the home of Rita Humphrey at 12 noon. Come for snacks and fellowship. Please sign up on the sheet on the bulletin board so we know how many to plan for.

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Women of St. Luke’s

LWR SCHOOL KIT TIME AGAIN

Soon school supply sales will be appearing everywhere. And once again we will be packing backpacks to go around the world at the fall Quilting Bee. We will send as many backpacks as we can fill with your generous donations. The following is a list of items needed. If you would like to contribute supplies, you will find a collection container in the Gathering Area. Thank you for your support to make this project possible.

erasers (approximately 2 ½ inches) scissors (blunt) pencils (unsharpened #2 with erasers) rulers (centimeters on one side) pencil sharpeners 70-sheet spiral notebooks (may be wide or college-ruled) ballpoint pens (black or blue, no gel ink) crayons (24 pack)

Hope you are enjoying your summer! Continue to follow the studies and articles in the Gather magazine on your own. July and August are com-bined in one magazine.

Looking ahead

Bible Study and Potluck Luncheon – study led by Pastor Linda on August 16 at 10:00am. Please bring a dish to share for the potluck following the Bible study.

Leadership Team meeting - August 25 - 9:00am in the Adult classroom Devotions – Rita Humphrey; refreshments – Carol Lysen

Activity Day - September 5 – Time to begin working once again on items for Lutheran World Relief

All women of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church are members of the wom-en’s organization and are invited to join all activities. In September, the monthly circles and Activity Day, held on the first Wednesday of each month, will resume and we encourage you to join them.

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Booksome Ladies

The Booksome Ladies will meet at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, August 15th in the Conrad Library. Our book for discussion is the All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg. It is a comic mystery novel about two women who are forced to reimagine who they are and what they are capable of. The story is told by “Sookie Poole” of Point Clear, AL, and centers around an irrepressible woman named Fritzi and her younger sisters who take on the job of run-ning their family’s filling station in the 1940s. As so many truck driv-ers change their routes to fill up at the all-girl station, Fritzi receives a life-changing invitation from the U.S. military to assist the war ef-fort. Sookie learns more and more about Fritzi’s story from the war years and finds new answers to the questions she’s been asking her whole life. This novel is a perfect combination of comedy, mystery, wisdom, and charm and is Fannie Flagg at her irresistible best. It is light summer reading.

Stay cool – read a book. Martha Eastwood

Help needed for Congregational Life Committee. We all enjoy the fellowship of sharing meals after church. Whether it be salad lunch-eons, ice cream socials, sharing desserts or special meal celebrations the Congregational Life Committee headed by Jerold Plumb and Joy Slye-Nelson can be counted on to make these occasions special. However, as the church is growing, the number of members and guests at these events is also growing and the Committee needs additional volunteer man/woman power!! Particularly with clean-up. Please consider volun-teering, we don’t have an activity every month, but it would be great to know that the Congregational Life Committee could count on you at least 1 or 2 times a year to help out. If we have several new volunteers that would ease the workload on everyone. If you are willing to help out occasionally, please speak with Jerold, Joy, the Pastor or me. You can also leave a note in the church office for ei-ther of us. Please prayerfully consider this opportunity to give time and talents toward the growth of St. Luke’s. Sincerely, Shirley Sigler, Council President

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The members of St. Luke’s and their families that are being prayed for during the month are listed below.

Betty Kennedy, Prayer Chain Chairperson 972-235-6309 972-774-2002

BILLY HARRIS SHIRLEY SIGLER ARNIE PROSSER BOB EASTWOOD BEA ORGISH EMILY EASTWOOD SCOTT REEDY KRISTA WECSLER BROWN ADELE BAKKEN

“God consoles us in all our affliction.”

2 Corinthians 1:3

We welcome prayers for all, however please let us know when your name should be removed from our list. Most will remain for two months unless requested for longer. Thanks.

Our appreciation to the members of St. Luke’s Prayer Chain for their constant and faithful prayers.

Pastor Linda’s contact information: (cell) 314-581-6365 (e-mail) pastor@stlukeslutheranchurch.org

Interested in joining St. Luke’s? Awesome! Let Pastor Linda know or call the church office. We will have a new member orientation in Au-gust and new members will be received in early September.

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Bob Nicolaysen 8-02 Amy McEwan 8-06 Andrea Herrman 8-08 Seth Eckholm 8-09 Regi Sigler 8-09 Betty Kennedy 8-14 Timothy Wegener 8-18 Susan Scheib 8-19 Nicholas Chatto 8-20

Michelle Hreha 8-21 Connie White 8-21 Ashley Sallee 8-23 Conner Ritchie 8-25 Ursula Peters 8-26 Shirley Brouillette 8-27 Mildred Pliskal 8-28 Maia Slye-Nelson 8-29 Brenda Sherrod 8-31

Jim & Linda Reed 8-06-1955 Jon & Evelyn Spangler 8-08-1986 Chris & Marcie Cook 8-08-2009 Tim & Kate Wegener 8-11-1999 Bud & Shella Groom 8-20-1954 Billy & Allyne Harris 8-24-1963

Big Meals for Little Kids! June - August

School may be out for Summer but hunger doesn't take a vacation.

Network's Big Meals for Little Kids Program will supply school-aged children with healthy and convenient food options during the summer months when they are no longer receiving breakfast or lunch from their school’s free or reduced cost meal program. This program eases the financial burden on families with children.

Network's goal is to (a) double the normal limit of food for each eligi-ble child with the objective of distributing 84,000 lbs of food this sum-mer. As well as (b) allowing children to have the option of creating their own snack bag for home.

The program serves school aged children from 5 - 17 years of age re-siding within the 14 zip codes of the RISD.

You can help by donating school-aged child friendly food to Network's Food Pantry or a donation of $1 can provide 3 summer meals.

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St. Luke’s Lutheran Church

Pastor………………………….Rev, Linda Anderson-Little Administrative Assistant……………………...Gail Johnson Director of Music Ministries…………………... Dale Dietert

Council Members

President, Shirley Sigler 2/272-7458 Vice President, Tim Wegener………………612/859-4500 Secretary, Anne Eckholm 9/231-6121 Treasurer, Dianne Plumb 9/231-4214 Financial Sec., Carol Lysen. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..9/233/6585 Christian Ed.. Emily Hoffman. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9/669-0125 Evangelism, Carol Rizzo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9/231-3269 Congregational Life, Jerold Plumb…………...9/231-4214 Congregational Resources, Gail Johnson 9/231-3361 Indoor Property, Jerry Zimmerman. . . . . . . . .2-207-0771 Outdoor Property, Ralph Rizzo. . . . . . . . . . . .9/231-3269 Worship & Music, Frieda Chyn . . . . . . . . . . ..2/514-8426 Service Outreach, David Tate. . . . . . . . . . 469-859-4872 Youth, Emily Hoffman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9/669-0125

Contact Us:

pastor@stlukeslutheranchurch.org churchoffice@stlukeslutheranchurch.org ddietert@mail.smu.edu www.stlukeslutheranchurch.org Phone: 972-234-8804

The Reporter Published for and by St. Luke’s Lutheran Church

Next deadline—August 15 stlukes@stlukeslutheranchurch.org All members of St. Luke’s are invited to sub-mit articles of interest for publication in THE RE-PORTER. Articles may be submit-ted in written form or electronic form using word format. Please in-clude your name and phone number. Articles should be no longer than 250 words. Those over 250 may need to be edit-ed.

Sunday Schedule

Worship at 10:00 a.m. Sunday School at 8:45 a.m.

Phone number: 972-234-8804 www.stlukeslutheranchurch.org

NETWORK OF COMMUNITY MINISTRIES Ingathering days are the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. Items always needed are: peanut butter, jelly, canned meats and vegetables, canned fruit, soups, paper products, personal hygiene products. Please place items in the cart marked Network in the Gathering Area.