Family Christmas Eve Service at GSLC

What a blessing the KidZone kids are! At the 4 pm service on Christmas Eve, these beautiful children were truly a God sighting! From the young ones enthusiastically reading God's word to the dancers who lovingly danced to "Sing Unto the Lord a new song" and all of the Sunday school children present who sang loudly to "Wonderful" and "Come, Let Us Praise Him" and the young musicians who shared their God given talents, I felt the Lord's presence. Thank you parents for your dedication to the Children's Ministry at Good Shepherd. Your children are a blessing and they continue to show the KidZone team why we do what we do. These children continue to shine God's love and blessings into our hearts all year through. From the KidZone staff, Merry Christmas and a wonderful, Christ filled New Year!

Pay it forward

I work at a restaurant and today there were two separate couples sitting near each other. One couple finished and came up to pay and the lady said she wanted to pay for the other couples meal. She didn't know them she just wanted to pay for them. When I went and told the couple still eating that their meal had been paid for they were in complete shock. The lady informed me that it was a blessing because she has cancer and just got back from the doctor. She has several medical bills and is truly grateful for the unknown couple that had just paid for their meal.

Junior High Winter Retreat 2009

On December 4th, a group of 50 junior high students, high school staffers, and adult leaders loaded up the bus and headed for an awesome weekend at Camp Utaba in Liberty, Utah. God always does amazing things when we go on a retreat and this weekend was no exception! From the moment we arrived the presence of God was apparent and it was a joy to be with this group of people.

One of the things that struck me this year in a more powerful way than ever before was how being at this place (Camp Utaba) felt like being part of something much larger than just one weekend away. I realized during the evening teaching that I personally had been coming on retreats to this place for 22 years (usually two or three times per winter)!!! It really blew my mind to think about but it was an instant remind of how important these times of retreat really are. God has done such wonderful things in my own life and I have had the privilege of observe the countless blessings of our Lord being poured out into the lives of others during retreats as well! I truly count it a blessing to have the opportunity to continue to minster to the youth of Good Shepherd, they continue to be an awesome group of people and God continues to bless us with His presence!!! Yeah God, You are so good to us!

KidZone God Sightings

On Sunday, December 6, over 85 people gathered to learn about the power of a simple gift. What a God sighting! Parents and children gathered together to discover from the fun Veggie Tales Movie "St. Nicholas, A Story of Joyful Giving" how powerful it is to give. In the film, Laura Carrot was concerned that her Christmas Stocking might be empty this year because her dad was in danger of losing his job. Many children, including our family promise guests, were able to relate to this fear. Larry the cucumber thought a letter to the North Pole would fix the problem but Bob the tomato knew what would really help...and he told the story of a little boy named Nicholas who made a discovery in Bethlehem that changed Christmas forever. We learned the story of St. Nicholas and we all saw God at work as we discovered the true joy of giving to others, at Christmas time and throughout the year.

Many of you have been God sightings to those in need by giving joyfully to the Angel Tree and Christmas Shepherds programs at GSLC.

Through Angel Tree, our generous congregation has helped 79 children with one or both parents in prison, realize what it means to be loved. You have given 158 gifts to these special children.

In addition, with Christmas Shepherds, you have helped 99 people from our congregation and the surrounding community by purchasing over 240 gifts. Your generosity is a God sighting to me, the pastoral office, those in need and to the community!

"But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret." Matthew 6:3-4

Thank you and God bless!
Kelli Kirk

Little Boy at School

I went to Kennan's first grade class on Friday to tell them about the German tradition of St. Nicholas Day we celebrate in our family. After telling them about St. Nicholas, I asked them, "Who do you think St. Nicholas loved more than anything else?"
(I was going for "children.")
One little boy raised his hand and loudly answered, "JESUS"!

Ya know what? He was right.

Foster Transitional Housing Giving Hope To Teens

Foster Transitional Housing Giving Hope To Teens

Gift of Salvation

Last Sunday a 6 year old little boy gave his heart to Jesus and he told me he is God's kid now and has the Holy Spirit in his HEART!!!!! We celebrate with him and the gift of Salvation he has received. In Him, Mim

School

From Nina,
I wrote a note to everyone in my class saying, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

GSLC Milestone House Lease Signed !

Yes! Monday, November 23, 2009 T.H.E. Milestone House became reality. Praise God for moving this project along at record speed by bringing together Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, The Youth Mentor Project and several government agencies including Sandy City Housing. December 1, the five youth, 18 and 19 year olds, will be moving into T.H.E. Milestone House. T.H.E. Milestone House is a model program; a two year project that will be carefully monitored and described to provide a model for other shared houses for foster youth in transition.

Experience clearly shows that without a safe place to live there is little chance for youth to hold a job, attend school, build lasting relationships or stay out of trouble. This Thanksgiving I thank God and all our wonderful volunteers for helping to make this vision a reality for these youth.

Thanks and praise,

P. Christine

Good Shepherd Christmas Stocking

Lord, when did we see you hungry? (Matthew 25:37-40)

At Good Shepherd we have a dedicated fund to help the members of our congregation who are in financial need. We call it "The Christmas Stocking."

As long as I have been at Good Shepherd, at least 17 years, every Christmas we literally hung a red Christmas Stocking (like the one in the photo) on the back wall of the sanctuary next to the wood-cut image of of the face of Jesus (made by Preston Luck) and the baptismal fount. This Christmas stocking was the brainchild and personal project of Kathy Engeness, a small ball of endless energy, a retired secretary for the Pentagon, who has since gone on to be with the Lord. People would place checks and cash in the stocking, in addition, to their offering in the plate. The monies gathered, then, in the stocking would be used to help those members who were in financial difficulty.

Since those early years, "The Christmas Stocking" has now become dedicated account to which people give throughout the year, not just during the Christmas season, to assist our members in need. The hanging of the stocking is more symbolic than functional, serving as a reminder of the needs of our people all throughout the year. Now people just note on envelopes or checks that they want to give to The Christmas Stocking.

Your donations to "The Christmas Stocking" are used exclusively for Good Shepherd members. To help others, we have another account, "The Samaritan Account" that assists those in need from our community. Both are different from our benevolence accounts, which is a tithe of all that we receive in the General Fund that is then allocated to local and foreign missions and missionaries to help with the advance of the gospel and God's kingdom through evangelistic and humanitarian work.

The Christmas stocking has been used to help with rent, mortgages, utilities, clothing, food, medications, Christian counseling, car and home repairs -- whatever is the most pressing need. These are free gifts to the families and individuals, although almost all who have received have out of gratitude, when they are able, replenished the fund for others. Others give to The Christmas Stocking out of an awareness of those in need. As long as there is money in this account, we are able to help our church family members.

As you tithe to the general fund of the church, I would encourage you to consider a little extra to give to "The Christmas Stocking." It is in keeping with the Christian heritage of the origin of Christmas stockings, when Bishop Nicholaus of Myra secretly gave a stocking of money to a poor father of three children in their time of need. Look for the stocking near the baptismal fount. Let's celebrate the joy of Christmas all year long.

- Pastor Jeff

Where do you see God?

Last week, I headed out of town for an effective communicator conference in Colorado. As I enjoyed the beautiful ride from the airport in Denver to Group Publishing in Loveland, my neighbor - two seats away - tapped me on my shoulder and said, "Mrs. Kirk, you probably don't remember me but, we sat together at a LifeTree Cafe experience at last years conference and you shared that your mom has Alzheimer's Disease. I just wanted to let you know that I have been praying for you and your mom all year and I wanted to know how you are both doing."

That 5 minute conversation was enough to remind me how self centered I can be and how good God is. I hadn't thought of this beautiful young girl again after our conversation in 2008 yet she had been praying for me all year. What a blessing!

As I recounted the story later to my co-workers, I couldn't help but feel humble and blessed. I know it was God who sparked this near stranger to pray for me and ultimately comfort me while I was away from overseeing my mothers care for 4 days.

It's in these brief opportunities we are reminded that God is ever present and always working in our lives.

Where do you see God? In our busy-busy, go-go-go, 24-7-365 lifestyle, it seems harder to recognize the times when God is finding us and speaking to us. I can't wait to see how the life of the GSLC congregation will change when we each start seeing God at work in our lives every day!

Blessings,

Kelli Kirk

Vietnam Needs Met

Children of Peace International Fundraiser

Praise the Lord for the recent fundraiser and auction for COPI (Nov. 7, 2009) at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Sandy, UT which raised approximately $45,000 to support children at risk in Vietnam!

Money was raised to provide:

• 7 college scholarships for one year ($200 x 7)
• 250 scholarships for indigenous children ($35 x 250)
• 20 scholarships for girls to attend boarding school in Sapa ($100 x 20)
• Support for K'Hor community for one year ($2500)
• Support for local Vietnamese medical mission team ($200 x 10 trips)
• 50 Scholarships for Pediatric nurses to study English (50 x $25)
• 15 industrial sewing machines for Hanoi Vocational School for disabled students (15 x $250)

Additional support went to the children at Compassionate Home in Van Giao, Nam Dinh. An orphanage in Van Giao was built to accommodate the children who lose their parents to the yearly floods.

You can find out more about Children of Peace International (COPI) by visiting www.childrenofpeace.org.

The light that shines brightly oversees also shines brightly at home.

- Pastor Jeff