July 2023 Witness Newsletter
Dear Wittenberg! We have been busy this summer! Two projects which we’ve been talking about are supply drives for our community’s needs. As part of her Confirmation education, Blakley is doing a supply and food drive for our local Animal Shelter. Doing a service project as part of our Confirmation education is a wonderful way to empower young people to do the work of Jesus AND to experience their church as a supportive and encouraging community of faith, mercy, and love. This effort will be on-going until she reaches her goals. A no-deadline project means that Blakley can focus on the many demands of growing-up with no added pressures from this project. It also means that we can keep the conversation going about what it means to be good stewards of creation and the wide (and wild!) ways we have opportunities to tend to the needs of the “least of these.” You can find more details about needed items for each of these drives in this newsletter. Because we’ve become more active with drives for pets, kids, Red Wagon, Meals-on-Wheels, Angel Trees, and more, it has become a little difficult to keep these drives from overlapping too much. More than two efforts at a time is overwhelming. In an effort to be better organized in collecting donations, and to prevent all of us from feeling “giving exhaustion,” Congregational Life has offered to keep a “Drive Calendar” for us. If you want to organize a drive please let Nena Jones or Pastor Heather know and we’ll add it to our Drive Calendar. Hopefully, we can prevent over-asking and also better serve those in need in our community. This is a great problem to have and I’m so happy our generosity means that we need to be better organizers and communicators of our efforts! We are posting a big calendar in the Fellowship Hall soon so you can see the various efforts throughout the year and how they help us reflect God’s love in the world! It is a gift that we are able and willing to give so abundantly! Let’s keep up this good work for the sake of God’s whole creation. Blessings Abound! Pastor Heather Wittenberg Friends! You can now order t-shirts, water bottles, and tote bags with our new Wittenberg seal! Pick your items. Securely check out through the vendor sight. Your item will be printed and shipped directly to you. Wittenberg receives the proceeds from the sale to benefit our ministries and community! Order here: This servicesn't cost the church any money! This company prints and sells directly to the consumer and sends proceeds from the sale of the items! In the fall we can change to long-sleeved shirts, sweatshirts, insulated coffee/tea cups, and more! We can also change the colors offered and the colors of the seal. Since we are using the service for free we can pick from a limited selection of five items at a time. The items ship directly to You! No need to distribute or bulk order! The Meals on Wheels Birthday Bags were literally overflowing with goodies and treats. The Shiloh site coordinators were WOW-ing the outpouring of Wittenberg’s generosity. A tremendous thank you to everyone who contributed! Also, many thanks to Carolyn and Gordy Peeler who were our June delivery team. The next delivery team is: Brenda Marcum and Sandra Phillips August 7-11
We hold in prayer... Our Members: Bill and Kim Fraley, Ed and Faye Harper, John Fisher, Gene Miller, Nancy Hylick, Mildred Peeler Grieving Families of: Larry E. Hammill, Janet Allen Graham, Barb Weller, Hal Derrick, John Marino, Linda Safrit Troutman, Lori Hammill Hartsell, Chase Fritz, Active Duty: J-Hylton Tucker, Dominic Minor, Noah Wiles, J. Michael Shuping, Adam McCombs, Daniel S. McDonald, Toler Alexander, Bitt Bryant, Jake Earnhardt, Bobby Wheeler Deployed Military: Dorian Pine, Dakota Mace, Isaac Jones, Anthony Burton, Brandon Smith We hold always in prayer the victims of gun violence, chronic and acute illness, mental health struggles, our partner agencies in mercy and assistance to our neighbors and all those who we lift to God’s care in our hearts or aloud. July Birthdays and Celebrations! 02 Kathy Sapp 06 Cathy Lyerly 07 Jeff Jones 07 Alice Lawson 09 Lynda Fisher 12 Cat Honeycutt 12 Jennifer Marcum 12 Ben Jones 13 Candace Fraley 18 Brenda Galliher 19 Joshua Rowell 24 Carmen Fraley 26 Shane Earnhardt |
Wittenberg Lutheran Church 114 West Bank St. GQ P.O. Box 345 Granite Quarry, NC 28072 704-279-4505 www.wittenberglc.org |
Wittenberg Lutheran Church
Here's your monthly newsletter!
This month at Wittenberg is all about the Book of James. This short New Testament book is a public epistle, meaning that it is addressed to a general audience, like us! This book offers wisdom for living a life as a Jesus-follower. While Luther called this book the “straw epistle,” it is an excellent example of how the Law and Gospel work together to guide and inspire us. September’s sermons will focus on the Book of James all through September and we will begin a study of James on September...
Dear Wittenberg Community, August is a time of preparation for many of us. Even for those of us who are far away from the practicalities of an academic year, August and September still feel like a new beginning in many ways. Maybe I’m in “back to school” mode as well because I thought this fall might be a good time to talk about some parts of our worship service. One way that we prepare for our worship services both seasonally and each week is with the Prayers of Intercession. These prayers...
Hey Congregation, don’t forget our Back to School Bash! You can help out by donating the items found on the flyer and/or volunteer to help before and on the August 3rd distribution day. Sign up on the clip board found on the display at church or call Linda Trier at 757-899-0503. Thank you! Our prayers and "good goodbye" are with Jane Faggart as she continues her journey of faith at Cross of Christ Lutheran in Concord. All our classes are FULL for 2024-2025. We are super excited. Since we...