2 Council News

6 Study the

Gospel of Matthew

9 Bishops respond

to Governor

10 Year-End

Reports

The Servant’s Voice Welcoming Others to Experience God’s Grace

The newsletter of Christ the Servant Lutheran

January 2020

Souper Bowl of Caring Supports Empty Bowls

Children showing off their Advent crafts.

Sunday, January 26th

On Sunday, January 26th, after the second service around 12:30pm the Empty Bowls committee will host the Souper Bowl of Caring. Soup and bread will be pro-vided. Everyone is welcome. A donation basket will be available for those wishing to donate to the Empty Bowls Operations fund.

Empty Bowls is a simple concept. Buy a bowl, created by local artists, and get soup too. This ministry of Christ the Servant is entering its 21st year. It started small raising $900 for the Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen in its first year. It has become a tradition for the congregation and the Denton Community. In 2019 Empty Bowls disbursed $11,000 to local hunger ministries. Although figures for some of the early years are no longer available, the rec-ords we do have show more that $175,000 given to Den-ton Hunger ministries in the last 20 years.

100 percent of the money raised from the sale of bowls is disbursed for hunger programs. But hosting the event has costs of its own. Advertising, tableware, kiln mainte-nance and event space all cost money. Attending the Super Bowl of Caring is one way to help. EB Christmas Ornament sales also support our operating funds.

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CTSLC Office #: 940-387-1984

CTSLC Office Hours Monday—Friday

9:00 a.m.—2:00 p.m.

Ministry Team

Pastor ............................................ John Bell

Office Administrator ...... Cindy Bellefeuille Childcare ..................... Tracey Oberbacher Choir Director ................. Elizabeth Moose Organist ......................... Ruusamari Teppo

President .............................. Jean Schaake Vice-President ..................... Harriet Powell Secretary .............................. Laurie Hensel Treasurer ..................................... Lois Plato Member ........................ John Rademacher Member .............................. Suzanne Terry

Altar Guild. ............................. Lori Shelton, & Deborah Dossett Childcare .............................................. TBA Christian Ed. ....................... Synette Payne, Heidi Thiele, & Hannah Tarver Communications Committee .. Greg Thiele Empty Bowls Ministry ........ Synette Payne Finance .................................... Lori Shelton Home Communion ...................... Lee Lacy Lutheran Campus Min. ......... Pr. Jim Rowe Memorial Committee .........Yvonne Poppe Men in Mission......................... Andy Waite Outreach Committee............. Jean Russell Property Committee .................................. Quilters Group ....................Yvonne Poppe Stewardship ........................ Chris Clarkson Worship & Music Committee ...... John Bell Worship Leaders ............. Beth Willoughby Writers Group ..................... Suzanne Terry

Our Mission

Saved by God’s grace, energized by the Holy Spirit,

and growing spiritually in Jesus Christ,

we welcome and serve all.

Council News:

Annual Meeting Highlights Priorities

The congregation met for its Annual Meeting on December 15th at 9:45 AM. In addition to approving the 2020 Budget and the election of Council Representatives, Time was spent reviewing the status of four congregational priorities that were identified in the 2018 mem-bership interviews. Pastor Bell reported that a biennial leadership schedule has been created to extend the circle of leaders involved in the conversation. Meeting in September and February the summits offer a time of communication as ministry team leaders share team activities, challenges and vision. The meetings are designed to foster communication and cooperation between ministry teams and coun-cil. The summits also offer an opportunity to review the four mission priorities, (Membership Growth/ Community Presence; Building Rela-tionships; Improving Facilities; and Financial Stability), and create achievable goals. The first meeting focused on how teams can foster building relationships in the congregation. The coming forum in Feb-ruary will focus on Membership Growth and the congregation’s pres-ence in the community.

New Council Named

Two new council members were elected at the Annual Meeting. Lois Plato and Suzanne Terry will replace retiring members Chris Clarkson and Lori Shelton. Officers were elected in the January meeting of Council and include: Jean Schaake—President; Harriet Powell—Vice-President; Lois Plato—Treasurer; and Laurie Hensel—Secretary. John and Joyce Rademacher were appointed to serve as voting members of the 2020 NTNL Synod Assembly.

2019 Ends with Positive Cash Flow

Despite unusually high maintenance expenses and financial strug-gles, Christ the Servant was able to end 2019 in the black. Strong De-cember giving brought us to a net gain of $202.01 for the year. While this is basically a break-even situation it marks a positive change from the financial losses of recent years. The congregation approved a budget of $187,287 for 2020. This represents an increase of about 2.5% over 2019. We should be able to exceed that goal.

2nd Leadership Summit Scheduled

Council has schedule the 2nd Biennial Leadership Summit for Thurs-day, February 13th at 7:00 PM. The summit is a chance for ministry teams to gather for communication and collaboration. In addition to ministry updates, teams will focus on the congregational priority of Outreach and Membership Growth. Discussion will seek to find are-as that each ministry team can contribute to an increasing congrega-tional presence in the community.

2121 E. University Dr., Denton, TX 76209 3

January Celebrations

Annabel ............................ 2nd Laurie Hensel .................... 6th Hannah Tarver ................. 11th Scott Payne ..................... 24th Darcy Zubrick .................. 24th Carolyn Kacena ............... 25th Elliott ............................... 28th

Celebrating Christmas 2019:

Though many of our families were traveling this year, attendance was over-flowing for our Christmas Eve Candlelight service. We were blessed by the attendance of a large number of visitors. The format for the service changed last year to include more music and less liturgy. This year, again, music was highlighted with special instrumental music by Delta Holl, Janna Callahan, Frank Heidlberger, Jim Rowe and Russa Teppo. A pre-service con-cert preceded the service. Special vocal music was provided by the choir and the children of the congregation. The service ended with a candlelight rendition of Silent Night, led by Jim Rowe on Guitar.

On the following Sunday, the congregation gathered for a single service at 11 AM that featured a celebration of Christmas carols.

The season of Epiphany will feature a festive hybrid liturgy that is piano based.

Staff gives thanks:

The Christ the Servant Staff offers its thanks and gratitude for the generous staff gifts given by the congregation this year. Your thoughtfulness and grace, make CTS a great place to partner in ministry. We are blessed to be a part of this congregation.

- John, Cindy, Elizabeth, Russa, and Tracy

Herbert & Delta Holl ................................ 4th

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Quilting for LWR

Quilting days for January will be 13, 14, 27, and 28.

Lutheran Campus Ministry Meals:

With a new semester started, Christ the Servant will be continuing its sup-port of the Campus Ministry at UNT by providing meals for its Thursday night gatherings. Meals don’t have to be fan-cy, or even homemade, they just have to be at the Wesley Center by 6PM. Attendance varies from 4 to fourteen. A sign-up schedule is on the volunteer board across from the coffee bar.

Monday Evening Bible Study

Please join us starting Monday January 6th at 7:30pm at Zera Coffee as we gather for fun and fellowship while examining the upcoming Sunday's Gospel text.

New Adult Forum

The Gospel of Matthew will be the topic in the Sun-day morning adult education group beginning Sun-day, January 12, at 9:45 am. Rev. Dennis Schurter will lead the group in a deep dive into Matthew as the group studies the historical context of this gospel and how Matthew tells the story of Jesus. The group will talk about the ways Matthew is like the other gospels and how it is different. What do these differ-ences mean for Matthew and for us today? Bonus feature: During this church year most of the gospel lessons read in the Sunday services will be from Mat-thew. This study will enhance your listening skills and your appreciation of these gospel lessons. Plan to join this class – and perhaps Matthew will become your “new best friend” in the New Testament.

Confirmation Classes

The Confirmation class resumes its study of the scrip-tures as we finish up the Old Testament and transi-tion to the gospels. We continue to meet Sunday mornings in the Pastor’s Study.

2121 E. University Dr., Denton, TX 76209 5

News from the Outreach Team

The Outreach Team is looking forward to the begin-ning of a new year. Last fall CTS embarked on a t-shirt contest. At the time of judging the contest winner, CTS became very busy. Now with the holi-days behind us, we are set to reinvigorate the t-shirt project. More on this is forthcoming. Late last October CTS members joined a huge crowd of people in Downtown Denton to watch and cheer on contestants in the Coffin Races during

The Day of the Dead festival. We wanted to observe the event to ascertain the interest in being a con-testant in 2020. Your interest in participating is go-ing to requested so we can plan to meet the finan-cial commitment required. Thanks to all those submitting ‘Service Suggestions’ recently. A couple of the ideas needed to be for-warded to Council. Look for more on those. And thanks to all Veterans who submitted photos for the November month of appreciation. Thanks to all who have so willingly given their time and talents to the many activities and service needs of our members and others in the community. OT will hold a planning session in January. Your ideas and involvement are always welcome.

Team Members: Christen Cox, Janelle Davis, Yvonne Poppe, Jean Russell, Suzanne Terry, and Beth Willoughby.

Evening Book Club By Suzanne Terry

In December, we met at Lois Plato’s house for a decadent array of snacks and fun fellowship. We each discussed our favorite book (or books, as it’s difficult for most of us to narrow it down to just one!) that we read in 2019. We look forward to great discussions in the year ahead.

For those who want to read and plan ahead:

January 21 – Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok

February 18 – Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

March 17 – The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne

April 21 – The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Morning Book Club February’s book selec-tion is The Turner House by Angela Flournoy. A finalist for the National Book Award, it tells the story of a large African American Family in De-troit in the Fifties along with the challenges they faced. The group will meet to discuss the novel at the

Home of Lois Plato on February 12th at 10:00 AM.

5052 Golden Circle, Denton All are welcome to attend

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Happy New Year!

During this time of setting goals, making plans and coming up with resolutions for the New Year, for a happier, healthier you - don’t forget about your faith life! In 2020, why not try out a new group, be more faithful at attending a small group, volunteer or serve the church in a different way or join a new group. Be open to where God is calling you to serve and where you might find fellowship and new friends.

Here are 20 opportunities to consider in 2020 at Christ the Servant

1. Attend Sunday Services more faithfully or try attending a different worship time to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones

2. Attend Sunday School or assist leading youth or adults for Sunday School

3. Lift up your voice is song to support worship and join the choir

4. Children can color cards or make crafts to be given to home bound members when they receive com-munion or need a little extra love

5. Learn a new skill (or share your experience) and help the quilters on Mondays & Tuesday. Don’t know how to sew, there are plenty of other ways to help by cutting or arranging squares or tying the quilts

6. Join the Monday Evening Bible Study group for fellowship and fun at Zera’s Coffee as they explore the upcoming Sunday’s Gospel text

7. Ladies grab a bagel and some coffee and join Kaffee Klache on Tuesday Mornings at Panera Bread to study the upcoming Sunday’s Gospel lesson and to visit

8. Got Thursday mornings free? Join the Pastor’s Study Text group at Zera’s Coffee as they discuss Sun-day’s Gospel Lesson

9. Enjoy cooking or baking? Signup for a campus ministry meal or bake the college students a homemade treat for study breaks

10. Enjoy gardening? Volunteer your time at church beautifying the grounds weeding, planting flowers or mowing.

11. Blessed with free time? Consider driving another member to appointments or run errands for them.

12. Enjoy reading? Join the Tuesday evening Book Club and discuss what you’ve read.

13. See a new face, introduce yourself and greet the visitor and welcome them to Christ the Servant.

14. Bring nonperishable food items or a monetary donation on Food Sundays.

15. Sign up to assist with worship by ushering, serving as assisting minister or serving communion.

16. Enjoy hosting? Sign up and help prepare the coffee and treats on Sunday mornings.

17. Can you play a musical instrument? Share your gifts during worship and make a joyful noise.

18. Are you more of a behind the scene personality? Consider volunteering for Alter Guild and preparing the sanctuary for worship

19. Tech genius? Consider helping with the Sunday morning media and recording worship.

20. Not sure what new ministry to add to your faith life in 2020, consider praying for each small group or church members or our community.

2121 E. University Dr., Denton, TX 76209 7

Texas ELCA Bishops Respond to Governor Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, has announced that the State of Texas will be the first, and so far only, state to refuse to settle refugees. This marks an abrupt change for a state that has historically embraced these newcomers. Lutherans have a long history of supporting refugees and the three ELCA bishops have responded to Governor Abbott in the letter below.

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YEAR END REPORTS NEW MEMBERS RECEIVED

Christ the Servant welcomed two new members on December 15th. Noah Geisert is an accountant at Saf-ran here in Denton and has been serving as an usher. Otto Peters is recently widowed and is a retired plant manager. He was President of his former congregation in Maryland. He currently works in sales for Total Wine. We are pleased to have them as a part of our church family. In March we welcomed: Karen Dreger, David Lindsey, Connie McCammon, Amanda Norvelle, Joshua Norvelle, Dennis Schurter, and Sandy Shur-ter.

BAPTISMS: Bruin Whitlock June 16, 2019 Bennett Callahan October 20, 2019

DEATHS: Emma Adams November 11, 2019

WEDDINGS: Joshua and Amanda Norvelle June 28, 2019

FINANCIALS:

Christ the Servant received $180,222.12 into its General Fund in 2019. General Fund expenditures totaled $180,020.11 resulting in net income of $202.01 for the year.

The Building Fund received income of $32,054.17 and had $32,850.84 in expenses for a net loss of $796.67. This included final settlements on the 2014 hail damage, repairs to the covered drop off, major plumbing repairs and the HVAC project for the Fellowship Hall.

Reports have been abbreviated for space and clarity but full reports are available by request to the church office. An independent review will be conducted in the Spring quarter.

2121 E. University Dr., Denton, TX 76209 9

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