William Thomas Sams was received as a member through Holy Baptism and John and Earlene Graudin transferred from Island Lutheran Church in Hilton Head. Click on "Read more" to see their photos.

Read More

While the month of December might seem to be the slow month for progress in areas that do not demand immediate attention, Tamara was able to attend a meeting of the Charleston Association of Grant Professionals at the public library. This meeting introduced her to a “new world” of funding through corporate grants of all shapes and sizes.

As we have continued with the regular Growing in Christ curriculum, the children have been learning many (in some cases polishing up) songs over the last two months. Everything came together very well on Christmas day as our children’s choir sang many parts on their own during the service. The Christmas Day Service was Read More

It was a wonderful time together in December. We met at the Schrupp’s house and enjoyed many baked treats with cider and hot chocolate.

It was a pleasure to have Dolene with us. She and her family are just getting settled after their move from Texas. Thanks to Ken for taking the initiative in inviting Dolene on her first visit to Grace Lutheran Church. We look forward to meeting her husband and children.

I look around and I see the face of the neighborhoods around me changing. As I drive along I find that there are new roads being built into woodlands that will soon be home to many hundreds of houses. New phases are still being built in the existing neighborhoods as well. These may be hidden from view, but they add hundreds of more homes to our ever growing community.

We brought our first quarter using the Growing in Christ curriculum to a close in November. Studying our way through Genesis, we saw that God continued to remind His people of His promise and despite their doubts and disobedience, He was ever faithful. He continually preserved His people and reminded them that He has chosen them, that through them all nations would be blessed. It is amazing how much our children and we adults learn through these lessons.

Thank you to Mark and Brenda Berkland for their hospitality at November's Bible study. The spaghetti warmed us up for our study of God's prophet Jonah. Jonah was a unique prophet in that he was reluctant and not all that enthusiastic, yet God's Word proved strong enough to work repentance even through such a defiant servant.

I look forward to seeing you at our next get together on December 17 at 5:00 pm. This month we will meet in Cypress Point.

Reprinted by permission

Seven years, almost to the day, I was privileged to speak at your Awards Banquet on behalf of all those being honored. Please excuse me if I add a little P.S. to my words at that time.

I closed with a quotation from Charles Philip Krauth in an article he wrote in the Evangelical Review over 150 years ago. Complaining of our tendency as Lutherans to seek the approbation of others, he said in part, "Too ignorant have we been of our own doctrines, and our own history, too little have we known of the fountain from which we sprang…Shame that it has to be so!...Let us go back to our father's house, let us see what it has, make ourselves acquainted with its structure and furniture, let us sit down at its table and partake of its viands. They will better suit our appetite than the crumbs which we have gathered elsewhere."

Last month noted the possibility that a facility could be made available for our use that was large enough to house both church and school. While we may have thought it a perfect fit, in God's wisdom, it was not right for us. And as such, the property was not made available for lease to us. This means that we continue to plan, we continue investigate opportunities, and above all, we continue to pray.

In the planning category, we have determined that the community supports the idea of a Christian school and desires one. From here we ...

The Sunday School opening and closing has been working very well to reinforce the lesson that all of the age groups are learning together. Each Sunday Pastor asks the children one or two questions about the Bible narrative being studied during the Sunday School opening. The children then pay particular attention during their lesson to learn the answer to each question. Then during the closing together, the children are asked to answer the question to begin a short reinforcement of the day's study topic. The children are excited about having a chance to answer and participate in the closing.

At October's Bible study we enjoyed a quite varied discussion on Christianity and in particular a Lutheran identity. With the smaller group present we were able to deviate from the topic of the three ecumenical creeds and will return to them in November. Did you know that creeds have been used by Christians since the beginning of the Church? Even the Hebrews had a creed as early as 1400 B.C. given to them by Moses.

The Church Council approved a plan to move forward with both church and school at it’s September 26 meeting. This plan involves the acquisition of property. In the short term, Good Shepherd is pursuing an opportunity to use the facilities of one local church that is consolidating with another. The Lord willing, these arrangements, would provide Good Shepherd with a home for about two years and facilities in which we could support a school.

In September we began using a wonderful new curriculum for our Sunday School in each of the age groups. Concordia Publishing House’s Growing In Christ curriculum provides us with weekly outlines and teacher helps so that we can teach the same Bible stories at every age level, preschool to adult.

The School Steering Committee is finalizing their task of completing and reporting their results of a feasibility study to the Church Council. When complete, these results will be available to the entire congregation as well.

Mount Pleasant you say? Yes! With less than a year under our belts as a newly organized congregation and recognized member of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, we are venturing out again into familiar territory. This familiar territory is not the geographic area across the rivers, but the familiar territory of sharing Jesus Christ as Savior through Word and Sacrament.

August 27, 2006

Rally Day is traditionally the day that Sunday School starts back up in the fall. Although we have had Sunday School all summer, each lesson has been individually centered on one of the Arch books published by Concordia Publishing House. By combining the ages we have also given our teachers a well deserved break from preparing and teaching on a weekly basis.