August 2015 NEWSLETTER

Interim Pastor Mary Armstrong-Reiner

3305 Lawrenceville Highway

Lawrenceville, GA 30044

770 381 1293 www.tisgrace.org

Worship Sundays @ 10 am

Sunday School, Sundays @ 11 am

Homework Help, Wednesdays @ 5 pm

Midweek Grace on the first and third Wednesdays

of the month @ 7:00 pm

“Taste and See that the Lord is

Good!” Join Us on Rally Sunday!

Sunday School and

various Ministries Resume

Worship with Us @ 10 am

in August

Time flies!

It’s hard to believe but by the time you read this, I will have begun my sixth month of

service at Amazing Grace. I can hardly believe it myself. So much has gone on since I

walked into this church. From Lenten worship services, to Easter, then the celebration of

taking in New Members, Confirmation Sunday, and having 10 o’clock services this summer,

life has kept moving on. In Ecclesiastes 3:1, it says, “ For everything there is a season, and

a time for every matter under heaven.”

Many things have happened in the life of not only the church, but also in the people of

Amazing Grace’s lives. From illnesses, surgeries, deaths, to births, new jobs, new members,

God has walked with Amazing Grace, and God’s people here from the valley of the shadow

of death to the highest mountain tops. Summer has been wonderful, and while we hope

the weather will cool down in temperature soon, school begins in a short time, and life

changes once again.

For Amazing Grace, the call committee continues it’s work to find the next permanent

pastor for this wonderful church. We continue to pray for who is coming next but we don’t

stop worshipping God, growing in our faith, and serving God through the church, and to this

community, and the world.

Many wonderful things are coming up to look forward to. We will have Rally Sunday on

Sunday, August 16th, as well as the Blessing of the Backpacks that day at the 10 a.m.

service. There’s a fish fry on the 22nd, Sunday school begins on the 23rd, and September

and October will bring our serving our community through “God’s Work, Our Hands” service

day on September 13th, as well as our next outdoor worship, and Blessing of the

Animals in early October.

Each season brings its wonderful joys, and gifts to our lives. Let us give thanks for each day

we are here to love and serve our amazing God, and live our life to the fullest for the one

who created and sustains us. It is a joy for me to have served alongside you all these past

months. I look forward to whatever time God gives us together. I treasure you all, and I’m

thankful that God’s Amazing Grace has blessed me once again through the people of this

wonderful church.

Pastor Mary

Adult Sunday School

Join us on Rally Sunday, August 16 @ 11 am in the Fellowship Hall, as we have a

Coffee Tasting, to go along with a portion of the book “The Gospel According to

Starbucks, Living a Grande Passion” by Leonard Sweet. Join us for the fun and

Fellowship!

Throughout the rest of August in Adult Sunday School @ 11 am in the

Fellowship Hall, we will be discussing the Chip Ingraham series “Living On The Edge”.

Bible Study Bible study in August will be held on Monday, August 10th, and 24th at 7 p.m. in the

Fellowship Hall.

We continue to Study and Discuss 1st Corinthians. All are invited to join us!

Midweek Grace Wednesday evening worship in August will be held on Wednesday, August 19th at

7 p.m. Please plan to join us for a time of scripture, sharing, and song.

Get Ready for the New Pastor Let’s start getting the church ready for our new Pastor. We will be having a work day on

August 8th starting at 9:00 am. The main focus will be on the interior of the church -

cleaning and painting. Weather permitting we will do some outside work as well. A sign-up

sheet is posted on the bulletin board or let me know if you can help. If there is something

you think needs to be put on the work list let me know. David Rager, Property Chair,

770-906-1083.

Rally Sunday is coming August 16th! “Taste and See that the Lord is Good!”

Blessings of the backpacks at church on this day too!

Rally Sunday will be held earlier this year than in years’ past. It will be held on Sunday,

August 16th. Our theme is "Taste and See that the Lord is Good!" Sunday School teachers,

and other ministries will have information about their upcoming classes. Also, some of

them will offer a taste of something that goes along with their program.

For the Adult Sunday School, Jimmy Herchek will be having a coffee tasting to go along

with the new Adult class reading of the book, “The Gospel According to Starbucks, Living a

Grande Passion,” by Leonard Sweet. All are invited to join the festivities!

Sunday School/Confirmation will be held on Sunday, August 23rd, and 30th but not held on

Sunday, September 6th or the 13th, because of Labor Day and the “God's Work, Our Hands”

Sunday in which we hope to send everyone out (or do service projects at church ) to serve.

The Blessing of the Backpacks will also take place at the 10 a.m. Worship service on the

16th, and we hope to bless the children’s backpacks at the Wednesday evening program on

the following Wednesday, August 19th. We invite all ages to go to any type of school, from

pre-school to college, to bring their backpacks to church on that day for a blessing for their

school year. We also invite teachers to bring their bags as well, as we bless them for their

coming school year.

If any of the groups want to share about their ministries on Rally Sunday, please let Tracie

know in the office, so that we make sure to have some table space available downstairs for

each group to put out their materials, and to share. They can e-mail Tracie at

office@tisgrace.org by Thursday, August 13th.

Annual Fish Fry It’s almost here! Please invite your family & friends for the Annual Amazing Grace Fish Fry

to be held on Saturday, August 22nd @ 6 pm on the front lawn. We will gather in the

Fellowship Hall if it's raining. We will provide Fish, BBQ & Hushpuppies. Please bring a side

dish to share. Join us for this fun time!

Lutheran Campus Ministry Atlanta

It's a Low Country Boil for Lutheran Campus Ministry

Atlanta, and we need your support! LCM serves GA

Tech, Georgia State, Emory and Agnes Scott. Please

come to our fun event on Saturday, August 22nd, at

Living Grace Lutheran Church in Tucker (1182

Cooledge Rd.) at 4 p.m. Tickets are $50/person, and

anyone under 21 is admitted free! Tickets are available

online at the LCM Atlanta webpage

(www.gracepeople.org). Can you donate an auction item

for the silent auction? Any questions, please contact

Evelyn Cannon (epcmail@bellsouth.net).

Wednesday Afternoons Rock! Wednesday afternoons at 5:00 pm at Amazing

Grace have been full of energy, enthusiasm, love

and joy for the past 2 years! Come and See

what all of the excitement is about by joining

us around 5 pm in the Fellowship Hall on

Wednesday afternoons. Adults and Children join

together to work on Homework, Have a Meal,

and Socialize!

Chemo Caps The Chemo Caps ministry is resuming. Chemo Caps is a ministry

of knitters and crocheters who make colorful caps for newborn

babies and people who have gone through cancer. I have some

patterns available, but many more are available on the internet.

I am willing to teach knitting and/or crocheting to anyone who is

interested in learning. If you are interested in helping with this

ministry, please contact Debi Linke at

deblinke@comcast.net or 678-689-7571. Thank you for your

support of this ministry!

Sermons on YouTube

It’s been our goal to spread the Word of God to other

people, to those who could not come to worship, or

whomever may be interested in watching the sermon

again. So your views are really important to us. It’s

motivation that keep us, especially David Trevino,

who produces and maintains the sermon videos and

the Youtube channel, to make new sermon videos.

ALL you have to do is spend 5-10 minutes each day.

Access the sermon link on our

website: tisgrace.org under the Sermon tab, and choose whatever topic that you like.

Watch the whole video if you have time, we appreciate YOUR CLICKs!!

Prayer Discernment Group

Amazing Grace’s Discerning Prayer group continues to meet on the 2nd & 4th Mondays of

each month. In August we will meet on Mondays, August 3 and August 17 @ 7 PM in

the church sanctuary.

This group intentionally takes time to pray to God, asking who God is calling to Amazing

Grace and it’s disciples to be in our future. Using scripture and guided silent prayer we sit

together in the solitude of God’s presence. Following prayer we take time to share our

prayer experience. Our prayer sessions continue to be very insightful. Please come and

join us. All are welcome. No experience necessary. Questions? See Lud, Lisa, or Wayne.

Thank you to Thinh Tran! Most parishioners of Amazing Grace know Thinh Tran,

Amazing Grace’s new part-time Office Assistant. Thinh

now puts together the weekly Bulletin, the monthly

Newsletter, compiles worship materials for Sunday,

sends out weekly hospitality reminders for Sunday, and

provides excellent computer support! What you may not

know is that Thinh originally found Amazing Grace in July of

2013 by sending an email to the church office inquiring of

Volunteer Work. Thinh was in the Volunteer Club at

Berkmar High School.

As it turns out, we were looking for someone to put together a Power Point presentation of

the summer’s recently completed Vacation Bible School program. Thinh came up with an

incredible presentation set to music, which also included creative and fun captions for

each picture in the presentation. Perhaps some of you still remember this presentation?

What’s really amazing is that Thinh put this together on a Saturday, a few days after

having been interviewed by the Office Administrator and the Pastor! This enthusiastic,

highly creative, extremely proficient, “always willing to help in any way” attitude is what

we have come to know in Thinh Tran. Thinh is currently a student of Georgia Gwinnett

College and also works part-time at Hong Kong Supermarket. If you have been

appreciative of Thinh’s fine work, please take a moment to thank him. He works most

Sunday afternoons at Hong Kong Supermarket, but you could send him an email at

tnokid@gmail.com.

As you read this newsletter, it is likely that July is history and we are now into

August! Since schools are starting all over the metro area (I know Gwinnett County is

August 10), everyone is preparing to jump right into their ‘school year routines’ (for those

of us who have children in school as well as those who are teachers!)!

Getting back into the “school routine” can be just as tough as forgetting about the

wonderful vacations we had over the summer! We do not want to set those alarm clocks

for our children to get back into the school rituals, but we know we have to!

I keep advertising that there is going to be a Celebration Lunch Bunch outing and

the month of August is going to be where we start once again!

For several months I have announced that we are going to go to Papi’s Cuban and

Caribbean Grill only to have a conflict arise that took precedence over our Celebration

Lunch Bunch! I chose August 16th as THE date we would once again start our Lunch

Bunch gatherings.

As luck would have it, there is a conflict at church even for that date, BUT, I am

still counting on that date of August 16 as the start-up date for the Fall Celebration Lunch

Bunch!

Once again Celebration Lunch Bunch will meet on August 16, 2015, at Papi’s

Cuban and Caribbean Grill as soon after the church service as we can! Papi’s is

located at 911 Duluth Highway (at Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road on the left side of the

intersection), in Duluth, GA! The phone number is 770-232-8889! If you have not been

there before, you can look them up online to see the menu!

All are welcome! Please consider joining in the Fellowship with other Amazing

Grace people!

God’s Blessings Always,

Linda MacKinnon

Celebration Lunch Bunch for August

ANNUAL REPORT UPDATE

It seems a bit strange for me to be reporting on our annual report about our

generosity to the Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry Food Bank! It is just a little past

mid-year 2015 and I thought I would include our numbers in goods and monetary gifts

as well as our volunteers and their hours for 2014! I think it is important to let

everyone know that we do have a generous hand in helping our brothers and sisters

make it from month to month!

We may not be the biggest church who donates items and money to the Coop

Food Bank, but we hold our own as far as being very supportive of this community

agency that helps those in need!

Amazing Grace has nine (9) very active volunteers who make time in their lives

on a regular basis to serve God through the Coop Food Bank! Their total hours for

2014 were reported as 1,145 hours! This means that every week some our members

are spending time at the Coop helping our neighbors in some capacity! I know two

men who are there most Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. through at least 2:30 and many

times longer! And each of them comes home feeling more blessed than those who

receive food!

It is reported that we opened our hearts and our wallets and contributed

$1,855.00 to help clients pay a bill, or rent or medicine OR the Coop Food Bank buy

needed food stuffs from the Atlanta Food Bank! I am so excited to share that we as a

small but caring congregation also donated 3,017 items to be distributed to our

community who needed a little help in 2014!

I have been involved with the Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry Food Bank for

several years and writing an article to advertise the needs of its clients for just as long!

I am so glad that God has chosen me to stay as enthusiastic as I still am about helping

those in need in our communities of Lawrenceville and Dacula! I give God Thanks

every day for our congregation who continually reaches out to those in our community

who just need a little help now and then!

Thank You, Amazing Grace for your generosity and Love for our neighbors who

use the Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry Food Bank!

God Bless You,

Linda MacKinnon

AUGUST REPORT

As I type my August message, the temperatures are still in the low 90’s and

upper 80’s! It seems to me that the summer vacation for our school children just

started and not that schools open in a matter of days when this newsletter will be seen

by all of us at Amazing Grace Lutheran Church!

I have been in Georgia for 31 years and I am still shocked when school starts in

August and not after Labor Day like some other states! But I am always more shocked

when schools close here in mid-May. Even though I have never heard a plausible

explanation for that, I have had to accept this Gwinnett County tradition for the years

my children were in school as well now as I am watching my grandchildren complain

about their summer vacations being too short!

Summer is a tough time to have any ‘giving campaigns’ for the Food Bank,

but I am so glad that many of you have not ignored the needs of our neighbors and

continually brought in items throughout the summer vacation months! We have

donated 79 items so far for July 2015! Thank You, so much Amazing Grace! I know

the clients who receive our goods are as appreciative as I am that we are ‘slow and

steady’ with our donations!

It seems strange that although it is hot, hot, hot, the clients cannot get enough

of vegetable soup! The Coop Food Bank cannot keep vegetable soup on the shelves

and I guess most people think like I do, “What, hot soup in the summer months!?!”

But who are we to judge what people like? We are told not to judge in Matthew 7:1-2

which reads in the New Living Translation as “…Do not judge others, and you will not be

judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is

the standard by which you will be judged. …”

But the vegetable beef soup is the only one that is presently out of stock!

Soup is very popular year round for distribution through the Lawrenceville Coop! Soups

of all kinds are always appreciated! As I always remind everyone, whatever you use at

your house is generally what others need at their houses as well!

Please think about baking goods (thank you for the flour I have noticed

recently!!!) and juice boxes, shelf safe milk, crackers, puddings, jello, SPAM, canned

hams, any kind of vegetables…in short, EVERYTHING is needed at the Coop!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Amazing Grace, for all of your goods

donations as well as financial! All are significantly appreciated by not only the Coop

Food Bank, but all of its clients! God Bless You, Amazing Grace, for your continued

support of love for our neighbors!

Love always,

Linda MacKinnon

THE SANDWICH GENERATION

God created the first family and placed them in the Garden of Eden. And, throughout the Bible we see God caring for and nurturing families: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Mary and Joseph. Just as God cares for families, we are encouraged to do the same:

Ephesians 6:2-3—“Honor your father and mother that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” 1 Timothy 5:4—“But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.”

But sometimes taking care of loved ones is even more challenging for adults who find themselves part of The Sandwich Generation—a term used to describe middle-aged adults who are caring for both young children and ag-ing parents. Nearly half of all American adults ages 40–59 have provided some financial support to an adult child in the past year. More than one quarter of sandwich-generation adults are the primary supporter of their adult child. And, one in five middle-aged adults has provided financial support to an aging parent in the past year.1

Financial support is just one of many ways we can look after our loved ones. Consider these other ways:

Spiritually—Pray for and with our family to seek God’s guidance and blessing. Emotionally—Spend time with family to share in the joys and sorrows of life, within the bond of family love. Practically—Recognize what family members need and take action to provide for those needs.

Family is one of God’s greatest blessings. Nurturing and caring for our families is an even greater blessing—to us and to them. This article provided compliments of Thrivent Financial and Don Goldsmith, ChFC, RICP, FIC and Kelly Gold-

smith, CFP ®, CLTC, FIC, at 770-982-0420 or eastmetroteam@thrivent.com.

July 30, 2015

Dear Rostered Leader and Congregation Council President,

Last November, our ELCA Southeastern Synod conducted the We Are Church Together appeal in response to an antici-

pated shortfall in mission support. Thank you for your generous contributions totaling just over $66,000. Of that, ap-

proximately $60,000 was received as mission support. The remainder was designated for specific ministries in our syn-

od. According to our 2014 Ministry Funding Plan, half of the amount received as mission support went to ELCA Church-

wide mission support and the remaining half stayed in our synod to support synodical ministries. Because of your gen-

erosity, we were able to fully fund our ministry commitments and avoid additional cuts to staff salaries. We are ex-

tremely grateful for your faithful response to God’s call to be church together.

Of course, there is still much God calls us to do. Our synod’s Ministry Funding Plans for 2015 and 2016 reflect our de-

sire to respond faithfully to God’s call. In this church, we recognize that no individual leader or individual congregation

can fully accomplish God’s mission throughout our four states. Thankfully, God has given us one another, members and

congregations of our ELCA Southeastern Synod, so that together we can …

Provide support for 48,000 members and 172 rostered leaders in 160 congregations throughout Georgia, Alabama,

Mississippi, and Tennessee;

• Support and guide 70 leadership candidates through the seminary and candidacy process;

• Promote opportunities for youth and young adults to share their gifts;

• Shepherd 21 new starts and synodically authorized worshipping communities and 7 congregations in redevelopment;

• Coordinate disaster response efforts; and,

Join with schools, camps, social service and relief organizations, advocacy groups, churchwide and global staff, and

ecumenical and global partners in ministry to our nation and the world.

On behalf of your Synod Council, we invite you to join with one another in extending our reach in three specific ways:

1) Designate September as a time to celebrate our ministry together as the Southeastern Synod. One simple way to do

this is to remember our shared ministry as part of the prayers of intercession during worship throughout the month; 2)

Participate in God's Work. Our Hands. Sunday on September 13; 3) Designate Sunday, September 26 (or another Sun-

day of your choosing) as Together We Can! Synodical Appeal Sunday. Resources to assist you and your congregation in

carrying out these requests are provided on the back of this letter.

The goals of the Together We Can! Appeal are that all members of our synod will be invited to respond directly to the

appeal and that we achieve $100,000 in additional mission support. Because budgeted mission support funds the basic

level of our Ministry Funding Plan, contributions in addition to regular congregational mission support are key to ex-

tending our reach. Based on our 2015 Ministry Funding Plan, an additional $100,000 in mission support could extend

our reach as follows:

50% would go to support the work that we do as church together in the Southeastern Synod and around the world;

would go toward supporting Southeastern Synod congregations and the work that synod staff do on behalf of

our synod;

would be to support Ministry Partners such as Campus Ministries, LTSS, and NovusWay;

would go to starting new congregations.

We recognize that this is an ambitious goal. But, through your generosity, we truly believe that Together We Can

respond, and accomplish the ministry to which God is calling us as the ELCA Southeastern Synod.

In gratitude for your generosity and your faithful partnership in ministry,

H. Julian Gordy Bishop Doris Underwood Synod Vice-President

___________________________________________________________

How you can help us achieve our Together We Can! Appeal goals

1. Send a set of labels or a report from which we can print labels to the synod office. We’ll send an appeal letter and

envelope to members of congregations from which we receive labels. Please email them to Ms. Carolyn Davis or

you can reach her at 404-589-1977, X235.

2. Request Appeal Giving Envelopes from the synod office or use the envelope templates provided on the Together We

Can! Appeal webpage to print your own envelopes. A sample is included with this letter. You can request them from

Ms. Carolyn Davis.

3. Raise awareness for the Together We Can! Appeal by including information about it in your newsletters, worship

bulletins (inserts provided), worship announcements, and social media. A toolkit with all of the resources necessary to

invite your members and visitors to participate in the Appeal can be found at https://goo.gl/JKcXqE.

4. Find ways to share the stories of the ministry we do as church together. Download them in video format or as short

stories that can be printed or shared with groups of people from the Appeal webpage.

5. Have other ideas? Share them with any member of the Together We Can! Appeal planning team - Southeastern Syn-

od Vice President Ms. Doris Underwood (dpunderwood@knology.net), At-Large Synod Council representative Mr. Mi-

chael Franklin (MichaelEFranklin@Comcast.net), At-Large Synod Council representative Pastor Eric Murray

(pastoreric@messiahknoxville.org), Conference 7 Synod Council representative Pastor Randy Jones

(messiahlutheran@aol.com), Southeastern Synod Assistant to the Bishop AIM Michelle Angalet (mangalet@elca-

ses.org).

Amazing Grace’s New Council Members’ Directory

E-mail address Phone #

Term Ends

President Larry Snyder larry.snyder11@gmail.com 770-299-1065 2016

Vice President Mimi Layton mimifrankman@hotmail.com 770-876-9500 2016

Secretary Annette Irwin airwin13@hotmail.com 678-641-0498 cell 2016

Discipleship Commission

Pam Angles pangles@globalindustrial.com 770-265-7573 cell 2016

Property Commission

David Rager drager@onealinc.com 770-906-1083 2016

Worship & Music

Commission

Trish Ladd-Thomas

jayhawkswmr@gmail.com 678-312-4091 work 1st

choice 2017

404-610-7104 cell 2nd

choice

Outreach Commission

Bob MacKinnon roblin1@bellsouth.net 678-327-6199 2017

Nurture

Commission Philip Speddon philip.speddon@outlook.com 785-717-9730 2017

Financial Secretary

Debbie Teal debateal@gmail.com 770-564-1703 home 2017

Treasurer Bob Lee robert.s.lee@att.net 404-561-7354

Pastor Mary Armstrong

-Reiner pastor.mary@tisgrace.org 309-212-0888 cell

Amazing Grace’s Events

August 2015

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2 10 am Worship 11am Adult Sunday School, Fellowship Hall

3 6:30 am

Men’s Group; 7pm Prayer Discernment Group - Sanctuary

4

11:00 am Good Old Guys Meet; 7 pm Coed Barnabas Group

5 5-7 pm Homework Help

6 7 pm Men’s Barnabas Group; 7:30 pm Narcanon

7 6:30 am Men’s Group @ IHOP

8

9:00 am Work/Church Clean-Up Day

9

10 am Worship 11:00 am Adult Sun-day School, Fellowship Hall

10 6:30 am

Men’s Group; 6:00 pm Peachtree Trombone Consort; 7:00pm Bible Study, Fellowship Hall

11 11:00 am Good Old Guys Meet; 7pm Council Meeting - Youth Room

12 5-7 pm Homework Help

13 7 pm Men’s Barnabas Group; 7:30 pm Narcanon

14

6:30 am Men’s Group @ IHOP

15

16 RALLY DAY

10 am Worship 11:00 am Adult Sunday School; 12 pm Celebration Lunch @ Papi’s Cuban Grill

17 6:30 am

Men’s Group; 7pm Prayer Discernment—Sanctuary

18 11 am Good Old Guys Meet; 7 pm Coed Barnabas Group

19 5-7 pm Homework Help 7 pm Midweek Grace

20 7 pm Men’s Barnabas Group ; 7:30 pm Narcanon

21 6:30 am Men’s Group IHOP

22 4 pm,

Low Country Boil for Lu-theran Cam-pus Ministry 6pm Fish Fry @ AGLC

23

10 am Worship 11am Adult & Children’s Sunday School & Nomads Group; Confirmation Class

24 6:30 am

Men’s Group 7:00pm Bible Study, Fellowship Hall

25

11 am Good Old

Guys Meet

26 5-7 pm Homework Help

27 7 pm Men’s Barnabas Group ; 7:30 pm Narcanon

28 6:30 am Men’s Group @ IHOP

29

30 10 am Worship

11am Adult & Children’s Sunday School & Nomads Group; Confirmation Class

31 6:30 am

Men’s Group 6:00 pm Peachtree Trombone Consort