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Council has posted information including Council Minutes and more detailed financial numbers, in the Fellowship Hall.

Thank you to all the help given this Christmas season. We are thankful for all of the roles that people took upon themselves to serve and praise God during our Christmas worship services. We are the church and we are blessed.

THANK YOU!!!

The staff of Good Shepherd would like to express their sincere gratitude for the generous Christmas gifts given by the congregation. We continue to be humbled and blessed by your abundant love and support.

2024 is Just Around the Corner

The new 2024 flower and donut charts are now posted in the Administration Hallway. Secure your favorite dates! Prices remain the same. $30 for donuts and $40 for flowers. Always remember to include a form, checks can be made out to GSLC. Please note flowers or donuts in the memo line on your checks. You can also pay online, using the donate button on our website. Want to help serve donuts? Contact a member of our Fellowship team or the church office.

Phones

We have new phones! They follow the hours of the office open and close times. The office is officially open M-TH 9 AM-3 PM, Sun 8 AM - 12 PM.

When you call Good Shepherd during normal business hours you will receive a message. During that message, if you want to reach:

·        Any member of our staff: press or say 1

·        Melina: press or say 4

·        Donna: press or say 5

·        Pastor: press or say 6

·        Carrie: press or say 7

·        Pam: press or say 8

During the times the office is closed, for emergency purposes, you can reach pastor by email or her cell phone (business cards are available on the Welcome desk). If you'd like to leave a message for a staff member at this time, it will be routed to the Office Coordinator, Mel's voicemail. These messages will be received during normal business hours.

Holiday Hours

The church office will be closed New Year's Day and January 2; we will be operating with limited staff. Please contact Pastor Karen by phone or e-mail with any emergencies.

NEXT OUTREACH MEETING

Our next outreach meeting will be held January 7, at 9:30 AM. Please plan to attend if you are able.

Upcoming Outreach Events

The Outreach Committee will be collecting gently-used coats, jackets, sweaters and raincoats for men, women and children during the months of January and February. Please make sure that they are clean with no tears. We will be donating them to the Cherokee Family Violence Center and to MUST, Cherokee.

Also, mark your calendars for January 15th, Martin Luther King Day of Service. We will be writing notes to our active military, making gifts for the First Responders that serve our area and delivering them and making gift bags for Sunabella and The Oaks Assisted Living homes and delivering them. 

Two Can Sunday is January 7th

Thank you for the support for Timothy Lutheran's Cupboard during the month of December.

Youth Sunday is coming soon on January 28th, at the 10:45 AM service and a Family Fun Night of bowling that evening at Stars and Strikes in Woodstock at 5 PM.

Looking for all the news for our Youth? Be sure to read your Wednesday, Weekly Lamb Buzz Email. Some exciting things are happening at GSLC for all ages of our youth. Access each week on our website under the Youth Tab, the button below or sign-up to be on the e-mail list. Let Mel know at youthfamministry@gslutheran.org if you want to be included in the email blast. 

Read the Weekly Lamb Buzz newsletter for more details.

Ladies Night Out

Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2023 Time: 7 PM

Longhorn's Steakhouse

1420 Towne Lake Pkwy.

Woodstock, GA 30189

Sign up in Fellowship Hall.

YARN ANGELS

Our next meeting will be on Monday, January 15th, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the home of Jennifer Taylor. Light refreshments will be provided.

A new member class will be scheduled sometime in January. If you have been thinking about joining Good Shepherd, please let Pastor Karen know and we can begin to send you some materials about membership.

Email Pastor Karen here.

Handmade Card ministry at GSLC

 Now that Christmas is over, we have THANK YOU cards available for a donation of $2.00 per card. There are also a limited number of BELATED BIRTHDAY cards and new cards for various occasions.

All proceeds will support our Good Shepherd Youth Mission Trips. This ministry is being hosted by Molly Maher, Linda Rowell and Pam Hough

GIRL SCOUT TROOP 17215

I would like to thank GSLC for all of the donations on behalf of my Silver Award Girl Scout team. Just to recap, we are working on the Hope project. This stands for Helping Others Positively Everyday. We want to create bags of hope with items of need and also include a message of hope & encouragement. We have finished the first portion of our project with Good Shepherd's assistance where we created bags for families in need. I planned most of this part, and to start, we printed our logo onto 50 reusable canvas bags. We took into consideration who we were helping and what we were each doing when designing the logo and deciding on a name for the project. Printing the bags did take a while. Luckily, our group worked quickly and Instant Imprints was a big help to us in creating the bags. Then, we campaigned for supplies to fill the bags. We appreciate everyone who donated money or items to support the project. 

Next in the process, we wrote notes of encouragement. Our group then filled the bags with the help of the rest of our Girl Scout troop. The bags included some paper goods, household detergent for dishes and laundry, sponges, and some snacks, soups, pastas and canned meats. Finally, we donated the bags to Encompass Ministries, also known as Papa's Pantry to go to any families in need. 

The part I enjoyed was that each of the three of us on the team is taking a small piece that's ours, to plan and work. Then coming together to help the other team members. Getting to do this project has taught me a lot about how fortunate we are to be here with people who care for us inside and outside of the church.   

Lily

STEWARDSHIP

You May Have Been Assigned a Servant Role

If switching to a new role, please email our Office Coordinator, Melina, so she can add you to our schedules. Also, please let the office know in advance if you are scheduled, or future plans have you going away and cannot serve. Thank you.

We could use a few extra hands on Saturday, January 6, at 10:30 AM, to take down the Christmas decorations as we move into the season of Epiphany. With the extra help, it should not take very long. Thank you.

We are starting up our music programs this coming week !

The Praise Team rehearses some Saturdays 9-11 and some Thursday evenings from 7-9 PM. Contact Pam if you are interested in any of our music programs.

Click here to email Pam, our Praise Service Coordinator

CARING FOR CREATION

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, January 10, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. on Teams

GARDEN OF GRACE: Fall plantings include radishes, lettuce, spinach and carrots. We have already been harvesting radishes and lettuce and expect to have carrots in a few weeks. The peppers have produced abundantly all summer, but were killed by the recent freezing weather. All produce harvested from the Garden of Grace is donated to Forever Fed.

CARING FOR CREATION: Our recycling initiatives are going well including collection of oral care waste, small batteries, used eyeglasses, pop tabs and Hefty energy bags for hard to recycle items. We recently added collection of beverage pull tabs. We will resume collection of prescription medicine bottles tin January. If you have questions, please see any member of the committee.

Reducing our Carbon Footprint

For the next couple weeks, the Caring for Creation Committee will highlight articles on ways you can reduce your carbon footprint at home. Our next article is about Energy. You can read this article and more on our website. Here is the introduction to that article:

Why Energy and Carbon are Tied Together

The first of two parts to this series focused on energy consumption. This one is no different. In particular these focus on energy consumption in your home and the reason for this is that the most significant carbon producer in the world in energy production and  Click here to read more....

Connect with the ELCA and Southeastern Synod

Southeastern Synod

Latest Edition (12-19-23): Southeastern Synod E-News

ELCA News

December 14th Edition: ELCA Monthly publication "Seeds Monthly"

Sunday School 

Most school groups on break till January 21

• Jan 7: All are invited to a "How to spot a scam" seminar, in Fellowship Hall | 10 AM

• Jan 14: All are encouraged to attend the Ministry Fair at - 9:45 AM, younger kids will have activities available in the classrooms, so parents can attend the fair.

Coffee and Conversation meets Sunday mornings at 9:45 AM, and is engaged in a study titled, God's Law is Love" that includes excerpts from several books of the New Testament. Ben Setzer continues to lead this group.

Faith Stories: Meets at at 9:45 AM in rm. 117. We encourage new faces to join us at anytime.

Men in Mission: We are currently working through the Master Builders Bible for Men. We meet Sunday Mornings at 9:45 AM in rm. 118. Join us for good conversation and reflection. We also try to meet at Marlow's Tavern, usually the first Wednesday of the month for lively dinner conversation at 7 PM. Check with the group on Sunday mornings for updates to this schedule. 

WEEK DAY BIBLE STUDY OPPORTUNITIES

Wednesday Lunch and Learn: We will meet in the Meeting Room at 11:30 AM. Bring your lunch and join us for this lunchtime study. We are always looking for new study partners. We will break until sometime in January.

Word of Wednesday (WOW): Word on Wednesday meets at 10:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Virtual options will be available for those not able to attend in person. We invite you to join us in our journey along the path of life with God as we study "The Serenity Prayer - a simple prayer to enrich your life" by Trevor Hudson. Lori Peters continues to lead this group. We are on break until January 10th.

Thursday Bible Study: We will resume our meetings on January 4th at 10 AM. We will start 2 Thessalonians. Bring your Bibles.

This is our submission form for you to submit non-urgent prayer concerns. Prayers will be posted to the Prayer Circle, via e-mail, during normal business hours, usually around 3 PM. As always, if you have an urgent prayer request, please contact Pastor by cell or email. 

If you would like to pray for others, as part of our prayer circle, please contact our Office Coordinator and she can add you to the Prayer Circle group.

Please print your bulletin from home if you are able.

Worship Bulletins: 8:30 AM |10:45 AM

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Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.