Volunteers Needed—Blessing of the Hands for Healthcare and First Responders
Monday June 7th 6:30am-7:30pm
Faith Church will be providing a (contactless and drive through) Blessing of the Hands for first responders (police, fire, EMS, etc.) and healthcare staff Monday, June 7th from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM so all shifts can attend. We want to thank them for their work and offer support for the on-going challenges they face as they begin to recover from the trauma of their work during COVID.
Volunteers are needed to: 1) pass out and post fliers, 2) spruce up the exterior of the church, 3) be a blesser, 4) and to serve as Greeters and traffic control throughout that day.
We are asking folks to work 2-hour shifts, if possible. To secure the slot and task that works best for you, please contact Pastor Carla [email protected]or Pastor Janet [email protected] to sign up!!
Fliers are available in stacks of 10 at the church on the desk in the office. Please stop by and place these in your local coffee shop, library, neighborhood store, etc. You can also share a PDF of the flier by downloading it from the church website or sharing the Facebook Event from the Faith Church Facebook page with your friends.
Thanks for your help in caring for those who seek to care for others, even during the riskiest of times!
In-Person Worship Comfort and Intentions Survey Due June 8th.
Last week, an email was sent out with a survey of members’ comfort levels with and intentions for participation with Faith Church worship once we return to in-person worship (with protection protocols in place) in the coming weeks.
Please be clear that this is not a vote, but a chance for the COVID Committee and Church Leadership to hear your voice, your thoughts, and your needs as we make preparations and plans.
Please respond on behalf of your household (one per household, please) by 5pm Tuesday, June 8th, to help us as we work to move forward in a safe, responsible, comfortable way for everyone.
On Sunday, May 16th, we welcomed 3 new members into the life and ministry of Faith Church, including one Virtual Member! Welcome!
Pam and Charlie Robinson are residents of our community and have been visiting so long, and participating in our outdoor social gatherings, that they already felt like members of our Faith Family. Mike and Jan Ziegler are serving as Member Mentors to help them feel more welcome and connected to our church and other members. Here is a little about Charlie and Pam:
We are Charlie and Pam Robinson and were delighted to join the Faith Church family on May 16. Both of us were born and raised in Houston but didn’t meet until a blind date in the fall of our freshman year at Texas Tech. We married in 1968 and finished our senior year. Charlie had joined the National Guard after graduation and spent 6 years of weekends on guard duty as airborne infantry. After 6 months of training, he began managing his family business, Robinson Public Warehouse, and Pam began teaching in Spring Branch ISD. We joined Bethany Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and were quite active through the years. We were blessed with two children. Stacey was born in 1974 and Stephen in 1980. Our grown children now live with their families in San Marcos and Austin. We are delighted to be able to spoil our grandchildren, Weston, Rowan, Brynn, and Owen regularly. Retirement in 2005 brought us to New Braunfels. This area was always special to us because Pam’s parents started coming to the Comal River in 1937. The family tradition continued and attendees have increased to 80 of our nearest and dearest (family and good friends) who gather at Heidelberg Lodges every July. The lodges are located at the headwaters of the Comal. We also have family nearby, Pam’s sister and brother-in-law live in Landa Estates. Charlie has always loved golf but never had the time to pursue it until retirement. He has been involved with the Legends, playing at Landa Golf Course. We have been blessed to travel in recent years including a bike and barge trip on the Moselle river. We no longer bike, preferring less vigorous travel experiences. We were active members of Christ Our King Anglican Church before joining Faith. Our desire to be part of a progressive, Christian church with doors open to everyone, made us start searching this area. We met all of you on Zoom and got to know Pastor Carla. We feel sure that the Lord has led us to your wonderful faith community.
Amanda Dunnem lives in Niles, Michigan but has been worshiping with us for some time via Zoom and was part of our Virtual Lenten Book Study. Mikki Ward is serving as her Member Mentor and they are already scheming ways to support our Blessing of the Hands event!
Hello. My name is Amanda. I live in Southwest Lower Michigan and have one child, Sarah. I am a Nurse Tech in an oncology clinic and also work part time as a Hospice CNA. I’m on the City Council as well. Being outdoors when it’s warm, and anywhere near water is where I like to spend my free time. I’m also a hard-core college football fan (Go Irish!). I look forward to getting to know everyone and though I am not there in person, I am thankful for the ability to connect virtually.
We are so very excited to see our family expand and to have these thoughtful and wise folks join us. Please find a time to say hello and get to know these members, more.
I share with joy that Arlene Turner has been called to be Pastor of Bethany Congregational UCC in San Antonio, beginning on June 1st. Arlene will be ordained at United Christian Church on Sunday, May 30th (by the time most of you read this article) during the Zoom prayer and fellowship time after preaching in the morning online worship service. As some of you may recall, Arlene was approved for ordination at an Ecclesiastical Council of the Heart of Texas Association last May. Her journey to ordination came first through the United Methodist Church, and then through being a Member in Discernment at United while helping in many ways with her active membership and ministry there. Bethany voted to call her on May 9th. Since Arlene is to be ordained at United, the church is working with her to celebrate her ordination before she begins at Bethany. They are figuring out how to do it with Association representation while the whole church community is still meeting online. Our ways are a bit different than before the pandemic, but we are thankful to God that our ministry continues. We pray for God’s blessings on Arlene and on Bethany as they go forward in Christ’s ministry together, and we give thanks for the caring and faithful interim ministry of Pastor Tom Robison with the church.
As announced earlier, Kerry Kirtley was ordained on Sunday, May 23rd at Touchstone Community Church in Boerne in a vibrant Pentecost service. The service was the first in person worship for Touchstone since March, 2020. It was also their first hybrid service, meaning that the service included those attending online. In addition, the service included both online and live music. It all came together beautifully. Kerry, like Arlene, came to the UCC through the United Methodist Church (UMC), and the service included UMC pastors who had supported her in her journey as well as many from her large and loving family.
Our brother in Christ, Martin Garrison, has resigned as Pastor of St Peter’s Church of Coupland, with his last Sunday being June 27th. Martin has served at St. Peter’s since 2014. Several of our Heart of Texas ministers shared heartfelt memories together recently as we said farewell to Martin at our May “Jam and Bread” gathering. He and his wife, Emily, will be moving to Galveston for the next stop on their journey, with Martin taking a break from ministry. Our prayers for God’s blessings and the presence of the Holy Spirit go with them. Our prayers go, too, with St. Peter’s as they search for an interim minister and begin this time of transition.
Our brother in Christ, Sid Hall, will have his farewell worship service at Trinity Church of Austin on June 13th as he retires as their Lead Minister. Sid has served at Trinity since 1988, guiding them to become one of the early Reconciling Churches in the United Methodist Church and ministering with them as they became dually affiliated with the UCC, among many milestones in his ministry with the church. He has, as well, been a long time leader in social justice ministry in Austin. Sid and his wife, Mary Pratt, will be moving to Ft. Collins, Colorado, and he will move into full standing as a UCC minister in July. We give thanks to God for Sid’s ministry and pray for Sid and Mary to be blessed with God’s presence going forward. We also pray for God’s blessings on Trinity’s incoming interim minister, Christine Tata and on the time she and the church will share together releasing Sid as they start a new era in Trinity’s ministry.
The Kiva Program helps people here and around the world. My brother, Fischer, and I learned about it during confirmation. We like to help others and we are interested to learn about other people, how they live and work, why they need the loan, and how it will help them. We were able to help pick some people who were really close to getting their whole amount of their loan, and we also helped people who were having a hard time because of COVID.
Mike Ziegler shared that Faith UCC most recently donated $50 to Kiva for their operations, and $50 was credited to our account to make loans. He selected women who were close to getting their entire funding (shows lots of support, makes it more likely they will get the funding) and mostly those from South America. Two of the recipients got 2x matching dollars from major corporations, which also helped. We still have $692 to lend, with more coming in almost every day.
Our most recent loan was made to Fortaleza Group in Nicaragua. This is our second loan to that group. They are now fully funded! For more information about Fortaleza Group, go to: https://www.kiva.org/lend/2173694
Even once we begin in-person worship, we will continue our virtual worship via Zoom for those who cannot or are not yet comfortable with in-person worship. We also want to continue to meet the needs of those who are not in our geographic region but are looking for a church home with which to connect.
There is much work to do to get ourselves ready for this and the Tech Team needs new members!! You can begin by watching two videos of webinars produced by the Indiana-Kentucky Conference now available on YouTube.
We are grateful for the faithful work the Ward family has done for this congregation in working with our tech, and we cannot expect them to do this forever or alone without a weekend (or more) off each month.
We need members willing to join the team, work alongside them to learn how it’s all done, and to help find even outside support to keep us up to date with our equipment and processes. Please contact Pastor Carla at [email protected] to volunteer your time OR to offer a special offering in addition to your regular tithe to help hire AV help for the church.
We want to continue our support of and outreach to LGBTQ+ persons in New Braunfels. The Third Annual New Braunfels Pride festival will be Saturday, June 26th, 2021 in Landa Park. Sponsors are needed to help us have a presence there.
Riverside Pride is a 501c3 non-profit and NB Pride is a family friendly event that celebrates our LGBTQ+ friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. It is about making sure that everyone in our community has the opportunity for health and happiness and to express themselves without fear and discrimination.
To help provide a sponsorship to represent Faith Church or to volunteer to help work the booth that day, please contact Pastor Carla [email protected].
Please join us for a time of worship, renewal, and education at the Annual Meeting of the South Central Conference. All are welcome to this virtual event, which is now far easier to attend than ever!
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