Please plan to join us this Sunday, August 1 at the Gazebo for Confirmation Sunday! We are delighted to have three young men who will affirm their faith in Jesus:
A reception will be held following the worship service to honor them, as well as our graduates from the Class of 2021.
On July 25 and August 1, The Good Shepherd is proud to honor our two graduates from the Class of 2021 – Nathan Mauser and Alex Turowski. Congratulations, Nathan and Alex! We can’t wait to see the great things God accomplishes through you next!
The church council will hold a special meeting on Zoom, Monday, August 2 at 8:00 pm to discuss a proposal for applying some of our food shelf grant money to support a synod program of food assistance. Any congregation member wishing to attend is invited to contact the pastor or another council member for the meeting link.
Following the special meeting, the council will hold it’s customary Monday night check-in.
Be sure to register for VBS. We can’t wait to see you the next four Wednesdays from 6-8 pm!
Your council has been hard at work this year on the Centennial Plan. We’re in regular contact with our real estate agents and other professionals to help us find the right opportunity for our congregation. There has been interest in our property, although we have not yet received an offer that fits the requirements approved by the congregation. The council is evaluating our options on an ongoing basis and look forward to sharing more with you as things develop!
We are looking for donations of the following items for Hop, Skip, Jump VBS:
If you are able to donate any of these items, please contact the church office ASAP. Thanks!
As Pastor Bob announced at worship yesterday, we will now be holding Sunday morning worship services at the gazebo on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of every month for July, August and September, weather permitting! Attendance at outdoor worship has been favorable and both the Worship Committee and the Congregation Council thought it best to increase those opportunities during the summer months. All worship services will be held at 10:30 am whether indoors or outdoors and will continue to be live streamed via Zoom or You Tube. In the event of inclement weather, the worship service will be moved indoors. Masks are not required for outdoor worship.
The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is hosting a Food Truck Event and Basket Raffle on Saturday, July 24, 2021. If you would like to donate a basket for the raffle, baskets should be at the church by noon on July 18. The committee will package the baskets since we want to list what is included in the basket. We will also accept monetary donations to purchase items for baskets. If you have questions, please call Mary at 413-559-3756.
Last week there was an incorrect date in our original post about the Food Truck and Basket Raffle event. The post has been corrected. Here’s the updated version:
The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is hosting a Food Truck Event and Basket Raffle to be raise funds to help build sustainable housing in Haiti and to help feed the poor. Baskets in the raffle will include lottery tickets, kid’s theme, Steeler tickets and more! The event will take place on Saturday, July 24 from 3pm to 7pm. Any member willing to donate a basket to raffle worth $35 to $50, please contact Diane Rossetti. Any questions, please call the church office at 412-372-2934.
Our Financial Secretary, Steve Smith, provides monthly reports to the Congregation Council – contents of which are available through financial reports made available in the church hallway and hard copies of the Council Meeting minutes. In addition, we are providing this same information here on the website. The spreadsheet below provides the actual financial information so far this year. Prior years’ information was available in the Annual Report that you would have received in January.
| May 2021 | Year to Date | |
| Total Contributions and Income for Budgeted Items | $11,276 | $56,979 |
| Expenses | ($5,394) | ($78,053) |
| ActualSurplus/Deficit | $5,882 | ($18,420) |
| Transfer from Keeping God’s House | $1,359 | $10,654 |
| Adjusted Surplus/Deficit | $7,241 | ($6,406) |
Total Contributions and Income for Budgeted Items during May totaled $11,276. This represents a decline of $2,185 versus April contributions. Contributions to the Crossroads Food Pantry (Food Bank) were $145. Contributions to Keeping God’s House during May totaled $1,650. On a Year-to-Date basis, we have now received $13,975 in contributions to Keeping God’s House.
During May, our recorded expenditures totaled $5,394. These expenditures, coupled with our May receipts, generated a surplus of $5,882. Normally, a surplus of any amount would be something to celebrate. However, we need to look a little behind the scenes for this one. During May, we utilized $12,952 in PPP Loan funds to pay our Payroll, Electricity, Natural Gas, Water, Sewer, Telephone, and Internet Connection invoices. If these expenditures would have been recorded through the normal channels, our $5,882 surplus would have been reversed to a $7,070 deficit. At the current rate, the PPP Loan account should be exhausted at the end of June.
On a Year-to-Date basis, our expenditures have totaled $78,053 during 2021. When compared to our Total Contributions and Income for Budgeted Items of $59,633, it generates a significant deficit of $18,420.
The transfer of $1,359 from Keeping God’s House to cover our church utility bills and maintenance costs improved our monthly surplus to $7,241. After five months, we have now transferred $12,014 of Keeping God’s House funds to cover church utility bills and maintenance costs. Our Year-to-Date deficit after application of Keeping God’s House funds stands at $6,406.