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News

Synod Assembly this Saturday

The 2020 SWPA Synod Assembly will be held online this Saturday, November 14. Please pray for us as we elect leaders, debate the budget, hear from our staff and partners, and more.

Your voting members are:

  • Cathy Holm
  • Leigh Pogue
  • Gretchen Weisner
  • Pastor Bob

In addition, Pastor Bob is the chair of the Assembly Planning Committee, and the manager of the online event. He’d appreciate your prayers for a smooth meeting with no glitches!

You can watch the Assembly live beginning at 9:00 on the SWPA Synod Facebook page.

Categories
News

Join us for an all-synod Sunday worship!

On Sunday, November 15, the Good Shepherd will join congregations from around our synod in a special online worship service honoring the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women in the Lutheran churches of America. The service will be led by women clergy of our synod, and Bishop Kusserow will preach. The service is offered as a way to bring our congregations together on the day after our Synod Assembly.

You can join the service in a several ways:

In Person

We’ll be showing the service in the sanctuary for anyone who wants to join us in person. We’ll also be premiering a performance by the Virtual Choir of “O Christ the Same” (to the tune of Londonderry Air, more commonly known as “Danny Boy.”)

On Our Livestream

We’ll be livestreaming the synod’s service and our Virtual Choir in all of the normal ways.

On the Synod’s YouTube Channel

Pastor Bob is taking a well-earned Sunday of vacation time, after chairing the Synod Assembly planning committee. Our council will be taking over the tech responsibilities in his place.

We think it’ll go just fine, but if something goes wrong, you can always watch the synod’s service live at 10:30 on their YouTube channel. It’ll work no matter what technical difficulties we might encounter on our end.

Categories
Announcements

Harvest Sunday 2020

Reminder- Sunday, November 22 is Harvest Sunday. Since there is no in-house worship, please bring your donations to the church. If you have a key to the church, you can bring your donations anytime. The church will be open on Sunday, November 22 from 11am to 1pm, Monday, November 23 from 10am to 2:30pm and 5pm to 7pm and Tuesday, November 24 from 10am to 2:30pm. The food collected for Harvest Sunday will be donated to local food banks. Let’s take a big bite out of hunger, one mouth at a time!

Categories
COVID-19

Free COVID-19 Testing

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) is reminding residents of a series of free COVID-19 testing events that will take place in the parking lots of faith-based organizations over the next few weeks.

The Allegheny County Health Department along with the Allegheny Health Network, Cornerstone Care Community Health Center, Metro Community Health Center, Northside Christian Health Center, Primary Care Health Services, Inc., Sto-Rox Family Health Center and 21 congregations representing both the Faith Based Health Collaborative of Pittsburgh, and the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Churches of God in Christ have joined together with the Pennsylvania Department of Health for this program.

More information about the faith-based COVID-19 testing is available here: https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Pages/Faith-Based-Testing.aspx.

The tests are free. Prescriptions or referrals are not needed. Insurance is not needed, but those with insurance should bring their information for tracking purposes only. Pre-registration is not required.

Testing events will occur outdoors where participants may drive through or walk up. On average, the turnaround time to receive results will be two to three days after testing.

Testing will occur at the following sites this week and next:

Wednesday, October 21
Petra International Ministries
235 Eastgate Drive, Pittsburgh, PA, 15235
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Thursday, October 22
The Hill House Family Health Center with Calvary Baptist Church
2629 Wylie Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15219
11:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Mount Ararat Church
271 Paulson Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15206
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Monday, October 26
Jerusalem Baptist Church
12 S. 5th St, Duquesne, PA, 15110
12:00 PM to 2:30 PM

Hilltop Community Health Center with St. Paul AME Church
151 Ruth Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15211
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Wednesday, October 28
Mt. Olive First Baptist Church
451 Park Ave., Clairton, PA, 15025
12:00 PM to 3:30 PM

Thursday, October 29
Pentecostal Temple Church of God In Christ
6300 E Liberty Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA, 15207
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Categories
Announcements

Service Committee News

The Service Committee would like to thank everyone that contributed to the making of the Personal Care Kits.  We made 48 kits for Lutheran World Relief and were able to donate toward the shipping cost of the kits.  Thanks to Mary Jo Batley, Jeanne Lewis and Mary Duggan for assembling the kits and to Harry McCollum for taking them to Zelienople to the in-gathering church.

The Service Committee will once again be sponsoring the Angel Tree for holiday gifts to those in need.  We have requested 25 names. We are not sure how the sign up will go, (to maintain social distancing), but we will work something out.

We will also try to do something for our home bound members for the holidays.

Men’s Shelter Meal – we continue to provide a monthly meal. To help you can call the church office to add your name to the list of items needed, or, place a green envelope marked “Shelter Meal” in the offering. We just confirmed with the Pleasant Valley Men’s Shelter our commitment for 2021. Your support of this is also appreciated!

Categories
Announcements

Nathan Mauser Thanks You

I just wanted to thank everyone that helped make my Eagle Scout Project successful and for allowing me to complete it at the church. Thanks to everyone in the congregation that made donations and also to Thrivent Financial for their generous contribution. I am happy that the project was finished just in time for the Sunday worship services to begin at the Gazebo. It definitely made all of the work worthwhile. Thanks again!

Nathan Mauser

Categories
Announcements

In Person Coffee and Conversation on Sunday, August 30!

Please join us on Sunday, August 30th for an in person fellowship gathering immediately following the outdoor worship service (weather permitting). Bring your own beverage and join us on the lawn for some informal catching up with one another. Being God’s church includes the very important connection and fellowship that our congregation has always cherished. Hope to see you on Sunday!

Categories
COVID-19

Survey Says….

Thanks to all who responded to our recent survey on worship and fellowship.   We appreciate hearing about how Good Shepherd can better serve the needs and desires of our members- especially during these unusual times. As a result of the feedback, we will be hosting an in person, on the lawn, “coffee and conversation” on Sunday, August 30th immediately after worship.  Please bring your own beverage and join us! In addition, we will be opening the sanctuary for private meditation and prayer with scheduled hours on Tuesdays each week beginning September 8th. Watch the page for more details!

Categories
Announcements

Take our survey about in-person events

In late July we sent a letter to all our friends and families to let you know about our upcoming in-person worship services. In that letter, we invited you to share your feedback about several questions regarding in-person gatherings. You can submit your responses using this online form. Thanks for your feedback!

Categories
COVID-19

Join us for Worship at the Gazebo

Worship with us in person or online!

Our first-ever outdoor worship service since the COVID 19 pandemic was held on Sunday, August 2nd. It was a traditional worship service with Holy Communion. We were delighted to gather together with over 40 of our sisters and brothers in Christ, in person, and countless others who participated virtually to share the word, the body and blood of Christ, beautiful music and some much needed fellowship! We were able to enjoy all of that while maintaining appropriate health and safety guidelines. Join us this Sunday and every Sunday thereafter for the foreseeable future at 10:30 Eastern Time. Please note that this is half an hour later than we have met in the past – this is to allow additional time for setup and to make sure the weather will permit outdoor worship. Thanks to Pastor Bob and all of the volunteers who made this possible!

Our services will also be offered live online. Whether you join us in person or online, we can’t wait to worship with you!


How to join us in person

Worship will be held at the gazebo in the front yard of the church, weather permitting. You are invited to bring lawn chairs and be seated around the gazebo, or to remain in your car. Ushers will help you to park and practice social distancing while at the church.

Masks must be worn at all times. If you do not have a mask, our ushers will be happy to provide you with one.

Restrooms will be available, but access will be controlled to allow for social distancing.

Although we will not be able to sing together at this time, our church musicians will have musical selections to inspire you each Sunday morning. We will continue to pray and speak the creed together.

Communion will be offered using safe methods of distribution.

You can visit our website, www.goodshepherdlife.org, to see the current status of Sunday’s service and check for any weather or COVID-19 related cancellations.


How to join us on online or by phone

If you’d like to join us online, please start by going to our website, www.goodshepherdlife.org. You’ll find easy instructions for:

  • Joining our live Zoom service on any tablet, phone or computer.
  • Calling in to listen to our worship from any telephone.


How to watch worship on YouTube

Sunday morning worship will be livestreamed straight to our YouTube channel. You can watch on your phone, tablet, computer, or smart TV. You won’t be able to interact with other worship participants, but you’ll be able to see and hear everything that’s happening, as it happens – it’s like a live TV broadcast from the church.


Watch or listen to Daily Prayer, our daily online devotional

We’ll be with you every day throughout the COVID-19 emergency. Join Pastor Bob for a daily time of prayer, scripture and a bit of encouragement. You can watch Daily Prayer on our YouTube channel or listen to the Daily Prayer podcast wherever you get your podcasts.



However you join us, we can’t wait to be with you again!

Your council, worship committee and worship leaders have worked hard to get us to the point where we can worship together safely and meaningfully. We know how different all this is, but we’re grateful that no matter how we gather, no matter what means we use, we are the body of Christ together.

See you soon,

Pastor Bob