MacArthur Park Lutheran Church member Alex Hansen recently won the school spelling bee at Encino Park Elementary School. The fifth grader had come in second in the event last school year. The final word that he spelled to win was “temerity.” He will compete at the end of February at Trinity University in the citywide spelling bee sponsored by the Express-News.
MacArthur High School senior and Mac Park member Ryan McArdle has been recognized as a National Merit Commended Scholar based on his PSAT scores.
Oak Park H-E-B regularly donates seasonal items to MacArthur Park Lutheran School.
The MacArthur Park Lutheran School music room and library are now located in the Hope Building.
The school currently serves 55 students in levels 18 months through first grade.
MacArthur Park Lutheran School was founded in 1963.
The Quilters gave 75 stockings, 85 stuffed animals and 15 pillows to Mac Park School for Christmas 2015.
The Quilters gave 18 stockings and approximately 35 pillows to Mac Park Church office, staff and congregation for a Christmas gift.
MacArthur Park Lutheran Church Pastor Paul Ziese and member Lisa Hooter havebeen trained as volunteer deputy registrars for Bexar County. They will accept voter registrations and personally transport them to the Bexar County voter registrar.
Mac Park member Abel Flores passed out pink bubble gum cigars to the Congregation Council members at the Nov. 17 meeting. He did that to announce the birth of his twin granddaughters Mi Kayla and Audrey Gonzales.
His action caused Mac Park member Suzette Price to recount to the council the story of how her father, a flight surgeon, packed a box of cigars before he went overseas during World War II. He passed them out when he learned of the birth of his daughter on D-Day Minus One-Iwo Jima.
MacArthur Park Lutheran Church member Jeanette Pierce received the 2015 Teaching Excellence Award by the University of the Incarnate Word College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences. She was given a plaque and a monetary award for her accomplishment.
Mac Park’s Johanna Vlasak won a gold medal for the 50m freestyle and a silver medal for the 25m freestyle at the Special Olympics area meet on Oct. 8.
Joshua Vlasak is the 8th grade quarterback for the Krueger Middle School Falcons.
Pastor Paul Ziese regularly has a two-minute Bible study after his sermons. Recently he had the congregation look at Jesus’ listing of the commandments in Mark 10:19. Check it out! Is there one you don’t recall from Old Testament listings?
Women outnumber men on the Congregation Council for 2015-2016. There are seven women and three men.
Members of the Congregation Council represent the 20s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s in age.
Congregation Council meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. and are always open to anyone.
Congregation members need to notify the church office of hospitalizations. The hospitals do not make such notifications.
The church office is open from 9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and 9 a.m.-noon Thursday and Friday.
Congregation members can provide fresh flowers for the sanctuary for church services. There is a signup poster by the sanctuary entrance. Another option is to make a donation and use silk arrangements belonging to the church. In either case, a notation in the bulletin will be made in honor of or in memory of the event or person being celebrated.
All meetings held at MacArthur Park Lutheran Church should be scheduled through Administrative Assistant Debbie Kennedy. This helps ensure the space is available, and any a/c, heating, or room set-up needs are taken care of.
On June 15, 2015 the Mac Park Quilters delivered a shipment of 150 therapy dolls, 75 stuffed animals, 400 dinosaur bookmarks, 200 card games, and 250 sticker packages to the Methodist Children’s Hospital!!
On July 1, 2015, the Mac Park Quilters finished (ready to ship) the World Relief Quilts for 2016???
MacArthur Park Church member Jacqueline Paredes has been selected as Batallion Commander for the MacArthur High School ROTC. She was also accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy summer program.
Mac Park Church member Taryn Dougherty was awarded the Jones Scholarship at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin. With the addition of that scholarship, she has her tuition for college paid in full!
Church member Jeanette Pierce is the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International for Key Women Educators Convention steering Committee Chair for the 2015 Alpha State Convention in San Antonio in June.
Before he met and married Leigh Anne, Rod Seitter was an avid sport parachutist. He caught the bug after attending the U.S. Army Airborne Course in 1980 earning his parachutist badge. He went on to become a civilian skydiving enthusiast with hundreds of free-fall jumps, the advanced “C” license certification, and becoming a skydiving jumpmaster (instructor). Leigh Anne even joined Rod as an observer on one of his jumps before he gave up the sport shortly before they were married in 1986.
MacArthur Park Lutheran Church members Jill Trevino and Sylvia
Dorgan were confirmed together. This year their daughters, Corina Trevino and Danielle Dorgan were confirmed together at Mac Park!
Christ Chapel is the Lutheran Campus Ministry site at Texas State University in San Marcos. Pastor Jaime Bouzard is the pastor and was confirmed at MacArthur Park Lutheran Church. He wrote the daily devotions in the Christ in Our Home devotion book for April 16-April 30.
MacArthur Park Lutheran Church member Jodi Vlasak is working on certification as a Body Pump group fitness instructor.
Mac Park member Alex Hansen won second place in the spelling bee at Encino Park Elementary School after going through 26 rounds of words. Alex is also a member of the Chapel Boychoir of San Antonio.
Mac Park member Chloe Gallegos’ application to be a LYLE was accepted. The Lutheran Youth Leadership Experience (LYLE) program is a leadership development program that combines leadership skills, service, and each young person’s individual God-given gifts and interests. Chloe's personal project centered around leading the upper elementary and middle school youth through a worship service at the nursing home where Gladys Mertz currently resides. Chloe is also a Girl Scout and sold 376 boxes of cookies this year!
The congregation of MacArthur Park Lutheran Church has elected a Call Committee of nine voting members as designated by the church constitution. They are Sheryl Bierstedt, Beth Borstad, Ellen Bridges, Courtney Grove, Jan Hunt, Jamie LaFuente, Jim Price, Britta Stone and Bill Sweda. The committee’s task will be to present to the Congregation Council an associate pastor who could serve the congregation on a part time basis. The Congregation Council will then, if it chooses, will then recommend the individual to the congregation for a vote.
Church member Jacob Halder is a member of “The Gentlemen of Bush Middle School” choral group that performed at the Texas Music Educators Association in San Antonio in February. The choir was only one of two middle school boys choirs invited to perform.
Mac Park members Melissa French-Stephenson and Leigh Anne Seitter are part of the Bush choir program. Melissa teaches private lessons, and Leigh Anne is the accompanest.
When he was a teenager, MacArthur Park Lutheran Church member Dale Lockett worked for Western Auto in Woodsboro. One of his job assignments was to change tires. His knowledge came in handy on the Men's Camping Trip to Fort Davis in January when three tires on the church van had to be changed.
In 2013 $1,396 in Thrivent Choice Dollars were directed to MacArthur Park Lutheran Church, and in 2014 the amount directed was $1,939.
David Stephen, Melissa French-Stephenson and Renee Staul were elected at the Jan. 25 Congregation Meeting to be the voting members at the 2015 Synod Assembly in May.
MacArthur Park Lutheran church member Jessica Gottschalk is a mentor in the (LYO) Lutheran Youth Organization at Peace Lutheran in College Station and works with the 10-12th graders. She writes their Bible studies and works with the students in their small group sessions.
Mac Park member Ed Case was an extra in the "Urban Cowboy." He was one of the dancers and had a beer bottle stuck in his back pocket. Gillys was his stomping ground after work when he worked at the Exxon plant in Baytown in the 80's.
Confirmed members of MacArthur Park Church who have taken communion and made a contribution of record to this congregation during the current or preceeding year are eligible voting members of the congregation. The next opportunity to vote is at the Congregation Meeting on Jan. 25.
You can keep up with what is going on at Mac Park by reading the digital sign, Pastor Ziese’s blog, the Messenger, the Happenings at Mac Park or the Facebook page.
Your making a financial pledge helps the Mac Park Finance Committee better plan for the year’s spending.
MacArthur Park Lutheran Church offers many opportunities to join a group including Grace Groups, Youth and Adult Choirs, Bells, Women’s Group, Prayer Shawl Ministry, Tuesday Morning Bible Study and Quilters.
If you want to remember a special person or day, you can order altar flowers or you can make a donation to the church and use silk flowers belonging to the church. A note in the bulletin will tell who or what occasion the flowers honor.
If you or your group uses the church buildings, remember to lock all doors.
At MacArthur Park Lutheran Church, congregation members and friends of the church will have many opportunities to make donations of money or items to help others, but you get to choose which causes to support.
Pastor Paul Ziese took the Ice Bucket Challenge at the end of Part A of the 54th Annual Congregation Meeting. In his honor, those in attendance donated $150 to help find a cure for ALS.
Church member Maureen Folkerts had the experience of riding in the caged back seat of a police car…only because she works for AT&T and was adjusting the computer system.
When you fill out your attendance cards, you should list all those attending and tell which ones are taking communion.
Unless you contact the church office, the church will not know that you are in the hospital.
Pastor Paul Ziese was quoted in an article in the June 13, 2014 edition of Today’s Catholic, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. He was interviewed about the impact of Pope John XXIII on Protestants in South Texas and was the only Protestant asked to comment.
Mac Park member Blair Ortmann has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
Mac Park member Starla Sweda reported that her parents taught at the Oaks Indian Mission in Oaks, Oklahoma for several years in the 1930’s. Her sister Charlotte was the first white child baptized at Eben Ezer (spelling according to the website oaksindianmission.org) Lutheran Church there.
MacArthur Park Lutheran Church member Elizabeth Seitter donated 12 inches of her hair to the Beautiful Lengths program which is a partnership between Pantene and the American Cancer Society. The donated hair is used to provide wigs free of charge for women with cancer. The Beautiful Lengths website says, “To us, it’s hair, but to women with cancer, it’s hope.”
Mac Park’s Vicar Kathee Forrest will give the invocation at the Thrivent Family Night at the Ballpark on July 31.
St. John’s Vicar Heather Hansen will throw out the first pitch that night.
Laura, the daughter of MacArthur Park Lutheran Church member Paul Halvorson, was selected as Ms Wheelchair Texas 2014. She will next compete for the Ms Wheelchair USA 2015 title in Long Beach, California the first week of August. Interested individuals can go to Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mswheelchairtexas2014 and “like” the event.
Mac Park Youth Ministry Worker Brandi Wells was named “Texas Lutheran University Student of the Year for 2014." She was honored at the TLU Spring Fling and received a plaque.
Since she was an activist in college, it was no surprise that church member Jeanette Pierce volunteered to help citizens apply for insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act at the Alamodome on March 30. Her husband George Pierce also helped.
When the Mac Pac Grace Group used one of the Taking Faith Home lessons that asked about members’ nicknames, the group learned Leigh Anne Seitter’s nickname is “Lano” because her younger brother couldn’t say her name when he was little. Her nickname is the basis of her email address. Sharon Nunn was called “Tater” due to her love of potatoes, and Jim Price was called “Beaver” by his dad referring to the Red Ryder radio program.
Church member Kevin Ott was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota. His family lived on Stateline Road. Their house and farm were in Iowa, but their mailbox was across the road in Minnesota!
“The treat-toting Easter bunny seems to have been born in Germany in the late 1600s,” according to the Thrivent Magazine article More Than a Day. "Children would build nests for the bunny to leave their treats in – the origin of the modern Easter basket."
“God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday will be on Sept. 7 this year.