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.
MacArthur Park Lutheran Church received a “Certificate of Appreciation” from the Southwestern Texas Synod for the congregation’s mission support in the year 2013. The certificate is displayed in the glass case outside the Education Building.
Some people refer to stewardship as “everything I do after I say that I believe.”
Church member Linda Hammonds once had two cats named for the streets on which they were found: “Broadway” and “Bitters.”
MacArthur Park Lutheran Church member Elizabeth Seitter has been selected for the Texas Music Educator’s Association 2014 All State Women’s Choir which will perform at the TMEA Convention in San Antonio in February.
Natalie, granddaughter of church members Ed and Norma Case, is a December calendar girl for the 2014 Sharing the Experiences calendar put out by the Down Syndrome Association of South Texas.
Molly Brown, niece of church member Mary Alice Rupard, won $100,000 scholarship in a Dr. Pepper football passing competition. Molly is 19 years old and studying to be a nurse practitioner.
In response to her Time and Talent listing, MacArthur Park Lutheran Church member Roslyn Lamborn used her gardening skills and transplanted the pitiful plant in the sitting area in the Education Building into a larger pot. She says it will take some time and care for the plant to thrive again.
Santa’s Helper Augie Flores delivered a bike, bicycle helmet and other gifts to MacArthur Park Lutheran School student Zachary courtesy Riverwalk/RiverCenter Marriott Hotels.
Advent, according to the dictionary, means a coming or arrival. Advent is the period including the four Sundays just before Christmas. Lutherans and many other Christians use this time to prepare themselves for the celebration of the birth of Jesus.
Martin Luther, according to legend, began the use of Christmas trees. The legend says he was walking in the woods one winter night and was struck by the beauty of a fir tree glistening with snow in the moonlight. He is said to have set up a small fir tree in his home and decorated it with lit candles to simulate what he had seen in the forest.
Hymn number 268 in the ELW is a Christmas hymn called “From Heaven Above” written by Martin Luther.
If you do not contact MacArthur Park Lutheran Church to let it know of your hospitalization, the pastor and congregation will not know to pray for you or visit you.
MacArthur Park Lutheran Church financially supports many community organizations that provide assistance for those in need; however, the church does not have cash available to give to individuals who come to the church asking for help.
Several of the youth in the Mac Park congregation have performed well in their school bike rodeos. Kylie Suarez won first place among second grade girls at Olympia Elementary School. James Stephenson won first place for the fourth grade, and Sam Stephenson won third place for the first grade at Thousand Oaks Elementary.
►October is Pastor Appreciation Month!
►Church financials are always posted in the Resource
Room at the back of the sanctuary.
►Some people do not put an offering in the offering
plate because they give electronically.
►Online giving is available on the church website.
The Vine Wellness Group:
*Provides counseling services for children, adolescents, adults, couples and families.
*Provides counseling by licensed professional counseling interns at reduced costs.
*Will soon have other service providers including massage therapists, dieticians and speech therapists.
This summer MacArthur Park Lutheran Church member James
Stephenson raced against Olympic Gold Medal Winner Josh Davis...and
won. James also got to try on the
Olympic Gold Medals!
Also this summer Mac Park member Ethan Gottschalk participated
in the AAU Grand National Baseball Tournament in Orlando, Florida.
In 1962 MacArthur Park Lutheran Church member Merl
Krueger got to meet and shake hands with President John F. Kennedy when
Kennedy visited MacDonald Aircraft where Krueger worked.
June, 2013
On April 29 church member Andrew Lockett was ranked number one in the state of Texas on the Ticket to Read Educational Learning Site.
For two years, church member and occupational therapist Starla Sweda has volunteered once a week to teach the “Handwriting without Tears” program to the kindergarten students at MacArthur Park Lutheran School.
Commemorative crosses presented to confirmands Bethany Lockett, Chloe Gallegos and Noah Balderas were gifts from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
In 1497 at age 13 Martin Luther was sent to boarding school in Magdeburg, Germany, where students who did poorly were made to wear donkey masks!
MacArthur Park Lutheran Church member Debbie Seitter has been
named Outstanding Senior Woman in the Baylor University School of Music.
The MacArthur Park Lutheran Church women’s group, under the
direction of church member Mary Ann Anderson, donated 40 school
kits, 78 personal care kits, 69 baby care kits and two fabric kits to Lutheran
World Relief.
Thirty quilts were made by the MacArthur Park Lutheran Church
Quilters and donated to Lutheran World Relief.
Church members Dale and Carol Couffer delivered all the
Lutheran World Relief donations from MacArthur Park Lutheran Church to the
Ingathering at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin on April 3.
According to the constitution of MacArthur Park Lutheran Church:
Baptized members are those persons who have been received by the Sacrament of Holy Baptism in this congregation, or, having been previously baptized in the name of the Triune God, have been received by certificate of transfer from other Lutheran congregations or by affirmation of faith.
Confirmed members are baptized persons who have been confirmed in this congregation, those who have been received by adult baptism or by transfer as confirmed members from other Lutheran congregations, or baptized persons received by affirmation of faith.
Voting members are confirmed members. Such confirmed members, during the current or preceding calendar year, shall have communed in this congregation and shall have made a contribution of record to this congregation.
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