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Christ Lutheran Church and its members are committed to missions in the local area as well as outside of our immediate area.
LSSS FOSTER/ADOPTION OFFICE IN LUBBOCK
Wednesday, September 12, 2007, marked the grand opening of the Lubbock Foster Care and Adoptions Office of Lutheran Social Services of the South, Inc. (LSSS). The office officially opened on August 15, 2007, and LSSS Staff members already have approximately 30 children in 15 foster families. The Lubbock Office serves a 150-mile radius of Lubbock, and their goal is to ultimately serve approximately 100 children referred by Child Protective Service. The mission of the Family Services Division of LSSS is to promote the well-being of children and families. To do this, they provide a continuum of care to children through foster care, foster-to-adopt, adoption, unplanned pregnancy, and residential treatment programs. The Lubbock office, located on the second floor of Wedgewood South Assisted Living Facility at 9812 Vinton Ave, is a part of meeting that LSSS mission. The office is staffed with Family Services Specialists Heather McCallick and Abby Fluitt and Recruiter Ronda Menefee.
If you have a desire to provide a loving home for children who are temporarily or permanently separated from their birth parents, please contact Ronda at 806-698-0790, or visit their offices at 9812 Vinton Avenue, Lubbock TX. SPRING FLING 2008 IS SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 6, 2008 This year's Spring Fling will be held at McPherson Cellars at 1615 Texas Avenue, June 6, 2008, from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. Tickets will still be $25 per person in advance and $30 at the door. Donations for door prizes and auction items. You may contact Marky Edwards, Community Relations Director, for further information.
One local outreach is Brother Martin's Coffee Haus located in the Lutheran Student Center at 2615 19th Street, Lubbock. Located immediately across 19th Street from the Texas Tech campus, it features coffee, coffee specialty drinks, Hoots bagels, soft drinks, and iced tea. Other attractions are:
Drop by for coffee and bagels and offer your encouragement for this new mission opportunity for the college-age and "not-so-college-age" residents of the Lubbock area! For more information, you may contact 806-763-3644. LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES (LSS) Lutheran Social Services of the
South, Inc., agencies in Lubbock provide help, healing, and hope Click here to learn more about Neighborhood House. Click here to learn more about the Health for Friends Clinic. Click here to learn more about Wedgewood South. LSS Reports to Congregations North & West Texas May 2008 Throughout Texas, hundreds of children are removed from their homes each month as a result of abuse and/or neglect. These children need foster homes and, sometimes, adoptive homes. LSS provides foster and adoption services in Texas, and the need for foster homes is greater now than ever. Call LSS for more information: Amarillo (806) 351-0168; Dallas/Fort Worth (800) 622-6697; El Paso (915) 598-5410; Lubbock (806) 698-0790; Mesquite (972) 682-0967; Mineral Wells (940) 325-3275; Tyler (903) 939-3438; and Waco (254) 714-2159. Visit www.LSSS.org and click on Children.The group therapy playroom at the Nelson Children’s Center was recently remodeled and supplied with therapeutic toys thanks to a gift of $5,000 from Prospera Financial Services. The donation made possible the addition of new dolls, dress-up clothes and a sand box. These “toys” are designed to encourage the children to more easily share their feelings and emotions with the therapists who help the residents deal with emotional and behavioral problems. Prospera Financial Services also provided new tables, chairs and group activity books. Learn more about the Nelson Children’s Center at www.LSSS.org, or by calling Kristy McKinney at (940) 484-8232.Several residents of Wedgewood South, the LSS assisted living community in Lubbock, have taken up golf, bowling, baseball and tennis – and they don’t have to leave their community to do so! Instead, they use a Nintendo Wii electronic game which is hooked up to the movie screen in the Wedgewood South chapel/theatre. Manager Christina Stephens says it’s the “latest thing” at retirement communities. She said the women of Wedgewood South have organized bowling teams! Learn more by calling (806) 798-1011, or visit www.LSSS.org and click on Seniors. Celebre La Buena Vida, the annual fund-raiser for LSS adult day centers, raised $20,000. The event, attended by 225 supporters of the program, benefits the LSS Buena Vida Adult Day Centers in El Paso. Highlights of the evening were the silent and live auctions of "houses" painted and donated by more than 60 El Paso artists. For information about the adult day center program, call Peter Nicolaou at (915) 598-5403 or visit www.LSSS.org and click on Seniors. Don’t miss Spring Fling June 6, the annual fund-raiser for LSS ministries on the South Plains. This year’s event begins at 5:30 p.m. at McPherson Cellars at 16th and Texas in Lubbock. Tickets are $25 in advance. Call (806) 792- 554 or visit www.LSSS.org and click on Event www.LSSS.org / (800) 938-5777
A Christ Lutheran Church member, Julie (formerly Owen) Hollowell and her husband, Drew, recently served on a mission trip with the international relief organization, "Food for the Hungry" to Sololo, Kenya, Africa. They shared their experiences during the Bible Class hour on Sunday, July 16, 2006. For those who were unable to be there, Julie and Drew have been kind enough to send us the following information to share through our Church web site. You may view and download a PowerPoint slide show of their pictures by clicking here. For more information, you may contact Julie at julioowen@hotmail.com If PowerPoint is not installed on your computer, you may download a free viewer by clicking below. Download free PowerPoint Viewer July 9, 2006 Dear Family and Friends, It has been nearly one month since we returned from Africa. Even after adjusting to being home, we find ourselves still unable to truly process all that God has done. Over the brief time that we’ve been back, friends, family, and co-workers have asked us how our “experience” was. We realize there are no simple answers, and we find it hard to put into words everything that we feel inside. Replying that our mission trip was “awesome” or “incredible” or even “so special” really almost cheapens our story. We find ourselves without the right words to say, and sometimes being silent and just meditating on our Lord has been more spiritually therapeutic than anything else. We’ve often heard the phrase that our eyes are the “windows of our souls,” yet we’ve never been the type of individuals to invite people in to have a look. This trip to Sololo did that for us. By serving these blessed people, we became vulnerable to the point of physical and emotional exhaustion. It was in these times that we found ourselves being ministered unto by our gracious Father. Being in His presence in this land far from our own gave us every satisfaction we needed, and, more importantly the spiritual strength we so longed for. It was through your fervent and faithful prayer on our behalf that this deliverance was granted…and we are so grateful for it. There are three key messages God has made evident in our hearts at this point. First of all, we are truly blessed. We have so much in America to be thankful for, and we know you don’t have to travel to a third-world country to realize that. However, it becomes so easy to vocally admit our wealth and comfort and remain stagnant. Spending day-to-day time in Africa urged us to be proactive about what God has so graciously given to us and realize that “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” Luke 12:48. We meditated on that quite a bit in our time there, individually and as a group, and we basically came to the realization that God does not merely bless us so that we may become comfortable and enjoy our life on earth. In all truth, He blesses us for quite an opposite reason…so that we may, in turn, bless others without grudge. It was in these special times we felt so close to our Lord. The second message really connects to the previous, and it was one of the tougher things we had to learn. The people of Sololo have more than we ever imagined. They are blessed in ways that many people would not consider or even recognize as blessings, but our God touches them, undoubtedly. It was reinforcement that the standards of “wealth” we all place in cars, houses, or having the greatest career are insignificant…not only in the eternal sense, but in our purpose on this Earth. Blessings are not found in possessions or bank accounts. They’re discovered within individual hearts that have answered the call of God, and the effects are contagious. These people’s hearts sang out, proclaiming that all of their inadequacies were only a temporary existence, a mere background detail in their journey with the Lord. This type of raw Christianity floored us, and yet it was so appealing. We were drawn to our knees by the people’s readiness to acknowledge their shortfalls and call upon Christ to fulfill their true needs. Each day, they wake up and seek guidance from God to provide the simple things we so easily take for granted…but they are not so quick to bypass the pure grace of provision for modest food, water, shelter, education, and health. What an awesome thing to be forced into humility to be fully reliant on the one and only Provider. One of the most amazing things we grasped during our time in Sololo is the pure joy these people have. They were some of the most gracious and welcoming souls we have ever come into contact with, and they constantly exhibited gratitude for our being there. Even in conditions we hastily wanted to show pity upon, they constantly sang with passion we are desperately trying to cling onto in our minds. We have told several people that their voices will no doubt be ringing in the Heavens when we are joined there! Finally, so many people have been asking us what our favorite part of the trip was…the moment we will remember forever. Well, we had the most incredible opportunity to meet the three children we are sponsoring, and we cannot even begin to tell you the emotions those moments held. Some of you have already seen it, but we are including a picture of them before we had to say goodbye. We have one girl and two boys, and their names are Shuke, Galgallo, and Galgallo (common name in Kenya). The support we send will be helping to provide them with their basic needs, and it will also give them an opportunity to further their education, which very few children are able to consider. The three of them have big dreams. Shuke told us she wants to be a preacher, young Galgallo wants to be a driver, and the older Galgallo wants to be a pilot. With God’s grace, they may be able to achieve these aspirations, and we can’t believe we are being given the absolute privilege to potentially have a hand in this, and begin amazing new relationships with individuals whom we may never see again. Hugging on their necks and laughing together was an experience that is truly impossible to convey. It would be so easy for us to walk you through every moment of our 10 days in Kenya, but we feel the things we have shared will give each of you a deeper understanding of why we answered God’s call to travel there. We knew He had much to teach us, and He will continue use this trip to mold our hearts for the remainder of our days. This will not, by any means, be our last mission trip, so we ask that you will continue to pray for God to lead us where He wishes and that we would remain willing and able. But more importantly, we pray you will allow God to speak individually to you about the calling He has for each of us during our time on this Earth. It is not our time to spend… Thank you SO very much for your support throughout this journey, whether it was prayerful, financial, or emotional! Our lives are forever changed, and to God be the glory.
Sincerely,
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP Texas District, LC-MS, Hurricane Relief and Recovery
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