Lisa’s Pieces: Creation Care Tips from the Synod Lutherans Restoring Creation Team for December 2023

Lisa’s Pieces: Creation Care Tips from the Synod Lutherans Restoring Creation Team for December 2023

By Lisa Brenskelle For more information on any of the below, or for creation care assistance/information, contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com or see our new website! The team is seeking additional members. If you would be willing to serve, please contact us. The mission of Lutherans Restoring Creation is to promote incorporation of care for creation into the full life and mission of the church, working in five areas: worship, education, discipleship, building & grounds, and public...

read more
Lay School

Lay School

By Bishop Michael Rinehart Through a season of deep listening, we identified a bold vision that will help congregations by equipping the saints for the work of ministry. It will empower our network of thriving, Christ-centered, outwardly-focused, faith communities. In early 2023, we listened to hundreds of people with the help of BlackBerry. Surveys, interviews, focus groups, assembly feedback. There was a lot of interest swirling around diversity and around leadership. People sensing a need...

read more
A Ministry Sprung to Life

A Ministry Sprung to Life

By Cody Boteler The publication Stories of Faith in Action and the resources that go along with it are designed to share how important your weekly offering in your congregation is in sustaining and growing God’s mission. The portion of your offerings that support the ELCA’s synodical and churchwide ministries is called Mission Support. The publication and resources found here help explain and answer questions about Mission Support and tell the story of those gifts in action. COVID-19 has meant...

read more
Offering Hope: Meet Deacon David Hope-Tringali

Offering Hope: Meet Deacon David Hope-Tringali

By Tracey Breashears Schultz, Bishop’s Associate for Leadership Deacon David Hope-Tringali moved to Houston (August 2023) when his spouse, Pastor Jennifer Hope-Tringali, accepted and moved for the call as Senior Pastor at Christ the King in Houston. I recently talked with David about his call as a deacon, his ministry for and with Tree 4 Hope—a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to providing a bright future of long-term hope for children, elders, and their families in Guatemala and...

read more
Lisa’s Pieces: Creation Care Tips from the Synod Lutherans Restoring Creation Team for December 2023

Lisa’s Pieces: Creation Care Tips from the Synod Lutherans Restoring Creation Team for November 2023

By Lisa Brenskelle For more information on any of the below, or for creation care assistance/information, contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com or see our new website! The team is seeking additional members. If you would be willing to serve, please contact us. The mission of Lutherans Restoring Creation is to promote incorporation of care for creation into the full life and mission of the church, working in five areas: worship, education, discipleship, building & grounds, and public...

read more
Companion Synods in our Prayers:  The Latin American Consultation and the 100th Anniversary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic

Companion Synods in our Prayers: The Latin American Consultation and the 100th Anniversary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic

By Bishop Michael Rinehart The Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod has two global companions: the Lutheran Church in Peru and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic. This month we are having two deep dives into both of these global companions. Presidenta Ofelia Dávila, The Lutheran Church of Peru, and the Latin American Consultation October 31 to November 3, the bishops/presidents of the Lutheran churches in Latin America will be coming to Houston with the bishops and...

read more
A Kin*dom for Everyone

A Kin*dom for Everyone

By Steve Lunderberg The publication Stories of Faith in Action and the resources that go along with it are designed to share how important your weekly offering in your congregation is in sustaining and growing God’s mission. The portion of your offerings that support the ELCA’s synodical and churchwide ministries is called Mission Support. The publication and resources found here help explain and answer questions about Mission Support and tell the story of those gifts in action. When Pepa...

read more
Lisa’s Pieces: Creation Care Tips from the Synod Lutherans Restoring Creation Team for December 2023

Lisa’s Pieces: Creation Care Tips from the Synod Lutherans Restoring Creation Team for October 2023

By Lisa Brenskelle For more information on any of the below, or for creation care assistance/information, contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com or see our new website! The team is seeking additional members. If you would be willing to serve, please contact us. The mission of Lutherans Restoring Creation is to promote incorporation of care for creation into the full life and mission of the church, working in five areas: worship, education, discipleship, building & grounds, and public...

read more
The 100th Anniversary of the Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic

The 100th Anniversary of the Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic

Adapted from an article by the Rev. Dr. Mark Nygard, by Bishop Michael Rinehart On April 8, 1923, four American Lutheran missionaries were lowered off a packet boat, the S.S. Asie, unto the deck of the riverboat that would take them to Douala, Cameroon. They could not have imagined what awaited them: presenting papers to colonial authorities, hiring porters to carry many supplies up-country, walking 26 days unarmed through the bush to find a starting place, learning two languages, and finally...

read more
Flood Insurance

Flood Insurance

By Bishop Michael Rinehart We have an increasing number of congregations that have reported that they have been dropped by their insurance companies. Church Mutual, who has been our principal insurer, has been dropping churches. Hear this testimony by Pastor Mindy Roll, Zion, in Houston: Hi all, update on our insurance. We got dropped by Church Mutual this summer, and within ten days of our deadline for needing new insurance, we were only getting quotes that doubled our premium (from 44,000 to...

read more