|
|
Faith Lutheran Church |
|
|
Faith Lutheran Church |
|
REGULAR WORSHIP SCHEDULE:
|
He Has Risen
Page 1 MEET PASTOR DANA NARRING Faith Lutheran Church of Punta Gorda welcomed Rev. Dana Narring as its new shepherd at his installation service on Sunday, March 21, 2010. Officiating the service was Rev. Dr. Randy Winkle. The preacher, who also installed Rev. Nar-ring, was Rev. Gregory Walton – president of the Florida Georgia Dist of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The ser-vice was followed by a potluck dinner where everyone had an opportunity to greet Pastor Narring. Rev. Narring grew up in Detroit, MI where he attended Lutheran High School East. While in high school, he lettered in three sports and was active in the band program. Pastor Narring also was involved in Scouting from Cub Scouting through the rank of Life Scout in Boy Scouting and earning Scouting’s highest religious award – Pro Deo Et Patria. He currently serves on the District Committee for our area. After high school, Pastor Narring attended Ferris State College in Big Rapids, MI and later, schools in Florida – after his family moved there following his junior year. He had careers in insurance (with Metropolitan Life and Lutheran Brother-hood) as well as in Special Promotions and Guest Relations at Sea World. He was an active member of St. Luke Lutheran Church in Oviedo, FL, where he led Bible classes and was involved with the building program. He was encouraged by his pastor (who also was his confirmation pastor in Detroit), Rev. Edwin J. Rossow, to once again pray about serving the Lord in the pastoral ministry. With support from vicars from St. Luke’s, he went to visit Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Upon visiting the campus, he felt it was where he needed to be. After 3 years at the seminary, he was assigned to Spirit Lake, IA for vicarage – where he soon had to assume the pastoral duties for the congregation after their pastor had ac-cepted a call. After completing his vicarage, he returned to the seminary for his final year. Upon graduation, Pastor Nar-ring was called to Peace Lutheran Church, in Sunrise Beach, MO as their first full-time pastor. He has al served congre-gations in Platte City, NO, and Sarasota, FL. Before being called to Faith Lutheran, Rev. Narring worked as a chaplain, first at LifePath Hospice in Tampa, and then for TideWell Hospice in Sarasota. Most recently, he had been called as the part-time Assistant Pastor for Good Shepherd Lutheran in Sarasota. When TideWell Hospice downsized and Good Shepherd called a full-time pastor, Rev. Narring was suddenly out of work. Starting in November, he filled the position of Vacancy Pastor for Faith Lutheran and, in February, was called to be their full-time pastor. Pastor Narring sees great potential here at Faith in Punta Gorda. He stated that, "The members are warm and genuine, and that they have a desire to reach-out with the Gospel to the community. With that kind of an attitude, and a great fa-cility, growth can happen!" His vision for the congregation is to have them, "Open the Book." He would like to see mem-bers more involved in reading the Bible, and in Bible Study. This is important to understanding what God’s purpose is for them, and for how they can serve the Lord through Faith Lutheran Church and in their community. He also believes that it is important for Faith to expand their base by adding more full-time residents – while continuing programs to grow our ministry to winter residents. He feels that evangelism is going to be a key in Faith’s future. Rev. Narring looks forward to a long and fruitful ministry at Faith Lutheran Church.
Page 2 PASTOR'S THOUGHTS Greetings in Christ! It is a special blessing to be called by God to be the Pastor of Faith Lutheran! The prayers, support, cards, and the special gifts were tremendous! Also, the attendance at the service (despite the downpours and lightning) was more than 210 people (plus all those getting ready to serve the meal who were working hard in Zalman Hall)! Thank you for being so welcoming to me and my family! I look forward to getting to know you in the days ahead. As together we focus on God’s Word and remain centered in Jesus Christ, we will be directed and inspired by His Spirit to look beyond ourselves, and be encouraged to reach out to those in our community and to share the love of Christ – through His gospel – with those who do not know Jesus. During these final days of Lent, I have received many emails and messages regarding various Christian messages for the season. I’d like to share one that was sent from the Weslocks – and was adapted from "The Power of the Cross" by Rev. Barry J. Keu-rulainen.
Between the two thieves hung Jesus on a cross of redemption, His arms were stretched out, reaching wide in love to all who will receive him. No matter what is in the past, no matter how bleak and hopeless your future looks, Jesus' love provides endless power to forgive, love, and help. On that day both thieves saw and heard the same message...one rejected and one repented. Today, which cross represents you? In the middle, Jesus, sinless Son of God, was condemned and suffered like them, but we are the ones who should have been on that cross. Yet, He took our pun-ishment. He is our Redeemer, our Savior, and our King! Responding to the victory that Christ won for us on the cross, I pray that God will bless us with His wisdom and direction in the days ahead . . . so that we will be able to be even more Christ-like and reflect His love in all that we think, say, and do. Sola Deo Gloria,
PASTOR DANA NARRING INSTALLED AS FAITH'S PASTOR
PRESIDENT'S CORNER Wasn't it a beautiful, spiritual and glorious Installation worship service? Pastor Walton began by relating to Pastor Narring God's expectations of Pastor, not only to himself, but also to the congregation, both corporately and as individual members. Then came God's expectations of the congregation toward our new Pastor. Yes, in a way, we are being reinstalled after 18 months to learning to do God's work in His Kingdom under a new Shep-herd: Pastor Dana Narring. He will have new ideas to share with your leaders' ideas and most importantly with your ideas. Through God's direction, our prayers and thoughts will lead us to God's Will in all that we do. To God Be All the Glory! Yours in Christ, Page 4 Lutheran Women’s Missionary League The LWML Spring Zone Rally will be held here at Faith on April 17th. Internationally known LWML speaker Jan Struck will be featured. She is motivational, inspriational and sensational. You won't want to miss this. There will be an ingathering for The Baker Center of Punta Gorda who service children of 4 years old and under in a early intervention type program along with their parents. They are in need of the following items: Chil-drens books and movies, small backpacks, shirts, shorts, pants, sweatshirts, sweaters and underwear sizes 2T to 6T, donations for Even Start Adult Literacy Program to purchase classroom materials and testing for parents to receive their GED and graduation fees, gasoline cards for transportation in an emergency, Walmart or Publix Gifts Cards for household items of food in an emergency, baby shampoo, wash and lotion, diapers, baby wipes, baby spoons, baby clothes and booties. Please bring items to the rally. Registration begins a 9:00 a.m.. Please feel free to bring a guest. Lunch will be served. The cost is $6:00 per person. On Friday, March 19th at 1:00 pm Faith Ladies Guild held a tea and fashion show. Charlotte Todd dis-played a collection of fashions of the past century which were fun and amazing. The fashions were worn by women of the congregation. The donation of $10 plus a Thrivent for Lutherans supplement will go to the Salvation Army Food Bank.
Page 5 |
| ||||||||
