Instagram bio

One of our high school students included the Core Values of our church in their Instagram bio.  How cool is that?!?  Or should I say, "How beyond is that?!?"

Mission Impact 10-22-15

In our last Directors meeting, Pastor Gary shared some exciting statistics that reveal how the generosity of Good Shepherd is going beyond to make an impact locally and globally.  Good Shepherd is:

· The #1 contributor to the Malaria Campaign in the whole Metro Chicago Synod (this Campaign recently reached its $15 Million Goal nationwide…and the monies have been utilized to reduce malaria and malaria related deaths in Africa by 60% while proclaiming the Gospel and watching many lives being transformed by God’s love).

· The #1 contributor to Feed My Starving Children in the greater Naperville area for Feed the Need as well as being the #1 contributor among churches in the whole Chicagoland area.

· The Primary Sponsor for Cheryl’s Children’s Home in Nairobi, Africa.

· Supporting the year of “Quadruple 2’s” (2 Mission Trips to 4 different locations this past summer and early fall…including Guatemala, Honduras, Michigan, and Pine Ridge, South Dakota)

If you give to support the ministry of Good Shepherd, you play a part in making all this happen.  Way to go!

From scraps to glory

Last Sunday our Quilting ministry covered the chairs and pews in our Worship spaces with the 159 quilts they made this past year.  Below they share what inspires them to go beyond in their generosity and how the impact of the ministry is going way beyond our church...

Quilts are a tangible way to help people. A quilt may be used in a third world hospital, might wrap an orphan, could be used as a sack to carry a refugee’s goods, serve as a baby carrier, it may become a sunshade or a warm blanket, or be used as a room divider.

What might be considered scraps are transformed into something God uses for His glory. We take what are seemingly minimal resources – donated pieces of fabric and discarded sheets in good condition – combine them with the generous ongoing contribution of batting by a member, and tie the layers together. Each quilt is not only a work of art but more so, a representation of love.

The quilts first go to Lutheran World Relief (LWR) and then to their affiliates around the world for distribution. Last year, nearly 500,000 quilts were distributed by LWR worldwide. We were able to track the last shipment of Good Shepherd quilts sent to Lutheran World Relief. They went to Nepal, the area of a devastating earthquake in April, 2015. Over 9,000 LWR quilts have been distributed there.

Other quilts made this year have gone to Malaysia, the orphanage in Africa, Lifespring of Wayside Cross, and Lutherdale’s annual quilt auction. Some small quilts and blankets were given to Hesed House. An interesting fact: The scraps left over after making the quilts are bundled and given to Wayside Cross to be made into rags and sold to help fund that ministry.

Our Quilt Ministry team has also sent quilts to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where winters are brutally cold. This year, our friends at the reservation requested help as they wanted to start their own Quilt Ministry to especially serve the elders and children. One member of our congregation helped buy sewing machines which were shipped along with several boxes of fabric and supplies.

Linda V.

Translating God's praises

One of our young adults is going beyond by serving in Madagascar for a year with Young Adults in Glogal Mission (YAGM). Recently, she got to join with kids in singing God's praises in both English and Malagasy. Read her story below...

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At my home church in Tanjombato, I work with a group of level 2 English students (who are amazingly smart and good at English after only 6 months). My students usually work through having conversations, so we had a 'get to know you' conversation about likes and dislikes. As an example, I said that I don't like to dance, but I like to sing. And of course, that lead to them wanting to hear me sing. Oof. But it turned out to be a good thing.

In my mad scrambling to try and find a song that was both 1) something I knew well enough that I could teach; and 2) easy enough that the students could remember it, the only thing that was in my brain was the Doxology. Lutherans are fond of singing it, before offering sometimes. Our YAGM group sang it often as a mealtime grace. 

You might know it:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
Amen

So I taught my group of 15 Malagasy kids the doxology. And when we still had time left, we went over vocabulary. I asked them to try to translate it into Malagasy, and they came up with this:
Ry Tompon'ny harena o!
Fanatitra an'tsitrapo
Atolotray anao izao
Mba raiso ka tahionao!
Amen

I love it. Half of us sang the English, while half of us sang the Malagasy. The words mushed together, our voices melded imperfectly, our pronunciation terrible. But I believe God wept tears of joy in Heaven to hear us. It was beautiful.

Hannah K.

Big Wins

Did you know ... The company who made a video of our children's and student's Beyond commitments won an award for their video. That's pretty neat. But the biggest wins were in the hearts that were touched and in the youth who made generosity a way of life. Watch the video below...

Make Your Mark

Our Student Ministry kicked off the fall semester with big bash and a big challenge.

They had at least 5,931 reasons to praise God!
5 mini pools
75 adult ensuring fun for our students
125 pounds of flour
300 bandannas
345 in attendance
500 pounds of sand
780 servings of mashed potatoes
800 pounds of dirt
1,400 square feet of plastic sheeting
1,600 water balloons
1 AMAZING GOD!

The theme was "Make Your Mark." They reminded our students that God gave us eternal life through Christ and a love that never fails. It is our act of worship to share the LIFE and LOVE of Christ with Naperville and BEYOND!

Our students were given a big challenge: How will you "Make Your Mark" this year in your family, your school, and in the community? That's a great challenge for all of us. How will you make your mark?

Small Group, Big Hearts

Below is a heartwarming story of how one small group went beyond our church to reach a man dealing with cancer.  They wanted to touch his life and God transformed all of their lives.  The story is written by the small group leader, but the names have been changed to protect confidentiality.

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Amy is part of our small group. Her brother, Mike, has been battling cancer for some time and we would always pray for him during our meetings. We thought at one point he might enjoy following along with our study, even though he was stuck at home. Do to the cancer, he would get tired and his voice was very weak. He and his wife, Kristin, lived far away, so it was too much of a hike.

We sent him a copy of our study book and Mike would send his notes to me before our meetings. I would share his notes with the group when we met and send back a summary of the group discussions to him via e-mail. Then after some new drugs, Mike's voice improved so we began Skyping him in to our meetings. It was great to have his input and we really enjoyed having him a part of things.

His cancer took a turn for the worse a few months ago and he was unable to participate via Skype. We continued to pray for Mike and the group e-mailed Mike with thoughts and prayers. Mike went home to heaven on August 25th.

Most of our group will be attending his memorial tomorrow. We never had a chance to meet in person, but I know we all feel blessed to have had the chance to know him and share our faith together.

SGL

Road Trip Relief

Summer road trips can be great moments.  They can even become God moments when we seize opportunities to go beyond.  Read about one family whose road trip took them on a journey of generosity and compassion...  

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This summer myself, my mother in law and my two children (9 and 11) took a road trip to Kermit, West Virginia to visit my Aunt Therese. She is the Director of Christian Help, a nondenominational public charity helping to meet poverty and emergency needs in the area. Christian help provides food, clothing, transportation, and financial help for basic necessities to people in dire need in Mingo County and the surrounding area.

The US Census Bureau identifies West Virginia as having the second highest number of people living in poverty in all of the United States. It has the very lowest level of median income in the entire nation, and the highest level of children under the age of five living in poverty. Among all 55 counties in this very poor state, Mingo County has the fifth highest number of people living in poverty, the fifth highest number of people under 18 living in poverty, and the fourth lowest average of median household income. My aunt had described it as a third world country that exists here in the U.S.

We reached out to friends before our journey and filled the trunk of our car with donations from winter clothing, shoes, school supplies, blankets, bedding, toys, and books. We purchased XL ziplock bags to try to maximize every inch of space we had. We spent two days working in the store helping to organize, and stock donations. We prepared, sorted, and inventoried all of the school supplies so the kids would be ready for back-to-school. We spoke with local residents as they came in to shop (all items are free) and we moved by story after story. We even rescued two 4 week old puppies that had been thrown out of a moving truck, injured and abandoned. We got them to a local vet, took care of them during our stay and worked with a rescue in Illinois that agreed to care for them and find the loving homes so they made the 10 hour car ride back home with us.

We saw God working in many ways while we were there and how a county would be lost without the few employees and volunteers and Christian Help and their dedication to be the working hands and feet of Jesus. We feel compelled to go back and set a goal to fill a trailer full of items to assist a community in great need.

Changing Careers

For one family, going beyond started out as giving and it turned into receiving. And what they received was immeasurably more than they could ask or imagine—it was a calling to a new way of life, and a new career... 

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Most of you know Ryan (musician, singer, and Worship Leader) and Bethany (Director of Family Life- Children’s Ministries) from their roles around Good Shepherd. You may not have known that they are parents to two young children and that, until recently, Ryan was also a teacher in the Naperville school district. Just like other young families, the demands on their time and the financial commitments of life in the suburbs could be incredibly stressful.

Yet, as the Hammers listened, prayed, and talked about how they were called to go beyond, they soon realized that for them it wasn’t just about giving more and doing more. Although they started doing and giving more, it became clear that for them, going beyond would in a strange way mean giving less and doing less… so they could be more of who God was calling them to be as individuals, as professionals, as a couple, and as a family. After much discernment, they realized that Ryan was being called to leave his teaching career (and the stable salary, pension benefits, and top-notch health insurance) to go into ministry full-time.

Questions, doubts, and concerns soon crept in. Could they still give generously on a lower income? How would they save for college for kids without his school pay and what would retirement look like without his pension? What about higher daycare costs? All real-world questions that were addressed… and that didn’t necessarily come with easy answers. But there was something else… what about the great beyond? How many more people could be reached and transformed at Good Shepherd through music, worship, and their work? And what did God have in store if they followed the call?

They listened to that call and Ryan accepted a full-time position at Good Shepherd. Now, the story is just beginning—and it involves more than the Hammers. It’s also about you! Without the recent financial commitments from the people at Good Shepherd, there wouldn’t have been funds to hire Ryan full-time. And, without the faithful commitments before these, there wouldn’t have been funds to build the Worship Center that is packed out each week!

The story continues to unfold and if we listen to what God is calling each of us to do, there’s no doubt it will be immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. Is God calling you to do more, give more, be more … or maybe even give up something so that God can give you more? These are all incredible ways that our most generous God shows us that generosity is for us, not from us, and the experience is waiting for you!

Zac L.

Business as Unusual

It's amazing what can happen when a community embraces generosity as a way of life and shares the gifts God has given them. Below is a story how people went beyond with their business skills to help a man from Good Shepherd...

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I have been struggling for several years now to get my own business off the ground and what has started to happen slowly in recent months through my connections at Good Shepherd, is that God is putting people in my life that are reaching out and wanting to help me. I have a videographer, an editor, a business coach, a CPA and a photographer. The biggest part of the equation is that a business coach has not only pointed me to some key people, but has also offered to help me out as a favor to get my business off the ground with a solid foundation, which is the biggest blessing and example of someone going Beyond. I'm grateful to God and the Church for all the blessings and people he has put in my life.

Mike M.