Summer is just a few months away, and we couldn’t be more excited about what’s in store for our students! Two of our biggest faith-building experiences—UNITE Camp and our High School Mission Trip—are filling up, and we want to make sure your student has a chance to be part of them.

It’s no surprise that students are eager to get back to UNITE Camp this summer from July 12-16! Last year we took 30 students to camp. Their experience left a lasting impact, and we’re thrilled to see both returning and first-time campers signing up. If your student hasn’t registered yet, now is the time! We only have 9 spots left, and they’re going fast. Secure a spot today with a $50 deposit!

We’re also looking forward to our High School Mission Trip from June 7-13! This year, we’re introducing a new mission trip dynamic, and while we’re excited about what’s ahead, we’ve had fewer sign-ups than expected. Because of this, we’re adjusting our group size from 30 to 15 students (10 girls, 5 boys). Currently their are 13 spots left! If your student is interested in serving, growing, and making a difference, now is the perfect time to register with a $100 deposit.

Both of these opportunities are designed to challenge, inspire, and deepen students’ faith in ways that simply can’t happen in everyday life. We can’t wait to see how God moves through these experiences! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

Talking about our summer events, what's another way you can help make these experiences possible? Invite others to our annual Trivia Night!

This isn’t just another fundraiser—it’s a chance for our church community, family, and friends to rally together to invest in the next generation. Every ticket sold brings us closer to sending more students to camp and missions, giving them a summer they’ll never forget.

• Tickets: $25 per person | $200 per table
• Date: Saturday, March 1 @ 6-8pm
• Location: North Oak Campus

So, who do you know that would love a fun night out for a great cause? Invite your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers to join you at Trivia Night and be part of something bigger!

Rosse and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Ramirez! At the time this newsletter is being sent out, baby is not yet here but is set to arrive anytime this week. I thank you for your patience as I struggle and do my best to adjust to the demands of parenthood and have dropped the ball a few times with communication.

I'm currently still in the office this week but am on standby and will be out of the office on paternity leave for 3 week. However, every regularly scheduled Wednesday, Sunday morning, and Sunday night gatherings are still set to take place with our amazing Youth Leaders taking charge! In case of any changes, updates, or cancellations, those will be communicated via our text alerts as per usual.

Thank you all for your amazing support during this time of transition for my growing family and worry not, a picture of Baby CJ will be shared with everyone as he arrives!

See you soon!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays. How could you not love a holiday that is entirely about food and being grateful? There’s turkey and ham and mashed potatoes and pies. Then there’s the afternoon nap and football. It’s going to be a great day.

But in my house, this year feels a little different. You see, we are hosting Thanksgiving. Which I’m excited about but ,like I talked about in the sermon this past weekend, there’s a lot of work that goes into hosting.  We have to get the house clean and ready to have people stay. There’s the meal planning and the grocery shopping. And there’s the cooking and the entertaining.

It can be a lot to get everything ready to host Thanksgiving. In fact, It can be so much that we forget to get ourselves ready for Thanksgiving. No…I’m not talking about picking out an outfit for the day. But we can get so busy getting all the stuff ready that we forget to get our hearts and spirits ready for the day. And getting ourselves ready may be more important than cooking that Thanksgiving turkey.  

So I wonder if now is a good time to get yourself ready for Thanksgiving. Maybe take some time to check in with yourself. What do you want the day to look like? How do you want to show up tomorrow?

Maybe you have a long list of things you need to get done. You’re already feeling the pressure. Is there any way you can accomplish those things with a different spirit? Can you do the same things but with a sense of peace and gratitude?

Maybe there’s a family member who you have some tension with. What do you want your interactions with them to be like? Is there a chance you can connect with them in a new way?

Maybe your Thanksgiving is going to be chaotic. You have a lot of things to get done. Is there a way you choose relationships over tasks?  

Or maybe tomorrow is going to be quiet for you. Maybe you can reach out to someone you haven't talked to in a while and express how grateful you are for them?

But however you are preparing for tomorrow, don’t just prepare the food or the house. Take some time to prepare the most important thing, your spirit. Then you will be able to truly be grateful for all the ways God is present through the people you are surrounded with.

Finally, know that I am grateful for each of you. For your commitment to Good Shepherd, your encouragement, your prayers and your faith. It’s truly an honor to be your pastor.

Peace,

Matt

P.S. As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, we’re also busy getting ready for Advent and Christmas Eve here at Good Shepherd. Below, you’ll find our Christmas Eve service times, including a Travelers’ Service at North Oak. While you’re spending time with family this holiday, be sure to make your plans to celebrate Christmas Eve here at Good Shepherd.

This year, we’re also excited to introduce Kids Only Christmas—a one night, VBS-style Christmas celebration designed just for kids. If you’re a parent, it’s the perfect chance to enjoy some extra time to prepare for Christmas—or simply treat yourself to a peaceful evening out. It’s also a great event to invite others to, like grandkids, neighbors, and teammates.



Traveler's Service
Thursday, December 19th
North Oak │ 7pm

Christmas Eve Service
Tuesday, December 24th
Gladstone │ 4pm, 11pm
North Oak │ 2PM, 3:30PM, 5PM, 6:30PM

Recently I learned about a playground with what is known as “The Friendship Bench.” 

When kids are at recess and need someone to play with, they can go sit on The Friendship Bench. All the kids know to look for other classmates who might be sitting on this bench. When they see someone on the bench, they invite them to play. Kids understand that sometimes they are the person on the bench in need of a friend. Other times they are the one who goes to the bench to invite someone to play.

It struck me as this beautiful example of how small acts of kindness and mercy create connection and hope. It got me thinking, maybe we adults need friendship benches. Places where we can say, “I have a need.” And when we share our needs, we know and trust that there will be someone in the community who responds and says, “I understand what you are going through and I can help.”

Sometimes, in our adult worlds, problems can be overwhelming. From wars to political division to medical diagnosis to so many other places of pain and uncertainty, it can be easy to wonder if we can really make a difference. We don’t know where to start or if the things we do will matter.

Jesus challenges us as his followers to have faith like a mustard seed. A mustard seed is small, seemingly insignificant but over time grows and makes a big difference. It’s this idea that small things matter a great deal. Small things like the courage to follow a nudge or speak up on behalf of someone who can’t stand up for themselves or extend kindness or offer someone forgiveness or take a step and prioritize faith in a new way.

Like a kid walking over to the Friendship Bench and finding hope and connecting. These seemingly insignificant actions grow and can make a huge difference. So today, remember that there are things you can do that matter deeply. Through what you do, the connections you make and the words you say, we all have opportunities everyday to create hope and life around us.

My prayer for all of us is that we seize those opportunities and God takes them to bring life to our neighborhoods, our communities and our city.

Peace,
Matt Fulmer

I love eating chicken wings. I love buffalo sauce. I love that they are a little messy, or a lot messy. I love the dipping sauces. I love that they are easily shared. And I love when they have a little heat but not too much.

Call me a wimp, but I like to enjoy my food. I don’t want to suffer through spice that makes me cry and sweat and run for some milk. I’ve had that experience and I do not want to go back. If it’s too hot I simply avoid it.

Sometimes I think that’s how church has been done for a long time. If it makes us feel uncomfortable or turns up the heat in some way, we avoid it. But when we do this, we miss out on allowing God to speak into some of the most important parts of our lives. So over the next 3 weeks we are going to be turning up the heat. We are going to talk about some of those things that may feel a little too spicy.

This Sunday we’re going to tackle the topic Sex and Faith. We will talk about a biblical sexual ethic and how we can make healthy, faithful decisions when it comes to our sexual lives. Don’t worry the sermon will not be explicit, more along the lines of PG. I think this conversation is important for all of us including high schoolers and middle schoolers, but if you bring children please use your discretion on whether to have them in worship.

The following Sunday, October 27, Halloween weekend, we are going to talk about Hell. But we are going to have some fun with it! Kids are encouraged to dress up. There’s even going to be a costume party during each service. And adults, you’re welcome to dress up too…I may even preach in costume! Just please make it family friendly.

The final weekend of our Hot Topics series, November 3, will be the hottest and spiciest topic, Faith and Politics. At this point all I can say is you will not want to miss it.

I’m excited and a little nervous about the next few weeks in worship. But my hope is that we can tackle some of these spicy things together and see how faith really does speak to the hot topics in our lives. I hope you’ll join me.

Have a great weekend.

Peace,

Matt

A good friend of mine told me a story that messes with me each time I hear it.

My friend is a pastor. Like many pastors, he used to spend countless hours at a local coffee shop. That is here he had meetings and wrote most of his sermons. Since he spent so much time at this particular coffee shop he got to know the baristas and other staff. He would greet them and make small talk with them. Over time they found out he was a pastor and learned a little bit about his church.

After a year or so, one of the baristas (his name is Don; I met him a few years later) was talking to my friend after making my friend’s coffee. Then Don, sort of shyly, asked my friend if it would be ok if he came to his church one day. My friend was floored!

My friend responded, “Of course you can come to the church, Don! We would love to have you.” Don said something like, well I didn’t know if it was ok. You see, my life is a little messy right now. I don’t know what I think about faith and church. And I’ve got some baggage. Plus you never invited me so I didn’t know if it was ok for me to come. 

Don showed up the next Sunday, and eventually, he got baptized. He became really involved in the church. Over time got his life on the right track in large part because of the hope and life he found at church. He’s a vital part of my friend’s church, even to this day. 

But Don’s last line always stands out to me. “You never invited me so I didn’t know if it was ok to come.” If Don wouldn’t have been bold enough to ask my friend if it was ok to come to church, then I don’t know where Don would be. 

This story stays with me and it messes with me. I wonder how many Don’s are around me but they aren’t quite bold enough to ask if they can come to church. How many of my friends would be willing, curious or want to come, but they are waiting on me to invite them. 

I wonder about that same thing for you. Who might come to check out church and give faith a try, but they are just waiting for you to invite them? My prayer for both you and me is that we have the courage to offer a simple invitation which could be a doorway for someone to find a meaningful faith.

Peace,

Matt

Baptism. You ever wonder why we celebrate baptism in the church?

As you can imagine there are a lot of ways to answer that question, including Jesus said to do it. But let me give you a reason that’s connected to our current series, Moving Forward.

In this series we’ve been exploring forgiveness, especially the things that stand in the way and block us from the freedom God offers us through forgiveness. We’ve talked about anger and fear. These things that can keep us from forgiving someone else. 

This Sunday we are concluding the series with maybe the most difficult part of forgiveness which is seeking and receiving forgiveness when we are the ones who failed or made a mistake. We will talk about one of the most common questions I get around forgiveness, “how can I forgive myself?”

But what does all of this have to do with baptism? 

If you are anything like me, when I make a commitment to forgive someone, to work through my anger or push past my fear, or when I decide I need to seek out forgiveness, I need a way to mark it. If it stays in my head or in my heart then it’s hard to really know if it’s true for my life. We need something to do. Some way to respond. Some way to make this promise of forgiveness and the clean start feel real. 

That response is baptism. Baptism is a marker of forgiveness and cleansing. It’s a chance for a fresh start and an opportunity to do it all over again. It’s a chance to receive God’s forgiveness in a fresh and powerful way.

And if you’ve been baptized before, sometimes we need to remember God’s forgiveness in our lives in a tangible way. For some of us, life has taken a lot of twists and turns. And we need a reminder and to refocus our life on Christ. Others of us need to remember God’s forgiveness in our life so we can commit to overcoming some of that fear and anger that keeps us from forgiving someone else. 

This Sunday we are not only concluding our sermon series on forgiveness but we are having a special baptism service, so we have a tangible way to respond. 

If you’ve never been baptized before, you will have a chance to be baptized. And if you have questions about baptism or know you want to be baptized this weekend, please reach out to me. You can simply respond to this email. 

If you’ve been baptized and want to remember your baptism, you’ll have a chance to do that too. We will have baptism pools at all of our worship services. You can choose to get sprinkled with water or you can get in the pool. I recommend the pool option because it’s a powerful experience of being washed clean and receiving God’s forgiveness and strength. 

Whether you are getting baptized for the first time, remembering your baptism or just decide to watch, you are not going to want to miss this powerful service. I hope to see you this Sunday as we celebrate the power of God’s forgiveness and freedom in our lives. 

Peace,

Matt Fulmer
Pastor, Good Shepherd UMC