Sixty-four years ago, on May 4, 1958, Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church of Pompano Beach (and later Deerfield Beach) was officially chartered as a congregation in the Lutheran Church in America.

We have come a long way in over six decades, and God is still writing our story. Thanks be to God for all those who came before us, all those who are still with us, and all those saints yet to be part of our family of faith!

Beginning May 1st, we are delighted to welcome Pastor Cathy Lauterhahn as our stated supply pastor at Zion! For the first couple of months, as we continue to discern the movement and direction of the Spirit, Pastor Cathy's responsibilities will be to preach and preside at Sunday morning worship and all life moments (baptisms, weddings, and funerals).

Pastoral care in case of emergencies will continue to be handled by our conference colleagues coordinated through Cantor Kurt Schmidt. Also, Pastor Jonathan Gantt, our conference dean, will continue to provide pastoral oversight and consult for all administrative matters.

Pastor Cathy comes to Zion from serving in a contract call at Prince of Peace in Margate. However, her full-time work is as a team chaplain for VITAS Hospice, where she has ministered to grieving families since 2016. Pastor Cathy has devoted her pastorate to chaplaincy ministry, since her ordination in 2002, while also serving congregations on a part-time or interim basis. Prior to entering full-time ministry, she worked for over 25 years in the finance and human resources industries. Pastor Cathy lives in Coconut Creek.

As with last month's emphasis – Build Relationships – we continue to look outward into our church family, our neighborhood and community, and our world, recognizing that being a disciple of Jesus is not limited to our personal relationship with God, our piety or our practices. Indeed, we are repeatedly called out: "Go and tell...Feed the hungry...Clothe the naked...Visit the sick...Seek peace...Work for justice...Love one another." In other words, Serve Joyfully.

In his book "Real Faith for Real Life" (the discipleship model we are following), Pastor Mike Foss says, "the call to serve is the command of the Savior to allow God's love to flow through us into our love-starved world."

Read that again. As disciples of Jesus Christ, serving others is not optional. Nor should it be looked at as a legalistic requirement. Because of what Jesus has done for us, how could we not want to share God's love by serving others?

Here at Zion, we pride ourselves on making a variety of serving opportunities available throughout our program year, from the sweaty and physically-intensive to the projects asking for contributions of items/money to a social ministry cause. But, we can always do more.

For our service to really have an impact, it is important to find and respond to causes that make your hearts overflow with love. If there's a community organization or a particular group (children, those in recovery, etc.) that we're not serving and you think we could, I want to hear about it. (Seriously.). It's much easier to rally support for causes and groups that are close to our hearts!

One timely opportunity: As I've said before, we are very fortunate to have the headquarters of Deerfield Beach Community Cares within our campus at Zion. If ever there was a hub of service, this is it. We have already started planning for our 2nd Annual Community Fair, to be held in September, as a joint effort between Zion and DBCC. If you'd like to be part of the planning team, please let me know! We need creative thinkers, planners, and willing servants. Hopefully, that includes YOU!

Serving with You,

Cantor Kurt R. Schmidt

TONIGHT, Wednesday, May 4th

Critically needed items: