Weekly Updates

Good Shepherd Update Thursday September 1st, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good morning, I am writing in a mist of pain medication induced mind-fog so hopefully everything will come out making sense. There are some new bits of news, so please read carefully.

Good Shepherd Update Thursday August 26th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good morning, here’s this week’s Update…be sure to read carefully

Good Shepherd Update Friday August 20th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

The update is a little late this week, but still important. The new announcements are at the front and then the information about Mission Groups and Outreach come after. Enjoy!

Good Shepherd Update Thursday August 12th, 2010

Good Shepherd Update Thursday July 29th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

It’s been a fairly busy week at Good Shepherd so, thankfully, the bulk of what needs to be said this week was already written last week. If you didn’t get the Update or read it last week, please do so this week since there are a number of important announcements from last week that are reprinted below. But, of course, there are some new things as well so if you were thinking of just skipping out this week, please resist that temptation and read the whole thing.

Good Shepherd Update Thursday July 22nd, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

It’s Thursday and I am writing the Update which means that I have yet to be vanquished by my children. Anne has been gone since Monday. I have had all five children all week long. I am still here. And I am here with enough energy remaining to send out news and information. The Update may not be as long and glorious as usual, but here it is.

There is some very good and interesting news in this Update (of course all the Updates are intensely fascinating, but this one even more so than usual) so please don’t just glance over the headlines but read the whole thing carefully.

Good Shepherd Update Thursday July 15th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

After spinning my wheels all week cleaning out cupboards and picking up gallons of spilled cheerios, Matt volunteered to clean and vacuum the house if we all came over here and did the update. We’re quietly wrecking the office for the morning and playing Little House on the Prairie.

We’re in the midst of a highly successful week of Grayson Mertzi’s Detective School (VBS) with between 40 and 50 kids in attendance each night. The program is running so smoothly and has been so much fun that many children have brought friends on subsequent nights.

Good Shepherd Update Thursday July 8th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good Morning, this week’s update is once more largely all about Vacation Bible School which is coming up NEXT WEEK July 12 through the 16th, but there are a number of newer and important items so please read carefully.

Anne and I have completed the fourth installment of the “Leaving Home” series describing the experiences of losing and then gaining church and home. You can read it all here

Good Shepherd Update Thursday July 1st, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

This Sunday is the 4th of July…and what better way to celebrate the birthday of the United States of America than to spend Sunday morning thanking and praising God for blessing us with a free nation, a representative government, a country ruled by constitutional laws that protect among other things, the right to worship God without government interference. And what better place to thank and praise God but church? 

Good Shepherd Update Thursday June 24th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good morning. We had a great picnic last Sunday and a pretty good turnout given that it was Father’s Day later in the summer than usual. Doug Osgood put some pictures up on his facebook site and I think I’m going to see if he will let me steal them for the website. If you have facebook, you might friend him if you’d like to see them…speaking of facebook. Good Shepherd has a facebook site as well that I try to keep updated. You can join up here.

This week’s update is largely concerned with Vacation Bible School which is coming up next month. I’m asking that every one of you give your best effort to help us reach as many kids on the south side as possible. There are a number of ways you can help, some of them listed below.

Good Shepherd Update Thursday June 17th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

The biggest news for the Update today is the Picnic coming up this Sunday June 20th. The picnic starts at 11am at Pavillion #1 with an outdoor worship service, then comes lunch and everything else. People generally bring their own lunch, meat to grill, and/or a dish of something to share. If you can’t bring lunch, come anyway, there’s plenty of food. You might also want to bring a swimming suit if you plan to get wet, baseball gloves, clothes that can get dirty and an extra pair of shoes.

The picnic will be at Cole Park which is pretty easy to find. Here’s the Cole Park website and below are directions from Binghamton:

Good Shepherd Update Thursday June 10th, 2010

Good Shepherd Update, Thursday June 3rd, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd, 

Good morning. The Neighborhood Festival is This Saturday. This has, in the last two years, become the biggest, most elaborate, community outreach event we do all year round. The purpose of everything we will do on Saturday is to build relationships. There will be an evangelism table and opportunities for prayer for those who need it but the focus is on building relationships with the people who live around us

Good Shepherd Update, Thursday May 27th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good morning. Lots of news in today’s update, please read carefully.

Good Shepherd Update, Thursday May 20th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd, 

Good morning. Hope all is well. I am burning through some of the last bits of makeup work after our vacation and don’t yet feel the need to run away screaming. The new sign is up finally, which means we no longer look as if we’re just kind of worshiping here for the moment but that we are here, God willing, permanently. We’re still waiting for a clear plexiglass vandal cover but at least now people will drive by on Conklin and not miss the fact that there is a church here. Drive by yourself if you get a chance before Sunday and take a look. This Sunday is Pentecost which you can read about below. Be sure to wear red of some kind to represent the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Good Shepherd Update: Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd, 

Good morning. I hope you are all doing well. We are all very glad to be back with you but I am very much missing the warm south Texas weather and wondering why on earth people would actually choose to build a city where it is this cold in May. There is a lot of work to be done to catch up with things that I did not do while on vacation so this will be an update on the rather short side which will make it that much easier to read the entire thing…so please do.

Good Shepherd Update: Thursday, April 29, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd, here is the update for this week…

Good Shepherd Update: Thursday, April 22, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good morning. Here is the update for this week…

Good Shepherd Update: Thursday, April 15, 2010

The following is from Ife:

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good morning. As most of you know, the Kennedys are on their vacation. They are still on their way to Texas, so remember to keep them in your prayers. 

But that doesn’t mean we are to neglect the meeting of the saints (Hebrews 10:25). Let us take Matt’s challenge to heart. Christ is Lord and Head of His church, not the senior pastor, and He will be present whether Matt is here or not.

Here is Matt’s challenge for us last week:
1. Commit to come to be here each of the three Sundays the Kennedys won’t be preaching—the 18th, 25th, and May 2nd.
2. Commit to invite a friend to come to church with you each of the three Sundays.
3. Commit to continue attending Bible study and/or class each week.

Good Shepherd Update Thursday April 8th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd, 

Good Morning and Happy Easter. The Feast of the Resurrection goes on for 40 days until the Feast of the Ascension, the day we celebrate Jesus’ ascension into Heaven…and then, ten days after that, comes the Feast of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit indwelt the Church.

So we’ve just come out of a fasting season and we are at the very beginning of a season of feasting. So feast up!

Some of you may have already heard that Anne, the kids, and I are taking our vacation early this year. We will be here at Good Shepherd this coming Sunday, but next Sunday we should be in Corpus Christi Texas, my hometown, where my parents live. We’re driving and camping all the way down so with five kids in one car for 1500 miles and tents, sleeping bags, and fire at night it should be a completely relaxing trip.

Good Shepherd Update Holy Week 2010

I know I always say this, but this time it’s really really true…this is going to be an extremely short update because I am extremely piled up with work. There are about 8 things I have to say:

Good Shepherd Update Thursday March 25th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good Morning. This is the first Update posted exclusively on the new website. Take some time and explore the site. There are so many more resources and so much more information packed into this site than in past ones. Be sure to check out the new photo gallery. Each image represents an entire gallery of photographs that you can enlarge and view. The homepage (the first page that pops up when you get to the site) boasts a video library for quick video updates. There is a new page for podcasts on which I’ve started publishing daily (well…weekdays…at least that’s the goal) podcasts. The present series is a study of the Ten Commandments. You can listen to Wednesday’s and Thursday’s podcasts here. There is a new sermon’s page which boasts both video and text. You will also find descriptions of our bible studies, beliefs, Sunday School classes, the Shepherd’s Bowl, outreach programs, a much more comprehensive links page complete with direct links to our denomination, diocese, bible study resources, blogs, classic Christian works, and much more. Along with the new website has come a new Good Shepherd facebook page which you can join and receive daily links, news and updates. In any case, explore and enjoy.

Good Shepherd Weekly Update Thursday March 18th, 2010

Well we had a great vestry meeting last night regarding the old church building etc…and here I was worried about it. Come to church on Sunday and we’ll talk about what happened for a bit between services. For now I am up against a huge wall of work. So, quickly, here’s this week’s Update.

Good Shepherd Update Thursday March 11th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good morning….his week’s update will be pretty short and sweet. There is a lot of stuff piled up that I have to get to before I can’t see over it. Here’s the Update: