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PASTOR’S

MAY PROJECTS

SUNDAY

ADULT CLASSES 9:00 AM

EARLY CHILDHOOD CHAPEL SERVICES

9:30 AM

8th GRADE CONFIRMATION

SUNDAY - MAY 7th

EARLY CHILDHOOD CLOSING PROGRAMS

SNOW CONE GIVEAWAY

FRIDAY, MAY 19th

MEMORIAL DAY WEDDING SERVICE

IN FORT WORTH

2017

THE MONTH OF MAY PASTOR’S ARTICLE

Pastor Francis L. Schroeder Holy Cross Lutheran—Nederland

“A NEW VIEW OF CHANGE”

People don’t like change! But the change we generally resist is the kind that we think will make our situation worse than better. We eagerly change jobs when it means higher pay and more influence. We happily move into a bigger house in a better neighborhood. So it is not change in general that we dislike; it is change in general we dislike; it’s change that involves loss — sometimes physical; other times emotional.

Change is both inevitable and necessary. If everything would remain the same, no one needs growing. But we have a Shepherd who guides us through change and leads us to a better place. Getting there may be difficult, as it was for the Israelites in reaching the Promised Land. They grumbled when their situation got worse rather than better.

But we have the example of Jesus!

He went from being the leader of many to be abandoned by all. The Good Shepherd during Holy Week became the Passover Lamb because the Heavenly Father Elevated Him to the highest place.

Not all change is pleasant, but when we are being led to a higher place by Someone who loves us, we do not need to fear it at all!

Blessed May and Spring to you!

Pastor Francis L. Schroeder

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WORSHIP SERVICES FOR MAY SUNDAY, MAY 7th THE 4th SUNDAY OF EASTER YOUTH CONFIRMATION SUNDAY at 10:30 AM Service with Holy Communion Receiving of New Members Service with the Adult Choir SUNDAY, MAY 14th THE 5th SUNDAY OF EASTER at 10:30 AM MOTHER’S DAY Service with the Band Service with Little Lambs Choir & Children’s Message SUNDAY, MAY 21st THE 6th SUNDAY OF EASTER at 10:30 AM ASCENSION DAY OBSERVED HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR RECOGNITION SUNDAY Service with Holy Communion Service with the Adult Choir SUNDAY, MAY 28th THE 7th SUNDAY OF EASTER at 10:30 AM

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IN OUR SUNDAY MORNING PRAYERS WE LIFT UP…...

May 7th Redeemer Lutheran Church - Beaumont, Texas Pastor Fred Kelm May 14th Trinity Lutheran Church - Port Arthur, Texas Pastor Tim Dinger & Pastor Mario Casillas May 21st St. John Lutheran Church - Beaumont, Texas Pastor Doug Rathgeber May 28th Genesis Lutheran Church – Buchanan Dam, Texas Pastor Jan "Trey" Rienstra (Son of Holy Cross) June 4th Hope Lutheran Church - Winnie, Texas Pastor Richard LeBlanc June 11th St. Paul Lutheran Church - Sheboygan, Wisconsin Pastor Alan Kretschmar (Son of Holy Cross) June 18th Grace Lutheran Church - Orange, Texas Pastor Joe Howlett June 25th St. Paul Lutheran Church - Groves, Texas Pastor Richard Turner July 2nd St. Paul Lutheran Church - Jasper, Texas Faith Lutheran Church - Woodville, Texas Pastor Mark Follett

DID YOU KNOW THIS FOR MAY, JUNE, & JULY ?

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DID YOU KNOW THIS TOO ?

HOLY CROSS LUTHERAN NOW ON YOUR SMARTPHONE! All you need to do is type holycrosstexas and you will pull up the information for worship services, events for the week, registration forms, our newsletter, and a 30 minute video from Lutheran Media Ministries. For those on laptops you may go to www.holycrosstexas.org for our complete website OUR DAILY BREAD (March, April, & May) are available in the narthex. PORTALS OF PRAYERS (April, May, & June) are available in the narthex of the church. CIRCUIT PROFESSIONALS CONFERENCE will gather at 8:30 AM for coffee and refreshments, 9:00 AM for Opening Devotion, 9:15 AM for Bible Study, 10:30 AM for Topical Study, 11:15 AM for Circuit Business and Casuistry. The next Circuit Professionals Meeting will be held at Faith Lutheran in Woodville on Tuesday, May 9th. HOLY CROSS HOMEBOUND MEMBERS receive on a weekly basis an CD of Holy Cross’ Sunday morning services and on a monthly basis a DVD from Lutheran Ministries Media. BULLETINS RECEIVED FROM OTHER CONGREGATIONS Hosanna Lutheran Church in Kerrville, Texas Christ the King Lutheran Church in Kingwood, Texas St. Charles Catholic Church in Nederland, Texas Concordia Retirement Village in Chatham, Illinois A NEW SOUND SYSTEM & VIDEO PROJECTOR & TWIN SCREENS for the Church Sanctuary was installed in mid-February. This has been made possible by the Hans and Randy Schulz Memorial Fund. This will permit us to enhance our worship experience.

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OUR STEWARDSHIP AT HOLY CROSS APRIL 2017

ATTENDANCE ENVELOPES DESIGNATED SPECIAL

04/02 180 $8,142.00 $ 60.00 04/05 67 MIDWEEK LENTEN SERVICE FIVE 04/09 189 $11,780.70 $ 816.00 04/13 87 MAUNDY THURSDAY 04/14 98 GOOD FRIDAY 04/16 90 EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE 04/16 242 EASTER CELEBRATION SERVICE $10,226.00 $654.27 $50.00 04/23 118 $ 2,616.00 $ 460.0 $175

2017 WORSHIP ATTENDANCE STATISTICS

TOTAL SUNDAY WORSHIP ATTENDANCE: 2,961 NUMBER OF WEEKS CELEBRATED IN 2017: 17 TOTAL MID-WEEK ATTENDANCE IN 2017: 798 AVERAGE MID-WEEK ATTENDANCE: 79 NUMBER OF MID-WEEK WORSHIP DAYS: 10 AVERAGE SUNDAY ATTENDANCE FOR 17 WEEKS IN 2017: 175

2017 FINANCIAL HEALTH OF HOLY CROSS WEEKLY BUDGETED EXPENSES: $14,089.22 HOLY CROSS YEAR TO DATE BUDGET $239,516.74 HOLY CROSS YEAR TO GATE GIVING $ 136,871.10

$-102,645.64

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2—Shawn Dunlap Jesse Raposa 3—Sarah McCall Ashley Trojcak 5—Keegan Day Laurie Johnson Greer Smalley 6—Jack Matthews Ryan Stadel 7—Lydia Gillard Brooklyn Riley 8—Keagan Derouen Christopher Rose Dylan Spinks 10—Connie Davis Zechariah Herring Siegfried Stahl 11-Gavin Erwin-Zummo Annette Shults 12—Cade Ford Darrell Hardy Claire Londenberg Tricia Trevino Alvin Wolfe Nicholas Wolfe 13—Mack Schulze 14—Scott DeSerrano 15—Lora Laird 17—Addison Gillard 18—Kaylee Tate 19—Lori Halbert Stuart Kieschnick 20—Courtney Kaspar Evelyn Ludwig Randy Vincent Brandon VanBrocklin

21—Jonathan Anderson Teresa Lemke Isaac Prioux Mike Tucker DeeDee Wukasch 22—Ashley Graeter Olivia Harms 23—Charli Collins 24—Griffin Kieschnick 25—Jackson Heider Caty Rienstra Lucas Riley Erin Sowarby Ryan Terrell 27—Lisa Gonzales Josh Matthews Raj Robison 27—Emma Bruney Carol Loupe Lance Vincent 28 —Justin Mayfield Joel Pinnt Chuck Schulze 29—Craig Dutschmann Pamela Evers Phillip Jones James Morgan 30—John McCall 31—Ashtyn Philen Alan Rising, Jr.

MAY

1—Nancy & Thomas Fritsche 3—Dianne & Johnny Krautz 5—Melissa & Jim Lavespere 7—Patrice & Rich Kihlken 8—Dedie & Johnny Orta 9—Sarah & Will McCall 11—Carla & Stephen Derouen 16—Marilyn & Larry Sanders Erica & Jeremy Toole 17—Valerie & Ryan Graeter Gloria & Russell Melancon 19—Helen & James Simmons 24—Gail & Ronald Landry 27—Patricia & James Self 28—Kathy & Joel Pinnt Susan & Jim Simmons 29—Sandra & Mark Ludwig Lola & Raymond Rice 31—Tanya & Richard Lewis

To: LWML of Holy Cross In memory of

Milton Koenning given by:

Helga Champagne Donna & Ronnie Gunn

In memory of

Jean Schroeder given by:

Sarah Kieschnick Pam & Steve Vincent

Laurenda Wolford Ida Trojcak

To: LWML Quilters

of Holy Cross In memory of Bob Wolford

given by: Donna & Ronnie Gunn

Deadline for June/July Newsletter isMonday, May 22nd.

Come visit our Church Li-brary located in the Education Building.

Just sign the checkout card & leave it on the desk.

Any ?s call Lynne Hollomon, Pam

Vincent, or Kathy Pinnt.

Our Youth

Confirmation Class of 2017:

Amber Borel,

Keagan Derouen, Lillian Hardy, Chad Irvine,

Morgan Irvine, & Taylor Shuford invites you to a cake & punch

reception after church

Sunday, May 7, in the

Education Bldg.

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Lutheran Women who are: In the Word, of the Word,

walking with their Lord! We have many opportunities for the congregation to help us with our mission pro-

News from our: Lutheran Women’s Missionary League

QUILTING CIRCLE: EVERY THURSDAY 9:30am in the Conference Rooms.

Join the fun & fellowship—you’re invited to come sew with us. We’re still taking dona-tions of material, blue jeans, or cash for supplies. Thanks for supporting this mission project. Any questions,

call Rosie at #201-5710.

Fit & Fun Fellowship When: Tuesday, May 16th, 1:00-3:30pm

Where: Family Life Center

Activities: fun walk in the gym, (or outdoors); dominoes, board games, or just socializing.

Snacks provided! Everyone invited – Retirees, or anyone who can come during the day!! Call Mary Helen

at the office if you have any questions!

LWML Tuesday, May 9 @ 6pm

Hostesses: Rodair Roadhouse

Program: “It’s a girl thing”

Donations to Woman’s Shelter All ladies are invited to join us

for fun & fellowship!

Graduations, showers, weddings, babies, anniversaries, new homes, birthdays—

yes, STAMPS, STAMPS, STAMPS. Save them—we’ll trim them—Mission $$$$$$. After finishing all your gift giving, this is such

a budget friendly way to give. The stamps you save are such a blessing to so many. Thank you for your continued

support. Jeannie Heider & Sharon Teinert

16 pints of blood were donated at the Blood Drive on

Wednesday. THANK YOU! (sponsored by

Thrivent Financial )

We hope you enjoyed seeing the quilts that we put together this past year. The ladies have a good time getting together every week to do good for

someone else in the world. We use donated blue jeans, fabrics, & sheets. We take all donations & if we don’t use it, we find someone who does. All

donations are appreciated! The quilts, personal care kits, soap and school kits are sent to the Lutheran World Relief Maryland Warehouse once a year. The items are collected in Houston the week after Easter, put into several 18-wheel trailers brought to the warehouse where the donated items are given to people around the

world that are in need after earthquakes, floods, fires & any natural disasters. The items are given to the peo-ple free of charge because all the materials are donated. Project comfort are funds given through donations to

help with the shipping of items all around the globe. Thanks to Judy Sturgis who used her $250 Thrivent grant to purchase backings for us. Thank you to Brandy Kieschnick, who gave us 3 boxes of materials from a friend. Thank you to others that have also given fabric and memorials to our group. We appreciate all others that have purchased materials so we can continue our mission. The first year (2013) we sent 4 quilts, the sec-ond year (2014) we sent 12 quilts, the third year (2015) we sent 13 quilts, the fourth year (2016) we sent 39 quilts and this year (2017) we sent 61 quilts. We have a pattern & system & gotten more proficient at get-

ting them done! Our group is small by mighty! Come join us! There is more to do then sewing. We are happy to report that our congregation was able to sent 125 Health Kits, 25 School Kits, 61 Quilts

and a small box of soap overseas for the underprivileged thanks to the generosity & time of ou LWML ladies & donations from our congregation. Rosie Herring

All ladies are cordially invited to attend a

Spring Tea Saturday, May 6, 11:00am-1:00pm

in the FLC. It’ll be a fun time socializing.

Food & beverages will be provided. If you wish, you may bring a brooch

for an exchange.

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We will be recognizing our 2017 graduating seniors on

Sunday, May 21, during our morning worship service.

Our senior members are:

Dawson Adair, Abigail Albright, Ashley Borel,

Chase Caswell, Jarod Doyle, Carley Erickson,

Jacob Erickson, Andrew Furby, Chelsey Gallagher,

Lyndsey Hartman, Holly Heisner, Zechariah Herring, Kevin Howard,

Kennedy Kieschnick, Ethan Lightfoot, Amanda Longlet, Max O’Connor,

Brice Perryman, Cody Schulze, Colton Tate, Travis Weidenfeld.

Our Worship Service beginning time has

been moved up to 9:30 am beginning

Sunday, May 28 (Memorial weekend) through

Sunday, September 3 (Labor Day weekend).

There will be an Adult Bible Class after

the worship service beginning at

10:45am. There will be a sitter provided and middle &

high school youth are welcome to attend.

There will be no children’s Sunday School Classes.

Link Sale Support our youth at National Youth Gathering

2017 in Minneapolis, MN Saturday, May 6th, 10:00am-1:00pm

Market Basket Parking Lot Link, chips, & drink $5

Link & drink $4 Links only $2

Accepting donations of the following items: tortillas (fajita), individual chip bags,

foil sheets, can drinks, napkins.

Wolfe Racing Team Update Philip Wolfe, owner & driver of the Tri-hull boat that Holy Cross sponsors, has started this season off pretty good.

He came in 3rd at the Highland (Baytown) Race on April 9th.

He will be racing the #15 at the Port Neches Riverfest, May 5-7.

Head out to Riverfest for a race or two & cheer our team to victory!

Bethlehem Meal

Recipients

Dear Holy Cross:

Thank you so much for providing our family with meals when we returned home from the hospital with our new

addition, Collier Kade Delage. Your support and generosity

are truly appreciated. The Delage Family

************************************ Thank you so much for the lovely soup,

cornbread, and pumpkin bread. It was so thoughtful and we appreciate your prayers for healing and comfort.

We truly are blessed with a wonderful church family.

Love, Stephen & Mary Gunter

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Bethlehem (meaning “House of Bread”) Meal Ministry has been formed to encourage and uplift the members of our Holy Cross

church family who are experiencing difficult or stressful circum-stances (ie: recovering from surgery, illness, birth, death or oth-

er). We are now collecting soup, gumbo, Stouffer's lasagnas, protein and vegetable. Sign up on clipboard if you can serve in this way!

Donations are also being sought to help cover the cost of plastic containers. HELPERS NEEDED TO DELIVER MEALS!

LUTHER FEST

Oct. 28, 2017

Mark your

calendars more details to come at a later date!

No need to cook!

Stop by the Education Building after the ser-

vice on 2nd Sundays to pick up dinner for you family. All proceeds

earmarked for the Na-tional Youth Gathering in 2019. Each meal is family sized & in one dish. Limited quanti-

ties available—so shake hands fast!!!

$20 each

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Early Childhood Education News

Attendance: M/W-47 T/Th-67 Enrollment: 73

Thank you to all who have made this school year special for our Children—it takes the love and support of our families and friends to keep our program

Running successfully. Your joy in your children is contagious! Thank you for supporting our school fundraisers. We received a check for $200 from the Matilda Fundraisers: thank you Ashley Tawney. The 3’s held a successful Art Show in the Big Room—we enjoyed viewing all their masterpieces. Closing programs will be Tuesday, May 16, and Wednesday, May 17 at 10:30 each day. The programs Will be followed with our Pizza Lunch in the Family Life Center. Students and their families and friends will be able to eat together. May 22—25 will be our last week of school. We have lots of fun activities planned! Have a blessed summer with your children!

NO RINGERS NEEDED UNTIL

FALL The handbells are

being refurbished, and will

be ready to ring this fall!

Midnight Madness Garage Sale Friday, July 28 @11:59pm to Saturday, July 29 @8am

Set-Up: Tues., July 25 & Wednesday, July 26 @ 6pm-9pm

You may begin bringing items on Sunday, July 23

Please MARK/PRICE all items (in $.25 increments) except clothing, toys, or shoes as they will be a set price.

*This is a fundraiser for the 2019 National Youth Gathering in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Families/Individuals who participate in this fundraiser will get a portion of the earnings

from this event—those who do not participate in this fundraiser will not.

T-SHIRTS FOR ALL GARAGE SALE HELPERS WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON FOR PURCHASE !

HELP NEEDED! We are looking for help in the following areas: youth or adults to help put words in computer for “big screen in church.” Helpers to run the computer during worship, people to help deliver meals for Bethlehem House of Bread Ministry & people willing to help research servants in the church for our “Servant Spotlight.”

Our High School & College Youth Group will meet once a month now through the summer.

Watch the bulletins for the dates and times.

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Camp Moosefeather Falls VBS will

take place on Sunday, June 25 through

Thursday, June 29 @6pm-7:30pm.

VBS REGISTRATION WILL OPEN

SUNDAY, APRIL 30

3 years old (potty trained) through the

completed 5th Grade!

We will have all ONLINE registration!

Super easy! Type in the info and

DONE!

Look for the CAMP PIC on our website

at www.holycrosstexas.org

TO REGISTER

VBS HELPERS NEEDED!

We are forming our Vacation Bible School Team, so if you are willing to continue serving on our team or if you are interested in

joining us for the first time, please contact DCE Kristy Witek at dcekristy@sbcglobal.net. We are in need of Cabin Leaders, Cabin

helpers, guitarists, babysitters (for staff children), dining hall helpers, decoration coordinator and decoration team, registration team, Preschool Leaders, Preschool Helpers, Preschool Arts

and Crafts Leader, Preschool Games Leader, and Family Fun Night Helpers.

Please sign the clipboard if you can help. Every VBS helper (youth or adult) must attend at least one of the following training sessions. You choose which one works best in your schedule.

VBS Staff Training

Wednesday, May 17 OR Sunday, May 21

5pm Opening and Closing - Activities Director, Kody the Bear (voice), Kody (costume), Beez, Music Leader, Computer Guy, Decorations Coordinator 5:30pm Dining Hall Coordinator & Helpers 6pm Camp Counselors (ie: Helpers in Regular Cabins & Preschool Cabins) 6:30pm Cabin Leaders (for K-5th Grade Cabin Leaders only) 7pm Preschool Leaders (Regular Cabin Leaders and Sectional Leaders) 7:30pm Registration Team

Let’s Go Change The World

Each night our campers will be challenged to “change the world” by donating “change” to a

very special mission project. We are still in prayer about our specific mission project!

“Let's Go CHANGE the World” through this project!

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