Worship Services:

Saturday - 
5:30 PM

Sunday - 
8:15, 9:30, 10:45 AM

Childcare provided
at all services!


This Month's STAR!

Holy Week at Epiphany

Annual Report

Webmaster:
David Grossie

© Epiphany Lutheran Church, 2001

Last Updated: 04/07/01

Special Announcements

MT ENON CELEBRATES 25 YEARS WITH PASTOR CUNNINGHAM. 

The members of Epiphany Lutheran have been invited to participate in the anniversary Mt Enon is holding. There is a banquet Saturday, May 19, at 6.00 (tickets may he ordered by calling 835.5940 and need to be ordered by April 20). There will also be a musical celebration, Sunday May 20, at 4.00 PM at the Mt Enon sanctuary.

CAR WASH

Saturday, April 21, 10:00 a.m. — 1:00 p.m. Confirmation students will be sponsoring a car wash on April 21 in Epiphany’s parking lot. Proceeds will benefit Epiphany’s pantry. Cost is $3.00. Any Head-to-Heart small group that would like to help out, please call Beth Schneider at 438-3872. We’ll take all the help we can get! All confirmation students are welcome to come and get wet for a good cause! Helpers, please be at the Church by 9:00 am.

THE WAIT IS OVER,
AT LAST THEY’RE HERE.
THE PICTORIAL DIRECTORIES ARRIVED
IT’S ONLY BEEN ONE YEAR!

Yes, that’s right. The “NEW” (and I use the term loosely) pictorial directories arrived, were assembled, and are ready for pick-up in Room
107/109. (That’s lower level, north hallway, last room on right.) They are in alphabetical order by last name.

If you were photographed last year, you will find a pictorial directory with your name on it. Also, if you joined Epiphany on any of the following dates, there is a pictorial directory for you:

July 16, 2000
September 24, 2000
November 19. 2000
February 25, 2001

Thank you for your extreme patience with this project.

YOUTH ROOM MOVING 

We are moving down to Far Hills Shoppes and are looking for a vacuum cleaner we can keep in the new room and any floor lamps to help give us
more light. If you have either and are willing to donate them to the Youth, please call Erin at the office or e-mail her at ecmorris@coax.net.

You’re invited to make a
MISSION TRIP TO MONTGOMERY
Stop in Birmingham, Montgomery and Atlanta
June 21-24
Thursday through Sunday

This will be Epiphany’s 5th annual pilgrimage.
This trip is a rare occasion to speak with those who lived through these important days in our nation’s history. The Montgomery bus boycott with Rosa Parks, Johnnie Carr, Judge Fred Gray, Bob Graetz and of course Martin Luther King, Jr. marks the beginning of the modern civil rights movement.
This year we will also tour King Center National Park and attend Sunday services at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta (King’s Home Church).

Yes, I’m interested in knowing more about the Mission Trip to Montgomery — June 21-24, 2001. Feel free to call Nelson Grover at 435-7782 or Larry Stockert at 885-3382.

Celebrate the Ministry of Larry and Cindy

WEB SITE NETS KUDOS
“Epiphany Lutheran Church in Centerville has one of the more advanced Web sites, which includes information about support groups, youth activities, ways to serve, and special announcements, along with email links.”

So states the Jan. 5 issue of Dayton Business Journal in an article about area churches’ Web sites. The author spoke to David Grossie, our webmaster. A copy of the complete article is at the Info Desk and posted on the bulletin board. Many thanks to David and the entire Web team: Paul Havig, Rhonda Havig, Rob Tuttle, and Melonie Warren-Grossie.

Check out the site for yourself—www.elcdayton.org. Contact David for further info or suggestions (david.grossie@wright.edu).

ATTENTION, BELL RINGERS PAST & PRESENT! 
I am looking for up to 13 ringers to attend two events: the Greater Dayton Area Handbell Festival in Tipp City on April 1st and “Aloha Albion,” Area V’s Festival/Conference, June 22nd — 24th in Albion, MI. The first is free; the second is $175.00, which covers meals, lodging, and workshops. Both require practices, which would be held on the three or four weekends prior to each event. These are great opportunities to meet fellow bellringers and pick up a little bell expertise. For details or to reserve your space, contact Jill Byers at 298-2467.

CAMPERSHIPS AVAILABLE. As many of you know, Ohio is blessed to have 5 Lutheran camping ministries. A week at church camp can be a powerful experience in one’s faith formation—in addition to being a blast! This year, our council has approved funds for 15 $100 “camperships,” to defray the expense. Registration information about the various camps is posted on the youth bulletin board in our main hallway, or you can call LOMO (Lutheran Outdoor Ministries of Ohio) at 1.800.431.5666. If you’d like to apply for a campership (first come, first serve) please fill out an application provided on the bulletin board (or at the office). Camperships are available to youth under 18 attending this summer at a LOMO camp. Call the church office (433.1449) with any questions. 

TIME FOR A HOFFSIS UPDATE
Pastor Fritz writes: “For several months now, we haven’t published much about Pastor Larry and Cindy Hoffsis. Pastor Larry and the church leadership were very intentional about the process of saying goodbye. As with the end of any pastorate—especially one as outstanding as Larry’s—we all recognized the need for closure as well as celebration. Saying farewell ensures a quality transition, and an atmosphere through which we’re ready to embrace new leadership. It’s part of letting go of one trapeze bar, doing a flip in the air, and grabbing onto another bar, for another fun ride.

But it’s an awkward animal isn’t it? I know Larry and Cindy care so much for you, keep raving about the wonderful send-off last summer, and pray for Epiphany’s bright future. After 21 years, it must be hard to give us the space we need to prepare for Epiphany’s tomorrow. Therefore, I admire so much Larry’s respect for
the integrity of the transition. Yet, I want to pass on some information about Larry and Cindy, to update you on their German adventures--especially since so many of you have expressed your caring inquiries. So Larry has offered the comments below:”

How was it in Germany?
When we encounter Epiphany friends while at the grocery or other places around town, one of their first questions is: “Well, how was it in Germany?” Assuming that others may have the same interest, we offer the following report.

To back up a step when the Synod of Mecklenburg learned of our impending retirement, they asked if we might be willing to give them a year of volunteer service.

We had three questions: (1) Could we live apart from our family and away from the comforts and conveniences of our home for an extended period? (2) Could we become proficient enough in German to serve confidently among the Mecklenburg pastors and congregations? (3) Could anything that we have learned in the transformation of American congregations translate beneficially into the German experience?

In order to answer these questions we enrolled in a language school operated by the
German churches in Bochum (near the border with the Netherlands.) We were in this intensive program for nearly three months, stimulated at nearly every moment by our teachers as well as by our fellow students. Our classmates (most of them in their 20’s) were from developing countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We felt as though we were in the middle of Pentecost!

Already by mid-December, we felt that we could give “yes” to all three questions.
Regarding the first, living in a small apartment without car, TV, or CD player,
proved to be a delightful remembrance of our first years of marriage. We did have e-mail (we purchased the laptop with the retirement gift from Epiphany) and kept up a daily exchange with our children. This experience was so treasured that our daughter, Becky, wrote: “Mom and Dad, you don’t dare come home unless you
promise to continue to keep our family linked.”

Regarding the second question, we successfully completed our respective course levels and feel confident that we’ll be able to function adequately.

To the third question, we once again thank God for new paradigms congregations like Epiphany have put in place and in some cases pioneered and will seek to share these learnings with our German colleagues.

We’ll start our volunteer service on September 1, 2001, and complete it on August 31 the following year. We’ll be responsible for our travel to and from Mecklenburg, but they will provide an apartment and transportation.

We’re excited for the future. We’re excited for Epiphany, knowing that God will send you another leader to guide Epiphany through new forms and greater faithfulness in Christ’s mission.

For more news, check "The Star."