Big Wins Part 2
Our July Partners featured some Holy Cross "Big Wins" of the past year. Your response encouraged us to share a few more this month.
Jared, our Comfort Dog, is supported by a wonderful team that uses him as a bridge to share Christ's love with others. Face to face, hand in hand, and heart to heart, Team Jared demonstrates Christ's compassion for people by sitting with them, talking with them, praying with them, and caring for them. "What you have done for the least of these, you have done it for Me" (words of our Savior in Matthew 25).
From regular study of God's Word to special events, the Holy Cross Senior Saints Ministry connects and impacts Seniors from our congregation and community in many special ways.
Big Wins of Jared
(Sandy Shavlik, Comfort Dog Team Coordinator)
They had over 285 visits last year (June 2022 - May 2023) = about 5/week.
Each visit requires two Comfort Dog Team members and usually takes about 3 hours minimum.
Jared & his team visited HC school 15x for different occasions and 13x for HC church events (outside of attending worship services 3 out of 4 weekends per month).
Comfort Dog Ministry Video
Big Wins of Senior Saints
(Mervin Koehlinger, Senior Saints Coordinator)
Presentation: We hosted Dr. Cameron MacKenzie, who spoke to a group of 65 people (including a dozen members invited from St. Paul) on the reasons for and the process of the German emigration that led to the formation of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Dr. MacKenzie has accepted an invitation to return in October to continue his presentation.
Bus Trip: We traveled by bus with 31 people from six different area Lutheran churches (from as far away as Decatur) and also from one local independent church for a three-day stay in Ohio’s Amish Country. Highlights included the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Museum, tours and dinners at the Ernest Warther and David Warther Museums, and several stops for shopping.
Community Event: We hosted Ms. Karla Chandler of St. Louis, a re-enactor of the life of Corrie ten Boom, who gave a moving presentation of her family’s involvement in helping Jews hide from and escape the Nazi holocaust in occupied Netherlands during World War II, including her family’s subsequent arrest, imprisonment, and eventual deportation to the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. Corrie was the only member of her family that survived the interment. About 55 people from Holy Cross and several other area churches were in attendance.
