2012 Governing Board Elected

Mr. Mike Kelley, Chairperson;
Mr. Paul Morgan, Vice-Chairperson;
Ms. Kit Mackenzie, Secretary;
and Mr. Harding Hohenschutz, Treasurer.
Dudley DeGroot, Emily Hohenschutz, Judy Murphy, and Nick Nichols serve
as members of the Governing Board.

The Governing Board represents each member of the congregation. Please feel
free to speak to any Governing Board member or Pastor Steve about any church
matter that concerns you.

Congratulations and "Thank you" to all of these who have been commissioned
to serve all God's people at Grace Mountainside Church.

Mountainside Lutheran Church elected the 2012 Council:
Mr. Mike Kelley, President;
Ms. Dudley DeGroot, Vice-President;
Mr. Paul Morgan, Secretary; and
Mrs. Nick Nichols, Treasurer

Grace Episcopal Parish elected the 2012 Vestry:
Mrs. Emily Hohenschutz, Senior Warden;
Ms. Judy Murphy, Junior Warden;
Ms. Kit Mackenzie, Secretary;
and Mr. Harding Hohenschutz, Treasurer

Annual Congregational Meeting

On September 18, 2011, the Annual Congregation Meeting was held.
The report of the previous year's Annual Congregational Meeting was
presented. A follow-up report was made by Rev. Steve Holcomb.

The upstairs apartment continues to be rented to a reliable tenant.

Mike Kelley, Governing Board Chairperson, reported on Grace Mountainside Church's significant outreach, that is the largest item in our ministry funding. At a time many congregations are having to scale back, Grace Mountainside is reaching out. The majority of ministry funding is our outreach that serves God's needy people in Graham County. Grace Mountainside is the third largest contributor to Graham Help, a coordinated effort to needy individuals and families in Graham County. Attendence to our Thursday Soup Bowl (Free Lunch) ministry continues to increase and touch lives. We have heard people come as much for fellowship as for a hot meal. Free Bread is available to the public each Saturday at noon. Grace Mountainside Church is a monthly contributor to, and Pastor Steve continues to serve on the Board for Hope for Families, Domestic Violence & Sexual Assualt Center. The church has sent 8 care boxes to font line troops serving in Afghanistan, with several more in preparation. Good Sam continues to support HBS Orphanage in Haiti and children in Belize. Recently, Deacon Helen has begun to serve the Hospice program serving several counties.

Grace Mountainside Church also funded a scholarship for Danny to attend trade school and to send Madisyn to Camp Henry.

Special appreciation to the work of Good Sam, Deacon Helen Thompson, Paul Morgan for the Soup Kitchen ministry, Beverly Metzger for Relay for Life, Emily Hohenschutz for Operation Christmas Child, Sandi Case for leading the stained glass window creations, and Nick Nichols for his work on the north front entrance stairs were made. The church building has new guttering and has been pressure cleaned.

The proposed Ministry Funding was presented by Mr. Harding Hohenschutz,
Treasurer. Mr. Hohenschutz reported that Grace Mountainside remains financially healthy even during this period of economic recession. A period of discussion followed. The 2012 Ministry Funding was approved by the congregation without changes.

Governing Board Officer elections followed (see above) and Governing Board
members were commissioned. The 2012 Governing Board was challenged
to implement a 5-year plan anticipating Rev. Steve Holcomb's retirement.
The meeting adjourned and fellowship followed.

UPDATE: NEW STAIRS!
Mr. Nick Nichols has completed construction of the north ascending
front entrance stairs to match as closely as possible the south
ascending entrance stairs he completed two years ago. The deterioration
of the north facing concrete stairs and its narrow, irregular tread had
made continued use of the stairs unwise. Previous engineering evaluations
into repairing the north facing stairs had reached expensive and unsatisfactory
conclusions. Mr. Nick Nichols devised a workable solution based on his
experience with installing the south facing entrance stairs that the Governing
Board approved as being affordable and attractive. We sincerely appreciate
the planning and work by Mr. Nick Nichols to complete construction to
the north facing entrance stairs.

Stained Glass Windows

Stained glass windows have long been considered too expensive to even consider for the sanctuary of Grace Mountainside Church. Spending even modest sums to purchase stained glass windows seriously contradicts our mission and ministry funding priorities to serve God's needy people in Graham County. An opportunity presented itself when Sandi Case offered to teach stained glass classes to interested members. The idea that people with no experience in working with stained glass would create windows for the sanctuary seemed unrealistic, but God can make much out of little.

Under the guidance of Sandi Case, and with God's help, members of Grace Mountainside Church learned the art and craft of creating stained glass windows. The size of the window was determined by the center patterned clear glass panel of the existing "swinging door" windows. The only "pattern" was each stained glass window would feature a large cross. Seven stained glass windows were created for each window in the sanctuary, each as unique as the people who worked on them. Nick Nichols made the frames from lumber he cured, cut and milled himself. Two windows are shown below.

Grace Mountainside Church Advent Window and Christmas Window

The other five stained glass windows represent Baptism, Eucharist, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost and Christ the King. A large stained glass cross is mounted in the window in the Fellowship Room. Beside it is a stained glass window representing the Alpha and Omega.

Grace Mountainside Church
Care Package Project for Front Line Troops

One of Pastor Steve's high school classmates, Ernie Tuten, is serving as a civilian contractor with the 8th Infantry Marines. Ernie is in a small FOB (Forward Operations Base) in the Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Grace Mountainside Church sent 8 Care Packages to Front Line Troops in August, 2011, and has several more in preparation.

Ernie writes, "The Marines I serve with are on the Front Line, if you can call it a front line in a Gorilla War like Afghanistan. They are the ones that are losing limbs and their lives, from IED's to keep you all safe back home. They are also the ones that are the last to receive care packages from institutions back home. We are on the end of the Food Chain for such packages."

Front Line Marines Receive Care Packages

Ernie continues, "I want to thank everybody at Grace Mountainside Church for stepping up to the plate for our Marines. These guys live a pretty tuff life in service to our country. Most of these young men are over here for the 3rd and 4th deployments. They risk all they have for us on a daily basis."

"We just supplied new tents for these Marines and also Latrine and shower facilities. We also service and maintain the power generators that supply electricity to the FOB. They have single beds and mattresses to sleep on and they are in fairly safe surroundings, if only for a few days. It gives them a chance to cleanup and relax, a much needed luxury. We hope to build a chow hall in the future, but for now it's MRE's in a tent. We do not have ice, we drink our water at outside temperature. When your care packages arrived from the States, you would have thought it was Christmas because it was literally 'a taste of home'."

Pastor Steve's Classmate, Ernie, and Oliver North Distribute Packages

"Working with these young men has really been a true blessing. Make no mistake, they are the Hero's, and they prove it every day. You would never know it from watching our news on television, but the defense of our country has able-bodied Marines at its core.

Thanks again to all of you and say a prayer for these guys when your head hits the pillow at night.

From Afghanistan in the Beautiful Helmand Provence.
Semper Fi,
Ernie Tuten"

Diocese of WNC Convention November 10~12, 2011

The 90th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina will be held at the Kanuga Conference Center near Hendersonville, NC from 7:00 p.m. Thursday, November 10, 2011 to 12:00 noon Saturday, November 12, 2011. The convention theme is "Walk in the Way, Widen the Walls, Wake up the World". The Rev. Steve Holcomb and Deacon Helen Thompson are planning to attend.

Rt. Rev. Bishop G. Porter Taylor
Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina

BISHOP TAYLOR VISITATION NOVEMBER 6, 2011

The Rt. Rev. G. Porter Taylor, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina will make his visitation to Grace Mountainside Lutheran & Episcopal Church Sunday, November 6, 2011. This will be Bishop Taylor's fourth visitation to Robbinsville. Bishop Taylor is the primary shepherd of God's People at Grace Episcopal Parish and represents our communion with all other Episcopal congregations in the WNC Diocese and with the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion. The Rev. Steve Holcomb and The Rev. Helen Thompson, Deacon, both serve under Bishop Taylor's direction. It is Bishop Taylor's prerogative to preach and celebrate Holy Eucharist. Madisyn Belanger, catechumen, is scheduled to be confirmed. A Fellowship Pot-Luck after worship is planned.

The Rt. Rev. G. Porter Taylor was consecrated as the sixth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina Sept. 18, 2004. He grew up in Asheville, N.C., and earned his B.A. degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his M.A. in English from the University of South Carolina, and his Ph.D. degree in theology and literature from Emory University. He received his M.Div. from The School of Theology at Sewanee and served at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Franklin, Tenn. Before his call to the Holy and Sacred Order of Bishops, he served seven years as rector of St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church in Athens, Ga. He is the author of To Dream as God Dreams: Sermons of Hope, Conversion, and Community, and From Anger to Zion: An Alphabet of Faith. Bishop Taylor is married to Jo Taylor, who is a research nurse. They have two children, Arthur & Marie.

What Difference Does Easter Make?
1 CORINTHIANS 15:14

April 24, 2011

"Pastor Steve," she said to me after worship Sunday, "Our anniversary is April 24th. I don't remember a single time when Easter came on our anniversary."

You aren't kidding about not remembering Easter falling on April 24th! This is the latest some of us have ever celebrated Easter in our lifetimes! The last time Easter was on April 24th was before the Civil War (that is, the "War of Northern Aggression") in 1859! And I have some doubt any of us will be around when the Sunday after the first full moon (April 18) after March 21st (the spring equinox) causes Easter to happen again on April 24th ... in 2095!

The latest possible calendar date for Easter is April 25th - the last being in 1943 (some might remember that one) and the next being 2038. A good many of us should still be on this side of the green grass in 2038 and hopefully with enough mental awareness to know it's the latest Easter in anyone's lifetimes.

Easter has always been special because what we accept about Easter makes all the difference.

We are born. Whether privileged or destitute, loved or unloved, gifted or limited, educated or not, we grow. Most mature to adulthood. Many marry and have children. Few escape living without wars, diseases, accidents, uncertainties, abuses, violence, stress or death of loved ones. We die.

"If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." 1 Cor. 15:14

To those convinced the finding of the empty tomb and the resurrection to life of a man killed on a cross is, at best, a story awaiting a logical explanation but otherwise based on misunderstandings or misperceptions on the part of the witnesses to actual events; And to those convinced this tale is a lie propagated by charlatans who stand to profit; Human life is explained by biochemistry, purpose is propagation, "good" and "evil" are self-determined, and all culminates and concludes at one's death.

To those convinced God demonstrated to all humanity once and for all time through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Man from Nazareth that death is not the end of one's existence; the finding of the empty tomb and appearance of Jesus to Mary of Magdela transforms understanding that life is not merely biochemistry but also spirit, that purpose is beyond propagation and self, "good" and "evil" are universal, and nothing created for eternity culminates and concludes at one's death.

Whether Easter Day or Easter Revelation comes early or late, one's understanding of Easter makes all the difference.
Steve Holcomb, Mountain Parson