Petal Pushers®

It’s that time of year!  The Petal Pushers® are currently recruiting volunteers for the 2010 Tournament of Roses parade.  The Petal Pushers® will be decorating 6 floats and assisting with floral preparations in the flower tent.  For the schedule and more information, click here.

“Behind the Scenes” Party

The Lutheran Hour Float Committee invites you to our 17th Annual “Behind the Scenes” party.  Join us on Wednesday, December 30, 2009 from 4:00-8:00 pm at The Rose Palace in Pasadena (835 S. Raymond) to receive a personal tour of ten different floats—including the Lutheran Hour Float!  You will meet the Lutheran Hour Float riders and can watch the last minute touches being applied to the New Year’s Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade floats.  You will also enjoy a wide selection of hors d’oevres, desserts, and family beverages. Individual tickets are available for $25, and “immediate family” tickets are available for $50.   Come and experience the excitement firsthand!  For tickets or additional information, visit the Petal Pushers® website.  Click here for more details.

Interim Ministry 2009 – 2010 Workshops

Training for Intentional Interim Ministry (IIM) is open to all church workers to gain insights, skills, resources and practical information for their congregational ministry.  This course is a basic requirement for those seeking to serve in Intentional Interim Ministry in the PSD or CNH districts.

The course involves five workshops and includes reading assignments, field work and case studies. The cost is $345 to cover books, materials, the 200 page basic notebook, and lunches.

Southern California training sessions will meet at the district office from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM.  AZ training sessions will be held in the Phoenix area.

Many who have taken the course but do not intend to pursue IIM have found the training very beneficial for their ministries.

Please register by September 10, 2009 for California training and December 1, 2009 for the Arizona training. (For planning purposes, the sooner the better.) For either series, please register with Barbara Farley at the district office at (949) 854-3232, ext. 201 or email barbara.farley@psd-lcms.org.   For more information contact Mike Brewer at (909) 917-1259 or mike@mkbrewer.com.

FOR THOSE WHO ARE PREVIOUSLY TRAINED – Again, you are invited to audit the classes on a space available basis. Costs are: Meal and any new books that have been added.

ALSO FOR IIM’s – The annual IIM Retreat at Three Rivers is scheduled for Jan 25 – 27, 2010. Please mark your calendars now.

DISASTER RESPONSE
The Pacific Southwest District provides financial donations to our churches, schools, and parishioners who have been affected by disaster (hurricanes, floods, fires, earthquakes, etc).  If you would like to help in this effort, please send your donation, made payable to the Pacific Southwest District—LCMS, earmarked for Disaster Relief, and we will include it with the funds that we send.  We are aware that many people have been impacted by our current economic state, but we invite you to make a donation in any amount that you are comfortable with to help those who have lost so much.  If you would prefer to donate funds directly to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, you may do so on-line by clicking here: http://catalog.lcms.org/GiveNow/Gift_Catalog.asp, or mail donations to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, P.O. Box 68661, St. Louis , MO 63166-6861, or call the credit-card gift line at (888) 930-4438.  If you would like to volunteer in the cleanup efforts following a disaster or devastating incident, please contact the office of the district in which you would like to serve.  Contact information for LCMS districts is available online at www.lcmsdistricts.org.

Recently, we have heard of two very sad world news events: the devastating series of typhoons in the Philippines and the deadly tsunami in Samoa. These catastrophic events disrupted the lives and homes of many Filipinos and Samoans. In the Philippines alone, the overwhelming death toll reached 669 with hundreds of people left injured and still missing. Thousands are now without homes and have lost everything. Likewise, the earthquake and tsunami in American Samoa claimed the lives of 119 people; leaving countless homeless families. Click here to see photos. Although many of the victims are now desperately trying to put their lives back together, many of them still feel hopeless and unable to move on. This is why the Pacific Southwest District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod created a relief fund called “ASAP”, the American Samoa And Philippines Relief Fund. It’s purpose is to bring hope to the victims and reassure them that God does care for them. As Advent is a season of hope in a dark world, we would like to also assure the victims that this coming Christmas, God is with them and giving them hope and a future. He will take care of them as His church demonstrates His love through your participation with this effort. Please prayerfully consider making a generous donation to Pacific Southwest District ASAP Relief Fund. Continue to pray for all those suffering loss due to these tragedies. Let us all pray that God will bring them comfort, healing, peace and hope. Thank you for all your support and prayers.

Lutheran HAMS
If you are an amateur radio ham and have an active station, we could use your help. The Pacific Southwest District is very active in disaster response training and preparedness. Part of the program through I-LERT (Inter-Lutheran Emergency Response Team) is to establish a communication network that will be able to coordinate activities between the shelter churches in the event of a disaster. The network would also include a station to communicate through a network to stations outside the disaster area.  The concept is to have a 2 meter local network with a 40 meter station for DX out of the area. If you would be interested in participating in the network, please contact Jerry Reichman (K7AUN) at the Pacific Southwest District office in Irvine, CA at 949-854-3232, ext. 210 or e-mail jerry.reichman@psd-lcms.org.

It’s a New Day!
It's surprising that after all these years, people still mention The Southern California Lutheran Program, our District's radio program for 60 years. Pastor Richard Schumm was the director for the final 25 years of its radio time.  Unfortunately, after so many decades, Station KAIM (1390)  Long Beach, was sold in 2002.  Other stations were cost prohibitive and by 2004 it went off the air.  The Monday after the last radio broadcast, a new PSW District internet program began.  It was named ^"It^'s A New Day.^"  Pastor Schumm^'s 3-minute audio devotions are on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  It's nice that one can listen to the program at any time during a 24 hour period.  It changes at midnight every night.  It^'s easy to hear the devotion.  
If you want the program on your desktop, type in the following address:  
www.psd-lcms.org/audio/default.asp, go to the File command, select Send, then Shortcut to Desktop. If your congregation has a website, and you would like to access the program from there, they can simply add a link on their site to the above address.