A Place to Worship, to learn and to serve
Christ Our Savior Lutheran
Church is a warm caring fellowship of Faith. Our congregation, which has grown
to over 300, strives to communicate God's awesome gift of love to our ever
changing world. We are a collection of natives of East Tennessee and
transplants from other parts of the country who now call
Our Beginnings:
• 1996 A group of people, led by the Holy Spirit sought to plant a new Lutheran Church in East Tennessee.
• 1997 We worshipped in a store front while purchasing 7 acres on Highway 72 and Wade Road.
• 1998 A building committee was established as Rev. Bob Torgler served as worship leader.
• 1999 Dedicated members paid for the property
• 2000 In May the construction of the new worship facility was begun.
• 2001 The first worship Service in the new church was held on January 7th. On August 26th our first permanent pastor, Rev. Jim Kirk, was installed.
• 2009 The church membership has now grown to over 300. We have added a Christian Ministry Center that will expand our worship and fellowship facilities.
Who we are:
• We are a people who share a common faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
• We are natives of East Tennessee and transplants from other parts of the country.
• We live in Blount, Loudon, Knox, Monroe, and Roane counties.
• We worship with different styles in order to meet people's needs
• We are a growing church with over 200 in worship on a regular basis
Psalm 92 and Old Age
Psalm 92: 12-15
12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, 15 to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Do you appreciate being told you are full of sap? I hope so! That’s a description the psalmist gives to the righteous. We are “righteous” by grace through faith in Jesus Christ who covers us with His righteousness (see Philippians 3:9). The psalmist reminds us that this means, even in old age, we are full of life and bear fruit for the LORD.
I’m guessing that, like me, you don’t always feel like you are full of life and bearing fruit for the LORD. You are tired. You can’t do all the things you used to do. You are thinking it’s time for someone else to step up and bear fruit for the LORD; perhaps some-one younger and more energetic. Psalm 92 encourages us to look back and see all that the LORD has done … and contin-ues to do. Just as our salvation and righteousness come from the LORD, so does our en-ergy and our usefulness and our purpose.
We have been “planted in the house of the LORD” through our baptism. The LORD continues to feed and nourish us through Word and Sacrament so that, even in old age, we flourish and bear fruit.
God isn’t done with us yet. In fact, God has big plans for us. Our age and increasing frailty isn’t a handicap; it’s a blessing and an opportunity. God loves working through the weak, the incompetent, and the frail! That’s where His grace and His power shine through the best. We are blessed in a unique situation here at Christ Our Savior Luther-an Church to be a blessing to so many as we worship, learn and serve together.
God has planted us by streams of water (see Psalm 1) here in beautiful East Tennessee for a reason. What new ministry is God leading you to spearhead? What current ministry is God leading you to bring new “sap” and energy to? Who has God placed in your life that needs to hear that the LORD is upright, He is your Rock?
We’re not old … we’re just chronologically challenged, characteristically Christ-like, consistently confident, currently capable, constantly caring, cordially comforting, con-sciously cheerful, completely committed, classically calibrated, charmingly candescent, conveniently catechized, closely connected, calmly calculating, characteristically compas-sionate, carefully constructive, collectively contributory, chronically caffeinated, comedi-cally child-like, and occasionally cognizant.
Pastor Brian Truog
Pastor's Message
Family Reunions
Summers remind me of family reunions. Growing up, summer was the time my parents would pack up the car for the long trip to Kansas. Our vehicle was crowded, hot, and very uncomfortable. Once we got there, however, the discomfort was quickly forgotten. Those few days in Kansas were filled with joy and love. I remember fishing in creeks, running through fields, playing with farm animals, and reconnecting with my cousins. This summer is also about family reunions. Last month, my family went to visit my wife’s family in Texas. This month, we are visiting my mom in Florida. We do different things at these family reunions, but the sense of belonging to something bigger than myself—an extended family—is the same as when I was a child.
Going to church is like attending a family reunion. Each week, we reconnect with an extended family- our brothers and sisters in Christ. Even more, we are reminded that we belong to a Christian family that extends throughout the world and across the centuries. Our time at church is filled with joy and love. We share stories with this church family from the Bible and from our lives. Most of all, we rejoice in our Heavenly Father who loved us so much He sent His only Son, Jesus to die on the cross, rise from the dead, and ascend back into heaven where He rules over all creation. At every “family reunion” we are cleansed of sin with words of forgiveness.
One summer, my older sister and I decided we didn’t want to go to the family reunion. We thought it would be more fun to be “independent” and stay at home. Well, things didn’t work our very well for us. We felt even worse when our family returned and informed us of all the fun and excitement we had missed an experience that would never happen again. Many people view summer as a time to skip family reunions at church. They think that it would be more fun to exercise their independence and stay at home. Be assured, there are consequences to skipping church. They miss not only connecting with family but also with God. They miss hearing the “old, old story of Jesus and his love.” They miss receiving the cleansing of their heart and soul through words of forgiveness. They miss an experience that will never happen again.
I realize situations arise that make it impossible to be in church every week. However, if at all possible, I encourage you to be a part of the next, and every, family reunion. Let us say with the Psalmist, I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” (Psalm 122:1)
In His service and yours,
Pastor Mark R. Rhoads
What Does a Pastor Do?
Here’s an interesting comparison by Rev. Dr. James Baneck of the LCMS that might answer that question. The lambs and sheep our Savior sent Peter to feed and tend were not the wooly kind residing on a beautiful hillside. There are, however, rich parallels between shepherding sheep and shepherding God's people.
James Rebanks watches over real four-legged sheep in the United Kingdom. He writes about the parallels in his article, “Are You Hard Enough to Survive as a Shepherd?”
"The romance wears off after a few weeks, believe me, and you will be left standing cold and lonely on a mountain. It is all about endurance. Digging in. Holding on. You will also need to be emotionally. tough … Carrion crows hang over our lambing fields waiting to steal the eyes out of anything sick or dead that cannot resist … You’ll need the patience of a saint, too, because sheep test you to the limit with a million ways to escape, ail, or die … It requires a body of knowledge and skills that shepherds devote decades to learning."
How this applies to our pastors! There is nothing romantic about being a pastor; it is hard work and often lonely. It demands an endurance that comes only from God. Like carrion crows, Satan seeks to devour God’s people. The pastor stands guard. protecting and feeding God’s sheep with Christ in the preached Word and blessed Sacraments. The formation of men for the Holy Ministry begins at Baptism. And while pastoral formation is intensified during seminary, “it requires a body of knowledge and skills that [pastors] devote decades to learning."
Pastors are to be clothed with the humility of Christ, “who humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). Pastors must be equipped to lead Gods people to the waters of Holy Baptism, where God gives new birth to sinners and opens the kingdom of heaven for them. Pastors are formed to be stewards of the mysteries of God. Pastors feed God’s sheep the Word of God in preaching and teaching and with the body and blood of our Lord at His table. Pastors listen, love and seek the lost.
Looking at all that a Pastor does, how is he prepared for this role at the Seminars’? Can you help with this preparation? Could you sponsor a seminarian? Could you help COS in their sponsoring of eight seminary students? Please help with your gift! ‘For more information, contact John W. Smith. God bless your help.
