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
Merry Covid Christmas
It was disappointing not to have Easter services this year because of the Covid shut downs. God-willing, we will have Christmas services but they will most likely be different than the “usual.” We will continue to monitor the situation, but we want to offer as much of a sense of security as we can as we walk through this pandemic together, while maintaining as much of our normal rou-tine as we can, as well. We have been blessed with a facility that allows us to worship at over 70% of our normal attendance while maintaining social distancing. We appreciate the hard work of many individuals and the tolerance of all to make this possible.
We are planning on having our normal Wednesday night Advent schedule on December 2, 9, and 16 at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. We are adding services on Christmas Eve to accommodate for what we hope will be a large crowd. We will have Christmas Eve services at 4:00, 6:00 and 8:00. We will be taking reservations for these services so we don’t have everyone show up at the same time. Reservations will also allow us to put larger family groups together and still maintain social distancing. You can begin calling in your reservations at this time. We are expecting we will have to use the overflow for Christmas Eve, so let us know when you make your reservations if you don’t mind sitting in the overflow. We will accommodate as many as we can in the sanctuary. As it stands now, we are not going to have candles handed out on Christmas Eve.
We will tape our special Advent and Christmas services “live” and put them on the website, but they may not get posted until a day after the service. We appreciate your patience with all of this and pray that we will all put our focus on worshiping the New Born King rather than on any unusual circumstances we may face. Remember that the first Christmas took place under some very unusual circumstances, as well, and this did not prevent Mary, Joseph and the shepherds from experiencing the joy of God’s amazing plan of salvation and the love He demonstrated by becoming one of us through the virgin birth.
Our theme for the Wednesday Advent services will be The Cast of Christmas. We will look at the prophets, the angels, and the shepherds.
Our Sunday Advent theme will be Christmas in the Four Gospel Homes (based on a book by Cynthia M. Campbell). We will look at how each of the four Gospel writers presents the Christmas story.
On Thursday, December 3rd, I will be leading a special GriefShare event called Surviving the Holidays from 2:30 – 4:30 in room 103 of our Christian Ministry Center. Please contact the church office if you plan to attend. This is open to anyone dealing with the loss of a loved one. On Thurs-day, January 7th, we will begin a 13 week GriefShare session.
Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year with Christ Our Savior!
Pastor Brian Truog
Pastor's Message
Transforming Thanksgiving
Every time November comes around, my thoughts, like many people, turn to Thanksgiving. I'm not alone in this. However, I've learned that people have different ideas about what Thanksgiving means. For most people, thanks-giving is a holiday set aside for turkey and football. As long as there is plenty of food on the table and their team wins, they will give thanks. If not, November 26 is simply the last day before Christmas shopping begins. Scripture transforms Thanksgiving away from the dinner table and the TV. “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done” (1 Chronicles 16:8).
Transforming Thanksgiving begins in giving honor to God. We “give thanks to the LORD”, acknowledging Him as the true source of all we have and are. When I was living in Birmingham, Alabama I shared Thanksgiving dinner with a group of friends. While we were all single adults without families, I was the only Christian. Before eating, the hostess acknowledged a need to “say thanks” and asked if I would say a prayer. I gladly agreed. I asked her who she wanted me to thank. After some nervous laughter, I assured them all that I knew who to thank. We bowed our heads and gave thanks to the LORD, the God who not only created the world and everything in it but also created us in His image and redeemed us through the blood of Jesus. This year, whether you are surrounded by family or eating alone, give thanks to the LORD. He has remained by your side, given you unconditional love and secured ever-lasting life for you.
Transforming Thanksgiving continues in giving hope to ourselves. We “call upon His Name” in every situation. We not only honor God for His past blessings, we invite Him to be involved in every aspect of our present lives. Calling on the name of the Lord is an act of love and devotion, faith and trust that He not only hears our prayers and petitions but also will answer them in our best interests.
Transforming Thanksgiving finds fulfillment in giving help to others. We “make known among the nations what He has done” in simple acts of kindness. Confident in God's present and future blessings, truly thankful people share their possessions. As we continue to live with the challenges of the pandemic, the need for reaching out and caring for family and friends is greater than ever. Look for creative ways to share your love for God by showing love to others.
I hope you will plan to join your church family on Thanksgiving Eve as we give honor to God, hope to ourselves and help to others. Wherever you are on Thanksgiving, I pray it is truly transforming for you.
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.
