Good Shepherd Members in Action.

Great Potato Drop, April 24, 2004   Vacation Bible School, Aug. 4-8, 2003   Lakota Mission trip Pine Ridge, SD - June 29 - July 8, 2003   TeamEffort Mission trip St. Petersburg, FL - June 21-29, 2003

Great Potato Drop

Nearly 50,000 pounds of potatoes were dropped Saturday, April 24 in the parking lot of The Church of the Good Shepherd (United Methodist), 2351 Hunter Mill Rd. in Vienna. Adults, youth and children spent the morning bagging the potatoes to give to Food for Others. The Great Potato Drop was arranged through the Society of Saint Andrew, an ecumenical Christian ministry that works year-round to feed the hungry. Boy Scout Troop 13 also assisted the church by making up the mesh bags for the potatoes. View the photos for the potato drop.

Vacation Bible School

"Lighthouse Kids, Shining God's Light" was the theme for Vacation Bible School the week of August 4th - 8th and was held each morning from 9:00am - 12:15pm. Children ages 3 - 5th grade met Beak'n, the pelican, and lots of caring adults and youth who helped them become "lighthouse kids." Through Bible stories, crafts, music, recreation and snacks they discovered how God's light shines on them and, through them, onto others. View the VBS photos.

Lakota Mission trip

Sunday morning, June 29, 4:30 a.m., in the parking lot of the church you could hear the hushed voices of the 25 members of the Lakota Mission Team. Eleven were members of Church of the Good Shepherd. Several other members of the church also appeared in the darkness waiting to drive us to Dulles airport. We loaded up a horse trailer with our luggage, tents, sleeping bags, one guitar and a mandolin, several harmonicas and wooden recorders. And for the tenth year we were off to Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

We spent a week working on a variety of home repair projects: replacing a roof, building stairs and handicapped ramps. Each afternoon we also provided lunch, games, stories, and art projects for fifteen to twenty children from the reservation. In the evenings, we listened to people of the reservation talk about their lives, joys and challenges, learned to make dream catchers, attended a powwow, and watched the sunset at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. It was a week of hard work and good fun, and a lot of learning.

Photo Group 1 - We go to serve: to meet the Lakota people, to be of use in whatever ways that we can.
Photo Group 2 - Afternoon fun with Lakota children
Photo Group 3 - We go to experience community: to work and laugh and eat and pray together with the team.
Photo Group 4 - We go to learn: to understand more about our own culture and assumptions by understanding more about another.

TeamEffort Mission Project

View pictures from the UMYF mission trip the week of June 21-29. The group traveled via church van to St. Petersburg, FL where they joined the TeamEffort Mission project. Participants stayed in the dorms at Eckerd College and traveled an hour each way each day to the Good Samaritan Mission Site. This mission was established to minister to families of migrant farm workers. The group spent three days repairing a driveway and playground, painting and leading VBS. Seven youth and two adults from Good Shepherd UMC made up the group.