Category: News

A heartfelt Thank You to all who participated in making the annual Chicken BBQ happen! We enjoyed good food and good fellowship with congregation members and friends, CDC staff and families, and firefighters from the station across the street – over 70 in all.  It wouldn’t happen without lots of hands…Firepit Crew, Chicken Schloppers, Potato Salad Assemblers, Setup, Serving Line, Clean up, Chicken Wrappers, Wood Suppliers, and Egg or Potato Boilers. Special thanks go to Tim & Henri Atkinson, Joel Baden, Adam Mayes, Charlie Boas, Ben Rode, Fran & Larry Collmann, Merrily & Terry Porter, Nancy & David Neuse, Charlotte Gillman, Trish & Bob Karli, Tessa Baden, Claudia & Paul Barlow, Bailey Barlow, Katherine Houston, Heidi Goebel, Barbara Wiederaenders, Dana & Andy MacLaren, Mari Ward, Michele Hockett-Cooper & Jesse, Anne Wiebe, Betsy Appleton & Sean Peterson, Monica Lund, Leigh Northcutt-Benson, LaRu & Fred Woody, and Teresa Ringness. Thanks also to our youngest helpers (Della Ann Baden,  Betty Mayes, and Maggie Baden-VanDellen) who scrubbed in to help chop boiled eggs. A few chickens are still available in the freezer for $20/bag.

Randy and Nancy Baden

A note of thanks from Nancy Neuse:

Hats off to Randy Baden, our pit master, and his assistants Joel Baden, Adam Mays, Charlie Boas, Tim Atkinson, Bob Karli and Fritz Woody.  Those birds were amazing.  The sopping crew, comprised of the aforementioned, as well as Ben Rode, Sean Peterson, and Terry Porter, finished off the chicken in fine form.  Has there been any better?  I don’t think so.  

Trish Karli and the potato salad crew (Trish, Tessa Baden May, Claudia Barlow, Bailey Barlow, and Heidi Goebel) deserve our appreciation, as do those providers of the spuds and eggs.  All those hands preparing the potato salad, from the children mincing the hard boiled eggs to the adults working the potatoes and other ingredients – thank you!  What a wonderful and delicious group effort.  

Nancy Baden and her team, working to prepare the beans, the iced tea, the pickles and onions, the set up and the take down – we owe you a great deal.  Thank you. 

To the kitchen crew, both those packaging chicken to go (Dana and Andy MacLaren) and those washing dishes (Barbara Wiederaenders and Margaret Bruesch) and so many other unnamed participants, thank you!

Last but certainly not least, the fellowship that was enjoyed among each of us throughout the entire gathering.  What a joy it was to be there, to interact, to enjoy some amazing food and time together.  Thanks to each of you for making this happen. 

A big thank you to Bob Brueck for concluding his series, The Dead Sea Scrolls and Metaphysics, and to Bailey Barlow for her lesson on The Good Shepherd last week Sunday, April 21. If you’d like to review the materials Bob made available, they are here. The craft children worked on is on display on the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall.

Please join us this Sunday, April 28 for Rev. Bob Karli’s concluding session on The Life Cycle of a Congregation at 9am in the FELC Parlor. Children will be joining LaRu Woody at 9am in the Library for the conclusion of the rotation learning about the Parable of the Prodigal Son. 

Mark your calendars for Sunday, May 5: Ulrich Goebel, Heidi Goebel’s father, will be in town and will be presenting a special one-session only on Martin Luther at 9am in the Parlor for adult Faith Formation. Children will meet in the Library at 9am for the first week in a rotation about the Holy Spirit and Early Church. There is an opening for a Children’s Faith Formation Leader on May 5. Please contact Betsy Appleton if you are interested in leading this session!

Sparks! of Genius

Saturday, April 20 at 7:30pm

Join Austin Cantorum in a celebration of the human creative spirit as they honor historical discoveries and eureka moments of invention through the evolution of choral music. Featuring pieces by Eric Whitacre, Hildegard von Bingen, Christopher Tin, B. E. Boykin, and more, plus a brand new premiere by Dr. Thomas LaVoy. Presented in collaboration with Pianist Benjamin Dia. The concert is free, but we ask you to RSVP if able. For information, visit www.austincantorum.com.

On April 24, 1989, First English Lutheran Church was designated as a Reconciled in Christ congregation. Since that time, the designation has adapted to a more inclusive ReconcilING in Christ – since we are always in a process of greater welcome, reconciliation, and inclusion.

On Sunday, April 21 we will celebrate the 35th anniversary (!!!) of this distinction and its brave welcome. Cantor Bryan Rust will preach and Pastor Bob Karli will preside. And, we’ll have an anniversary cake during hospitality on April 21! Then on Sunday, April 28, Pastor Alex Darling-Raabe will be our guest preacher. Pastor Alex is the first openly gay and partnered pastor to be ordained in the Southwestern Texas Synod.

Throughout this transition year we’ll be invited to engage and learn more about how this bold welcome to everyone has been made known and challenged – in our life together and in our engagement in the broader community and wider church. 

We are grateful for the leadership of LaRu Woody, providing a session on punishment in the Texas criminal justice system. Thanks also to Nikki Northcutt and Leigh Northcutt-Benson for their children’s faith formation session on the Prodigal Son.

The third Sunday of the month is typically our intergenerational faith formation Sunday. However, on Sunday, April 21 we will be getting one last Dead Sea Scrolls and Metaphysics session before Bob Brueck departs Austin for the summer months. Bailey Barlow will be leading children’s faith formation. The sessions both begin at 9am. Adults will be in the parlor and children will be in the library. 

The following Sunday, April 28, LaRu Woody will conclude the children’s faith formation rotation on the Prodigal Son, and the Rev. Bob Karli will continue his adult faith formation sessions on The Life Cycle of a Congregation.

Stay tuned for upcoming sessions in May.

We look forward to learning together!

We continue to collect backpacks (new or slightly used) for our friends at Micah 6 Ministries. FELC participants and our friends from the Seventh Day Adventist congregation have already gathered at least a vehicle load!

Folks need a helpful way to carry food, clothing, and personal items. Bring a new or slightly used backpack to the church sanctuary and place it in a Micah 6 box in the north transept of the sanctuary.  Questions? Contact Andy MacLaren at andymaclaren@cs.com.

Everyone is invited to the longest-running community & social event of FELC (since 1964): our annual chicken BBQ, to be held in our parking lot (weather permitting)! Our pitmasters will start smoking chickens in our outdoor smoker pit in the afternoon, and our potato salad and beans team will be getting the sides ready.

You’re welcome to come and visit beginning at 4 pm. BYOB.

Dinner will be served around 6 pm, and includes BBQ chicken, beans, potato salad, drinks, and ice cream. Beans and potato salad are vegetarian. Vegans are welcome to bring their favorite dish to share. All are welcome! 

Support Lutheran Disaster Response & Folks at the Texas Border

The Synod Assembly of the Southwestern Texas Synod will convene May 3-5 in Corpus Christi. And, this month, there are tangible ways FELC can participate and support friends in need!

At its annual meeting in January, FELC elected Claudia and Paul Barlow to serve as voting members from our congregation. As a congregation and synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America FELC gathers annually for worship, witness, learning, service and support, and to conduct the business of our church.

This year, Southwestern Texas Synod voting members (comprised of rostered leaders (deacons and pastors) and elected lay members from congregations) will also elect our synod bishop. The ELCA consists of 65 synods (or regions) and each synod is served and led by an elected bishop. The term of a bishop in the ELCA is normally six years. For more information on the election of the synod bishop, including pre-identified potential nominees, visit here.

There are several ways that FELC participants can support the synod assembly benevolence activities.

This year’s assembly offering will support the Lutheran Disaster Response, our ELCA ministry that responds to natural and unnatural disasters in the United States and around the world.  If you would like to contribute to the donations to Lutheran Disaster Response you may share a contribution on Sunday, April 28 (please make checks payable directly to Southwestern Texas Synod, memo Lutheran Disaster Response; cash is also welcome).

Assembly participants are also collecting new or gently used laceless tennis shoes for adults and children to be distributed at the Texas border in response to the crisis there.  Please consider bringing shoes to FELC to donate to the synod assembly through Sunday, April 28.

For more information on Synod Assembly benevolence activities, contact Claudia Barlow.

Thank you for your input to identify organizations and agencies our community of faith will partner with in 2024. The Benevolence Task Force and Church Council considered organizations that reflect our biblical and congregational values; some organizations that are local and others that are global in their outreach and witness.

At its April 15 meeting, the Congregation Council enthusiastically approved organizations that we will support and advocate with this year: LuMin Austin, Global Refuge, and our very own FELCDC!

Please read the comprehensive report here for more information!