The State of Alabama enacted legislation a number of years ago to encourage community businesses and organizations to become involved in "educational activities to build character in children." Zion Lutheran Church began an after-school program to incorporate character education activities into a music enrichment program in 2005 through a grant from the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations. This year the program has run on Wednesdays from the first week of September until October 24, 2007, when the children presented a program demonstrating their music skills to parents and friends. A MP3 recording of their program is on this page below.

     Children involved in the Fall '07 After-School Music Enrichment Program at Silverhill's Zion Lutheran Church, posed with teachers prior to their final week of music on October 24, 2007. Miss Jo Helmich (l to r) and Miss Linda Gibbs "backed up" the children; the back row: Nathaniel W., Delaney A., Reece J., Mary Ashlee H., and Coleton C.; the middle row: Cade M., Dona J., Karsyn H., Houston H., and Rhian P.; and the front row: Adeliene M., Rosa G., Jessica W., and Jordan M. The children were very excited, because family and friends were coming to hear their music program in just five minutes!

     Zion Lutheran Church gratefully acknowledges the gift of stock certificates from Eva Engel on Sept. 27, 2007. The council has opted to cash out the stock, crediting it toward the Building Debt Fund.

     The October Treasurer’s Report will reflect a principal payment equal to 12 months of regular payments toward our debt. The remainder of Eva’s gift will be held as part of the required 6-month reserve of the fund.

     "We Lutherans are working together in a Habitat for Humanity Build project," 15K Run Director John Stieber announced to Zion a while back. "There are twelve Lutheran churches in Baldwin County and each will be involved on October 27." Well, October 27 came and twelve Lutheran churches operated runner "water stations" and cheered runners on in Fairhope and Point Clear during a 9.3 mile race called a 15K run. And there was a "Two Mile Fun Run/Walk" for folks who wanted a slower pace. Lots of runners and walkers and lots of success, both for individual runners and for the Habitat project!

     The Lutheran version of Habitat for Humanity of Baldwin County and Thrivent Financial have teamed up to build a home for a "qualified" family. But building takes dollars. "And this was a big fund raiser for the project," Ned Owens reported. Ned has been an early "spark plug" for this project and was busy checking out the water stations just minutes before and after the event began. Any dollar donations to help this Build Effort can still find their way into this building project. Information is available from John Stieber at 251-689-8340. For interested runners, he also has information concerning future run projects.

     Ernie Burnett (Fairhope), Janice Owens (Orange Beach), Peter Midgarden (Silverhill and Fairhope), Cindi Johnson (Silverhill), and Ned Owens (Orange Beach) (l to r), posed briefly at the water station operated by Silverhill's Zion Lutheran Church for the "Lutheran" Habitat for Humanity 15K Run/Walk in Fairhope and Point Clear on October 27. Water cups and water jugs sat on the table, ready for thirsty runners as they would pass down the running course. Zion volunteers Ernie, Pete, and Cindi stood ready to pass out filled cups of water and cheer runners on as they pass. Others joined them at the Zion station later or were involved in the race. Ned and Janice were part of the support team for the overall project.

     "I was thinking about how camps responded to hurricane recovery needs and change. As we did in the past, Camp Dixie continues to be innovative, but we understand that Lutheran Social Services Disaster Response's Day Camp Program will not continue. They have been getting feedback from the congregations that essentially 'the recovery is over' and 'they want to move on.' Consensus is this: We need to be moving toward a hurricane preparedness focus, so that we can be ready for the next hurricane that comes anywhere along the Gulf Coast." This was Director Marty Miller talking about the resource in Baldwin County called "Camp Dixie," a Lutheran ministry located on Perdido Bay. He was responding to a question relating to Camp Dixie and its current ministry to youth and families.

     So, moving on, what's next? Marty noted that, "At Camp Dixie we have decided that the Day Camp Program was powerful and useful. We are going to be offering it this coming summer to any congregation that is interested instead of to just congregations that had been affected by Hurricane Katrina. It has been a 'real journey' as Camp Dixie explored new avenues to ministry, what has become 'The Traveling VBS Program.' I’m excited about the opportunities that it presents, because we actually served more campers in the Day Camp program last year than we did in our Main Camp Program at our Perdido Bay site."

     At the "Men's 710" breakfast and fellowship meeting on November 13, 2007 at 7:10 AM, he will update men in Baldwin County on new plans for ministry and report on past successes. Each month area men are cordially invited to share an hour with an interesting speaker AND a complimentary light breakfast at Zion Lutheran Church.