Birthdays This Week:​ Thom Stys, Helen Han, Timothy Hou, Joy Zhou

Anniversaries This Week: Jack Tian & Amy Ge

Upcoming Events — Save the Date to Join Us!

• Annual Harvest Festival — Saturday, October 17 — 4-8 PM — Music ● Food Vendors ● Retail Vendors ● Silent Auction ● Cake Walk ● Kids Activities ● Prizes — Free Admission — Bring the whole family! Harvest Festival Ticket pre-sale has begun. Don’t miss out!! Purchase 25 tickets for only $20.00!! Tickets accepted at harvest for rides, game booths and some food options (booths range from 1 – 10 tickets). See attached form for details. Cash or checks accepted (payable to Loving Savior PTLS). Credit cards are also accepted but incur a service fee. Zelle also available (no service fee), our Zelle info is zelle@lovingsavior.org (be sure to include a note “Harvest Festival Tickets—Church” within the zelle payment). Forms can be returned to Stacy Hottinger (mailbox #20) or directly to the school office. Your tickets may be picked up prior to Harvest.
• Trunk or Treat — Coming soon! Mark your calendars and join us!!! Loving Savior’s annual Trunk or Treat event will be will be Friday, October 30th from 6pm-8pm. We will have music, games hosted by Leadership, food and fun! We invite families to join the fun and decorate their trunks and pass out candy to our trick or treaters (we estimate 200-300 trick or treaters). We’ll give out prizes for the BEST decorated trunks! Athletics will host a “Pumpkin Carving Contest”. If you are planning to decorate a trunk, we ask that you confirm with PTLS at ptls@lovingsavior.org (limited spaces), arrive by 5pm so that you are ready to go at 6:00pm and have FUN!! We encourage children AND adults to dress in costume (all in good taste please; nothing too scary). Hope to see you there!! We’ll have a ghoulishly good time!

Loving Savior Athletics Clothing Drive

It is that time of year again, and the Loving Savior Athletics Clothing Drive is BACK! Thank you to everyone who has helped make this a huge fundraiser for Athletics, in the past. We thank you in advance, for helping us to make this a very smooth fundraiser, and help a lot of people, as well!

Here is the important information on what we need your help to accomplish:

1. We are praying for 700 white kitchen bags, weighing approximately 10 pounds each! This will allow Athletics the chance to raise approximately $1,700.00!
2. We are collecting gently used clothing, sweaters, jackets, blankets, towels, and shoes.
3. Start cleaning out closets now. Ask friends and family, as well.
4. Bring your bags for donation to Loving Savior from this week ONLY! We will be closing the donation window on Friday after morning drop off, at 8:15 AM. At approximately 9 AM, the bags will NOW be loaded into a large truck, and then driven directly to the collection center in Southgate. 

The organization we work with, does a lot to help people in need, throughout the greater Los Angeles area. Not all donated items, get sold in their store. The organization also operates “closets”, where people can come and get what they need, for free!

LCMS Stewardship Ministry Newsletter Article – October 2026

It’s in the Way that You Use It Originally Published October 2023

 Consider the humble baseball bat. It is a simple tool designed for a complex task. The batter needs a tool that can consistently deliver force to a small ball which may be thrown at over 100 miles per hour, but which might also come slanting across the plate as a slow curve. For a game like this, the founders of baseball had to redesign the old cricket bat, which is more of a flat paddle. The tool had to fit the job.

But even a specially-designed tool can be used for a different purpose. It turns out that some years ago in England, the home of cricket, baseball bats suddenly started selling like hotcakes. What were folks across the pond doing with all those baseball bats? Using them as clubs in riots!

A tool can be used, and it can be misused. It’s all in the way that you use it.

The same is true with the things of God. The Second Commandment states that we should “not misuse the name of the Lord.” In the Small Catechism, Luther goes on to tell us exactly what this misuse is, as well as the proper use:

“We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.” (SC I)

The Lord has given us His name: He has placed it upon us in Holy Baptism and He has invited us to pray to Him as our Father. In this sense, the Lord’s name is something for us to use. We should not misuse it … and we should not fail to use it. The Pharisees of old were so afraid of misusing the name of God that they decided to simply never say the name of God (YHWH, Jehovah) at all! This non-use is just as bad as misuse. The Lord gives His gifts for our use.

A Christian steward is one who is called to use all of God’s gifts for His purposes. This includes things like the Name of God, the Sacraments and the Word, and it also includes things like our family and friends, our talents and skills, our money and resources. Everything that God has given to you, He has given to you so that you may be blessed to use it for His kingdom.

It’s all in the way that you use it!

LCMS Family Ministry: “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs” (Psalm 100:2 NIV).

The Bible is filled with places that praise God and talk about singing songs of praise. The Psalms in particular are full of this. We have a God who has done it all for us, and so we can respond with praise. We have a rich tradition of songs and hymns that praise our God. Many of these songs and hymns can help to teach the Christian faith, especially since songs are an easy way to learn and memorize. Little children learn songs easily and often these songs that we learn when we are very young are the ones that stay with us when we grow old. Parents can encourage children to sing by singing in church or by playing music at home or in the car that praises God and teaches the Christian faith.

LCMS Church Worker Wellness: October is Church Worker Appreciation Month! There are countless ways for individuals to express appreciation and for congregations to show love and gratitude for their church workers. Here are simply a few ideas: Pray for your pastor, deaconess, Lutheran school teachers and other called church workers serving in your midst. Write a handwritten note of encouragement. Give a gift — whether big or small, a simple gesture of remembrance goes a long way. For even more specific ideas, visit thelc.ms/appreciation. What a gift when congregation and church workers mutually encourage each other, so that the Gospel may spread and that faith my grow among us all (Romans 1:12).

2026 Flower & Eternal Candle Calendar

Flowers: To donate and/or dedicate flowers for a birthday, anniversary, special even or person, choose a date, print your name clearly on that line, and then under “Dedication: list what or to whom you are dedicating the flower bouquet(s). There are 2 spots available for each week. It will be noted in the News & Notes for that week. You do NOT have to donate in order to dedicate, but it does help the church if you do. Donation for each bouquet is $20. Checks should be made out to Loving Savior and placed in the flower envelopes provided and placed in the offering plate.

Eternal Candle: To donate and-or dedicate the eternal candle in remember of a person(s), special occasion or event, choose a month, print your name clearly on the line, and then your “Dedication” for the month. It will be noted in the News & Notes for the entire month. You do NOT have to donate in order to dedicate, but it does help the church if you do. Donation for a full month is $20. Check should be made out to Loving Savior, placed in the eternal candle envelopes provided, and place in the offering plate.

News and Notes

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of this week’s News and Notes after service to keep up with all the events and prayer requests for the congregation.  Available free of charge in the church Narthex.

Daily Devotions

Portals of Prayer is a favorite of readers looking for ways to stay in God’s Word with easy, daily devotions. A great way to start each day, readings feature a Bible passage, meditation, and prayer in an easy-to-read format.  Both pocket size and large print editions are available in the narthex. Pick up yours today!
Pick up your FREE copy of the July-September 2026 edition today, and get one or two for friends or family.

The Lutheran Witness

The September issue of The Lutheran Witness celebrates and offers practical guidance for learning God’s Word by heart.

Features include:

• “‘Write Them on Your Heart’: Why we memorize Scripture” by Reed Lessing
• “Fruitful Repetition: Practices for learning by heart” by Anne and Ryan Tinetti
• “How to Read Scripture: God’s Word for us” by Mark Love
• “‘Let the Word of Christ Dwell in You Richly’: Reflections on hymn singing and 20 years of ‘Lutheran Service Book’” by Jon D. Vieker

This issue also includes the latest installment of “Life in the Church Year,” an ongoing series on living out the Church Year at home with your family. This time, you’ll read about “the Church Year’s curriculum” and learn how to make a simple, festive chocolate cake in commemoration of St. Matthew.

You’ll also read a letter from LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison looking back on his own confirmation memory work in an Iowa church basement and giving thanks for all the precious texts that have guarded and comforted his soul in the decades since.

Pick up your free copy in the narthex today. Grab one for yourself and one for a friend.

Lutherans Engage the World

At first, New Mexico and northwest Kenya may not seem to have much in common. Yet both have hot, dry landscapes where water can be scarce. More importantly, both have experienced a drought of Word and Sacrament ministry in recent years. Thanks be to God, Lutherans in these locations are now being served by pastors and other church workers.
The Fall issue of Lutherans Engage the World magazine includes these stories, as well as stories of families focused on instilling the faith in their children in Missouri, congregations and individuals caring for those around them in Illinois and Florida, and more. Please join us in praying for these efforts, that all would receive the living water “welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14) that comes only from Christ.

Articles Include:

• Sharing Jesus with Neighbors in Northwest Kenya: The Holy Spirit is at work in refugee camps and other towns in northwest Kenya, bringing saving faith in Christ the Redeemer to all people.
• Scattering Seeds in the Desert: Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Navajo, N.M., is the only LCMS congregation serving the largest native American reservation in the United States.
• Building Daily Rhythms of Devotion: Families of Trinity Lutheran Church in Springfield, Mo., receive support from their congregation to build intentional practices of faith formation in their homes.

Pick up your free copy in the narthex today!