Bozarth Family Newsletter

Note:  The Mountain View Scholarship Fund has given support over the past 4 years to James Bozarth, a fellow Arizonan now preparing to be a pastor.  He is in his final year at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.  This is his Winter newsletter.  

 

Meet Emmalyn Doyle, Scholarship Recipient

Mountain View Lutheran Church offers scholarship assistance to individuals preparing for full-time church work as pastor, teacher or other position in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.  The fund is supported by contributions form members and friends of MVLC.

The latest recipient is Emmalyn Doyle, a junior at Concordia University Irvine (CA).  Emmalyn's home is Scottsdale, Arizona.  She has attended Lutheran schools all of her life, beginning at Christ Lutheran School and continuing at Valley Lutheran High School in Phoenix.  Along the way she earned honors for her academic record and her participation in school activities.  

She submitted the following essay as part of her application for the MVLC scholarship grant:

My family is almost entirely comprised of Lutheran educators. Both sets of grandparents, several aunts and uncles, and my parents are LCMS educators, so one could say that serving in this vocation runs in the family. Besides familial influence, I attended LCMS schools my entire life and always wanted to be a teacher ever since I can remember. The only area where I felt stumped was choosing an age group and subject, but God used people and prayer to lead me to my current vocational path. Throughout my childhood, my grandparents and parents were committed to taking my siblings and me to church and teaching us apologetics. As I grew up, I noticed that many of my friends were falling away from the Church because their foundations were not as solid as my own. Too many teens abandon the faith because they are falsely led to believe that the Christian faith is blind and uncertain. God has put it on my heart to teach young adults that being a Christian does not negate the use of reason and logic, but rather makes sense of the natural world and humanity’s need for a Savior.

I firmly believe that God is calling me to teach high school theology to reach teens who are struggling with life’s hardest questions and seek answers that bolster a faith which incorporates both the head and heart. My conscientiousness, honesty, and work ethic, cultivated by family and teachers, are strengths that will serve me well in my vocation. It will take hard work to teach teens and research answers to their questions, especially in today’s postmodern culture. Therefore, delivering such answers must be done with an honest commitment to the Word of God, with the “gentleness and respect” that 1 Peter 3:15 calls us to in our evangelistic and apologetic work for the Kingdom.

The Scholarship Committee awarded Emmalyn with a grant in the amount of $4000 and encouraged her to apply for additional funding for her senior year at Concordia.  She responded to the committee with this note of appreciation:

I wanted to extend my deepest appreciation for the generosity of you and the scholarship committee in this financial assistance, which is such a blessing to my family and me. MVLC’s support of church worker students is truly amazing, and I am so blessed and encouraged by this scholarship fund I look forward to continuing my studies this year, made possible by MVLC. Students like myself are indebted to churches and generous scholarships like this one, which allow church workers the support needed for ministry. Thank you so very much!

In Support of Farmhouse Daycare

 October 5, 2021

To: Congregation of Mountain View Lutheran

Jesus said, Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father,Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them everything I have commanded you."  Jesus also said "Let the little children come to me.  Do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God."  Saint Paul says that we are to use the blessings that God has given us to make friends with the world.

We at Mountain View have had a vision in place to have a daycare, a preschool, a school, and retirement center here. When I came here, we had a preschool and kindergarten but because of our large debt we were not able to sustain this ministry. Over the years we’ve had different non-church businesses partnering with us by using our facility and allowing us to share Gods love and His Word with them. Among those were the Montessori preschool, a charter school, a Headstart program and now we have been asked by the Farmhouse Daycare to partner with them so that they might utilize our facility to minister to the families in our community. 

Our mission statement is: “As disciples of the Triune God, the mission of Mountain View Lutheran Church is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ through word, sacraments and our deeds,  bringing Christ to the community and the world.”  I think partnering with the Farmhouse Daycare would be a wonderful opportunity to fulfill our mission and purpose in reaching families for Jesus.   These families would now be brought here by Jesus for us to share His love. 

I strongly support this effort and I hope and pray that you as a congregation would do the same.  I hope and pray that we here at Mountain View will take advantage of this opportunity that God is giving us. It won’t be easy, but we are called by Jesus to use what we have, to bring glory and honor to His name. 

Pastor Mark Friedrich

 

Fall 2021 News from the Bozarth Family

 James Bozarth is currently serving his vicarage in Columbus, Indiana at St. Peter's Lutheran Church, a large congregation which also operates an elementary school and preschool. (http://stpeterscolumbus.org)  MVLC continues to help the Bozarth family with scholarship support and they in turn keep us informed with quarterly newsletters.  

Mountain View Welcomes New Music Director

 For several months, MVLC searched for a person to fill the position of Music Director.  The search involved connections in the local community as well as contacts with universities and church offices throughout the country.  The search led the committee to Arizona State University and Dr. Kimberly Marshall, a professor in the School of Music.  She is known worldwide for compelling programs and presentations of organ music.  She also has connections with graduate students studying organ at ASU.

Kimberly led the committee to contact Tigran Buniatyan, a new ASU student who was coming to Arizona from Oberlin, Ohio.  The connection was timely.  MVLC was the first church to reach out to him and he was eager to learn more about the music position and Mountain View was impressed with his credentials and experiences as music director of several churches in Ohio.  He began his service as Music Director at MVLC on August 1st.  

Tigran is a native of Armenia, a small land-locked country that was at one time part of the Soviet Union before its breakup in 1992.  He grew up in Yerevan, the capital city, the son of a scientist.  As a young man he took up piano and became an accomplished pianist.  He earned awards and prizes in Armenia and in Russia before deciding to study organ.  

In 2008 Tigran enrolled in the Yerevan State Conservatory where he earned both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree.  During that time he taught music history.  In 2014 he served as Vice-Principal of a Music School for high school students in Yerevan.  From that experience he became an Organ Curator who traveled to many European cities to provide technical support for organists and organs.  

In 2016 he enrolled in the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio.  He earned a Bachelor's Degree in organ performance and continued in the program to earn a Master's Degree in 2021.  During his tenure in Oberlin he served several Lutheran churches in the area as organist and music director.  He also played the Brombaugh organ and harpsichord in the Fairfield Chapel at Oberlin.  

Over the years, Tigran performed over 100 Organ, Harpsichord and Piano recitals in Armenia, the U.S., Russia, Belarus, The Netherlands, Germany, Norway, and Lituania.  His organ performances were on 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th century historical organs.  He participated in over 10 professional conferences for musicians and authored several articles in professional publications.  He maintains a YouTube channel where viewers can hear and see several of his organ performances.  

Outside of music, Tigran is an avid bicyclist and athlete.  He has competed in triathlons, an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances.  Here in Arizona he continues to ride his bicycle to and from his apartment in Tempe.  

Tigran is an example of God's answer to prayer and Mountain View is blessed to enjoy his services.  He invites others to participate in the congregation's music program.  Vocalists and instrumentalists are welcome to join him in celebrating God's presence and gifts to his people.  He can be reached via email at musicdirector@mvlcaj.org.

Summer News from the Bozarth Family

For the past two years, James Bozarth has been the recipient of scholarship funds from Mountain View Lutheran Church as he prepared for the pastoral ministry at  Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.  He is now serving his vicarage year in Colombus, Indiana.  His recent newsletter updates the family's summer travels.

Back to the New Normal

Worship today, July 24, 2021 was "back to normal" in the words of an Elder who greeted us at the door.  It has been a long while since we experienced normal but here are some of the items I noted that were practiced in worship last year at this time.

• There were no elders standing near the from door gathering offerings.
• The elements of Holy Communion (wafer, wine) were available in the entry for anyone who did not wish to come forward to the communion rail.
• Ushers gathered the offering after the sermon and brought it forward to the pastor.
• Worship attendance cards were in racks in the pews and collected by an usher.
• Hymns were sung by the congregation during the distribution of Holy Communion.
• People sat near each other in the pews and visited with other worshippers before and after the service.
• Hymn books, Bibles and attendance cards were back in the pew racks.  
• Very few if any in attandance wore face masks.  (I didn't look around to check everyone.)
• Reggie was his usual self, looking forward to ice cream for lunch.
• The organist, Pastor Bob Stockman, was given a round of applause for serving as volunteer organist for the month of July while the congregation awaits the arrival of the new music director.
• Pastor Mark acknowledged and thanked the "18 of so" volunteers who helped clean and organize the church on Saurday, July 23rd.

I admit that some of these items are not necessarily new, but it was good to be back to familiar territory for those of us who have endured changes over the past several months.  It was a far cry from those previous Sundays when we sat in our cars in the parking lot.  Glory to God!

Dan Seim