about Us

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MEET OUR CHURCH STAFF



The staff at Messiah Lutheran warmly welcomes you to join our church community. If you need assistance at any time, we are always here to provide you with guidance and counsel. Read our biographies below and get in touch whenever you need it!

THE REVEREND JASON TALSNESS, PASTOR

A lover of scripture, Jason has a passion for teaching and preaching, with a goal of equipping people to explore and deepen their faith in Jesus Christ. Jason has been married for over 25 years to his wife, Alexandra. They are blessed to have three children, two in college, and one in middle school. Jason enjoys biking, singing sacred harp music, fishing, and consistently shoots in the triple digits in golf. Jason is a native of Minnesota, born in Bemidji and graduating from high school at Henry Sibley in Mendota Heights. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, and earned a Masters of Divinity Degree at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Mn. He has also served St. John’s Lutheran in Poughkeepsie, New York and Bethlem Lutheran in Aitkin, Mn.

THE REV. KAREN D. SCHEIB, PhD, Minister of Congregational Care

Rev. Karen Scheib is an emerita professor or Pastoral Care and Pastoral Theology at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. While at Candler, she served as Director of the school’s Women, Theology, and Ministry Program for five years and as the Co-Chair of the Religion Public Health Collaborative for six years. She retired in 2020 after twenty-seven years of seminary teaching. Rev. Scheib is the author of several books, including, Pastoral Care: Telling the Stories of Our Lives (Abingdon Press, 2016), as well as book chapters and articles in scholarly and popular publications. Much of her writing explores the role of life stories in identity formation and fostering wellbeing in self and others. She continues to co-lead occasional workshops on clergy flourishing for Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. Rev. Scheib is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church (UMC). Prior to her teaching career, she served as a pastor in San Diego, California, and Nashville, Tennessee for a total of twelve years. Having taught for many years, she is happy to return to the practice of pastoral care at Messiah Lutheran church through a mutual agreement of the UMC and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) Bishops. She enjoys connecting with others, hearing their stories, and seeing where God is working in their lives. Karen and her husband Jonathan moved to The Landings from Atlanta in the spring of 2020. They were drawn by the slower pace, and the natural setting. Both Karen and Jonathan enjoy birding. Karen began attending Messiah Lutheran in the fall of 2020. When not birding or at church, you might find Karen on the pickleball court. She is glad to call Skidaway Island home and be a part of Messiah Lutheran Church.

SANDY COOPER,

OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

Sandy Cooper joined the Messiah staff in February 2019. She had a 46-year career as a librarian and library director before retiring from her final position as Director of the Sonoma County Library in 2013. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Louisiana State University. Her career included stops in north Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Chicago, Charleston, Tallahassee, Raleigh, and Santa Rosa, California.

Shirley Newhart, Director of Music

Shirley Newhart serves as Messiah’s Director of Music, Organist, and Bell Choir Director. Her love of music and of sharing God’s love through music is contagious and helps to make for an inspiring worship experience at Messiah Lutheran Church. Shirley hails from Northeast Pennsylvania and moved to the Landings in 2015. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education from Wilkes University, a Master of Music Degree from Ithaca College, and has done post  raduate work at Westminster Choir College. She has taught kindergarten through college level courses at different points in her teaching career. These experiences have included both choral and instrumental positions. As Director of Music, Shirley’s vision for Messiah’s music program is to make it a vibrant and inspiring part of our worship experience.


RODNEY POWERS,

CHORAL DIRECTOR

Rodney Powers grew up in rural central Illinois and began piano lessons in the fifth grade. Following high school in 1976, he studied choral music education with a major in piano and a minor in voice at Western Illinois University. After graduation with a BA in music, he began a career as Director of Music Ministries in the United Methodist Church. Mid-career, Rodney attended Southern Illinois University’s School of Aviation to study aircraft maintenance technology, graduating in 1987. He taught at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at Hunter Army Airfield while continuing his music ministry with the United Methodist Church. He later had a long career teaching industrial technology in the Liberty County Schools. During this time, he graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2003 with a master’s degree in music after studying piano performance. He retired in 2011 and subsequently lost his wife Ann in 2016 after her long battle with multiple sclerosis. Rodney has three adult children. His two sons live in Georgia, and his daughter lives in Illinois. Rodney comes to Messiah from Flemington Presbyterian Church in Hinesville, where he has served as Director of Music and worship pianist. He resides in Savannah.

OUR STORY


History of Messiah


 On May 22, 1991, forty-eight people, representing twenty-six families, attended the first interest meeting for an   Evangelical  Lutheran Church in America   (ELCA) mission startup on Skidaway Island in Savannah, GA. In February 1992,   the mission startup was approved by the ELCA. It was named Messiah Lutheran Church in 1993. The first official service   of  Messiah Lutheran was held at the Landing Association building on Skidaway Island on May 2, 1993.   

 

The  service was   led by the called pastor and mission developer, Reverend James M. Peper. On January 2, 1994, the Messiah moved their   worship space to   the nearby Skidaway Island State Park group shelter. After fulfilling all the   requirements expected of a   mission development, Messiah Lutheran Church   became an official congregation of the   ELCA on April 2, 1995.  After   years  of worshipping at the Skidaway Island State Park group shelter, Messiah   gathered 

 for worship in their newly built   sanctuary on Easter, April 4, 1999 and was dedicated October 24, 1999.


Our Sanctuary Cross



The Messiah Chancel Cross is a unique symbol of our congregation. Using layering, it was made from many small pieces of hardwood from various species, each accepting the stain differently, causing color variations in the finished cross.


In many ways, it reflects our membership, coming together from many states and nations, differing family backgrounds, a wide range of life experiences, and various worship experiences. Our cross stands 15 feet high and was placed on its mount in May 1999.

“Is it a Parable?” 

by the late Dean Jeanblanc


Week after week, I have sat in our sanctuary, captured by the beauty and grandeur of the Chancel Cross in our new building. A closer look, however, reveals that our cross is comprised of a bunch of small pieces of wood that might have come from the discard pile of a furniture factory or special lumberyard. Here are pieces of birch, cherry, walnut, and the like, a rainbow from the forest of God’s imagination.


Separately each piece is of little worth, perhaps destined to end up in some lonely landfill or as ashes in the bottom of someone’s hearth. But in the mind and eye of the creator, a transforming miracle happens. Seeing beyond the insignificance of each individual piece, the creator salvages and reclaims the pieces and puts them together to form a NEW CREATION, which has beauty and power. Is our Cross a parable of the “Good News” of God’s rescuing, reclaiming, and saving work of Jesus Christ?


There I am, a worthless and discarded piece of white ash weathered with age until the Creator reclaims me and places me with others equally without merit. Together we are made into a NEW CREATION that shouts of the wonder of God’s redeeming work.


The Cross provides a new configuration in which is found beauty and power. All kinds and colors come together in this New Creation. In the Creator’s mind, nothing is worthless but can be salvaged for new and beautiful purposes.

We see that in our new Cross.


Perhaps the greatest legacy we at Messiah will give to our community will not be in our beautiful place of worship but in the Cross which it houses; for the Cross will continue to be a visual reminder, a parable, of the saving and re-creative work of God.

The Pramberger Grand Piano



 A gift to Messiah, this beautiful work of art was from Mr. Joseph J. Pramberger, a former member.


 Joseph Pramberger built a worldwide reputation for blending the art and science of piano making. In his many years of work with Steinway, his own success with Pramberger Piano Ltd., and influential relationships with other major piano manufacturers, Joe became one of the most highly respected individuals among a select cadre of world-class piano design engineers. His achievements culminate the Pramberger family’s long history and tradition of fine craftsmanship.

The Pramberger family’s history of piano craftsmanship dates back to the late 1700s in the Black Forest of Germany. Johann Joseph Pramberger, born in 1779, began making pianos in Vienna, Austria, the music center of the world. It was an era in history when every aspect of creating the piano was an art of earned skill and personal craftsmanship. In today’s modern instrument, the same core values still hold true; although the design and manufacturing technology has evolved, the inherited knowledge, experience, and skilled touch of a master craftsman’s hands are still paramount in creating a fine musical instrument.


The piano Joe donated to Messiah Lutheran is a 7’6″ grand finished in African pommele wood. Only 20 pianos of that size were manufactured. The piano was manufactured by the Young Chang Piano Company in South Korea under license to Joseph Pramberger. It was manufactured to the exact specifications designed by Joe. He and his wife, Joyce, traveled to Korea so that he could review and test all the pianos. Messiah received Joe’s “pick of the litter,” and the remaining pianos were distributed to dealers worldwide. Although seriously ill, Joe personally supervised the uncrating and set up of the grand piano we now enjoy in our Sanctuary. He signed the piano’s soundboard on June 1, 2003, dedicating the piano “To the Glory of God.” Joe died on December 13, 2003, and his funeral services were held here at Messiah Lutheran Church.


“It needs to be played,” Joe advised upon piano delivery. Indeed it does! We have used this piano for many concerts, and all the artists have acclaimed it as “a very fine instrument of exceptional quality.”

OUR BELIEFS

What We Accept

  • This church accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life. 


  • This church accepts the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the faith of this church. 


  • This church accepts the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true witness to the Gospel, acknowledging as one with it in faith and doctrine all churches that likewise accept the teachings of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.


  • This church accepts the other confessional writings in the Book of Concord, namely, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles and the Treatise, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, as further valid interpretations of the faith of the Church.

Lutherans believe in the Triune God. God created and loves all of creation — the earth and the seas and all of the world’s inhabitants. We believe that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, transforms lives through his death on the cross and his new life, and we trust that God’s Spirit is active in the world.

We are part of God’s unfolding plan. When we gather for worship, we connect with believers everywhere. When we study the Bible or hear God’s word in worship, we are drawn more deeply into God’s own saving story.

What We Confess

  • This church confesses the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.


  • This church confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the Gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. 


  • Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection God  fashions a new creation.


  • The proclamation of God’s message to us as both Law and Gospel is the Word of God, revealing judgment and mercy through word and deed, beginning with the Word in creation, continuing in the history of Israel, and centering in all its fullness in the person and work of Jesus Christ.


  • The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the written Word of God. Inspired by God’s Spirit speaking through their authors, they record and announce God’s revelation centering on Jesus Christ. Through them, God’s Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world.   


  • This church confesses the Gospel, recorded in the Holy Scriptures and confessed in the ecumenical creeds and Lutheran confessional writings, as the power of God to create and sustain the Church for God’s mission in the world..

Messiah Lutheran Church is a member of the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with more than 3.8 million members in nearly 10,000 congregations across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.


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