Announcements
All Ages Worship (23 August 2026)
Please join us this Sunday (23 August 2026) at 11:00 AM for “Healing Waters: A Water Communion Service” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell.
This is our annual end-of-summer Water Communion Service.
Each year, we bring water from our summer experiences to add to a common vessel as we tell the stories that go with the water.
Whether you traveled far away or just watched tadpoles in a mud puddle in your backyard (back when we had rain and mud puddles), bring your water to share.
No one ever drinks this water — it is boiled, filtered, frozen, and saved from year to year for the next water ceremony as well as child dedications and other rituals of the congregation.
Members of the All Souls Choir will offer music for the service as well.
If you forget to bring water, no worries. We always have symbolic water on hand so everyone can participate.
Our service will also be livestreamed on Facebook Live here if you cannot attend in person.
All Souls is now meeting for worship and religious education classes in The Highland Center (520 Olive Street, Shreveport LA 71104) after the sale of our former building located on Ellerbe Road.
Drive around to the back of The Highland Center and enter from the ramp-accessible entrance on Topeka Street, take the second hallway to the right, and our worship will be in the first room on the right.
We are moving our videos from Facebook to YouTube for long-term storage and viewing — you can find our worship videos on YouTube here.
State-level COVID data can be found on the Louisiana Department of Health’s respiratory virus dashboard web page. The most sensitive metric to follow for current COVID trends is the “Laboratory Surveillance Data” link.
RSV and Flu are both maintaining low but steady numbers in Louisiana as of 15 August 2026.
COVID continues its increase as of 15 August 2026.
We should all be paying attention to this trend so we can keep everyone safer.
Masking and COVID vaccination are optional for attending in-person events at All Souls.
We encourage you to be vaccinated against COVID and to also have the most-current COVID booster shots. This provides greater protection to the individual and the church community.
Anyone who prefers wearing a mask is welcome to do so for in-person events and attending worship through livestream video is also an option where required for medical or schedule conflict reasons.
We will still have KN95 masks available in the foyer for anyone who needs one.
We continue to recommend that you stay home if you have any symptoms and that you keep up with all available vaccinations and boosters.
If you are recovering from COVID and have no symptoms, you should mask in public until you have tested negative twice in a 48 hour period.
We also ask that you go by the previous CDC guidelines of waiting at least 5 days past the onset of symptoms rather than the current 24 hour recommendation.
If you have symptoms for COVID or other respiratory illness, please stay home and take care of yourself.
Our August 2026 give-away-the-plate recipient is Shreveport-Bossier Animal Rescue.
And you can contribute to All Souls using this online resource.
Summer Fun for Children and Youth (23 August 2026)
During the summer months, our children and youth religious education activities are a mixture of fun and creativity.
Our children and youth will continue their summer art activities in our new church home.
Now that we are in The Highland Center, our children and youth will be using Maggie’s art studio downstairs for their summer fun art activities and will continue religious education classes in this location in the fall.
The group continues their summer art activities in Maggie’s studio this week by creating more creatures and other art from recycled materials.
Parents who would like to see where their children will be going are invited to take the trip downstairs with the group and either stay for the class or come back upstairs.
Maggie has graciously opened her studio to our children and youth, which allows them to keep their own materials in the same place from week to week and it provides the opportunity for messier fun each week than the small conference room upstairs.
Online and In-Person Adult Religious Education (23 August 2026)
Please join us on Sunday (23 August 2026) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class.
Our adult religious education class is now a dual-platform class — meeting in person at the Highland Center and also on Zoom.
On this Sunday, we will continue our discussion of the book Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future by Jason Stanley.
Our discussion for this Sunday will cover chapter 3 (“The Nationalist Project”).
This chapter explores the destructive effects of supremacist nationalism that we have seen throughout history and around the world along with the ramifications of this nationalism.
Paper copies of the book will also be available to pick up this Sunday and e-book editions are also available.
Bear in mind that although the book was published before the 2024 election, a paperback edition has come out since then.
The Preface in the 2026 paperback edition is different from the Preface to the 2024 e-book edition.
We will be meeting in the small conference room of the Highland Center. Park in the back parking lot on Topeka Street and come in through the ramp-accessible entrance. Take the first hallway to the right and enter first room on the right. And you can join us via Zoom.
End of Summer Swim Party (23 August 2026)
Please join us at the annual end-of-summer swim party at the home of Kathy Osuch and Mike Roberts (see below for address details).
Because of the town hall meeting after church on 23 August 2026 and the extreme hot weather we will have on 23 August 2026, we are moving this year’s swim party to 4:30 PM instead of right after our Sunday worship service.
We will put the address in the Facebook Caring Connection group and also furnish it to in-person attendees at tomorrow’s worship service.
Bring your snacks and drinks of choice and join us for a late afternoon swim or just enjoy sitting under the pergola in Kathy and Mike’s great backyard.
Come around the house to the back — there’s a pool house with facilities.
Congregational Meeting (30 August 2026)
From: Kathy Osuch (Secretary of the Board)
Subject: Announcement of Congregational Meeting
Time: Sunday (30 August 2026) at 12:20 noon or immediately following the worship
Location: Large conference room in The Highland Center (520 Olive Street, Shreveport LA 71104) or online using Zoom
Agenda: In accordance with last Sunday’s congregational vote, the congregation will reconsider the decision to not purchase the 641 Olive Street property and other business matters.
The vote will be by paper ballot and Zoom attendees will vote through an anonymous online poll.
If you will be unable to attend either in person or via Zoom, you may submit a Proxy before the meeting on Sunday. You may give your proxy to another active voting member — a signed piece of paper or an email — and your proxy representative will present your proxy to the Secretary of the Board.
A proxy vote will count in the vote totals but will not count toward a quorum.
Meeting Agenda
- Rescind the 16 August 2026 vote not approving the purchase of the 641 Olive Street property
- Vote to approve the purchase the Olive Street property
- Allow the board to pay over the 10% of budget during the design phase without getting approval for each expense over $10,000 from the congregation
Please let your voice be heard.
Congregational Town Hall Meeting (23 August 2026)
From: Kathy Osuch (Secretary of the Board)
Subject: Announcement of Special Congregational Town Hall Meeting
Time: Sunday (23 August 2026) at 12:20 noon or immediately following the worship
Location: Large conference room in The Highland Center (520 Olive Street, Shreveport LA 71104) or online using Zoom
Agenda: There will be a special congregational town hall meeting to discuss the upcoming congregational meeting on 30 August 2026.
We will be able to have an in-depth discussion on the possible purchase of the 641 Olive Street property and other business matters.
There will be no vote this Sunday — this is just an opportunity for open, facilitated discussion before our 30 August 2026 congregational meeting.
Please let your voice be heard.
Zoom Lunch This Wednesday (26 August 2026)
Please join us next Wednesday (26 August 2026) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch.
With the busy lives of our regular participants, our in-person Zoom lunches are on hold for the time being but the link is always open to join at noon every Wednesday.
Meditation with Larry Androes (22 August 2026)
Please join us on Saturday (22 August 2026) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes.
This group will be meeting via Zoom and not in person.
This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching.