Hearts for Service

Most people realize early on that Good Shepherd has a heart for service, and from the start our church community has been a good fit for Judy and Tom Durham. They are a couple who really lives the call to be more than “Sunday Christians.”

We’re happy Judy and Tom found us after worshiping for a few years at another nearby congregation. Since they joined GSLC in 2008, Tom and Judy have sought one, then another, and another way to serve and be involved in the life of this church and its outreach.

“These people are a blessing to us and also embody the words Christ left us: ‘Feed my sheep’ “ commented Shelley Stavely, co-chair of Social Ministry. “Both Judy and Tom are very valuable to the committee. Both are so willing to work for the benefit of others and cheerfully so!” she said, adding that they bring many good and thoughtful ideas to the group.

Tom is a member of Church Council and serves as the liaison to Social Ministry outreach. He has spent many hours working inside and out this Spring and Summer at our Habitat for Humanity / Thrivent Builds project house in Silver Spring. He’s also our Habitat work crew contact for GSLC members. When serving alongside either Tom or Judy, you can easily see how their warm, friendly personalities help the work go faster.

Supporting our Men’s Shelter Dinner outreach from the beginning, both Tom and Judy have served on the dinner line at the E. Gude Drive facility in our partnership with MoCo Coalition for the Homeless. Judy cheerfully greets and chats with the men as she serves the meal, and she often brings with her a special dessert or candy for a holiday – something to add a bright spot in someone’s day.

Judy has been on the Social Ministry Committee a little longer than Tom. She has been active with our big fund-raising Housing Benefit concerts for a few years. While Tom contributes by singing in men’s ensembles for the concert, Judy works behind the scenes helping to plan the evening, selling tickets, setting up/breaking down displays, dishing up the goodies to eat for intermission, and serving at the raffle table.

This Summer was Judy’s second to help with Manna Food Center’s Smart

Sack program here, which provided lunches and supplemental food to needy Montgomery Country elementary students when school lunches were not available. Judy also joins in when GSLC sends a work crew to SERRV International in New Windsor, she helps on Gaithersburg Holiday Giving distribution days, and she’s a valuable presence as a teacher in Good Shepherd’s Vacation Bible School.

Because Tom sings in the Chancel Choir, the couple attends the 9 a.m. traditional service. You’ll often catch Judy in the Lobby between services, helping at an information/sign up table for Social Ministry or welcoming a visitor to our church.

Holding a PhD in psychology Tom works in human relations in private industry in Bethesda. Judy has a master’s in education and teaches Grade 1 at Cashell Elementary in Olney. Tom grew up in Ohio and Judy in Illinois. The pair met in Chicago and have been married over 30 years. During the early years of their marriage they lived in Connecticut, raised three children there, and still have close ties to New England as well as the Midwest. They moved to Maryland and settled in Olney in 2005.

Son Ben, 19, attends the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; daughter Nika, 25, lives in Vail, CO, after graduating from Tulane University in New Orleans; and daughter Kirsten, 28, and her husband Tim live in Newton, MA. Kirsten works as a middle school counselor and Tim is a speech pathologist. All three Durhams inherited a heart for service from mom and dad. In fact, Ben has spent the past several summers as a Lutheran camp counselor in New Hampshire, where both his older sisters as well as his brother-in-law worked (Kirsten and Tim met while working at the camp).

“We are blessed to be part of the Good Shepherd family. It has been a good 3 ½ years for us and we look forward to many more. What makes us feel at home in a church is the people, and the many good people at Good Shepherd continually remind us that we have truly found a wonderful church home,” Tom and Judy said.

We are really blessed to have Judy and Tom and their servants’ hearts at Good Shepherd. Thank you, Judy and Tom, for putting our Lord’s call to service into action.

Tom and Judy in Action at Good Shepherd

• Tom and Judy at a Work Crew project
• The Durham Family
• Judy at Vacation Bible School
• Judy working at a SERVV
• Tom at a Habitat for Humanity work project
• Judy working on Smart Sacks
• Tom at a Men's Shelter dinner
• Tom singing with the men's quartet