St Paul Church

Beginning Sunday, October 5th, Sunday School will start at 9:30 and Worship will be at 10:30 AM.  Please be sure to mark your calendars!

With the change to the CCCC, it was deemed necessary to change the church email address as it indicated our affiliations with the UCC. The new email address for the church is: stpaulchurch [at] stateline-isp.com. This email will be effective immediately, but please be assured that the old address (stpaulucc [at] stateline-isp.com) will be active until the end of October. Please make the necessary changes to your address books and spread the word about the change. If you have any questions, please contact the church office.

On Sunday, October 26th, the Board of Christian Education will be sponsoring Chili, Chicken Soup and Chattin’ after Church. (Notice the CCCC relationship?) This promises to be an afternoon of fun and fellowship for ALL ages. After a delicious lunch, there will be games, crafts, pumpkin painting, scavenger hunts, hayrides, a euchre tournament and the possibility of a Bunco game.

We are asking that everyone bring something to share for the meal according to the first letter of your last name:

• A-H: cheese/crackers, veggies, finger foods, appetizers, etc.
• I-Q: sandwiches – lunchmeat, PBJ, chicken, tuna or ham salad, etc.
• R-Z: desserts

The Board of Christian Ed. will provide the chili and chicken noodle soup, table service and drinks.

We look forward to seeing everyone for this great day of family, food, fellowship and FUN!!

Once again, it’s time to be thinking about the upcoming winter months and the snow that accompanies it. The Church Council is again looking for a few people that would be willing to split the responsibility of shoveling the sidewalks at the church once the snow begins to fly. It would be nice to have at least four people willing to help with this, as that would mean you would be responsible for only one week out of each winter month. If we do not get the volunteers we need, this could become an expense for the church as we would need to hire someone to do the removal. There is a snow blower at the church as well as shovels. Please pray about this and see if this is an area that God would ike for you to help with. Contact a council member if you will be willing to serve in this way.

We are also looking for someone that would be willing to check on the boilers when the temperatures are extremelly cold. It would be just checking to make sure they are running. Please talk with Adam Boyer about this job, as it is not as difficult as one might think.

Many thanks to those that have donated their aluminum cans to the Youth Fellowship. We are having one last collection before the snow flies. Please have all cans to the back of the church by October 19th. If possible, please place the cans in heavy-duty black garbage bags as those hold up better. Please do not bring your cans during the winter months due to the snow. We will begin collecting them again in the Spring. Thank you for your support!

Our choir schedule should be a normal one for the month of October. It will start with the Senior Choir singing October 5th, which is Mission Fest this year. We will be singing a hymn during communion to help cut down on the length of the service that day.

One change is that we will practice Wednesday night, October 1st following Awana. (There are several choir members who will be here that night anyway, so why schedule them to come back the next evening?) This should help to conserve car costs and when the weather turns cold, could reduce heating costs as well. We will try it this month and see how choid members like this arrangement.

The Women’s Choir will be singing October 12th and will be practicing on Wednesday, October 8th at 7:30 PM after Awana.

The Men’s Chorus will rehearse October 16th at 7:30 PM and sing on October 19th.

Junior Choir should be singing this month on October 26th. Amy will inform the kids when she plans to rehearse. Watch for announcements in the bulletin.

We could use more choir members. Just come and join us if possible and be a part of the choral program here at St Paul.

The Youth Fellowship will once again be selling 2009 wall calendars and greeting card sets. There will be a table in the hallway for orders. The cost is $8.00 for calendars and $6.00 for blank greeting cards. These items make great Christmas gifts, so check your list and place your order.

Mark your calendars for Sunday, October 5th, as you won’t want to miss an exciting day to celebrate God’s amazing power. During our morning worship Helen Laib, president of Circle of Love Mission, will share information about this mission organization based in Rockford. If you’d like to find out more about this mission, please visit their website at http://www.circleoflovefoundation.net/. We will also be welcoming Larry Correll of Timothy Ministries to bring us our morning message.

We will share in a potluck meal and fellowship following worship, so please bring a dish or two to share and your table service. Drinks will be provided.

• Food Arrangement/Beverages: Sally Kuhlmeier, Jan Kluck, Jan Boyer
• Flowers: Ron & Lavonne Welling
• Tables: Members of the Mission Committee

The Scholarship Committee would like to remind all college students that applications for the St Paul Church of Epleyanna scholarships are due to the church office or a committee member by October 12th. Committee members include Barb Leifheit, Sheila Dornink, Cindy Boyer, Melodie Holt and Dennis Zimmerman (Council Rep).

Women’s Fellowship will meet Wednesday, October 1st in the Fellowship Hall at 1:30 PM. Worship leader will be Mabel Bechtold. Bible study will be based on Luke 7:1-23, entitled “The Poor Hear Good News.” All St. Paul women are welcome to join in fellowship and Bible study.

Joanne Meinert was worship leader at the September 3rd meeting of Women’s Fellowship. She introduced the Bible study provided by the Presbyterian-UCC material. This year’s studies will be from the book of Luke. The theme for the 2008-209 Bible studies is “Jubilee – Luke’s Gospel for the Poor.”

We will be meeting right after worship on October 26th for an all-church lunch and then will head to Davis and Rock City via tractor and hay wagon for a scavenger hunt for items for our local food pantries. This promises to be a fun time, so please bring a friend and join us!

We will gather at the church for a time of food, fun and fellowship at 6:30 PM on October 12th. Please join us!

Cassie Wymer will be heading up this project again this year.

Operation Christmas Child is a fun and rewarding project for missions-minded churches and organizations that want to share the love of Jesus Christ with suffering children around the world. Since 1993, this project has shared the Good News of God’s love with children through the simplest of gifts — shoe boxes! Filled with school supplies, toys, and personal items, these boxes help introduce children to Jesus Christ and give them a Christmas that they never would have had. Operation Christmas Child is a project through Samaritan’s Purse whose president is Franklin Graham, which provides an opportunity for people of all ages to be involved in a simple, hands-on mission project while focusing on the true meaning of Christmas: Jesus Christ, God’s greatest gift.

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The Board of Christian Educatino met on Monday, September 8th at 7 PM. President Karen Kleckner welcomed Jan Boyer and Leann Quinn as new members.

Old Business

• YF leaders are still needed. We have a few people we will be contacting
• Reviewed prior changes to the BOCE Bylaws and voted on approval
• Update of Rally Day/WORM kick-off

New Business

• FACC/Salvation Army collection for October will be anything at “falls” off your shelf (general collection)
• Samaritan’s Purse/Operation Christmas Child – Cassie Wymer will be heading up this mission as part of her Senior project
• Family Fall Fun Night - it was decided to have an all-church lunch after worhsip on October 26th with fall games and crafts for those attending
• Christmas Committees
  • General Christmas Committee – CJ and Tracy Hendrick, Jim and Barb Leifheit, Mike and Kim Cassidy, Craig and Ann Kriens, Mark and Shelly Fiene, Brenda and Joey Mayberry
  • Program Committee – Amy McKee, Kelly Roth, Jenny Blocker, Vicki Thomas
• Pastor Appreciation Month – watch for details the next couple Sundays
• Christmas Mission Projects – Nancy Bartelt is working on this and will bring more details to the next meeting
• Offerings for Oct, Nov and Dec – The first Sunday offering for the months of Oct, Nov and Dec will go to our Christmas mission projects. Further details will be available soon

The next meeting was set for October 6th at 7 PM.