St Paul Church

Confirmation Sunday will be on May 6th during our 10am worship service. Please plan to be in attendance for this special service.

If you have not had a chance to enjoy an evening of dessert and fellowship with Pastor Scott and Sue, April 29th will be your chance. Join them at the parsonage beginning at 6:30pm. There is a sign up sheet posted on the bulletin board for those wishing to attend.

The annual meeting of the Northern Illinois Fellowship of the CCCC will be held on Saturday, June 2, 2012 at the First Congregational Church in Peru, IL. Pastor Scott has a wedding commitment that day so the Council would like to encourage someone from the church to serve as our representative. The event begins with worship at 10:30am, followed by a potluck luncheon and then the annual business meeting. If you’d be interested in attending this meeting, please contact the church office.

The Youth Fellowship will be leading our Easter Sunrise service on April 8th at 7:30am. The service will be followed by breakfast. Please sign up on the bulletin board so that we can plan accordingly. Thank you for supporting the youth of St Paul.

St Paul will have a Relay for Life team this year at the American Cancer Society’s event at Aquin High School on June 15th. If you’re interested in joining our team, we plan to meet after worship on Sunday, April 1st. We need to get registered as soon as possible to ensure our spot and participants t-shirts. Contact April Zettle if you’re interested in joining our team!

The Stateline Ministerial Association will host a Good Friday worship service at Indian Grove Country church beginning at 1pm. Pastor Dan DeSchoolmeester will share the message. There will be a monetary offering at this service and will go to support the Rockford Rescue Mission.

St Paul will share in a Maundy Thursday soup and service with Communion on April 5th beginning at 6pm. There will be a sign up sheet passed during worship and then placed on the bulletin board. Please sign up if you plan to attend as this will help us better prepare for this service.

The Freeport Choral Society will present its spring concert Sunday, March 25th at 3pm at St John UCC Church in Freeport. Featured will be a combined bell and choral rendition of the hymn, “How Can I Keep From Singing?” A combo will accompany the chorus with several dance songs of the 40s and 50s. It is more of a pops concert and not heavy with choir music being sung. Come and enjoy!

After dealing with repeated computer issues, I finally managed to get the sermon online from when Justin Schlueter led Sunday Worship back in August. My apologies for the lengthy delay. I hope to get a video clip of it online soon. Meanwhile, check out the audio version at http://stpaulchurch-davis.org/sermons/?sermon_id=17.

Family Life Ministries Presents:
The Art of Marriage
Friday, February 3rd – 7pm-9:30pm
Saturday, February 4th – 9am-4pm
at Highland Community College Conference Center

A marriage refresher. The opportunity to refresh your marriage and grow stronger in your love for each other. Cost is $50 per couple and includes the cost of materials and lunch on Saturday. Any questions, ask Pastor Scott or Sue.

For those ladies that have been part of the 2011 Secret Sister fun, we will have our “reveal” on Sunday, February 12th after church. We will share in a potluck meal followed by the reveal so please bring a dish for sharing, your table service and a small gift for your Secret Sister; drink will be provided.

The Freeport Mennonite Church will be hosting the MCC canner again this year and would like to invite you to join us in the mission project. We will be canning at the church, located at 3416 Brick School Road on January 12th and 13th. If you’re interested in helping with this project or just seeing it in action, please talk with Mike Zettle as he will be there helping and would be glad to show you around. Last year MCC canned at 35 different sites in the United States and Canada from the beginning of October 2010-April 2011 and canned 525,096 cans of meat. Freeport Mennonite Church produced 11,047 cans from 19,000 pounds of turkey last year. 10% of the cans were held back for local missions at Freeport Area Church Cooperative, Rockford Rescue Mission and Gospel Outreach in Freeport. MCC distributed canned meat produced in Freeport to Bosnia this year. (This info was taken from a letter received from Chad Weber.)

Please join us for a reception honoring Robert and Neva Wise’s 65th Anniversary, Sunday, November 20th, immediately after the worship service. (Rumor has it there will be cake…)

Leap of Faith Ministries is sponsoring a concert by Sidewalk Prophets at the Freeport Masonic Temple on Saturday, December 3rd at 7pm. Tickets are $15 for the first 8 rows, which includes a “meet & greet”, with all other seats at $10.00. Tickets can be purchased at www.itickets.com or by calling Mary at 815-947-3063.

We have three new babies that have been welcomed into our church family and it is our wish to recognize them and their families and “shower” them with our love and support. We will be honoring them on Sunday, November 13th with a reception in their honor following our worship service.

There is a table set-up in the Narthex for those of you wishing to contribute to the gift baskets that will be given. Thank you for sharing your love with the newest additions to our St. Paul Church family.

The Annual Stateline Ministerial Thanksgiving Worship service will be held on Sunday, November 20th at 7pm at the Winneshiek Evangelical Free Church located at 3842 E. Winneshiek Road.

Pastor Tom Bourke of the Dakota UMC will deliver the message of thanks and praise to God for all His blessings.

The freewill offering will be given to the FACC (Freeport Area Church Cooperative), and those attending are asked to bring canned goods to be donated to the Faith Community Food Pantry in Davis, which is available to our community the third Saturday of each month.

It has been a long standing tradition at St. Paul to honor and remember those members of our congregation that have passed on to glory this past church year. Totenfest will be observed during our worship service on Sunday, November 20th. This service of remembrance is always a moving and special time as we celebrate those that have gone before us in the faith: Mirla Miller, Elsie Welling, Wilmer Smith, Carol Schoonhoven, Jerry Henze, Pearl Clark, Lenny Marty, Fred Meinert, Connie Dornink and Josie Schlueter. We will also recognize and pray for those families that are friends of the church, and held services for and/or laid to rest their loved ones here at St. Paul: Betty Maize, Kristin Kloster, Ron Reed. We will also be dedicating any memorials given to the church during this service as well.

Looking for a night out with the ladies? Well, you will have that opportunity on Friday, December 2nd! We are planning an evening of food and fun in Pecatonica. We will gather at Cimino’s for dinner and then go to the Pec Playhouse Theater to see “Christmas Belles.” Tickets for the play are $10 and will be ordered on November 7th. A sign up sheet will be passed around October 31st and November 7th, or you can let Amy McKee or April Zettle know if you’re interested in attending. Dinner will be at 6:30pm with the play beginning at 8pm.

Here’s a bit of info about the play:

Christmas Belles, a church Christmas pageant spins wildly out of control as three squabbling sisters try to reign in the mayhem. Amidst an ailing Santa, a vengeful sheep, and a reluctant Elvis impersonator, a family secret emerges that just might derail the entire production. And on top of everything else, the pageant will be shown live on cable access television for the first time ever. Christmas Belles will bring joy to your world!

The Freeport Choral Society will present its fall and Advent concert at 3:00 P.M. on November 20th at St. John Church in Freeport. Please join us for an afternoon of music!

Photos from our Fall Party (and Trunk-n-Treating) are now available here on our website and on our Facebook page. Different photos at each site, so be sure to check them both out!

On Sunday, October 9th during our 10:30am worship service, Rev. Robert Schroeder, Area Representative of the CCCC will join us for an Installation Service for Pastor Scott.  This is a very special time in the life of our church and we encourage you to be a part of this special service.

In true St. Paul fashion, we will share in a potluck meal following the service as we “officially” welcome Pastor Scott and Sue to our church family.  Please bring a dish or two for sharing and your table service.  Drinks will be provided.

The Board of Christian Education will sponsor the 4th annual 4 C’s Fall Party for the congregation on Sunday October 23rd following worship.  Activities planned include crafts, “trunk or treating” for the kids and a wagon ride (weather permitting).  The BOCE will provide Chili and Chicken Noodle Soup for lunch, drinks and table service.

The congregation is asked to provide a dish to share based on the following…If beginning letter of last name begins with

• A-H –Desserts
• I-Q– Finger Foods/Cheese/Veggies
• R-Z – Appetizers/Sandwiches.

We hope that everyone will join us for this fun-filled afternoon.

In honor of Election Day and Veteran’s Day, St. Paul Church invites you to a special evening of celebrating our freedom and honoring our military personnel, past and present.

Savor an evening of patriotic music, enjoy familiar melodies and delight in red, white and blue harmonies, including an Americana sing-along.  And don’t miss our fabulous dessert buffet following his free concert.

Join us on Sunday, November 6th at 7pm.

We will meet on Sunday, September 25th at 6pm, Sunday, October 9th from 6pm—9pm for our hayride and bonfire.  We will also meet October 30th at 4pm for Trick or Treating for the local food pantries, concluding our evening with a pizza party and games.

The Board of Christian Education met on Tuesday, September 6th at 7:30pm and discussed the following:

• Rally Day—Everyone attending Sunday School on September 11th will gather in the sanctuary to kick-off the new Sunday School year.  The balloon release will follow.  We will also provide cupcakes and juice for the refreshments after worship.  Pastor Scott & April will pass out Bibles to our 3rd graders during worship.
• Worm Sunday School – some of the teachers will meet to discuss the lesson focus for this year.  September lessons are taken care of and a sign up will be passed as soon as things are decided for the remainder of the year.
• Salvation Army collection for October will be items for school cold lunches ~ fruit snacks, granola bars, juice boxes, snack-size items, or as always anything you wish to donate is always greatly appreciated.
• Fall Party—October 23rd after worship.  There will be crafts,  “Trunk or Treating”, and a hayride, weather   permitting.  The congregation is asked to bring food according to their last name:
  • A-H Desserts
  • I-Q finger foods/cheese/veggies
  • R-Z appetizers/sandwiches.

The Board of Christian Education will provided chicken noodle soup and chili along with place settings and drinks.

• Pastor Appreciation:  A sign up sheet will be passed around during church for people to sign up for a day throughout the month of October to show their appreciation to Pastor Scott & Sue.
• Christmas Committees:   It was decided to wait until next month to figure this out.

Our next meeting will be Monday, October 3rd at 7:30 p.m.