News

Church News

Church Council Highlights

The following are some highlights from the November 17, 2022 meeting of our Church Council:

The Worship Team reported that we will offer a “Blue Christmas” worship service on Thursday, December 22nd at 6:30pm.
The Youth Huddle reported that our Spaghetti Supper will be held on Sunday, December 4th. The “freewill offering” meal will be offered from 4:30pm to 7pm. The MHS Madrigals will perform in the Sanctuary at 7pm.
Council was joined by Rev. Jen Beamsley, Assistant to the Bishop. Pastor Ken read his letter of resignation to the Council; and Pastor Jen then led Council through the “Congregation in Transition” worksheet. A Transition Team will be formed.

Finance Report Year To Date thru October 2022:
Budgeted Income $301,295 Actual Income $259,303
Budgeted Expense $315,459 Actual Expense $311,087

We are grateful for your continued financial support, through your offerings in person, through the mail, and through automatic giving. We are blessed to have such a faithful St. John’s family.

Spaghetti Dinner set for December 4th

Our annual Spaghetti Dinner will be held on Sunday, December 4th from 4:30pm to 7pm. We will be serving you a delicious dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce, breadsticks, salad, and homemade dessert. Our junior high and high school students are looking forward to serving you at your table again this year. Please invite your family and friends to join you for this freewill offering meal. All proceeds will support the 2023 Mission Trips and other youth activities. Following the dinner, you are invited to join us in the Sanctuary for a special performance by the Mendota High School Madrigal Singers.

Our talented St. John’s Quilting Ladies will have several handmade quilts on display as part of a Silent Auction that will conclude on December 11th. We hope you will take some time to enjoy the beauty of these quilts, and place bids on your favorites. Proceeds from the Silent Auction will be donated to the Youth.

Students — Please plan to arrive in the Fellowship Hall by 4pm on December 4th. We’re looking forward to another fun and successful event!

The Angel Tree Has Returned!

We invite you to come to the Fellowship Hall for the return of the Angel Tree. Once again, you can help brighten the lives of residents at Heritage Health with gifts listed on the Angel Tree tags.

Items needed include: hand lotion (must NOT say “keep out of reach of children”), soft candy (regular and sugar-free), circle word puzzles, large print books or magazines, stamps, stationery, diabetic socks, sweatshirts (adult XL, XXL, XXXL). Instructions are by the tree. Please bring your unwrapped items to the large box marked “Angel Tree” in the Fellowship Hall by December 11th. And then count yourself as a Christmas angel. Thank you!

The Silent Auction of beautiful quilts created by our talented St. John’s Quilting Ladies will begin on Sunday, November 27th. Stop in the Fellowship Hall to check them out and place a bid on your favorites! The auction will continue on Sunday, December 4th; and final bids will be accepted on Sunday, December 11th. All proceeds from the silent auction will benefit St. John’s Youth. We thank our Quilting Ladies for their efforts in creating the quilts and for their continued generous support of our youth.

Thank you!

We thank everyone who returned their completed Time, Talent & Giving form. If you are still working to complete yours, please bring it to the office as soon as possible. The forms are used in scheduling our worship volunteers. If you would like information on automatic giving, please speak to Susan Garner.

75th + Birthday

Dec. 7 Rita Randecker
Dec. 10 Betty Croisant
Carol Fischer
Dec. 19 Myrintha Morton
Dec. 21 Carole Dancey

Happy 50+ and
Milestone Anniversary Wishes!

Elwood & Jo Ann Kidd
December 6th — 64 years

Daniel & Rita Randecker
December 28th — 64 years

Duane & Dawn Kendall
December 29th — 30 years

Updated Addresses for
our Military Members

Gabrielle Brown has deployed to Kuwait. Mail can be sent to:
SPC Gabrielle Brown
149th MCB
Apo, AE 09366

Kianne (Brown) Jones is stationed in Washington. Mail can be sent to:
Kianne (Brown) Jones
921 115th Street
Apt. 0203 CTE
Tacoma, WA 98445

Haleigh Wendel is stationed in Hawaii. Mail can be sent to:
Haleigh E. Wendel
1175 Oklahoma Dr.
Unit #46
JBPHH, HI 96860

Special Items of Interest:

If you want Pastor Ken to know when you or a family member are hospitalized, please contact the church office. Because of privacy laws, the hospital will not contact us.
For the safety of our precious children, and for the security of our members, guests, volunteers, staff, and church property, notice is given that the premises are video-monitored.
Find us on Facebook! Search for "St. John's Lutheran Church" and join our page. It's an easy way to stay up-to-date on the happenings here at church.
Due to a lack of use and a small number of volunteers, we are not offering a staffed nursery during Sunday morning worship at this time. However, parents with infants or small children are welcome to use the Nursery or the Cry Room (near the Women’s restroom in the narthex) during Sunday services. TV monitors are provided in both locations so you may view the service. Please ask an usher for assistance.

Cemetery Plots are available for purchase. Please see Susan in the church office if you would like more information.

Quilting News!

The St. John's Quilting group will meet twice a month typically on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 9am (except for the month of December). For the month of November they will meet on Wednesday, November 9th (due to election day) and Tuesday, November 22nd.

The Quilting Ladies have replenished the walker bag basket in the Narthex. If you know of someone who would enjoy a bag, or if you would like one, please feel free to take one. They have also been able to assemble some Quilt Top Kits. If you would like to sew at home, the Kits are now available at the Information Booth and the Church office.

If you have cotton fabric or sheets that need a new home, we would be more than happy to be that new home! You can drop them off in the church office during regular hours.

Thank you for your continuing support of our projects for Lutheran World Relief.

St. John's Prayer Chain Ministry

The prayer chain has been very active these last several months and we are grateful for all of you who participate and offer your prayer support to those going through difficult times. If anyone else would like to join the prayer chain, please contact the church office. The prayer chain is conducted primarily through group text messages with a few members receiving information by a phone call.

The Christ In Our Home daily devotional booklets for October, November, and December are available in the narthex and the church office.

Thank You!

Rick & Becky Lowers, along with several clients of PADS, unloaded all of the paper products we collected for the Peru and Ottawa homeless shelters.

Thank you, everyone, for your generous support!

2023 Offering Envelopes

Offering envelopes for 2023 are available on a table in the Narthex.

Small Group Option for Adults
on Sunday Mornings

The Wired Word group will meet in the Luther Lounge following worship on Sunday mornings. This group for both men and women is led by Mitch Mays and effectively applies the Bible to stories taken from the headlines of the day. We hope you will plan to join us!

Virtual Worship Information

Get connected with us! We invite you to "like" and follow our new Facebook page, "St. John's Lutheran Church, Mendota, IL." We also stream our Sunday morning worship on our YouTube page. Simply go to www.youtube.com and search for STJ LUTHERAN MENDOTA. You do not need to subscribe to YouTube or our channel in order to watch the worship services. We have also added a "button" to the first page of our website that will take you right to our YouTube page, as well as in the Worship tab.

Of course, we invite everyone to join us in person for worship on Saturday evenings at 5pm or Sunday mornings at 9am.