News - St John's Lutheran Church

Church News

Church Council Highlights

The following are some highlights from the August 17, 2023 meeting of our Church Council:

This was Vicar Anthony’s final Council meeting. He shared a list of all of his Pastoral Acts for this year.
Task Force reported that everything is ready for Trivia Night and Pizza as a final farewell for Vicar Anthony.
Service Team will host a reception for Vicar Anthony following worship on August 20th. Also, plans are being made for Cocoa & Cookies to be served after Caroling and the Lighting of the Courtyard Christmas Tree on Sunday, November 26th.
Educational Ministry Team indicated that Sunday School registration forms and letters will be mailed to families. Sunday School Rally Day is set for Sunday, September 10th.
Property Team is contacting contractors about removing the dead tree at the parsonage, and sealing/painting the parking lot.
Stewardship Team has reviewed this year’s Stewardship Campaign. It will begin on October 29th and end with “Harvest Celebration Sunday” on November 19th.
Memorial Team approved using funds to purchase curriculum for our Confirmation and High School students.
Outreach/Evangelism shared that they have donated over 80 quilts to the Veterans’ Home, Heritage, Stonecroft, and Another Child Foundation (Romania & Guatemala).
Call Committee shared that Ken Ladenburger has talked with Rev. Jen Beamsley who stated that she’s been passing our information out, but has no news to report.
Council voted to accept Allen & Kari Huff as new members. They will be recognized during worship on August 20th.
The next All Teams Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 7th at 7pm; and the next Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 21st at 6:30pm.

Finance Report Year To Date thru July 2023:
Budgeted Income $188,561 Actual Income $193,412
Budgeted Expense $180,662 Actual Expense $173,810

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.

Task Force Trivia Night

On Saturday, August 20th, the Task Force hosted St. John’s second Trivia Competition in the Fellowship Hall. About 70 people gathered for pizza and fellowship prior to the competition. Nine teams made up of St. John’s members, some of Anthony’s family, friends and even one of his retired high school teachers competed for the chance to distribute a total of $6,000 of Task Force money to a charity of their choice. The nine teams were: The Silly Geese, The Rescuers, Shootin’ for Second, Totally Trivia, The Be Sharps, The Good Ole Girls & Guys, SIT (Seniors in Training ), The Windau Tribe (members of Anthony’s family) and Unnamed Table 9. There were 6 categories of trivia: Science, History, Music, TV/Movie, Sports and General, plus a double points category twist at the end. The first place team of SIT (Seniors in Training) chose to donate their $3,000 to MASS (Mendota Area Senior Services). Second place winners, The Rescuers (Vicar Anthony’s team) donated their $2,000 to Lucky Tales Rescue, the rescue where Vicar Anthony adopted Chick & Daisy. Then after a 3-way tie for third place was broken, The Be Sharps donated their $1,000 to The Mendota Area Food Pantry new building fund. Thank you to everyone who organized and participated in this fun, all-ages event!

"Share The Bounty"
Surplus Garden Produce Table

“Share The Bounty” continues throughout the growing season! Bring your surplus garden produce to the table in the courtyard and “Share The Bounty” with others. Any produce left on the table after fellowship time will be donated to the micro pantry at First Presbyterian Church.

We welcome
Embrace Change Therapy
to St. John's!

We are excited to announce that Jennie Espinoza, M.S. ALMFT, will begin renting space from St. John's for her mental health counseling practice, Embrace Change Therapy. She will use the former Youth Director’s office (Vicar Anthony’s old office), and offer appointments to the public.

Mrs. Espinoza has a passion for helping others, especially youth, young adults, and families. She also works as a behavioral health specialist at St. Margaret's Health-Spring Valley. Her contact information will be shared soon.

75th + Birthday

August 31         Allan (Tim) Munson
September 4     Jean Schwingle
September 13   Jean Carnahan
September 29   Richard Althaus

Happy Milestone and 50+ Anniversary Wishes!

Jan & Judy Schuster
September 1st — 61 years

Gary & Mary Kay Sutton
September 4th — 58 years

Rex & Kris Blunk
September 22nd — 51 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 Vicar Anthony 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 Melissa in the church office if you would like more information.

Attention St. John's Teams & Members

If you would like to use the church building for your meetings, please contact the church office so we can put you on the calendar. This is especially important as the building is being used more during the Call Process and with the addition of an outside mental health counselor beginning here. Thank you!

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..."
Galatians 5:22

Be sure to stop and enjoy the refreshed look in our St. John’s courtyard! The new courtyard banners include six of the Fruits of the Spirit. These words were inspired by the recent feedback from the congregation about how they feel about St. John’s: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and generosity. The background of each banner is the artwork of John Tyler Dossett, the late brother of Aimee Holland. John loved visiting St. John’s and would have been proud to be a part of this new look. (The old banners were the artwork of Quin Holland back in 2011.) Many thanks to Joanne Miller, who sewed the banners to fit the brackets, and to Troy Holland for installing the banners. These beautiful new banners were made possible through dedicated funds in memory of Luanne Schmidt, daughter of Norma Peasley.

Quilting News!

The St. John's Quilting group will meet on Tuesday, October 24th at 9am.

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 July, August and September are available in the narthex and the church office.

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 Sunday mornings at 9am.

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!