St. John's Youth

St. John's Youth News
"Growing Together in our Faith as we Serve Others"

Sunday School Rally Day -- September 9th!

The 2018-2019 Sunday School year resumes on Sunday, September 9th! A great way to start this year is to attend worship as a family at 9am. Your child can bring his or her backpack to worship to be blessed. There will be a special Children’s Message on this day, as well as the Installation of our Sunday School staff. Sunday School sign-in begins following worship (or by 10:10am) in the North Fellowship Hall. Parents of 3 year old through 2nd grade students should stay with their child at the gathering table on Rally Day. This group will travel to the Chapel for music, then move to their classrooms for a lesson and snack. (Parents are invited to stay for a short time, or the entire class on this first day.) Our 3rd through 6th grade students may go to their classroom upstairs after signing-in. Parents are encouraged to visit. At 11:10am, parents of children ages 3 through 2nd grade should pick up their child from their classrooms. Dismissal of 3rd through 6th graders will take place from South Parish Hall. Everyone is invited to enjoy the Potluck Brunch taking place in the Fellowship Hall beginning around 10:30am. Parents can enjoy breakfast while your children are in class, or you can enjoy breakfast as a family once Sunday School has dismissed. Either way, we hope you will plan to join us for breakfast!

Backpack Blessing -- September 9th!

Students of all ages (and teachers, too) are invited to bring your backpack to worship with you on Sunday School Rally Day, September 9th for a special “back to school” prayer. You will be called forward to have your backpack blessed and a gift will be attached to it for you to carry God’s Love with you throughout your entire school year. We’re looking forward to seeing you on September 9th for the Backpack Blessing and Rally Day!

Students to Receive Bibles -- September 16th

Our 3rd grade students will be receiving their Bibles during worship on September 16th. Watch your mailbox for more information about this special day. (Our 7th grade students will receive their Confirmation study Bibles on this day also.)

Confirmation Class Information

Confirmation Classes will resume with Rally Day on Sunday, September 9th at 10:10am. 7th and 8th graders should plan to sign-in at the table in the north Fellowship Hall (as usual) and meet in the Disciples’ Den.

Acolyte training and fitting for albs will be held during class on Sunday, September 9th. It is very important that our 7th and 8th graders make every effort to attend this training session. Once trained, our 7th graders will be scheduled to acolyte during Sunday worship.

Our 7th graders will receive their Confirmation study Bibles during worship on Sunday, September 16th. More information will be sent home with students as the date approaches.

On Sunday, September 16th, we will meet in the Disciples’ Den at 10:10am for class. Parents are asked to join the class for “Parent & Student Orientation.” We will be discussing class expectations, service opportunities, and upcoming activities.

Please keep our Confirmation Class in your prayers as they continue their studies this school year — Jace Baird, Macy Hartt, Landon Kreiser, Matt Miller, Alayna Nosalik, Laurel Politsch, Haden Shakespeare, Garret Zinke, and Gracie Zinke.

High School
ENOUGH!

Please plan to join us in the Upper Room on Rally Day, Sunday, September 9th immediately following worship. We will spend some time working together to lay out the new format for our weekly Sunday ENOUGH events. We’ll also do a short activity prior to joining the congregation for the Potluck Brunch planned for that day.

It’s going to be a great start to a good year and YOUR being there is going to make it that way!! Looking forward to seeing you then!

Junior High
Agents Of Change

Watch the bulletin announcements and your email for upcoming AGENTS OF CHANGE events.

THANK YOU!

We say “Thank You!!” to our junior high students, friends, and adult helpers who met recently to do some weeding at the parsonage. After their hard work, they enjoyed a picnic lunch, hiking, and loads of fun at Matthiessen Park.

St. John's Scholarship Fund Recipients

Scholarships in the amount of $11,000 were awarded to several young church members. Congratulations to:

Grace Brandner (IVCC), Amy Devitt (University of Illinois), Jared Fritz (North Central College), Natalie Landgraf (Western Illinois University), Gabrielle Peasley (Illinois State University), Cameron Schumacher (Bradley University), Brock Sutton (Bradley University), Gillian Sutton (St. Ambrose University), Jacquelynn Wendel (IVCC), Bethany Wohrley (Illinois State University), Melissa Wohrley (North Central College), and Mark Zimmerman (Iowa State University).

Our First Communion Students

First Communion was held on Sunday, January 21, 2018 for our 2nd grade students. We welcome to the Lord’s Table — from left to right

Corbin Doll (son of David & Melissa Doll), Shea Kreiser (son of Mike & Valerie Kreiser), Christopher Fara (son of Andrew & Charnelle Fara), Kade Jackson (son of Brad & Angie Jackson), Cole Tillman (son of Luke & Lisa Tillman), Klaire Knaff (daughter of Kyle & Kelly Knaff), Riley Erlenborn (daughter of Jim & Linda Erlenborn), and Grace Schlesinger (daughter of Eric Hagemann & Carla Schlesinger), and Pastor Janet Lepp.

2018 High School Mission Trip Team

2018 Benton Harbor, MI Mission Trip Team:
(front row L-R) Natalie Landgraf, Tammy Landgraf, Gabrielle Brown, Grace Brandner, Gabbi Peasley, Maya Martin, Bailey Baird, Sophie Holland, Sammi Katschke, and Aimee Holland.
(back row L-R) Matthew Grenter, Mitch Landgraf, Troy Holland, Cole Zimmerman, Gavin Glazebrook, Ted Landgraf, and Logan Brandner.

2018 Jr. High Poured Out Mission Trip

The 2018 Poured Out Mission Trip Team is made up of (front row L-R): Alayna Nosalik, Jillian Younger, and Natalie Hanaman; (back row L-R): Melissa Nosalik, Kennedy Knaff, Lauren Holland, and Jeni Holland.

Team Pictures from previous High School Mission Trips

2017 Red Lake, MN Mission Trip Team Maria, Natalie, Brent, Grace, Matthew, Gabrielle, Gavin, Gillian, Cole, Cameron, Aaron, Gabbi and Sammye

2016 Cincinnati, OH Mission Trip Team Maria, Gavin, Jacquelynn, Haleigh, Gillian, Cameron, Natalie, Dave, Grace, Aaron and Roberta.

2015 St. Louis, MO Mission Trip Team Mary, Jared, Grace, Brock, Natalie, Gillian, Mark, Cameron, Amy, Jacquelynn, Brady, Karen, Don, Maria and Joey

2014 Bayou La Batre, AL Mission Trip Team Maria, Paige, Grace, Emily, Cameron, Gillian, Jacquelynn, Brady, Amy, Lukas, Jared, Joey, Mark, Brock and Barry

2013 Benton Harbon, MI Mission Trip Team Jared, Mark, Erik, Brock, Brady, Gillian, Amy, Cameron and Jacquelynn (not pictured: Maria, Alice and Curt)

2012 Eastern Shore of Virginia Mission Trip Team with YouthWorks staff members and Jeff, Amy, Marcus, Mark, Jared, Brock, Paige S., Paige H., Brady and Maria.