Dear St. Paul’s Family,
At last night’s Charge Conference, St. Paul’s received my annual report to the congregation, highlighting some of our many accomplishments throughout the past year. In case you were unable to attend, I invite you to read the report below and celebrate all that God has done through your faithfulness and commitment over the past year.
“WORSHIP, GROW, CARE, SHARE:
LIVING INTO OUR MISSION OF PUTTING GOD’S LOVE INTO ACTION”
The best way to consider all the ways that St. Paul’s has put God’s love into action is to do so in the context of our four-fold mission statement:
WORSHIP: We worship with joy, because Christ is among us and deserves our praise.
- Last spring, St. Paul’s fulfilled one of the goals of the 2020 Vision Plan by expanding the musical offerings of the church and engaging new volunteers in music ministry. Under the direction of Dr. David Klee, we started a new praise band, which leads worship monthly. They have offered a fresh, contemporary addition to our worship experience.
- Our sermon series have been varied and relevant, and have included series on the life of David, on refreshing one’s faith, and on living the resurrection.
GROW: We grow in our faith, practicing every day what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
- We have fulfilled the goal of our 2020 Vision Plan by starting four new small groups this Fall: “Jesus the One and Only,” “The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen,” “Companions in Christ,” and “The Miracle of Life Change.” Thanks to C.W. Miller, John Chalstrom, Marilyn Brubaker, Mollie Johnson, and Andrea Cook for their leadership. A number of first time small group attendees were part of these new groups.
- Children’s and Youth Ministry continue to be vibrant and active. The youth went on a Ski Trip in February, and did a service project at the Midwest Christian Children’s Home in the Spring. The Children had the best Vacation Bible School ever, and raised money to purchase dozens of pairs of shoes for underprivileged children locally and around the world through TOM’s Shoes.
CARE: We care for each other as an encouraging, supportive, and growing family.
- We fulfilled the goal of our 2020 Vision Plan of establishing a new Helping Hands program, designed to link the skills and energy of people in the congregation to assist other people with basic needs. This year we have helped many individuals with yard work, car rides to the doctor and to church, home repair, and packing/moving. Thanks to Sheree Hausmann, Marlene Kelly, and all the Helping Hands volunteers for launching this new program so successfully.
- Under the direction of our new Administrative Assistant, Andrea Cook, we have a new team of ten people who make weekly visits to our shut-ins and nursing home residents. They deliver a CD recording of the service, the weekly bulletin, and check on them for pastoral and personal concerns. It has been a wonderful addition to our caring ministries.
SHARE: We share with others to meet their physical and spiritual needs, and invite all people to faith in Christ.
- We celebrate once again being a Third-Mile Rainbow Covenant Missions congregation, and are on track for that same designation at the end of this year. We received special offerings for the Kies’ family, Nothing But Nets, and TOM’s shoes. We are also up to date on apportionment giving for the year.
- In February, we hosted the first-ever Great Cherokee Pancake Day Race and Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, which involved over 80 racers and included hundreds of Shrove Tuesday worshippers and diners. The event raised the visibility of both St. Paul’s and the town of Cherokee, in the spirit of ecumenical cooperation with many other local churches. It garnered regional media coverage on newspaper, radio, and television, and we are looking forward to another great race next February. The fundraiser raised over $1,000 for the two local food pantries. Thanks to John Cook and the Adult Class for spearheading this memorable, and highly effective, evangelistic and missional event.
- In September, we improved our hospitality to visitors by redesigning our Sunday worship bulletin. The new bulletin communicates clearly the mission, vision, and values of the church to everyone in attendance, and more effectively solicits prayer requests and first-time visitor information from people in the pews. We have already seen improvements in the way people are informed of ministry opportunities, and enhanced our ability to prayer needs.
Finally, the Building Committee has been very busy in fulfilling the Campus Facilities goals listed in our 2020 Vision Plan. We approved the purchase of the two residential lots south of the church for the purpose of additional parking, and have secured the services of both an architect and contractor to begin work on the lots in upcoming months. The committee has met nearly every other week with the architect to work on plans for the three-story education wing, focusing on improvements to the kitchen, dining hall, fellowship hall, basement level, classrooms, and façade of the education wing. We anticipate that a completed plan will be proposed to the congregation, along with the start of a new capital campaign, sometime in the next year.
These have been exciting, fruitful days in the life of the St. Paul’s congregation, as we continue to live into our vision and fulfill the goals of our long-term plan. Many thanks to the lay leadership and faithful support of the people of this church. Together, we are truly putting God’s love into action, with an exciting future ahead of us.
Grace and Peace,
Magrey
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