WWW.STMARKSTJOE.COM
St. Mark
Evangelical Church in Saint Joe now has its own website!
The new
address is owned by the church. It
will appear on all business cards, letterheads, bulletins,
newsletters and the sign out front.
Merle R. Holden,
Minister, St. Mark Lutheran Church, Saint Joe, In.
Merle R. Holden, Pastor
Member of
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ
ST MARK LUTHERAN, MAY 2012
NEWSLETTER
Merle R.
Holden, Pastor
Member of
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ
MARGARET WEBER RETURNS MAY 6!
Our dedicated and talented
organist, Margaret Weber, had shoulder surgery on March 16 and has
been recovering.
The very good news is that
her surgery went very well so now she will return to play for us on
May 6!
PRAISE THE LORD!
Before she went on leave, Margaret(with help from
Troy Snyder and Lynette Schlemmer) recorded 12 songs on our new
keyboard.
Remington Cline and Judith Holden have been
alternating Sundays while Margaret was gone.
Now these two will fill in once per month to give
Margaret a Sunday off!.
We appreciate the dedication of Remington and Judith
and urge everyone to support and encourage them!
Be sure to check our church
web site regularly for updates! In recent weeks we have added a
bunch of pictures and the sermon from each Sunday is posted no later
than the Tuesday after!
So if you miss a Sunday service you can still get the
sermon.
The entire church directory is now on our web site as
well!
If you do not wish to have your picture on the web
site please let Pastor Merle know and it will be removed.
MAY BIRTHDAYS
2-Jensen Snyder
18-Marcia Sible
19-Marilyn Funk
28-Jane Carpenter
ANNIVERSARIES
18-Phil and Jane Carpenter
25-Larry and Delores Emenhiser
Are
we missing your birthday or wedding anniversary?
Just let Judith Holden know and we will put you on the list!
On the Sunday
prior to your birthday the entire church will sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to
you!
DONATIONS TO BUILDING FUND NEEDED!
Lets look at everything we have
done with money from the Building Fund since December!
New storage building-$2800
Electrical upgrades-$500
New church roof-$11,300
New carpet for basement, entry way
and back steps-$4500.
New facia for front and back of
church-$1000.
That totals up to $21,100!
So our Building Fund needs your
donation!
First we need to always have money
in the Building Fund for meet emergencies like the furnace or air
conditioning going out!
Next up will be upgrading our
kitchen area and the church council plans to use a professional
kitchen planner in determining our needs!
Please make sure your Building Fund
donation is above and beyond your regular donation to the church
because we still need your regular donation for current operating
expenses!
NEW FACIA FOR FRONT AND BACK OF CHURCH
COMING SOON!
Three years ago we had the facia
painted but already it has chipped and peeled!
So the church council decided there
was no point in painting it again.
David and Matt Snyder will soon be
covering the facia in aluminum which should be long lasting and make
the church very attractive from the outside!
Also Laune Mason will be painting
the church railing and making new boxes for the back of the pews to
hold the new folders Lorie Haase made for our song inserts.
We are really excited about making
our church building as attractive as can be!
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL JULY 23-27!
Mary Lu Snyder, VBS Director, has announced
that VBS will be held July 23-27 from 6pm to 8pm!
The annual cook out in the park for the
entire community will be Friday, July 27!
Incredible World is the theme for VBS 2012!
This year’s material is from Concordia Publishing
Company and gets right to the heart of the matter in terms of our
relationship with God!
The material makes crystal clear that God created
everything and nothing was by chance!
It also makes crystal clear that God sent his only
son to suffer and die on a cross as a once and for all time
sacrifice for our sins!
If we believe in and follow Christ and truly repent
of our sins and ask for forgiveness, we can be assured God will
forgive us because Christ has paid the price!
WOMEN OF THE WORD!
The sign-up papers for the Mother/Daughter Banquet
are in the church! REMEMBER; THIS IS REALLY FOR ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS
AND THEIR GUESTS! Date is May 11, time 6:30, and the men and boys
have again graciously agreed to serve and clean up afterwards.
SO BE SURE TO SIGN UP OR CALL MARCIA SIBLE; 260-337-5020, or MARLYN
FUNK; 260-337-5586. We need your name and the number of people in
you group, including yourself. Please let us know by Monday, May 7.
During our April meeting we made plans for refreshments of
confirmation, June 3rd.
We will meet Thursday, May 10 at 1:00 to decorate for the banquet,
May 11.
Mary Lu presented the final lesson from our book. It was the
story of the woman known only as, “the sinful woman,” in Luke
chapter 7. While she showed humility and grief for her sins, others
sat in judgment, not only of her, but of Jesus for caring about her
and forgiving her sins. Lessons? We are not to judge or be
self-righteous. And God loves and forgives everyone who truly
repents. Marcia used Matthew 16:6-13 for the devotions.
Since we have now finished the book, “Bad Women of the Bible and
What We Can Learn from Them,” we have put some of the books on the
stand in the entryway so that others can read them. If any one, man
or woman, is interested, pick one of the books up and read it.
Marcia and Mary Lu served great refreshments among decorations of
tulips and bunnies.
Marcia has the June lesson and Delores and Jane are hostesses.
SERVING IN MAY
Altar: Kim and Gary Woebbeking and Lynette Schlemmer
Cleaning: Kim Woebbeking
Flowers:
May 6: Marcia Sible in memory of Sally Wolfe
May 13 and 20 Betty Bevington
May 27: --open--
MAY HYMNS
MAY 6-5TH EASTER
785-WHEN PEACE LIKE A RIVER
INSERT-IT IS NO SECRET
773-PRECIOUS LORD TAKE MY
HAND
MAY 13-6TH EASTER
623-ROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME
INSERT 490-LORD I’M COMING HOME
592-JUST AS I AM WITHOUT ONE PLEA
MAY 20 –7TH EASTER
803-WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDEROUS CROSS
INSERT 491--JESUS I COME
773-PRECIOUS LORD TAKE MY HAND
MAY 27-DAY OF PENTECOST
608-SOFTLY AND TENDERLY JESUS IS CALLING
623-ROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME
INSERT –ONWARD CHRISTIAN
SOLDIERS
CHURCH HAS TWO HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
THIS YEAR!
St. Mark Lutheran is blessed with 2 high school
graduates this year!
Both Lindsey Boger and Landon Emenhiser are
graduating from Deklab Central.
Both took confirmation class at St. Mark and
are active members of our church!
We will have a special acknowledgement of these
two on a Sunday during May and we will take a picture of them for
our newspaper advertising!
CONFIRMATION CLASS !
Confirmation classes are almost done
for the present school year!
May 3 the second year students will
meet to have their picture taken for a newspaper ad and then will go
over ceremonies for the June 3 confirmation.
Second year students are Remington
Cline, Caleb Keen and Nic Shewman.
First year students are Zach Hart and
Chloe Garrison .
Classes have covered the Old
Testament and the New Testament plus an intensive study of the
Reformation and Lutheran history.
74 AT WORSHIP ON APRIL 22!
Our highest number in over a year!
Thanks to the baptism of Mason
Herbert Holden we had almost as many guests as members!
Mason is the son of Captain Steven
and Anabel Holden who currently reside in Fort Polk, Louisiana.
Mason had his grandmother and great
grandmother watch him being baptized!
Guests came from Michigan and
Illinois as well as Indiana.
Pastor Merle and Judith Holden, Rick
and Danielle Holden and Sharon Vaughn are all great uncles-aunts of
Mason.
Zonda and Kelby Musselman are 2nd
cousins.
Our last two baptisms have been for
people coming quite some distance as before Mason we had the
grandson of Jackie Griffin come from Arkansas to be baptized!
SAVE THOSE ALUMINUM CANS!
You can leave your cans in a trash bag in the back of the church.
Rex Snyder takes them to recycling
and the proceeds go to the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund to help needy
families in our church!
So don’t throw them away-bring them
to church!
Please crush them first, if possible.
This is a great way to help those in
need!
With the PDF there is absolutely no
administrative expense, all money goes to needy families.
No money is given directly to the
needy family but rather gas cards or food cards are purchased or
rent payments, utility payments, etc are made.
PENS FOR MOTHER’S DAY AND FATHER’S
DAY!
In what has now become a tradition at St. Mark we will give each mother
a pen on Mother’s Day, May 13, at worship and each father a pen on
Father’s Day in June.
But if you should miss church on the big day, just ask Pastor Merle for
a pen!
PSALM 133
Psalm
133 describes church unity!
How truly good
and pleasant it is when we can live together in unity!
United the
church can and will grow!
United the
church can and
will win and nourish souls for our
Lord’s eternal kingdom!
But a divided
church will never grow!
Thus it actually
is a very
good thing that we have so many
different churches today!
Because then
each believer can find a church home
where they fit in!
But to have
church unity we must give up serving self and instead serve
others!
We must work for
Christ and not our self!
SHORT NOTES FROM
THE PASTOR
LCMC, our church wide body, now has 682
congregations in the US, 771 world wide from 11 countries including
42 states and 2 US territories!
Each month LCMC takes in around 5 new
churches in the United States.
Two years ago we
were the 100th congregation to join LCMC!
The North American
Lutheran Church now has 309 member churches.
LCMC has 10
churches in
Indiana
and NALC has 9.
WOW!
The David Snyder
and Matt Snyder families celebrated the 95th birthday of
David’s mother on April 22!
Karen Trenary
worshiped with us on April 22 and reported that her mother, Gaynell
Lake, is now back from Florida!
I recently read a
newspaper article that concluded the reason churches do not grow is
that people have quit asking others to come and see!
Are we guilty as
well?
Can it hurt to ask?
Now we can invite
them to come and see our new carpet if for no other reason!
But the best way
for a church to grow is to have members constantly inviting others
to come and see!
What a year this
has been and we have only completed four months!
Just think of
everything we have done for far in the say the past 5 months or so!
Electrical
upgrades, new storage building, new church roof, revamped storage
room in basement, new carpet in basement, entry way and steps, new
facia front and back of the church, new keyboard player 2new
tv-dvd’s for Christian Education, , 50 new state of the art folding
chairs!
Wow!
I may even have
forgotten something!
No ands, ifs or
buts about it-GOD
HAS TRULY BLESSED US!
Plus some terrific
meals and some terrific singers during our Wednesday Lenten
services!
I really appreciate
everyone who attended the Lenten services and especially those who
prepared meals.
This past year for
Lent we tried some more contemporary singers as opposed to more
Southern Gospel singers in 2011!
But we had the
Inspired 4 back for the final Wednesday so we did not leave the
Southern Gospel singers totally out!
I am always looking
for feedback on which singers we like the best.
Sometimes it can be
difficult to get singers on Wednesdays because their home church may
well have services and many of them sing in the choir!
Please help me be
on the lookout for singers in Lent 2013!
Looking ahead we
one of the biggest church events of the year coming up May 11 and
that is the annual Mother-Daughter Banquet!
With all the
improvements to the church building this year the church will really
look terrific for the banquet!
Then June 3 we have
confirmation!
That is always a
big event!
I am sure we all
remember the day we were confirmed!
Then in July
Vacation Bible School and on Friday of that week the annual cook-out
in the park!
Then August and the
Pickle Fest! Food tent and parade!
Plus I hear the WOW
ladies are adding a rummage sale and bake sale for the Pickle Fest
this year!
After an
advertising blitz during Lent, we will resume going back to the two
times per week, two weeks per month in the Auburn Star and twice per
month in the weekly Butler Bulletin.
This helps keeps
the church in the news and who knows who might see our ad and give
us a try?
Buying the new
keyboard was sure a great investment for our church!
After Margaret gets
back and going again we will have her record some more songs on the
keyboard so that when she is gone we can still have the songs!
I know we all
really appreciate Remington Cline and Judith Holden for filling in!
Remington is only a
6tth grader-hard to believe! And Judith had never played before!
After Judith broke
her wrist it was really vital that we had those pre recorded songs
on hand!
No doubt Satan has
thrown some curves our way!
But never
forget-GOD IS FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN SATAN!
God just continues
to bless us as a church so richly and guided by The Holy Spirit we
can overcome anything Satan throws at us!
WORSHIP ASSISTANTS FOR MAY!
MAY 6-
:ACOLYTE: NIC SHEWMAN
GREETERS:JANICE HANCOCK, TAMMY MILLER
USHERS: REX SNYDER, LAUNE MASON
READER: MARILYN SNYDER
COMMUNION ASSISTANT-LOLA CLINE
REFRESHMENTS: DEB AND LAUNE MASON
MAY 13-
ACOLYTE: JENSEN SNYDER
GREETERS: MARY LU AND REX SNYDER
USHERS: LINDSEY BOGER, ALYSON BOGER
READER –LYNETTE SCHLEMMER
COMMUNION ASSISTANT-TROY SNYDER
REFRESHMENTS-MICHELLE SNYDER
MAY 20
ACOLYTE-MADILYN SNYDER
GREETERS-MARCIA SIBLE, MARLYN FUNK
USHERS-NIC SHEWMAN, CALEB KEEN
READER-PATTY SNYDER
COMMUNION ASSISTANT-TODD HAASE
REFRESHMENTS-MARCIA SIBLE, BETTY HEISLER
MAY 27
ACOLYTE-CHLOE GARRISON
GREETERS-JANICE HANCOK, ZONDA MUSSELMAN
USHERS-LAUNE MASON, ZACH HART
READER-DEB MASON
COMMUNION ASSISTANT-LYNETTE SCHLEMMER
REFRESHMENTS-DEKALB THRIVENT
THE RESURECTED JESUS!
On at least
eleven different occasions according to the scriptures Jesus
appeared between his death on the cross and his accession to heaven.
First of course
to Mary Magdalene and other women.
Second to the
disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Third, to Peter.
Fourth, to the
ten disciples in the upper room.
But Thomas was
not present at this meeting.
Fifth, to the 11
disciples in the upper room this time with Thomas present.
Sixth, to the
disciples at the sea of Tiberias.
Seventh, to the
eleven on a mountain in Gailee.
Eighth, to 500
believers at once.
Ninth, to James.
Tenth, to all of
the Apostles.
Eleven, to those
present when he ascended into heaven.
So on at least
11 different occasions and perhaps many more believers saw Jesus
following his crucifixion.
ST
MARK’S LUTHERAN CHURCH
www.stmarkstjoe.com
Member of Lutheran Congregations in Mission
for Christ
P.O. Box
345
302
W. Washington St.
Saint
Joe, In, 46785
