St. Paul’s Lenten Services

The worship service for Ash Wednesday will be held on Wednesday, February 22nd at 7:00 pm. This is the beginning of the Lenten season and worship services will be held every Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm until Holy Week which is the first week of April.

Enclosed in your newsletter this month is a “Lenten Gift” envelope. This year our Lenten offerings will be going to PAVE (People Against a Violent Environment).

Some info on them...
Empowering those affected by violence.
Currently, the PAVE office and shelter operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with six full time employees,several part time staff and the assistance of volunteers. Since the agency began keeping records in 1992, PAVE has served over ten thousand individuals of all ages, genders, races and socioeconomic status affected by domestic violence and sexual assault. The level of service we provide is directly related to the generosity of our community. Programs ebb and flow as funding changes annually. PAVE crisis services are available to anyone who is a victim of domestic violence and/or sexual assault regardless of age, race, ethnicity, disability, gender, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status or socioeconomic status. Crisis services are available to both those that stay in shelter and those that continue to live in the community. For more information please see: www.peopleagainstaviolentenvironment.com.

CHARA! meets on Thursdays!

CHARA! groups continue their study on David with "A Heart Like His" on Thursday, January 5th. If you would like to start the new year and attend Bible Study at St. Paul’s you are welcome. The sessions meet on Thursday mornings at 8:15 and Thursday evenings at 6:30. We will be continuing our study of King David, but it is not hard to pick up even if you have not been attending. New members are always welcome!

Active Membership

Every year, we have members who are placed on our “inactive membership” list, and some who are removed from membership because they have been inactive for a number of years. In order to be considered an active member of our congregation, a member needs to receive holy communion and make a financial contribution to our ministry during the year. We hope that all of you choose to keep your membership active.

St. Paul's Needs Your Help!

Meals On Wheels - Looking for Drivers

We have schedules every day of the week (Monday to Friday) or one day a week (all Mondays, Tuesday, etc.) for a month, approximately from 10:45 am until noon. This a wonderful program that helps seniors and others who are homebound get nutritious meals. If you are interested please call Elaine Baumann 920-478-3158. You can leave a message.

Volunteers Needed for Mobile Food Pantry

On Friday, February 24th there will be a mobile food pantry at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church - Fellowship Hall in Marshall for residents of the Marshall and Waterloo communities in need of assistance. This will be a monthly event and is sponsored by the Marshall-Waterloo Food Pantry and 2nd Harvest.

We are in need of volunteers from 3:00 - 6:00 pm to help unload food, work during distribution and help clean up afterwards. Any unused food will be given to our local food pantry. If you are willing and able to help with this ministry, please contact the church office or just stop down at Holy Trinity.

Prayer Chain - Power in Prayer

Jesus tells us to "ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened" (Matthew 7:7)

St. Paul's Prayer Chain is a network of people who are committed to act on these words on behalf of our congregation by taking action on the needs of our congregation, community and world. As prayer requests and thanksgivings are received by the prayer chain network, they are forwarded to the next available person. Each member of the network will pray immediately for each request.

This is a vital ministry as members of the prayer chain intercede on behalf of others in need by lifting up specific requests, concerns and emergency situations. As requested, all prayer requests are kept confidential. At the time the prayer is requested, the caller is asked to later update the prayer chain leader on the situation and include answered prayer so that prayer chain members can thank God for His answer and stop the request.

Because our present prayer chain has been in existence for years, we have lost a number of faithful prayer participants, and are in need of new participants to petition God on behalf of our members. All that is required is a phone, pencil and notebook to record prayer requests, concern and compassion for the needs of others, and a heart committed to prayer.

If you wish to be a part of this ministry please call the church office or Jan Crave (478-2233).

Want to Join a Fun Team? We Need Greeters!

Team “GREET” is now recruiting new members. The only requirement is to be at Church 15 minutes before the Sunday service begins (8:45 am) on your scheduled greet date. You then pick up your name badge and talk to your co-greeter to decide who gets to man which entry door. As your fellow parishioners come in to worship, give them a pleasant “Hello! Welcome to St. Paul’s” (or whatever greeting you prefer).

If you wish to volunteer or if you are currently a greeter and wish to get OFF the list - please call Lynn Sullivan at 478-2642. Please call ASAP!

Schedules are flexible if you are out of town for extended periods of time, on vacation, or just “can’t” during a certain time of year.

Vocal and Bell Choir Director Needed

St. Paul's has an opening for a vocal and bell choir director. If you are interested or know someone who is, please contact the Mutual Ministry Committee chairperson, Jan Crave, Pastor Robb or the church office.

Help Us Save Postage - New Email Directory

In an effort to save some postage we are going to try to use the Internet email for as much communication as we can rather than sending out schedules, notices, etc. We will put together an email directory of our members and friends. If you have an email address that you can receive notices from St. Paul's members, please email a note the the church office at office@stpaulswaterloo.com and note your email address.

Youth & Family Committee Needs a Leader

The Youth & Family Committee has been without a leader for a long time and we'd really like to see someone take it on. They could do as much or as little as they like with it and there are a few people willing to help out. They should talk to Pastor Robb if they are interested or would like more information.

St. Paul's Library

We are beginning a process to rejuvenate the library at St. Paul’s. Kathleen Throne-Luebs has offered to work on this but would like your help to give her an idea of what you would like to see available in the library. At the present time we have no budget to purchase any items but are open to accept donations of inspirational adult and children’s book. If you have any ideas, please email them or write them and send them to the church office. If you have any items that you would like to donate, please put them in the library. If you would be interested in writing a book review for the newsletter, please contact the office.