Those boys are so polite. We hosted approximately 20 Pistol Shrimp players and interns last Tuesday. A great lunch of spaghetti, corn casserole and many different kinds of desserts were offered and they chowed down. I know girls can eat a lot (having raised two), but college age boys went through a lot of food. But the thing that stood out the most was how polite they were.
This year during the lunch we opened it up to church families and friend as well. There were a number of children present. One was actually sitting with a group of players. It was cool to see. And pretty much everyone who was there were so appreciative and were quick with many thank-yous. These are good people.
Speaking of good people, I want to give a shout out to the Evangelism team. They did a great job of preparing, welcoming, serving and cleaning up. They are a great group to work with. Heard a lot of laughter in the back as they were working. Most of them prepared a dessert or a side dish for this event. They are a group that gets things done. They seem to have fun together while doing it. I also learned that when a cookie is stuck to another cookie, it only counts as one. I had one cookie.
Ella Weber was there sharing in the meal with everyone. It was great to see her. Many of the Evangelism team knew her well. We were also able to send a meal home to Bernice Menne. She was very appreciative. It was a very proud moment for our church.
And then they had to turn everything around and put on a potluck dinner on Saturday. Thank you to all who brought food. Thank you Paul Baker for grilling everything. As always, there was so much food and many left with a plate of extras. Our goal for these one-day worships is to bring Saturday people and Sunday together. Sometimes I feel we have two churches. We always have to remember that we only are one church. In August, we will flip the services, canceling Saturday and only have a Sunday service. We had many “Sunday people” come last Saturday. My hope is that we will have a lot of “Saturday people” come on Sunday when offered.
I am sad to report to the St. John’s church family that long time member, Gordon Armstrong passed away last week. Funeral will be held on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. at Mueller’s Funeral Home in Peru. He is survived by his wife Rita. They just celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary before he passed. I’m sure Rita would appreciate cards of sympathy.
I asked the Vacation Bible School people to leave all their props up for Saturday service. It was sort of cool to be doing service with a boat and fish behind me. Hats off to all those who helped with Vacation Bible School. They started out with sixteen children signing up and two more showed up. We also had a couple of children from Grace Methodist. It was this program that brought these two churches together. It has been something I have been trying to do for years and here it took children to bring it together. There is a lesson to be learned there.
It was a very busy week at St. Johns. So much going on which is usually the case. It was mostly driven by the lay people of the church. Thank you for everything you did this week. I hope you get a little rest. For those who are sitting on the sidelines, my hope is you will come join us. Get involved in your church. Jesus said, “The harvest is great but the workers are few…” Things haven’t changed much. We need you! Come join us.
Crossed marked and spirit sealed,
Pastor Tom
815-223-1144
Readings for the 7 Weekend after Pentecost– July 26 & 27
Genesis 18:20-32 Psalm 138 Colossians 2:6-15 [16-19] Luke 11:1-13
Reading the Bible in a Year- Monday, July 21 to Sunday July 27
Day Ezekiel Psalms Proverbs James
Monday Ch 33:21-Ch 35 128 Ch 2
Tuesday Ch 36 & 37 129 Ch 3
Wednesday Ch 38 & 39 28:7-17 Ch 4
Thursday Ch 40 130 Ch 5
1 Peter
Friday Ch 41 & 42 131 Ch 1-Ch 2:3
Saturday Ch 43 & 44 132 Ch 2:4-25
Sunday Ch 45 & 46 28:18-28 Ch 3