St. Jacob Lutheran Church

February Newsletter

From the Pastor

What’s INSIDE

2 Thank You, Sweet-heart Dinner, Senior Scholarship, Kids of the Kingdom, Vanco

3 Sunday Morning Servants

3-4 Council Minutes 4 Upcoming Events,

LOMO 5-6 Ark Encounter Bus Trip, Vision Dev 7 Calendar

February 2020

LISTEN TO HIM Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” - Matthew 17:1-9 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the life-giving Holy Spirit. We are rapidly moving through the season after Epiphany to the season of Lent. During the season after Epiphany, the lectionary gospel texts assigned for each Sunday continue to shed light on the person and nature of Jesus Christ. In the gospel text assigned for the festi-val of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, Matthew 17:1-9, the light shines most brightly upon Jesus. The darkness of our world and our lives is forever illuminated by the in-breaking radiance of Jesus as God's fullness in our midst. I have high hopes in the hearing of the Transfiguration story that God's Word, through the mysterious workings of the Holy Spirit, will permeate our hearts and minds in such a way as create and sustain an awareness of who Jesus is and why nothing will ever be the same after his arrival in this world. Perhaps my high hopes are wishful thinking given the story itself; it is, after all, a story so wondrous that it is almost beyond comprehension. Almost. The Transfiguration of Our Lord takes place on a mountain, a place of teaching, on a moun-tain so high it can be seen from great distance. Jesus, in the company of three of his be-loved disciples, shines with the brightness of the sun, with a brilliance that belongs only to God. Moses and Elijah, long deceased, appear alongside Jesus suggesting that in Jesus we find the fullness of the law and the prophets, in Jesus is fulfillment and the apex of meaning in the revealing of God's Word. If this is not enough to shed light on the person and nature of Jesus Christ, then surely the voice of God booming from the cloud of divine presence, naming, claiming, and exalting Jesus above all others, is more than sufficient. This divine voice exhorts us to listen to this Jesus. Listen. Jesus Christ is God with us, the Son of the living God. He is the culmination of salvation history. But we cannot merely spout off about his power and might in proclaiming him to the world, as if that would fully reveal his person and nature. The person and nature of Je-sus only just begins to dawn on us as we view him through the lens of the cross and the empty tomb. The One in whom the fullness of God dwells is the One who suffers and dies and rises from the dead for the sake of the world. This is the One we must listen to, the One who takes away our fears, the One who bids us to get up and join him in his saving work in the dark valleys of this world. The Lord bless you and keep you and lead you to everlasting life. Yours in Christ, Pastor David Eidson

Thought of the Month

Love is the spark that kindles the fire of com-

passion. Compassion is the fire that flames the candle of service. Ser-vice is the candle that

ignites the torch of hope. Hope is the torch that lights the beacon of faith. Faith is the bea-

con that reflects the power of God. God is the power that creates

the miracle of love.

William A. Ward

Our Mission:

Growing and Sharing; Inviting and Caring

The St. Jacob

Brotherhood

is hosting a

Sweetheart

Dinner for all

ladies of the

congregation

on Sunday evening, February

16th at 6pm in the church base-

ment. A special program and

“fun event” is planned following

our dinner. A signup sheet for

attendees is posted on the front

office wall. Deadline to signup is

Sunday, February 9th. All ladies

of the congregation are invited to

this free event.

High School Seniors

St. Jacob is offer-

ing a $500 Schol-

arship to all 2020

graduating High

School Seniors

who will be pur-

suing a college degree or a tech-

nical degree who are members.

Please pick up your application

in the church office or let us

know if you would like it

emailed to you. Return it by

Sunday, March 22th, 2020.

This group

is for all

youth K-6th

grade. We

meet usually

once a month for an activity,

which last 1-2 hours. If you have

any questions, please see Leslie

Heintz or Lindsay Schultz.

Watch for events coming soon!

Thank You Your gift of a very beautiful poinsettia brought the sprit of Christmas

into my home. Thank You. Virginia Fields

Carolers: The Christmas hymns you shared on your visit are dear to

the heart of young and old. Thank you for your gift of song.

Virginia Fields

*Additional thank you are located on the bulletin board in the office

area: Alpha Center, Community Foundation (S&H Products), Ohio

Living Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Wilson Health Hospice

On-line giving changes St. Jacob will be starting to change our on-line giving provider

starting February 1st to Vanco from Tithe.ly. You will still be

able to give through St. Jacob website or on your phone

(GivePlus Church app) or computer. If you currently use

Tithe.ly the church office will be contacting you to get your

giving changed over to Vanco. If you don’t want to set up

your giving yourself please let the church office know and we

can do it for you. You will be able to give to one or more funds

in one transaction from current to Thrive, etc. (this is a big plus

from Tithe.ly). You will have options for scheduling your giving

too. Vance has made an agreement with the ELCA for special

pricing. The price per transaction is within .50 from Tithe.ly and

you still will have the option to pay the processing fee or have

the church pay the fee. Vanco will be waiving the processing

fees for the month of February. This would be a great time

to start using our on-line giving platform!

Pricing: debit/credit card 2.35% + .35/transaction

ACH checking/savings acct .80% + .35/transaction

FROM VANCO

With Vanco’s modern interface and intelligent features de-

signed specifically for faith-based organizations, Give+ Online

simply makes it easier for donors to give. They can contribute

using their debit/credit card or their checking/savings accounts,

and they can give to multiple funds, make guest donations—no

login required, give in the moment or set up recurring tithes and

offerings, rely on the highest level of PCI compliance and secu-

rity from Vanco.

Plus, when donors choose to create a Give+ account, they can

log in to see their giving history, store their debit/credit card and

banking information and set up recurring donations through

Give+ Online or the convenient Give+ Mobile app.

More information and instructions are located on the back table

of the sanctuary.

Sunday Morning Servants February 2 February 9 February 16 February 23

Readers (8am) Keith Elsass Donna Russell Larissa Himmeger Mike Christman

Readers (10am) Mike Bertsch Lisa Brady Mike Schnell Wendy Yinger

Acolytes Mara Cathcart Marlie Barhorst Addison Montague Eve Pleiman

Crucifer Celeste Beam Madison Kipp

Hymn Sing Leaders 8 none Kara K/Cindi E Kara K Kara K/Cindi E

10 Senior Choir Krista M/Heather A Senior Choir TBD

Communion Asst Bonnie Schmidt Kathy Fogt Cindi Eidson

Ash Wed-Feb 26th—Fred Pulfer

Blood Pressure Ck Joyce Jones

Church Council Minutes January 20,2020 Members in attendance: Pastor Eidson Darrell Heintz Brad Pleiman Rick Ike Cheryl Pulfer Jerry Pleiman Dianne Cavinder Deb Christman Kristian Althauser Steve Wildermuth Shanna Wentz David Fogt Mitzi Eisenhardt Excused Members: Shanna Wentz Gathering Devotion by Pastor Eidson- A devotion by Bishop Elizabeth Eaton Secretary’s Report Roll Call was taken. The minutes from the December 16th, 2019 meeting were reviewed. Jerry Pleiman moved and David Fogt seconded to accept the Secretary’s Report. Motion passed. Financial Secretary’s Report For December 2019, the Current Offering was $17,648.40 and the Benevolence Offering was $3,306.50. The Capital Campaign collected $774.25. Steve Wildermuth moved, and Dianne Cavinder seconded to accept the Financial Secretary’s report. Motion passed. Treasurer’s Report For December 2019 the receipts were $31,110.84 and expenses were $20,395.76 for a positive difference of $10,715.08. This brings the Year-to-Date receipts to $217,964.42 and the expenses to $235,293.73 for a negative difference of $17,329.31. Rick Ike moved, and David Fogt seconded to accept the Treasurer’s Report. Motion passed. Offering Our Gifts and Talents Trustee’s Report Jerry Pleiman reported that the Church Mutual water alarm has been activated.

Deacon’s Report Parish Ed- Nothing new to report Worship Team- Nothing to report The Vision Development Team- Nothing to report The Benevolence/Christian Action Team- Nothing to report The Evangelism Team-Nothing to report Pastor’s Report Pastor Eidson made 10 visits. He will be at the All Ohio Synods Rostered Leader’s Retreat January 28th thru the 30th. First Communion class for second graders will begin January 26th. Pastor will be hosting Northern Expo-sure on February 6th. Admin. Report Cheryl Pulfer recommended we may replace Tithely with Vanco online giving. You can give to multiple funds (Current/Benevolence/Capital/Thrive, etc) using one transaction using Vanco. Tithely requires multiple transac-tions. There have been a few problems with Tithely. David Fogt motioned and Kristian Althauser seconded to change to Vanco. Motion passed. Continuing Business David Fogt is aware of a person selling a Yamaha Baby Grand. It is used, but has not been used very much. The piano is white in color. He stated it looks like new. The cost of the piano is $10,000.00. This will be present-ed to the worship committee. David Fogt said they are still waiting on the metal work for the free-standing Alter. David also updated on council on the thrive campaign. New Business Roger Lentz reported the progress of the Archive Team. Roger stated they are going to put a table up and put all the old books on the table for anyone who would like them. He stated he would like to purchase a 2-drawer file proof cabinet to put important files in. Transfer of Membership for Angela (Althauser) Maher, Annika and Mallory to Hope Lutheran in Toledo. David Fogt moved and Kristian Althauser motioned to approve the transfer. Motion passed. Rick Ike also brought to councils’ attention that the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office is holding an active shooter training for churches. He wants to see if anyone in the congregation is interested. This will be posted in the bul-letin. Envisioning Business Annual Congregational meeting will be Sunday, January 26th The next Council Meeting will be held on Monday, February 17th, @ 7:00 PM Respectfully Submitted, Brad Pleiman

Upcoming Events Feb 2 Blood Pressure Ck 9-9:45 a.m.

Feb 16 Men’s Prayer Breakfast 7:15 a.m.

Sweetheart Dinner 6:00 p.m.

Feb 25 Fat Tuesday Pancake Supper TBA

Feb 26 Ash Wednesday Service 7:00 p.m.

*Keep watch for the upcoming Lenten schedule

LOMO Summer Camps There is a 2020 Summer Program Schedule posted on the back window for those interested in going to church camp this coming summer. There are multiple discounts for first time campers and re-turning youth campers. Also, each camper will receive a $100 scholarship from St. Jacob Parish Ed team and $100 from the Christian Action team. You can save up to $250 if you register early (by March 31st)! Website is lomocamps.org. If you would like more information see the church office. LOMO is always looking for Camp Connectors. Connect-ors are in important link between LOMO and our congre-gation as they help communicate upcoming programs, events, retreats, servant opportunities and more. LOMO goal is to have a connector in every ELCA congregation in Ohio! If you are interested, please see the church of-fice for more details.

Vision Development January Meeting Minutes

The vision team met on January 27th, attending were Cheryl Pulfer, Darrell Heintz, Lola Heintz, Rick Ike, Krista Meyer, Pastor Eidson, Dave Fogt, Jerry Pleiman, Roger Lentz, Jim Brandt, Kara Kipp, Brad Pleiman and Mike Christman. The meeting was opened with Pastor Edison leading the team with prayer. Krista Meyer was elected as Vice Chairperson and Roger Lentz was elected as Secretary. Brad Pleiman updated the team on Teen Scene activities. He and Karla are investigating several different ideas to enhance the experience of teens attending and possibly increase attendance. Krista reported that Morgan Meyer and Bailey Althauser have used social media to communicate meeting dates and activities. Cheryl report-ed that she has the meeting times on the front signage board. Dave Fogt provided updates on the Thrive initiative and the recent Call Committee follow-up meeting with Pas-tor Eidson. Cheryl and Krista provided an update on the scholarship program, it was reported that there are potentially 11 members eligible to apply for scholarships, the forms will be made available in hard copies or word document. All details are planned to be published in the February church newsletter. Social Media was discussed in detail, Kara Kipp updated the group on a variety of ways that she and others could use the Web page to support the various programs taking place at St. Jacob. After discussion it was de-cided that Dave Fogt would reach out to the Synod to get input from them as to what is working with other churches. Darrell will communicate the need to establish a new “Communication Team” to be reviewed and ap-proved by the church council. Rick Ike brought forth a possible outreach project, he explained the project to the team and will provide greater detail at the next meeting now that interest to move forward has been established. Jim Brandt was recognized for his leadership of the team as president for several terms and his dedication for doing God’s work in many different capacities at St. Jacob.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

*Anniversary

1 Karen Wilt

2 Worship 8&10am Sunday School 9am Blood Pressure Ck 9-9:45am

3

4

Parish Ed 6:30pm Doug Thomas Wendy Yinger

5 Teen Scene 6pm Bell Choir 7pm Senior Choir 7:45pm

6

7

8 Hayes Homan

9

Worship 8am & 10am Sunday School 9am Sue Althauser Penny Fahnestock Owen Heintz Gary Strasser Macy Wahl

10

11

12

Teen Scene 6pm Bell Choir 7pm Senior Choir 7:45pm

13 Kolton Hammer-gren

14

Patty Billing

15 Ave Bertke Steve Spence

16

Worship 8&10am Sunday School 9am Men’s Prayer Breakfast 7:15am Sweetheart Dinner 6pm

17 Church Council 7:00pm

18

Shelley Rose

19

March newsletter items due Teen Scene 6pm Bell Choir 7pm Senior Choir 7:45pm

20

21

22 Basement Rented

Mike Hoewischer Kaitlyn Rose

23 Worship 8&10am Sunday School 9am

24

Vision Dev 7pm

25 Fat Tuesday Pan-cake Supper-TBA

26

Andy Bixler

27

28 Brittany Current

29

St. Jacob Lutheran Church 101 W. Main St., P.O. Box 434 Anna, OH 45302 Phone: (937) 394-4421 Email: stjacob@embarqmail.com Web: stjacoblutheran.com

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PERMIT NO 3 SIDNEY, OH 45302

Our Mission: Growing and Sharing; Inviting and Caring