From the Pastor’s Desk

As far as your former way of life is concerned, you were taught to take off the old self, which is corrupted by its deceitful desires, and to be renewed continually in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new self, which has been created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24 EHV)

The Greatest Christmas Present...For You!!

When it comes to the pastor’s editorial for January, it’s not all that difficult to think of something to say. After all, people have New Year’s resolutions on their minds. Maybe you are considering one or more New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps you want to resolve to lose weight and get in better shape. Perhaps it’s quitting smoking or some other bad habit. Hopefully you, like I, want to resolve to live for Jesus our Savior better. Typically, New Year’s resolutions have this in common: the recognition that you need to give up something bad for you (even if you enjoy it) and the commitment to something that is for your good.

In the passage above, the apostle Paul follows that pattern. What he urges for your resolution is based on what you were taught, what you have learned from God’s Word. First he says to take off the old self. In other words, give up what your sinful nature is giving you the desire to do, even though it may be enjoyable to you, because it is disobeying what God wants for you and ruins your relationship and your life with God. And that’s bad for you – eternally bad. Next he says to be renewed continually in the spirit of your mind. That renewal happens with your constant connection to God’s gospel in Word and sacrament, the means the Holy Spirit uses to daily give you a new, fresh faith, knowing that in Jesus your Savior you have forgiveness with God, a relationship with God, and eternal life with God. Finally, Paul says to put on the new self. He is talking about the restored image of God that the Holy Spirit has created in you and me by bringing us to faith in Christ and keeping us in that faith. That new self knows God’s will, wants to do God’s will, and is empowered by God to do his will. Spiritual renewal and putting on the new self is something that God graciously does for you for your good now and for all eternity.

I can tell you that your Church Council is resolving to have every-member cottage meetings in the first months of 2025. The main reason is to let you members know that we at St. John’s have not recovered from the COVID years. We are nowhere near the levels we were at in 2019 when it comes to church attendance, offerings, and church life. Because of that, as you may recall from Phil Lane’s letter to the congregation in the November newsletter, we are looking at making drastic cuts, unless we can turn things around. May our Lord graciously help us to do that! More information will be coming out later this month to let you know how these cottage meetings will work. I ask you to resolve to participate in these meetings.

There is one more thing that is typical of New Year’s resolutions. The follow through for most is over quickly. People easily forget or fall back into their normal routine. I pray this doesn’t happen to your spiritual resolution. Give up that bad life of committing those sins of habit. Commit yourself to your Lord and Savior not just on weekends, but every day of your life. Be renewed in your mind regularly how your Lord Jesus committed his life for your salvation. With such God-worked resolution in all of us, may he also be with, bless, and help St. John’s in 2025!

A blessed New Year to you all!
Pastor Paul Schaewe

Worship Update

This Month: The first weekend of January is the last part of our Christmas series The Gift of God. The following weekends of the month fall into the season of Epiphany (meaning “revealed”). Our series during this season is Epiphany’s “A-Ha” Moment. Please note that the Michigan Lutheran Seminary Concert Choir will be performing a sacred concert during our services on Sunday, January 26th. Because they can only come on Sunday, there will be no Saturday service on January 25th. Here are the details for the services in January.

Greeters for this month:

Altar Committee for January
Becky Behrmann and Royce Kriewall

Congregational Acts

Transfer In
Jim & Daphne Westphal, with sons James & Don, from Mt. Olive, Bay City

Transfer Out
Cole Broekhuizen to Trinity, Waukesha, WI

Removed from Membership
Elizabeth Brougham
Madison Byrd
Holly Chung
Phil Forester
Mike Guettler
Ron Marsh

Bible Classes
Wednesday Bible Class: Pastor Reich’s study on 1 Corinthians resumes on Wednesday, January 8th. Class times are 10:00 am and 7:00 pm. All are invited to attend!

Bible Information Class: Pastor Schaewe will conduct a BIC on Saturday mornings, 10:00-11:30, starting on January 11th. These classes give people the opportunity to study the basic teachings of the Bible. While they are geared especially for prospective members and non-member school parents, it is a good review for those who are already members. If you are interested, or if you know of anyone who may be interested in our church, pick up an application form at the church or school office.

Evangelism Committee - News and Notes
Happy New Year! Your Evangelism Committee had a quiet month of December, but we are looking forward to ourfannual Volunteer/New Member Dinner on January 19th. We will send invitations to our new members from this pastfyear to attend this dinner and be recognized/welcomed again into our St. John’s family.

Also, a reminder to feel free to take the bookmarks in the church pews with you. They could be useful as an invitation to unchurched loved ones to join us for worship.

Looking for an easy way to serve your Lord? How about being a greeter before church services? All you need is a smile and to say “good morning” or “good evening”. You can greet as a family, as a couple, or individually. You can pick which service you’d like to greet: Saturday night or Sunday morning – early or late service. We need more friendly faces and the more we have the lighter the schedule.

If you are interested in greeting, or have questions, please get in touch with Becky Behrmann by dropping a note in her mail slot in church. Also, if you are no longer able to be a greeter, please let Becky know.

Event Group
Christmas Un-Decorate in church will be January 11th at 9:00 am. Maybe it’s not as exciting as decorating, but it is still important work to take down and put things away in a neat and orderly way. We need all the help we can get to do this. Please consider coming and helping out!

Our Annual Volunteer/New Member dinner is set for Sunday, January 19th, after the 10:30 am service. Watch for more information!

Young Adult Group

The next Young Adult Group meeting will be at St. John’s on Thursday, January 16th

Other Announcements

Christian Family Solutions: The winter months can be a stressful time for many people. This could mean their emotional well-being may be experiencing ups and downs. If you are going through a similar journey, we encourage you to check out Christian Family Solutions. This is a group of Christian therapists and counselors within our Wisconsin Synod who are dedicated to helping those suffering from emotional distress. They offer a Member Assistance Program (MAP) to all WELS members. If you are in need of this service, please feel free to talk to one of the pastors, and they will contact Christians Family Solutions and District President Snowden Sims for you.

The “crashed” component box for our tech system was replaced, along with the router, and we have resumed live-streaming our services. A big thank you to Tim Williams and Chad Krager for all their time and effort that went in to making these repairs.

Thank you, also, to Board of Ed member, Jordan Strieter, for installing “Blink Cameras” at our main outdoor entrances.

Usher List: The Elders will be finalizing the Usher List for 2025 at its meeting in early January. If you receive a letter asking that you serve on an usher group, please consider doing this to serve your Lord and his people.

Sponsoring Live Streamed Services: to help us build up funds for future technological upgrades (especially for our worship services), we are looking for members who would like to sponsor the live-streaming of our services. We are asking a sponsoring cost of $100 per member/family per service. A family may split sponsoring with another family at a cost of $50 each. We ask a sponsoring member/family to designate a Sunday they wish to sponsor a service, state a reason for sponsoring, like “In memory of _____,” “On the occasion of (a birthday, anniversary, etc.), or simply “To the glory of God,” and pay the sponsoring fee before we will acknowledge it. After that service the pastors will announce who sponsored the service and for what purpose. Order forms are available on the table outside the church office. If you have any questions, give the office a call: 989-684-6791.

Installation of Officers for the newly elected Officers for 2025 will be done during the 10:30 am service on Sunday, December 29th.

The MLS Concert Choir will be performing here at St. John’s for both services on Sunday, January 26th. (There will be no Saturday evening service.) There will be a special free-will offering taken for the choir to help cover their upcoming travel expenses.

Christmas for Kids was held on Sunday, December 8th, after the late service. We began the day with a short devotion from Pastor Reich, followed by a pizza lunch. The kids then played games in the gym, did crafts, went on a scavenger hunt and ended the afternoon singing Christmas songs. Thanks to a grant received from Thrivent, gift bags were put together and given to each child. Thank you to all of our volunteers: Marian Kopischke, Judy Peil, Michelle Pavlawk, Amy Krager, Lois Gottleber, Megan Pretzer, and our students Lillian Reinhardt, Mason Krager, Mason and Ava Larive. We had such a great time and we’re already working on ideas for next year’s event!

Our annual Advent by Candlelight was held on the evening of December 11th. Hostesses set and decorated tables for the 64 ladies who were in attendance. We enjoyed a wonderful evening of food, fellowship, and growth in faith through worship. A choir of ladies, 8th grade - adult, participated in the service entitled: Christmas begins with Christ. A sincere ‘thank you’ to all who were a part of planning this evening, and to all of our guests for sharing the evening with us.

Christmas Caroling: On December 13th a group of our members, young and old, gathered to go Christmas caroling. We were able to visit many of our shut-in members and bring them some Christmas joy through song. At a few of the facilities we sang to a small group of residents. What a blessing to be able to share the good news of the birth of Jesus our Savior: Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Thank you again to all who participated.

School News

Our LES Christmas break begins with a half day of school on Monday, December 23rd with a dismissal at noon. School is back in session on Wednesday, January 8th.

Boys’ basketball begins with their first home game on January 10th. We will need volunteers to run the game clock, keeping the game book, setting up the concession stand, food prep, selling concessions, making popcorn, and clean up. A sign-up poster board will be out soon. Questions? Contact Amy Krager,

Home/School Connect will meet Monday, January 13th, at 5:30 pm.

MLS News

MLS Applications for 2025-2026 School Year: It's already time to think about applying for the 2025-26 school year! If you have an 8th grader who wants to come to MLS next year, applications are officially open. Be sure to apply as soon as you can so that you are eligible for the tuition discount drawing. If you apply before December 31st, you'll be entered for a chance to win a $250 tuition discount! For any questions, contact admissions@mlsem.org or call (989) 793-1010 ext. 421. To apply, go to www.mlsem.org/apply.

Around the WELS

The Saginaw Valley Lutheran Chorale welcomes all confirmed WELS/ELS members to join in preparing a concert of sacred music to be presented on March 22 & 23, 2025. Weekly rehearsals will begin under the direction of Prof. em. Leonard Proeber on Sunday, January 5th, 6:30-8:00 pm in the Michigan Lutheran Seminary band room. New voices are always welcome! For further information, please contact Prof. Proeber or the Chorale's president, Prof. Allen Ash.

Men Alive! Rally, February 15th, at the Doubletree Hotel, Bay City. Throughout All Generations (Ephesians 3:20-21) is the theme for this year’s event. Registration runs from now to January 31st; visit: www.menalive-balm.org - that will take you directly to the website that includes registration and event information.

For those of you who are not familiar with Men Alive!, they are a gathering of men who meet to be encouraged and strengthened through the study of God's Word. Men Alive! serves the WELS Michigan District by holding an annual rally. The annual one-day rally features worship, Bible study, keynote address, presentations, good food, and fellowship. The annual rally provides an opportunity to contribute to outreach and service opportunities for men.

Church Council Notes:
From the meeting on December 10, 2024
The meeting was called to order by president, Phil Lane.

Elders’ Report

• Membership changes:

  o Jim & Daphne Westphal, with sons James & Don – transfer in from Mt. Olive, Bay City

  o Cole Broekhuizen - transfer out to Trinity, Waukesha, WI

  o Elizabeth Brougham, Madison Byrd, Holly Chung, Phil Forester, Mike Guettler, Ron Marsh – removed from membership

• The Elders and Pastors reviewed the attendance numbers for November.

• Some inactive members will be receiving one final letter warning them about their potential removal from membership should they not return to worship.

• Both Pastors will be covering Sunday worship services at Holy Cross, Standish, for the month of December.

• The Elders and Pastors continued assembling the 2025 Usher schedule.

Board of Education Report

• The Board continues to work on tuition delinquencies.

• The Board updated the school’s maternity leave policy.

• PowerSchool has introduced a new school-wide messaging app.

Trustees’ Report

• The furnace in Pastor Schaewe’s house has been replaced.

• The school roof had a leak patched up.

• Matt Pretzer, Mike Nowicki, and Chad Krager removed black walnut tree branches overhanging at Pastor Schaewe’s house.

Financial Report

Old Business

• Kevin Peil will issue a check to Ms. Schleicher to help her with her housing allowance.

• The Council recommended to the Voters to go with a four-month budget with both pastors being placed on call lists.

New Business

• The Trustees will gather estimates on a new church roof after Jordan Strieter took photos of a gap between the shingles and the membranes holding them to the roof.