Month: March 2024

Augusta Jeffrey 2024 Awarded

Cheri Simonet
Augusta W. Jeffrey Rcognition Award

Awarded April 21, 2024

The Augusta Jeffrey Award was established in 2004 by the family of long-time member Augusta Jeffrey to recognize a member of First Presbyterian for outstanding volunteer efforts and service in our church. Areas of service may include: Mission, Worship, Member Care, Christian Education, Administration, and Evangelism. Nominations are gathered in the month of February every year and the recipient is chosen in March. The recipient receives a gift of $600 from the fund established by the Jeffrey family that is allocated to an area in the church chosen by the awardee.

On Sunday, April 21st during worship, the 2024 Augusta Jeffrey Award will be presented to Becky Christianson. She was nominated by several Session members who noted her exemplary service as Clerk of Session for the last two years. She takes the minutes of each meeting and keeps the meetings on track with her knowledge of the Book of Order and Robert’s Rules of Order. She has also taken on the clean-up and rewriting of many church policies and procedure manuals, in light of recent mandates from the denomination. Becky does it all with attention to detail and dedication, but also a light heart. While much of her volunteer work is behind the scenes and not visible to the whole congregation, we all benefit from her commitment and diligence.

Thank you, Becky!

Griffin String Quartet Plays In Worship

Cheri Simonet
Griffin String Quartet

Sunday – April 14, 2024

The Griffon String Quartet, who offer monthly free concerts in our sanctuary for the community and regularly use our space for rehearsal, are scheduled to play for our 10am worship service on Sunday, April 14th.

The Griffon is a full-time professional quartet who work and perform in Door County and Green Bay. They offer programs and lessons in schools throughout our area, and also play regularly for aging and disabilities institutions. Their stated goals are to educate, enrich and excite their audiences with the gift of old and new music. They will be playing multiple pieces throughout the service as well as accompanying some of our congregational hymns. This is their thank-you to us for providing the space for concerts and practices, and they are delighted to be with us for this special worship service.

Don’t miss it!

Who is that face in the pulpit?

Cheri Simonet
Welcome

Two Sundays this month will bring us a different face and voice in the pulpit!

On Sunday, April 21st we welcome the Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Director of Leadership Development the Rev. Dr. Deb DeMeester to preach for us after she leads the Session retreat on Saturday, April 20th.

Deb is a dear friend of Pastor Katie, a seasoned pastor in Presbyterian churches, and the director of Synod School.

The following week, April 28th, our own Ellen Smith will provide the sermon in worship after speaking for the Fourth Sunday Forum at 9:00am in the Fellowship Room.

We will be blessed by these wise and wonderful different voices. Don’t miss them!

Tuesday Trivia Will Retire In May

Cheri Simonet
Did you know? Tuesday Trivia

Our Name that Member which debuted in 2022 gave us the opportunity to learn more about our fellow members and once that feature retired, the Communications Committee pondered what new feature could we offer members that would draw us closer to one another and closer to our church?

Thanks to documents found in Communication’s files which archived facts from our church history, Did You Know? Tuesday Trivia! debuted in March of 2023. We started with 28 factoids that have been published twice a month via email and we’re sad to say that we’re unfortunately down to our last couple trivia. The final publications of Did you know? Tuesday Trivia! will be published during the month of May. Our email stats for Tuesday Trivia show that on average 6-7 out of every 10 people took the time to read our email and click over to view the answer. We’re so pleased that our feature showed such a positive response from our member and non-member email list subscribers. Hopefully everyone learned a little something about the Church history that they didn’t know before.

And, if you missed any of our publications, all are archived on our website in our Happening Now section. Simply select Did you know? Tuesday Trivia! from the navigation bar on that page and you’ll be able to view all 28 of our church history trivia.

Thanks to everyone for playing Did you know? Tuesday Trivia!

April 2024 Fourth Sunday Forum

Cheri Simonet
Fourth Sunday Forum

Sunday, April 28th

Our final Fourth Sunday Forum for this program year will be held on Sunday, April 28th before worship in the Fellowship Room at 9:00am.

We are pleased to have Ellen Smith, a member of our congregation and long-time mission co-worker for the PC(USA) to Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and Poland.

Ellen’s presentation “Seeking Hope From the Margins” will provide an update on her recent travels and what they prompt her to pray and think about.

She writes: “Globally, people are on the move. Why are they leaving their homes, their communities, and their culture? What are the barriers they face? Hope is a hard thing. Let’s consider what our theology of welcome is all about.”

Coffee and treats will be served.

Henri Holl Baptism

Cheri Simonet
Henri Holl

Sunday April 21, 2024

Baptism, one of just two sacraments in our Presbyterian tradition, is always a blessing as we welcome a new person into the family of God.

Last month we had the opportunity to baptize Lydia Morien and this month we will baptize Henry Holl on Sunday, April 21st.

Henry will be just over five months old at his baptism, and his loving big brother Peter will stand with proud parents Bobbi and David along with extended family and friends for this special occasion.

Look how much he’s grown since his first attendance at church five months ago (pictured here)!

What a blessing!

April 2024 Rundown

Cheri Simonet
Monthly Rundown

Church Chix Socials

The Chix had an amazing social in March when we dined at Hagemeister Park Restaurant. There were 6 Chix in attendance with one being a newbie Chick. The social is ALWAYS open to new Chix joining the fun! The service was great (we heard that it might not be but it was) and the food was amazing with the conversation even even better! Our April social is planned on the West side for Thursday, April 4th at 6pm at Narrow Bridge Plate + Pour located on the west side at 2840 Shawano Avenue. To RSVP there’s a sign up sheet on the bulletin board or email office@firstpresgreenbay.org.

March Fourth Sunday Forum

Nancy Siewert presented an informative Fourth Sunday Forum on March 24th regarding “period poverty” and menstrual equity. Her focus was on these issues in the United States, though they affect women worldwide of course. We learned that 20% of American teen girls live in poverty and struggle to obtain the feminine hygiene products necessary for their monthly cycles. We also heard that the state of Wisconsin does not require prisons and juvenile detention centers to provide feminine hygiene products to inmates, and Nancy shared some anecdotes about correction centers using the withholding of such products as punishment. It was an eye-opening Forum, and the women of Esther Circle are very grateful for the good response to their collection of products to be donated to St. John’s women’s shelter.

Lydia Morien’s Baptism

Lydia Ann Morien was baptized on Sunday March 17th. Her big sister Aubrey was thrilled to be part of it by pouring the water into the font, and Lydia was so eager to be baptized that she almost dove into the bowl! Lydia’s uncle (Brittany’s brother) as well as dear friends of Joel & Brittany stood as sponsors of her baptism. Lydia turns one this month, so we were pleased to get her baptized before she could run down the aisle on her own—she’s just that close to walking!

Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
Lydia Morien Baptism
St. Patrick's Day Worship Service
St. Patrick's Day Worship Service
St. Patrick's Day Worship Service

Rundowns will publish with our Connections issue on a monthly or bimonthly basis. To submit rundowns for consideration contact us at communications@firstpresgreenbay.org by the 15th of the month to be included in the following month’s publication. And, as always, we look forward to receiving your Rundown of what’s been Happening Now!

Worship Service March 24, 2024

Cheri Simonet

We begin Holy Week together with Palm/Passion Sunday. Palm branches are ready for the parade and our children will sing a special prelude song. The adult choir will also sing an anthem. Our gospel lesson and sermon will be a congregational reading of the Passion narrative from the gospel of Mark with special voices taking certain roles.

Seven Last Words Of Christ Video

Cheri Simonet

Please join us for Midsummer’s Music Concert when they present Franz Joseph Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ, featuring the legendary Pro Arte Quartet, along with respected local clergy and community leaders.

Haydn’s masterpiece was commissioned in 1786 by Father Don José Sáenz de Santa María for the Good Friday service at Oratorio de las Santa Cueva in Cádiz, Spain. Originally an orchestral work, Haydn adapted it in 1787 for string quartet. It focuses on the biblical account of Christ’s crucifixion and explores each of Christ’s seven last words through seven sonatas. While the first sonata begins slowly, the final sonata is a vivid musical depiction of the earthquake described in the Gospel of Matthew.

March 19, 2024 – Did you know?

Cheri Simonet
Did you know? Tuesday Trivia!

Our Name that Member! feature gave us the opportunity to learn just how well we really know each other. But how well do we know our church?

Here’s this week’s Did you know? Tuesday Trivia!

How many Pastors have served the church since Reverend David Street began our first worship service 148 years ago in 1876?

A) 31

B) 22

C) 40

Answer:

A) Since Reverend David Street’s first worship service 148 years ago in 1876 there has been a total of 31 Pastors that have served our church. The longest service was by Reverend Elmon Ward who served 16 years from 1970 to 1986.

Thanks for playing!

We want you to do more than just play Did you know?, we’d also like you to contribute! If you have some church fun facts to share, please send those to Cheri at communications@firstpresgreenbay.org and we’ll have your contribution added to an upcoming Did you know? Tuesday Trivia!