Six weeks after it was originally scheduled, the installation of Pastor Ken Sann at First Presbyterian Church of Wausaukee finally took place on Sunday April 23rd! The beautiful chapel’s sanctuary was full, the emotions were high, the food was plentiful and the pastor was duly installed. For this service of the Winnebago Presbytery, Pastor Katie preached the sermon and Nancy Siewert offered a charge to the congregation. Congratulations and blessings, Pastor Ken.
Thank you to all who helped make 2-4-2 @ the U happen! We served 22 kids plus workers and all were happy. The menu was homemade chili (vegetarian too!) with all the fixings along with wonderful desserts. The kids were appreciative about everything. Thank you again for your support!
The Outreach Committee would like to extend a thank you to all for the Souper Bowl Sunday! The Pantry appreciates your gift and thanks to your contributions raised we’re giving each Pantry family a ham for Easter. Blessings to all who helped us succeed in giving our folks a beautiful Easter dinner!
Our Souper Bowl of Caring was a great time of food and fellowship! Using muffin tins (genius!) everyone had the opportunity to sample 8 amazing soups. The judging was tough because all were delicious! We had nearly 40 votes and the grand prize winner was chef Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges with her Christmas Corn Chowder. Georjeanna was awarded the golden ladle during worship on February 26th.
We raised $285 for the Presbyterian Pantry but thanks to a generous, anonymous donor, that amount was matched and the grand total raised was $570—wow! Thanks to everyone who attended and voted, and thanks to our amazing chefs—Brooke Bruette, Russ Christensen, Al Smith, Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges, Brenda and George Hubbard, Ross and Lyn Early, Joel and Brittany Morien and Pastor Katie.
Thanks also to our CE Committee who made the event possible and to Mary Belanger who helped configure our crockpot outlets so we didn’t blow a circuit!
THANK YOU to everyone who made our Cozy Kids January Campaign such a success! The kids were so grateful for all the generous contributions! Our community of faith is truly blessed to have so many members who give back to our local community, especially to our friends and families in need at Tank School.
Pastor Katie and Joel Morien were thrilled to attend the annual conference of the Association of Partners in Christian Education in late January, held in Birmingham Alabama. They appreciated plenary sessions with speaker John Pavlovitz whose most recent book is If God is Love, Don’t Be a Jerk, worship with local gospel choirs and nationally-known preachers, and a multitude of workshops. It was also an opportunity to network with others in ministry as the event drew more than 500 participants from around the country.
Thanks to everyone involved in last Saturday’s second annual Burns Night Benefit Dinner: An Evening in the Highlands! More than 100 people gathered at the Green Bay Distillery to raise funds to help Hurricane Ian victims and to enjoy an wonderful evening. An optional Scotch tasting session was followed by a hearty feast of Whiskey Glazed Salmon or Whiskey Glazed Pork Loin with lots of extras. We also enjoyed amazing entertainment and activities including the Clan Donald Pipe Band, the Irish Heritage Dancers, sword dancing, Address to the Haggis, and more! It was a great evening, but don’t you think it’s a little cold for kilts?
This year’s ski trip was a fabulous time! We were fortunate to have our friends from First United along for the fun. The weather was perfect for a day on the slopes and the day was filled with fellowship and fun. And, this year everyone was off the bunny hill by 10:30 check-in!
Wishing you a blessed day on your birthday and all the days ahead in your 100th year!
Thank you to all who voted in Thrivent Financial’s “Carols for a Cause” contest! We placed third so our Feed My Starving Children: Green Bay MobilePack will receive $10,000. That’s over 41,600 meals for children in need! It also means that our 2022 fundraising goal has now been met and we have started raising money to kick off the efforts for 2023. We are so incredibly grateful to the team at Thrivent for selecting our organization to be a part of this amazing contest and for their generous support, not only of our cause, but others from the Green Bay area as well.
We kicked off the Advent season with a wonderful chili lunch and workshop to get us all in the mood for the Christmas season. Cookies were decorated and eaten, candles were crafted, and hot chocolate spoons were created for gift-giving. We stuffed 48 pair of wool socks with necessary toiletries and other goodies for people experiencing homelessness. What a great day! Thank you to everyone who participated in this wonderful event.
Our three adopted families had a beautiful Christmas thanks to so many wonderful people! All the tags were taken from our baskets to fill each family’s wish lists. Many people within the church and several outside of our church helped make this possible. The Outreach Committee thanks everyone so much for the wonderful presents and for spreading joy!
This year’s Toy Shop on December 13th for our Pantry guests was a great success! We served 51 families and gave away toys for 221 kids! Thank you to everyone for your generous support with monetary gifts and toys, and special THANKS to our elves that were personal shoppers. Thanks to everyone’s support there’s 221 kids who found presents under the tree on Christmas morning!
Our Youth had a great time with their annual lock-in on December 16th! Presents were wrapped for our three adopted families for our annual prayer basket campaign. There was Christmas trivia with prizes and one of the prizes was a 1 pound gummy bear! Who wouldn’t be happy to win a 1 pound gummy bear as a prize? It was a wonderful time of fellowship. As youth wrapped for our adopted families, they were reminded just how fortunate we are to have presents under our own trees and grateful for the opportunity to help others in need.
Ten decorated trunks, 50+ costumed guests, and hundreds of tasty treats! Our first annual Trunk or Treat was a spooky success. Thanks to all who hosted a trunk and all who turned out for treats!
A glorious joint service of thanksgiving was held on Saturday November 19, 2022 at First United Presbyterian Church in De Pere with more than 75 people present from the two congregations. The service was followed by a delicious turkey dinner for everyone present. We raised $366.48 in free will offering, plus a grocery cart of canned good for the Presbyterian Pantry. Thank you, everyone, for your generous support!
Aaron and Jody Sperduto’s son, Eric, was recognized in October by the Green Bay West Rotary Club as one of their Students of the Month. Eric is a senior at Pulaski High School. Congratulations on your accomplishment, Eric!
We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful fall day to do our fall clean-up! It was sunny, warm and in the 70’s which made our chores feel far less chore like. The yard was cleaned up and the windows were washed. So much was accomplished thanks to the help of our amazing volunteers—Pat McCormick and his granddaughter, Grace, Pete Blashka, Dave and Lisa Solper, Judy Knutzen-Nerad, Kirke Ryder (our magician on windows), Joel Morien and John Belanger. Mary says a big THANK YOU to one and all! We couldn’t have gotten it done without you!
What can be said about connecting with our partners in Russia, the Christians in Ukraine who are suffering from the war, the refugees in Belarus who are being used as pawns in a political game, the authoritarian regimes that are rising to political power in Europe and elsewhere, and the fact that we’re fighting wars over access to fossil fuels that are also degrading our planet?
Lots can be said, and lots was said – we learned so much at the Belarus, Ukraine, Russia Mission (BURM) Network conference October 6-8. We were honored to host the event in-person and virtually via our Facebook Livestream. There was a LOT of great information. Ellen Smith, our mission co-worker shared her recent newsletter telling us about how refugees in Belarus are at risk and details about her recent travels. Everyone walked away with a better understanding of the region, its challenges and what we can do to get involved. For more visit BURM 2022 Network Conference Rundown.
On Sunday, October 23 our Confirmation Class gathered to make and bake apple crisps for some of our homebound members. There were lots of apples to peel and dice, LOTS—dozens of apples. Later that afternoon the crisps were delivered to great acclaim and appreciation. Thank you to our confirmation class for your outreach efforts!
It was a cool and cloudy, sometimes even rainy, day at the Brown County fairgrounds for this year’s N.E.W. Pride Festival, but the rainbows and smiles and hugs overcame the weather and brightened hearts and lives! Our welcoming churches booth was shared by five congregations including us, St. Anne’s Episcopal in DePere, Trinity Lutheran, Union Congregational and First Congregational in DePere. We gave out hugs and smiles, talked to lots of people who were thrilled to know of welcoming churches in our area, and we thoroughly enjoyed the day. Thanks to volunteers Al Smith, Grace Estes Collins, and Joel Morien for representing us.
There was an overwhelming generous response to this year’s Tank Back to School Drive. THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to the cause! And, we also had a true God moment when out of the blue Tank School requested clothing and we were fortunate to find 6 bags of gently used clothes that were looking for a home. Praise be to God! The clothes helped children who were in desperate need of basic clothing that we often take for granted.
The staff at Tank School express their sincere thanks to everyone who’s made a difference in the Tank kid’s lives. The Outreach Committee now looks forward toward our next Tank initiative of our annual Christmas Prayer Baskets. Stay tuned for more to come on that in November’s Connections newsletter.
CONGRATULATIONS to our #FirstPresGB softball team who knocked the Championship game out of the park with a victory of 10 to 6 over Mannifest. We are the #1 CHAMPIONS of the Division 2 – 2022 Christian Softball League! Great job, team!
THANK YOU to all the players for a great season. And a BIG thank you to all the fans who showed up for our games and showed their support. We couldn’t have done it without YOU!
We were pleased to have so many members in attendance at the 2022 Synod School that was themed “Experiencing Belonging“…so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually, we are members one of another.” Romans 12:5
Our youth group was part of 540 people in attendance. We learned what it meant to be a part of the body of Christ and to belong to one another. In the spirit of Christ’s community, we walked through biblical experiences of belonging. Exploring the communities, we found membership within, and we discovered how we can belong to one another and to Christ more fully. Everyone came home with an eagerness to attend again in 2023.
Don and Nina Lundin have had a change of address and Harland Merrill has also had a change of address. If you’d like to make note of their new address, please call the office at (920) 437-8121 or email office@firstpresgreenbay.org and we’ll be happy to provide you with the updates.
THANK YOU to everyone who came out and supported our two Brat Fries on August 14th and 28th. Thanks to your support we raised $1056 for the Youth Group and Presbyterian Pantry.
Our softball season came to a close on July 10th as we ended the season with a record of 4 and 3. We are seeded 6th in the Division 2 playoffs. Playoffs began on Sunday the 17th and we walked away with an 8-6 win for our first round. The second playoff round was a doubleheader on July 24th and we defeated 3rd seeded Peace with a score of 32 to 6 (wow!) and game two we defeated 1st seeded Journey #3 with a score of 18-16. The Division 2 Championship Game will be played on Sunday, July 31st – with results yet to be determined when we went to press – but watch our social media post-game for the Championship Game outcome!
On Thursday, June 23rd at the Session meeting and on Sunday, July 31st in worship, our congregation received the following new members: Joanne LaCourt, Mary Jane McCrory, Fritzi Mevis, Brittany Morien, Joel Morien (and their daughter Aubrey), and Sue Russell. Please make an effort to welcome them into the family of faith.
A summary of the 225th General Assembly (2022) actions can be viewed here. Israel and Palestine relations, fossil fuel divestment, and OGA/PMA unification were among the major issues addressed.
We had 13 Chix in attendance during our Church Chix July social gathering on July 21st at 1951 West. The restaurant was great, service was great and there was great food – but more importantly there was great laughter, fun and fellowship! Join the Chix for their August social at A’Bravo on August 18th at 6pm. Sign-up sheet is on the bulletin board or RSVP to office@firstpresgreenbay.org. Hope you can join the Chix!
