St. Paul’s
United Church of Christ German Township
8701 Big Cynthiana Rd
Evansville, IN 47720

Non-Profit
Organization
U. S. Postage
Evansville, IN
Permit No. 1564

St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, German Township
Church: 812-963-3394 Fax: 812-963-3447
Office Hours 9:00am-2:00pm Monday-Thursday
Church Staff
Pastor Reverend Terry Farmer 812-602-3571
Pastoral Assistant Jessica Minor 812-430-6326
Accompanist Rayna Brown 812-449-7952
Choir Director Noah Farmer 812-963-3394
Nursery Attendant Kinsey Peralta 812-963-3394
Office Administrator & Bookkeeper Norma Helm 812-963-3394
Custodian Vickie White 812-963-3394
Church Council
President Donna Schmidt Sheila Bender David Wires
Vice President Myron Razor Steve Sampson Ruby Deutsch
Secretary Beth Gilles Bonnie Garwood
Treasurer Susan Henze Jeffrey Tillman
Trustees
Steve Sampson Tony Steurer
Gary Johnson Randy Ricketts
Ron Tillman Keith Ahrens
Sound System, Bonnie Garwood

Individuals At Home
Bettye Conley-10445 St. Wendel Road-Evansville, IN 47720
Bill Moad-5538 #6 School Road-Evansville, IN 47720
Marian Coghill-9701 Big Cynthiana Road-Evansville, IN 47720
Emaline Alexander-10490 Wilsey Road-New Harmony, IN 47631
Helen Johnson-8900 #6 School Road– Evansville, IN 47720
Geneva Johnson-5106 Orchard Road– Evansville, IN 47720
Mark and Sun Wortman-1917 Jeanette Avenue– Evansville, IN 47714
Joyce Herron-5705 N Happe Road-Evansville, IN 47720
Glenna Hale-5718 Plainview Dr.– Evansville, IN 47720
Marilyn Schneider-6416Big Cynthiana Road-Evansville, IN 47720
Please remember our members and friends of
St. Paul’s with a card, phone call, or visit.

NURSING/REHAB/RETIREMENT HOME
Holiday Retirement Village-812-429-0701
1200 W. Buena Vista-47710
Peggy Pingel-Apartment 113
Heritage Nursing Home-812-429-0700
1201 W. Buena Vista –47710
Dorothy Hopple-Room 106
North River Health Campus-812-876-7256
811 E. Baseline Road-Evansville, IN 47725
Don & Eva Lasher-Room 516

8/1	Jamie Barchett	8/14	Cynthia Nix
8/1	Beth Jewell	8/18	Roger Damm
/8/2	Harrison Damm	8/19	Claire Walden
8/3	Reece Damm	8/21	Larry Jewell
8/4	Terry Alexander	8/22	Avah Knapp
8/4	Dan Nix	8/23	Lynn Johnson
8/5	Connie Johnson	8/24	Jessica Minor
8/6	Kim Morehead	8/25	Preston Roeder
8/7	Keaton Ahrens	8/25	Sharon Schmidt
8/8	Michael Duncan	8/28	Ron Tillman
8/12	Byron Wolfe	8/29	Dalton Lewis
8/13	Kramer Ahrens	8/30	Jake Yestingsmeier
8/14	Charles Johnson

The men and women serving our country
Jonathon and Joshua Kelly -grandsons of Jim & Joan Baughn & nephews of Leonard & Roberta Lenfers
August Clarry - great– grandson of
Roland & Alice Garland
Jacob Toelle-great nephew of Deborah Schneider
Joseph Hale-grandson of Glenna Hale Ryan Skeels-son of Charlie and Beth Skeels
Keelan Calvert and Gary Huggins– nephews of Arthur & Ellie Lukenheimer
Ryan Grover, US Marine– grandson
of Gene and Elaine Goebel

To all the great people at St. Paul’s for helping me before, during and after my spinal surgery.
Big Thanks! To the St. Paul’s Lunch bunch for providing me with pre-cooked meals and everyone who has visited and given me rides.
HO-Ha to the Men’s Ministry who took care of the 1st tree removal and all of the wonderful neighbors on Plainview Drive who helped with the huge maple tree.
A special thanks to my sister Beth, and husband Steve, and Bake for all they have done to support me.
I still have a few months of recovery and appreciate all the continued prayers!
Randy

We were delighted to welcome Carolyn Barron into our membership. Carolyn has been worshiping with us for over a year and many of us have come to know her and appreciate her being a part of our church life. Carolyn was a member of the “other” St. Paul’s for over 50 years and comes on letter of transfer from that church. If you have not had a chance to add your personal welcome to Carolyn, please look for the opportunity in the days ahead.

We would like to welcome Beth Jewell and Alec Brown into membership. This engaged couple will be married at St. Paul’s next June but wanted to establish their new church home together now. Beth will be teaching next school year in Henderson and Alec will be teaching in Lynnville. As you may know, Alec is the grandson of our organist, Rayna Brown and her husband Kenny. If you have not had a chance to welcome them, please look for an opportunity to do so in the days ahead.

August 6	10th Sunday after Pentecost and Communion Sunday
Message	Shoo!
Scripture	Matthew 14:13-21
August 13	11th Sunday after Pentecost
Message	Drowning Out the Voice
Scripture	1 Kings 19: 9-18
August 20	12th Sunday after Pentecost
Message	Have We Lost the Shine?
Scripture	Psalm 67
August 27	13th Sunday after Pentecost
Message	The Recipe
Scripture	Romans 12: 1-8

Sunday Service is now livestreamed at 10am. We will still send out the email link post to Facebook and on the website later in the day on Sunday. But you can subscribe to our YouTube channel or just find us on YouTube if you do not wish to wait for the link to be made available in one of these other ways. If you have any questions please feel free to call the office.

Our next Chautauqua is Tuesday, August 15 at 6:00 pm. The presentation will be based on an intersection of my interests in both American church history and in railroading. There will be an interesting visual aid and some interesting things about the Church’s mission to the ever-expanding frontier that you did not see Bonanza. It will be a light and fast-paced session. Your friends and family are always welcome. It is a great way to introduce folks to St. Paul’s. And if you have any hobos in your life, feel free to bring them too!

Next Meeting
August 22, 2023
5:30pm

August 2, 2023
6:00pm

There is going to be a meeting
on August 9 at 6:30pm
at Bethlehem UCC for the
ETSA Mission trip to Back Bay Mission
on Nov 4-Nov 11, 2023.
If you are interested please plan on attending.

St. Paul’s News
NN

stpaulgtchurch@gmail.com / www.stpaulsgermantownhip.org / Find us on Facebook St. Paul’s UCC German Township

Looking out my Study Window, I am thinking about holobionts.
What is a holobiont you might understandably ask? You might at first think this is some sort of elaborate typographical error. But here is how the Economist magazine recently explained them. “A holobiont is an animal or plant plus its associated microbiome, viewed as an integrated, functional co-evolving unit. Microbiomes are the plethora of bacteria, fungi and other microbes associated with such larger organisms.” Or said in another more understandable way, look in the mirror and you can view yourself as a holobiont if you consider yourself, the bacteria living in you, viruses rummaging around on you, and, if you are unlucky, the fungus that consuming you. Take all this as one “thing” and you have a holobiont.
There is some very interesting research taking place now that suggests that some maladies that we would never have thought of as being driven by the organisms living in us, such as depression or heart disease, may actually be a function of some as-yet-not-understood imbalance in our gut bacteria. Not necessarily an appetizing thought, but one that may lead to completely new ways of treating disease.
This new approach to understanding ourselves and other life forms more holistically is different from the current one. Instead of viewing these “hitchhikers” as something a person “has” they are viewed as a part of us. The Economist explains: “To borrow from Ptolemy and Copernicus, it is the difference between seeing the Sun as “having” planets, and viewing the solar system as a unified phenomenon, of which the Sun is merely the largest component.”
This way of looking at things put me in mind of how God must look at churches. First, no two are exactly alike. They all have different attributes. There are different theologies, buildings, locations, cultural influences, population mix, and more. They also have their histories—for better and for worse. Second, no two have exactly the same opportunities to share the gospel and do God’s work in the world. Third, they sometimes suffer from imbalances in focus, talents, and resources that can impede the effectiveness of a church as an outpost of the Kingdom. And just like walking a tightrope, the balances shift over the journey.
And yet—God finds a way to use each in accordance with God’s plan when the members of the church are actively seeking God’s guidance to direct the things the church will do. This leads me to ask myself, are we praying enough for our church? Are we each asking for guidance and discernment to see what we might do next within our current capabilities? Are we asking God to fill in the gaps in new members and resources where we are lacking? Asking for improvement as the holobiont we are.
Let me be a bit more concrete about my questions, a bit more pointed in asking about our collective prayer life. Are we praying for God to help us to minister to young families and their children? Are we asking God to develop within us committed leaders and followers? Are we seeking God’s help in sending us new folks with new ideas to be part of our church family? Are we seeking God’s guidance on the difficult issues of the day and the role we are to play in facing them as God’s people? Do we ask God how we might better meet the needs of older folks within our fellowship, especially those who cannot be in worship with us?
St. Paul’s is, of course, not “our” church. It never has been even though we all fall into thinking it is. It is one of many, many churches that are led by Jesus Christ and which belong to God. To my mind then, we are called every day to ask what God would have our church do next and how we might continue to improve in our performance as Christ’s disciples.
I believe that if we answer the call to be faithful, and consistently and deliberately seek God’s guidance for our church, God will lead us to success as measured by God’s good standards. That is what I wish for us. That is what I pray for us.
Grace, peace, and courage as the summer winds down, school resumes, and we collectively beseech God for guidance in our lives and in our church.
Pastor Terry

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We Accept E-Giving!
Use a checking account, savings account, debit or credit card to quickly and easily make your secure one-time or recurring (weekly or monthly) donation.
Automating your donations permits uninterrupted giving in the event of vacations, illness or inclement weather closure.
Call Norma in the church office for more information.

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St Paul’s United Church of Christ
FINANCIAL REPORT
May, 2023
2021

	Income
		Contributions		17,184.00
		Other Income		1125.00
	Total Income			16,059.00
	Expenses
		Payroll & Benefits		12,589.42
		Administrative Expenses		1048.85
		Church Property Maintenance		5283.29
		Outreach & Missions		1688.38
		Nurture & Discipleship		0.00
		Worship & Church Renewal		453.00
		Congregational Life		0.00
	Total Expenses			21,062.94