Soup Luncheon: Next Sunday, February 26th, we will hold a free-will offering soup luncheon immediately following worship. The soups offered this month will be Chicken Noodle, Potato and a mild chili. Proceeds from the luncheon will go towards buying necessary materials for our Sunday School program. We hope you join us for some good food and fellowship.
Ash Wednesday Worship: This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Please join us on Ash Wednesday for the imposition of the ashes at either 8:15 am or 6:00 pm. Also, please do not forget to worship with us each week during Lent as we are reminded of the tremendous sacrifice that are Lord endured when he died upon the cross for our sins.
Sunday School Teacher Needed: If you are looking for a way to serve St Mark, and love children, this may be the opportunity for you. We are currently looking for another person to help teach Sunday School here on Sunday mornings at 9:00 AM. The curriculum is pre-written. All you need to do is help teach it. If you are interested or have any questions, please call the church office.
New Director of Campus Maintenance: Tony Vangelos has volunteered to be our new director of campus maintenance. As director, he will ensure that maintenance issues that are brought to his attention will be fixed in a timely manner through recruiting volunteers or hiring people. If you notice any maintenance issues around the church that you would like addressed, please contact the church office so that we may pass along any work requests.
Book Club: The remaining book club books arrived and are ready for pickup. If you have ordered a book, please be sure to pick them up today if you haven't already gotten them. The next book club meeting will be held on Sunday, February 26th at 6:30pm in Miller Hall. The book that will be discussed during this time is the Priest's Graveyard by Ted Dekkar. We hope to see you all there!
Vacation Bible School: Thinking about how you can help around the church? During the week of June 18-22, St. Mark will once again be hosting Vacation Bible School. If you would like to get involved in either the planning or in helping with the program, please speak with Rachel Shrum or call the church office. There will be meetings coming up soon to formulate ideas and plans. We would love for you to be there too!
Daily Bible Reading Challange: Last year several church members pledged to read the Bible in a year, and with the help of the Lord, many of them have successfully completed their challange. If you would like to pledge to read the Bible during the course of this next year, we have a reading outline available to help you know how much to read each day. If you would like one of these outlines, please contact the church office. It is not too late to catch up on the daily readings.
Thank You For Your Generosity: Pastor Steve would like to thank all the members of St. Mark who gave an offering to go towards the family of Matt Peterson, who suddenly passed away leaving a wife and two small children. Your generosity allowed the church to collect $330 in a matter of two weeks which will help this family greatly during this Christmas season. Thank you for your continued support of other fellow Christians in their time of need.
Fall Fest: Excellent weather and a great crowd helped to make Fall Fest 2011 a huge success. A good time was had by all. There was pumpkin painting(a crowd favorite), bean-bag toss, pumpkin ring toss, bowling, shoot the lights out, face painting, cake walk, photos, food, music and LOTS of other fun. HERE you can view some pictures from Fall Fest 2011.
Hand Bells: Beginning Thursday, October 27th, Hand Bell practice will once again start up. Held from 7:30 to 8:30 pm and led by Steve Hudak, anyone who is interested can meet together and practice for the upcoming season. If you have any questions, please speak with Steve Hudak.
Sermon Archives: Pastor Steve has had requests for some of his past sermons so he has chosen to make available sermons dating back to March of this year. At this time, these are the only sermons that are available. The sermons can be accessed by visiting the SERMON ARCHIVE page. You can listen to each sermon by clicking on the date of the sermon. This will open a player which will play each sermon.
Look for sermons to be added in the future.
TLC Starting Up: Beginning October 11th the TLC Group which meets at Sue Zarczynski's home will be starting a biblical equipping study using the book of Matthew. If you've been curious but not wanting to come in the middle of something, NOW is the perfect time to find out what TLC is all about. We will start the new group meetings on October 11th, 6:30 pm at Sue's home in Parma. We will be meeting every other week. If you are interested, or if you have any questions about TLC, please call the church office. Hope to see you there!
Designated Offerings: Did you know St. Mark has special restricted funds that you can donate your offerings to? These funds include Boiler Repair, Women's Ministry, Outreach Events and Windows. If you would be interested in designating an offering to a specific account, and would like a listing of these accounts, please pick up a list from the back pew. When designating donations please be sure to put the name of the fund on your envelope, and write the four-digit number associated with the fund on the envelope as well.
LMS School Board: Luther Memorial School recently needed a replacement for one of their school board members and our very own Sandy Wilder was nominated and appointed to the Luther Memorial School Board. We are very excited to see the connection between Luther Memorial and St. Mark grow even stronger with this addition to their school board, and are looking forward to another great school year of working together to reach the lost and unchurched people of our neighborhood.
Choir Rehearsals: St. Mark Choir will once again begin rehearsing every Wednesday evening following our worship services beginning September 7th. If you are interested in becoming a part of St.Mark Choir, please speak with Arline Dress for more information.
Mission India: Funds required to train ONE Church Planter are $2,500 over a two year period. That amounts to about $35.00 per week. If you have not donated or pledged, please consider doing so to help support the work of Mission India. We are just $74.24 away from the total needed to support two separate church planters.
Pledges |
$34.40 per week. |
Goal |
$2,500.00 |
.........................................................................................DON WHARTON
If you were not there, you missed an inspirational and uplifting concert on Wednesday, April 27th at St Mark Lutheran Church. Don Wharton put on quite a show singing his songs and telling stories of his life's experiences. It was around 90 minutes of enthusiasm and happiness while singing, poking fun at himself and "Traditional Lutherans" and preaching a message of Joy and Jesus Christ.
Don Wharton was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana on December 22, 1951, the only child of Howard and Millie Gordon. Don's father died of cancer in 1963 and his mom remarried in 1964 to former professional hockey player Len Wharton. Don has a step-sister Anna and a half-brother Tom.
Don began taking piano lessons in the second grade and also developed a love of sports at that time. He played both basketball and baseball through grade school, high school, and even at Concordia College in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he was co-captain of the basketball team and a catcher/first baseman on the conference champion baseball team. He taught and coached at Concordia for three years before pursuing a full-time music ministry in 1979.
Don has performed over 3,000 concerts (at least one in all 50 states), primarily at Lutheran churches, schools, and conventions.
He recently chronicled his ministry exploits in his first book ANOTHER YEAR TRAVELIN'. The book includes his August 13, 1993 survival adventure while returning from a mission trip to the Russian Far East. The group of seven took a twin-engine Piper Navajo into the Bering Sea near Nome, Alaska and survived from 35-70 minutes in the near freezing water before being rescued by helicopter. Please see the the rescue for more details.
Don and his wife Leslie were married in June, 1976. They have five children: Emily, Becky, Andy, Chelsea, and Zachary. In 1990, the Whartons moved from Michigan to Nashville where Don is continuing a full concert and speaking schedule and songwriting career.