. MORE NEWS Lutheran Schools Week will begin on ST. PAUL’S March 3 - 7. This is a time to rejoice in the ministry which congregations do through their Lutheran schools. There will be special activities on each day: LUTHERAN SCHOOLS WEEK  March 3-7; Monday – Friday at St Paul’s School. Scholastic Book Fair will be here March 2 through Friday, March 7.  Monday, March 3 – Sports Day- wear your favorite sports team jersey or colors. Jeans are acceptable.  Tuesday, March 4 – Bed Head/ PJ Day- wear your pj’s and don’t bother to comb your hair. Representatives from the St. Louis Zoo will be here with animals for an assembly at 9:30 a.m.  Wednesday, March 5 – Crazy Mismatch Day – wear your clothes backwards, inside out, mismatch, over-sized. Grandparents, relatives, neighbors, aunts, uncles, dedicated caretakers, or a special someone are invited to chapel at 9:00 a.m., to be followed by light refreshments and fellowship in the gym from 9:30 – 10:00 a.m.  Thursday, March 6 – Throw back Thursdaydress from any era. At 9:45 a.m. there will be a parade and contest in the gym for best costume.  Friday, March 7 – I Love St. Paul’s Day- wear any St. Paul’s jersey, t-shirt, red/white/black colors to celebrate our school spirit. Jeans are acceptable. The students really enjoy these activities. We want to get out into the community and let people know that St. Paul’s does an excellent job educating the children of Troy’s community, not only for this temporary life here on earth, but also for life in heaven which is most important. MEN’S MINISTRY NEWS: THE MEN’S BIBLE STUDY is Saturday mornings from 7-8 a.m. in the church Fellowship Hall. Men’s Bible Study meets next on Saturday, March 1, 15 & 29. Come and join us. THE MEN’S BREAKFAST is Saturday, March 8 at 7:00 a.m. at the Troy Cracker Barrel. All men of the congregation and their friends are invited to join together in breakfast and fellowship. This is a great time to catch up on what is going on in the lives of the other men of the congregation as well as give support for the challenges that are taking place. . LUTHERAN CHURCH has electronic giving/auto-withdraw program for church offerings! This program is managed by the Financial Secretary and utilizes First Collinsville Bank’s ACH program. There are sign-up sheets on the table in the narthex. The plan offers two withdrawal dates per month for general fund giving (3rd and 17th of each month) and one withdrawal date per month for Connect giving (17th of each month). There are forms and envelopes in the narthex for you to use to sign up for the program. Just fill out the form, put it in an envelope and place it in the offering plate. The Finance Secretary will complete the process for you. We hope that many members take advantage of this opportunity to continue their financial giving and provide financial stability to both themselves and St. Paul’s. In this issue is the ACH form to fill out for automatic with-drawl. SUNDAY MORNING ADULT BIBLE CLASS is finishing the study on “A Historical Overview of the Epistles.” The remaining books we are studying are: Titus, 2 Timothy, Hebrews and 1, 2, 3 John. We are doing an historical overview of each of these books. Come down into the church basement on Sunday morning from 9:15-10:15 a.m. each week and join us as we become acquainted with these last epistles of the Bible. WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY meets on the first and third Wednesday of the month. This Bible Study meets in the kitchen of the church Fellowship Hall. During March we will meet on March 5th and 19th at 9:45 a.m. THURSDAY AFTERNOON BIBLE CLASS will be on Thursday, March 6th from 2-3 p.m. We meet each Thursday afternoon to study God’s Word. Our topic is the End Times. We meet in the old church kitchen. SOUPER BOWL OF CARING – the money that was received through the month of January, 2014: $616.00 – this includes $50.00 from Adult Bible Class and $300.00 from Thrivent Funds. There were 149 food items collected to date. St. Paul’s has participated for 15 years; the total fund that has been collected is $6,357.00 and 4,506 food items. You can go to www.souperbowl.org to get a break down of this information. . MORE NEWS . th 1: Charles Lawrenz,; 2: Audrey Becker, Kari Bindrin, Richard & Heather Di Rosa; 3: August Bugger; 4: Gene & Joyce Fayollat, Austin Sipes, Linda Taake; 6: Thelma Kueker; 7: Austin Counts, Sydney Gavlick, Nancy Klaustermeier, Jeri Tellmann; 8: Meg Sikes; 10: Derek Reynolds, Bill & Pat Stone Jr.; 11: Jessica McCain, Amber Moore; 13: Jack Kenison, Cole Long; 14: Darilyn Johnson; 15: Lisa Parizon, Matt Tschudy; 17: Jordan Ponce, Cayla Wilderman; 18: Jana Erlich, Kevin & Heather Fournie, Keith Jackson, Kendall Lading, Samantha Wildhaber; 19: Jennifer Kaffer; 20: Richard & Katie Krueger, Kevin & Barb Melcher, Janet Peverly, Nancy Thomas; 21: Debbie Wittenberg; 22: Karla Avers, Amanda Beuth, Shawn Schaefer; 23: Brandon Beckemeyer, Katie Bellantone, Lois Rodenbaugh, Ava Thomas; 24: Dale Schnoeker, Henry Weiersmueller; 25: Kirk Levo, Jacob Moody, Candace Schmitt; 26: Natalie Emmons, Paul & Laura FayollatBoudreaux, Cynthia Varland, Steve West; 27: Dane Forguson, Braden Fournie, Wayne & Emily Harlow, Tamara Rampold; 28: James Hampton, Adam Hughes, Renee Malham Carl & Donna Rhymer, Josh Ruger; 29: Doug Johnson, Darlene Lawrenz, Sharon Wolf; 30: Cheyenne Brinker, Kara Rhymer; 31: Doug & Lynn Fitzgerald, Keri Moore, Dave Venhaus. EASTER FLOWERS… will again be offered this year. The order forms will be in your Sunday bulletin or in the church narthex. The flowers will be in the sanctuary for Easter Sunday. MINISTRIES UNLIMITED - All year long, Ministries Unlimited will be collecting empty one pound coffee cans with the lids and boxes that reams of paper come in. These items can be placed on the LWML table. Thanks so much for your help! PASTORAL WINKEL: The monthly Pastoral Winkel (meeting) of Circuits 3 & 4 will be on Tuesday, March 11th here at St. Paul’s. The ladies of the LWML will be serving the luncheon for the pastors. The Winkel will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a communion service. L.W.M.L. NEWS… March 7 and 8th is the 14th Annual Women's Day of Renewal at Good Shepherd, Collinsville. The theme is "Living a Chocolate Life: Savoring the Rich Indulgence of God's Grace" based on Ephesians 1:7-8. You can visit their web site at www.goodshepherdcollinsville.org for more information. Let me know if you have any questions! Call Shirley Schmitt at 644-5631. Sunday, March 9th is the Metro Central Zone LWML Annual Prayer Service at Hope Lutheran Church in Highland starting at 2 p.m. There will be a free will offering with refreshments to follow the service. The theme is "This Is What We Are Baptized For..." We need two readers to participate in the Worship Service. The readings are not lengthy and you can get the reading before the service so you can read prepare to read it. If you are willing to do this, please let Shirley Schmitt know. Also, if you think you will be going, please let Shirley Schmitt know so we have an idea of how many from St. Paul’s will be attending. Saturday, March 15 District Spring Retreat at Zion, Mascoutah. The theme is "A Journey of Life...Ruth and Naomi." Bring your Bibles! The Bible Study will be led by our SID Counselors Rev. Mark Nebel and Rev. Mitchel Schuessler. Registration will be between 8:30 and 9 a.m. with coffee and breakfast snacks. There will be a worship service with Holy Communion at 9:00 a.m. The "ingathering" is food for the Mascoutah Food Pantry. The registration fee is $20.00 which includes your meal and is due by March 1st. Make checks payable to SID LWML. These registration forms will be on the LWML table! L.W.M.L. REGULAR MEETING - The regular LWML meeting will be held on Monday, March 24th at 7 p.m. in the church Fellowship Hall. Devotions for the evening will be led by Grace Fincham. Refreshments will be served by Mary Ann Bonneville and Ruth Schmitt. The speaker for the evening is Eric Dunn from SIUE Campus Lutheran Services. The "in-gathering" items are for the students at SIUE. All ladies of the congregation are always welcome to attend. . MORE NEWS PASTOR AND PENNY SCHUESSLER would like to thank St. Paul’s Lutheran Church for acknowledging their 5th anniversary as pastor and family at St. Paul’s. The reception that was held on Sunday, February 23rd was very special to us. Thank you to the Board of Elders for arranging the reception, giving the Lord’s Prayer wall hanging/clock with engraving of “Thank you Pastor and Penny 5 years in Christ’s service,” and enlisting the aid of so many other members of the congregation. Thank you to the LWML ladies for preparing and setting up the reception. Thank you to Kathy Nehrt and Shirley Schmitt for putting together the picture presentation. Thank you to the Sunday School children and teaches for the lovely songs, the wonderful poems and great poster boards. Thank you to the St. Paul’s school children and teachers for the handmade cards which were so precious. Thank you to all of you who gave cards and gifts. We are truly overwhelmed by your love and generosity. We are thankful that we have been privileged to be part of the St. Paul’s church family. More than anything, we give thanks to God for bringing us to St. Paul’s and giving us the opportunity to become a part of your lives and to walk with you along the path of faith. We look forward to all the time that the Lord gives us together in love and faith. SUBLIMINAL SUBS OF TROY is offering the following special. If you bring in your current week bulletin from your church on Saturday evening or Sunday, you will receive 10% off you bill. Linda Eckert, owner/operator of Subliminal, is offering this special to all churches in the area. Pass along the information, attend worship and then enjoy a meal afterwards. THANK YOU…Family Choir members for the open house to celebrate my birthday. I really appreciate all the best wishes and many cards. I have a scrapbook with 21+ pages of birthday cards. Thanks to everyone that was able to stop by after church and enjoy some cake and coffee or punch. I can’t thank all of you enough for the support you have given to the Family Choir. It has been my joy to direct the choir for 20 years. Ted Fedder . NEWS FOR THE BOARD OF STEWARDSHIP AND FINANCE: We have entered the 2nd half of the fiscal year 2013-14 and would like thank you for your healthy financial support of your congregation. To date, we have seen the monthly income in the congregation running right at $40,000 a month. This is doing very well. You are encouraged to continue this level of giving. We are currently looking to maintain the giving at a level of $35,000 in the envelopes, plate and tuition and another $4,500 in Connect giving. This is not impossible to do if all of us continue to respond the grace and blessings of God in our lives. There is the temptation as we move into this 3rd and 4th quarter of the fiscal year to begin to back off of the giving. Let’s overcome that temptation by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and continue to move forward in our financial support of the ministry of St. Paul’s congregation. THANK YOU…to all that helped with our E-Cycle event, Saturday, February 22, it was a huge success. This event will make it possible for more students to receive scholarship assistance. YOUTH NEWS There are a variety of activities that the youth are involved in over the next month. All activities are open to all youth to help with the activity. YOUTH EVENT: On March 23, “God’s Not Dead” movie, O’Fallon 15 Cinema. COST: $8.50 per person, $6.50 for children under 11 (bring money for snacks). TIME: 1:55 p.m. movie starts. LEAVE CHURCH: at 1:00 p.m. Reply: Wednesday, March 13 (so that tickets can be purchased in advance). LENTEN DINNER: The youth will be serving the Lenten Dinner on Wednesday, March 26 from 5:306:30 p.m. Set up is at 4:30 p.m. EASTER BREAKFAST SET UP is Saturday, April 19th at 9:00 a.m. in the gym. We will need plenty of hands to make the set up quick and efficient. EASTER BREAKFAST will be served Sunday, April 20th from 7:15-8:30 a.m. This will be immediately following the Easter sunrise service. We will begin getting everything ready at 6:00 a.m. . MORE NEWS LENTEN DINNER SCHEDULE:  March 5 No dinner on Ash Wednesday  March 12 7th & 8th grade class / Trip  March 19 Amber Moore / Mission Trip  March 26 Youth  April 2 LWML  April 9 PTL .