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Tr in i ty Lu the r an Chur ch
604 S F i f t h S t r ee t Wat er t o w n W I 53 094 920 - 26 1 - 3 51 1 w w w . t r in i t yw at e r t o w n .n e t Se cr e t a r y ' s Ho u rs : M o n d a y- F r id a y 9 - 1 t r in i t ym an ag er @ch ar t e r .n e t
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in vari-ous ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” (Hebrews 1:1,2)
The writer to the Hebrews divides history into two eras. In the first era God chose to reveal his thoughts and plans to humans through the prophets. Men such as Moses, David and Isaiah communicated to their contemporaries the Law and the Gospel. They spoke by God’s Spirit in predicting what God would accomplish for sinners through the gift of his Son. In the second era God now has spoken by his Son. God the Son has come to the earth to speak di-rectly to humans and to have his words recorded by the apostles for our learning and en-couragement. We are now living in the second era, called by the writer to the Hebrews “these last days.” The second era is also called the “end times.”
In our Sunday worship life during the month of November we focus on the end times. Each of Sundays is designated as a Sunday of End Time. They are the last four Sundays of the church year. Each also has a specific title. These specific titles and themes (plus dates ac-cording to this year’s calendar) are as follows:
1. First Sunday of End Time: Reformation Sunday (October 28/November 1) – We thank God for the gift of the Gospel, clearly revealed in the holy Scriptures and offered in the sacra-ments. Before his return at the close of the end times, Christ brought to his Church clarity in teaching and practice by leading Martin Luther and others to return to him and his Word.
2. Second Sunday of End Time: Last Judgment (November 4/8) – We anticipate the return of Christ to judge all people. Because of his blood, which purifies us from all sin, Christ will judge us righteous in his sight and bless us with the gift of life in heaven.
3. Third Sunday of End Time: Saints Triumphant (November 11/15) – Because Christ lives, all of his saints who have died now live triumphantly with him in eternal glory. We will join them and Christ in the everlasting victory in heaven.
4. Last Sunday of End Time: Christ the King (November 18/22) – The risen and exalted Christ rules over all things in heaven and on earth. He will control everything to lead the subjects of his kingdom through the last days and end times of human history.
May Jesus bring his many blessings to our dear congregation as we worship him during the Sundays of End Time!
Serving Jesus and you,
Pastor Brett Brauer
Women in Service
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Trinity Women In Service met in the conference room on Thursday, October 8, 2015, for refreshments and their regular meeting. Three ladies were present plus Pastor Brauer. Hostess was Kathy Strucely.
Pastor Brauer presented a study of "Angels, Part II" with a power point "What Do Angels Do?" There are many ref-erences to angels in the Bible, especially regarding their worship and praise to God and protection of us.
The business meeting was opened by President Kathy Strucely. The minutes for September were in the last Newsletter and were approved as printed. The treasurer’s report for September was approved, with a Women In Service balance of $359.20. The Befriend A Missionary of-fering was $217.00. The basket collection today was for the general treasury.
There was no correspondence.
Old Business: A pastor’s gown has not yet been decided on.
The collection for diapers and diaper wipes is going well, with many donations. Thank you to all who have donated. The collection will continue to the end of October.
New Business: Since Trinity has three missionaries for the Befriend A Missionary project, it was decided to send each one $75.00. Since the offering was $217, the balance of $8.00 will be taken from the general treasury.
A potluck for Pastor Yahnke and family will be held at Trinity on November 8. The Funeral Commit-tee has been asked to help serve this reception. Audrey Zautner will head up this effort.
The Centennial Committee is planning to produce a Trin-ity Cookbook for sale by Mother’s Day to raise funds for Trinity’s Centennial celebration. They have asked the W.I.S. to collect and sort recipes of family favorites. All Trinity members are encouraged to submit their favorites. The Centennial Committee will type and produce the book.
This year’s Advent By Candlelight for women will be held on Sunday, December 6 at 6 pm. We are asked to decorate a table OR bake desserts, not both. The desserts will be on the table and ladies attending will be able to choose their preference.
Trinity OWLS will be hosting the group on Tuesday, Oc-tober 20. They will be needing bars and cookies for about 20-25 people. We are asked to help bake.
There being no more business, the meeting adjourned with the Lord’s Prayer. The next regular W.I.S. meeting will be held on November 12 at 1:00 pm in the Conference Room. Pastor Dan Schroeder will present the program. The hostess will be Ione Staude.
Pebbles from the ROC “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” (Psalm 46:1-3). Many teens, who were grieving (due to the recent tragic car accident) found great comfort from God's Word during our ROC Bi-ble/Talk Time (held nightly). The above passage from God’s Word was used to comfort. Many teens received this comfort as attendance at THE ROC dramatically in-creased after the accident. THE ROC gives us the opportu-nity to reach so many unchurched teens with the Gospel.
We are thankful for the many teens who attended our Fall ROC Clean-up. Since THE ROC does not have a custodian, the teens, under the direction of Pastor Mueller, keep THE ROC clean. What a joy it was to see the teens hard at work saying thank you to God and all of you who support THE ROC.
A meal, giving thanks for our volunteers and celebrating five years in our own ROC building on Third Street, will take place at 5:30 pm. on Saturday, November 14. We hope as many of our volunteer staff, board and ROC teens will attend. Anyone else is also welcome. Please RSVP to Pastor Mueller at [email protected] or 920-206-
Welcome Yahnke Family Pastor Dustin Yahnke will be installed as our associate pastor on Sunday, November 8 at 4 pm. Following the service
we will welcome Pastor Yahnke and his wife Jennifer, children, Ellie, Japheth (Jay) , Elijah, Mathias (Bubba), Lily and
Solomon at a potluck supper. Members are asked to bring a main dish and a side dish or dessert.
At this time Pastor Yahnke will be commuting from his home in Pewaukee until they are able to sell their home.
Women in
Service
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A Mountain of Diapers Drive WOW! We have a “mountain” of diapers and wipes to donate to the Alpha Life
Center. The last count prior to this printing was 867 diapers and 2,276 wipes.
Thanks to all who donated!
Financial Sta tus Thanks be to God for the gifts given for the work of the church!
As reported last month, the weekly offering needed to meet the budget is $14,000. Offerings for the month of September were $45,846 which is $14,861 behind our voter approved budget for the month. The first quarter of the fiscal year shows us to be $38,684 behind the budgeted amount.
One method of supporting Trinity’s mission to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ is the Simply Giving program which
allows you to financially support Trinity on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or semi-monthly basis. Electronic donations
may be deducted from savings, checking, or various credit card accounts. Forms for the program can be found in the
Fireside Room.
Membership Changes
New Members—
Giles and Stacey Isham (children-Elizabeth, Andy, Alex,
Lukas)—transfer from St. Mark’s, Watertown
Those Who Have Left—
Ethan Roeseler—transfer to Our Savior, San Antonio
Martin Johnston—transfer to Grace, Milwaukee
Andrew and Marjean Griggs (children—Eliza and Erik) —
transfer to Hope, Oconomowoc
Duane and Brenda Scherret (children-Nathaniel, Whitney)
- released at their request
Videotaped Church Services The Sunday services are now being shown on Watertown
TV, cable channel 985, Wednesdays 9 am and 4 pm and
again on Sunday at 11 am. Services are also uploaded to
the church website by Tuesday.
Advent by Candlelight Sunday, December 6 at 6 pm
Come and enjoy an evening of Christmas reflection, fel-
lowship and dessert.
Some of us are decorators and some of us are bakers.
This year you can sign up to decorate a table (we will
need ten tables) or bring a dessert. The desserts will be
served on a common table where our guests can help
themselves. Contact Kathy Strucely at 261-3511 or 206-
1745 if you would like to host a table or bring a dessert.
Thanksgiving Services
Wednesday, November 25—7 pm
Thursday, November 26—9 am
Live Nativity This year’s Live Nativity will be held on Friday, Decem-
ber 4 and Saturday, December 5 at St. Luke’s. This
annual telling of the Christmas Story is becoming a
Watertown tradition. Watch for ways you can make
this event a success. For more information you can
contact Audrey Zautner at 261-2034.
First Love At Christmas Watch for more details in the next month on how you
can help families in our congregation during the Christ-
mas season.
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Christmas Cheer Bags How about giving us a little help? Could you help Trinity once a year? Someone is needed to be in charge of getting
groceries and supplies for the Christmas Cheer Bags, set up dates for bringing cookies to church and to help to pack
and deliver the bags to about thirty Trinity shut-ins. This is usually done the first part of December. A past file of all the
information you need has been kept and will be given to you. For more information or for volunteering to help with
this project get in touch with Phyllis Kaesermann (261-2605 or email [email protected]) as soon as possible. This is a
great way to serve your church and our shutins, especially if you can’t give up a lot of time.
Calvary Cookie Sale—November 24 The mission of Calvary Academy-Florida is to offer a Christ-centered ministry of assistance to families who are faced
with children who are experiencing behavioral difficulties. Every year Calvary Academy participates in the “World’s
Greatest Cookie Sale” at Country Springs Hotel in Waukesha. This fundraiser depends on donations of many, many
cookies. Charles and Teri Schleef are coordinating the effort here at Trinity. So, as you begin your holiday baking, set
aside a few dozen cookies or candies for the Calvary Academy. You can bring your cookies to church on Sunday, No-
vember 22. For more information contact Teri Schleef at 920-253-1799 or check out the bulletin board.
Lakeside General Board Meeting The quarterly meeting of the Lakeside Lutheran High School General Board is Tuesday, November 24, 2015. The meet-ing begins at 7 pm. It will be held in the Band Room.
The scheduled business items at this time include:
a first reading of Policy 4.1, Budget Deadlines and Schedules;
a first reading of Policy 4.2, Rental and Service Charges of School-Owned Band Instruments;
the 2018-2019 school calendar; and
a recommendation for Lakeside apply to the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program for 2016-2017.
In addition to these business items, there will be reports from committee chairmen and ex officios.
A copy of the minutes from the General Board's August 24 meeting can be found on the bulletin board.
Blood Drive Repor t From the BloodCenter of Wisconsin On behalf of all the hospitals and patients we serve throughout Wisconsin and right there in Watertown, THANK YOU for all your hard work on the Trinity Lutheran blood drive last week (and for the last ten years!). Together, we were able to save up to 81 lives by collecting 27 blood donations – this is because, as you know, every donation can help save up to three lives. Fantastic job!
Here are some fun stats:
28 people came to donate and only 1 was deferred (i.e.,: low iron, antibiotics, certain travel outside the U.S.) – this is a very low percentage of deferrals!
Of the 27 who completed the health history screening, all 27 went on to successfully donate a blood product, in-cluding 4 dual red cell donations!
Of the 28 who presented to donate, 1 donor hadn’t donated through BloodCenter in over 2 years – great job bring-ing them back in!
Trinity Lutheran Watertown hosted three blood drives in 2015, which collected a total of 94 blood donations – enough
to potentially save up to 282 lives! What an accomplishment!
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99 Years Ago…and Counting!
In preparation for the centennial of Trinity Lutheran Church to be celebrated in November, 2016, we will be sharing tidbits of Trinity’s history on how our congrega-tion came into being.
***
It was ninety-nine years ago in late September of 1916 that Pastor and Mrs. Frederic Stern and their young family arrived in Watertown. Two daughters made up the children of the family at that time, and this was soon increased by another daughter who became the first to be baptized in the new congregation. Eventually Pastor and Mrs. Stern would be blessed with five chil-dren – four daughters and a son.
Sunday, October 1, was the date of Pastor Stern’s instal-lation in the school hall at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. The service was conducted by Prof. William Huth of the Northwestern College faculty and a member of St. Mark’s. He was considered the assistant pastor in charge of the English work at St. Mark’s.
In the days following the installation the real work of building a new congregation began. On Thursday eve-ning, October 12, an informal meeting was held at the home of Prof. Herman Frank of the college faculty. In the anniversary history written by Dr. Elmer Kiessling for Trinity’s 65th anniversary he noted that in addition to Pastor Stern and Prof. Frank the following men were present: Dr. T.C. Abelmann, Theodore Gamm, William Schlueter, Dr. Frank F. Schlueter, and Harry Schlueter. While Mr. William Schlueter retained his membership at St. Mark’s, all of the other gentlemen became charter members of Trinity Lutheran Church.
A result of this informal October 12 meeting was a call for an open meeting at St. Mark’s Lutheran School the following week on October 17. Prof. Ernst E. Kowalke of NWC was elected as the temporary secretary, Prof. Frank as the temporary president, and Mr. William Gor-der as temporary treasurer. Several important items were discussed at the meeting.
The secretary was directed to draw up a petition ad-dressed to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church asking the con-gregation to grant a release to those who should sign the petition.
Consideration was given to several names suggested for the new congregation – Grace Lutheran Church, Church of the Divine Charity, St. Paul’s, Hope Lutheran Church, Trinity Lutheran Church, Faith, and St. Matthew’s. A decision would be made at the next regular meeting.
The chairman was directed to appoint a committee in-cluding himself and the pastor to draft a constitution. Mr. William Schlueter, Mr. William Gorder, and Prof. Kowalke were the appointees.
Those who intended to join the congregation were asked to give their names to the pastor.
The next meeting was scheduled to be held on Novem-ber 5, 1916, at 3:00 pm. at the school hall.
The minutes conclude with the names of the men and women who attended the meeting. Those present were:
The pastor, Rev. F. Stern
Mr. Theodore A. Gamm
Mr. Wm. Schlueter
Mr. Wm. Gorder Jr.
Mr. Harry Schlueter
Mr. Percy Schlueter
Professors Huth, Wendland, Frank, Kowalke
Mrs. Braemer
Miss Alvina Kirchhoff
Miss Edna Voss.
Next month we’ll share some of the events that led to the formation of Trinity Lutheran Church.
Page 6 Parish Caller
Trinity-St. Luke’s Lutheran School
Enrollment
Our first day of school for the new school year began on Tuesday, September 1. Enrollment for this new school year is greater than we had planned – a great blessing from the Lord - but is lower than our enrollment of 183 students in 3K through grade eight in the previous school year.
Grade Teacher Students TR SL Other WELS Non WELS
3K Hayes 09 1 3 2 3
4K Hayes 17 3 9 0 5
5K Wegner 13 2 9 1 0
1 Borgwardt 14 5 8 1 0
2 Ehlke/Schumacher 15 5 9 1 0
3 Schultz 19 3 16 0 0
4 Birkholz 17 4 9 2 2
5 Holzhueter 17 5 12 0 0
6 Torgerson 15 4 11 0 0
7 Foxen 12 6 6 0 0
Moore 12 3 9 0 0
8 Foxen 09 2 7 0 0
Moore 09 1 8 0 0
178 44 116 7 11
24.7% 65.2% 3.9% 6.2%
2014-2015 183 56 113 7 7
TSL continues in a state of enrollment transition due to a variety of factors. The loss of enrollment parallels the drop in elementary school enrollments in the Watertown Unified School District. These changes can be seen in looking at changing percentages over the past few years. 2014-2015 183 30.7% 61.7% 3.8% 3.8% 2013-2014 187 34.3% 58.8% 3.2% 3.7% 2012-2013 198 43.5% 52.0% 3.5% 1.0% 2011-2012 200 43.5% 52.0% 3.5% 1.0% 2010-2011 198 40.0% 58.2% 1.0% 0.0% 2009-2010 225 38.7% 59.1% 2.2% 0.0% We pray the Lord would bless our efforts in educating His lambs and sheep as well as recruiting lambs and sheep who need to hear His saving message.
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End of the Year Reconcilement A yearly end-of-the fiscal year reconcilement is conducted by the TSL Joint Board. Total costs of TSL are reviewed for the year compared to the funds that the congregations have provided to operate the school. In FY2014-2015 $777,531.49 was expended to operate TSL compared to an adopted budget amount of $777,383.00. Income received from all sources for budgetary purposes was $788,616.44 compared to a budgeted amount of $777,383.00. After a review of income and expenditures, including the amount the congregations paid to the school over the fiscal year, a check for $6,062.11 (including overpayments of $2,452.98) has been cut for Trinity, and a check in the amount of $5,022.74 (including overpayments of $9.00) has been cut for St. Luke’s. Both congregations have received their checks.
While there were areas of the budget underspent in a number of categories (and also areas overspent), what was also unexpected was the additional income in preschool and extended care fees due to increased enrollment and use of these programs. We are thankful that the Lord has provided this positive financial news for both congregations.
Our thanks to Dan Meis (Joint Board Treasurer), Mrs. Kim Meschke (Administrative Assistant), and Michele Maas (TSL accountant) for keeping our financial records in current and excellent condition!
Called and Hired Worker Staffing Mrs. Emily Borgwardt is effectively working as our new first grade teacher. It was a smooth transition, and Mrs. Borgwardt brings a variety of talents and abilities to working with these primary age children. We thank the Lord for sending her to us.
There were also a number of changes in hired staffing:
Mr. Brett Duwe now serves at the band director at TSL replacing Mrs. Linda Moeller who retired from band (she still volunteers to come in and work with grade three rhythm band and grade 4 recorders on a weekly basis.) Mr. Duwe is preparing the band for the Veterans Day celebration on November 12 and the band concert on December 3.
Mr. Tom Horn replaces Dave Wangelin who stepped down from the after-school janitorial position at the Clark Street campus. Mrs. Patricia Parpart is working with the After-school Care Program replacing Mrs. Sarah Horn who has accepted
a one-year call to serve as a teacher at St. John’s Lutheran School.
We thank the Lord for providing full staffs in the areas where we had vacancies.
TSL Self-Study While the TSL Self-Study was fully completed last spring, the study, visitation results, and review of the long-range plan needed to be approved by the WELS Commission on Lutheran Schools. That acceptance of the review took place at their September meeting. A few weeks ago we were informed that our exemplary status has been approved. Again, thank you to all the people from Trinity and St. Luke’s who participated in the process.
Veterans Day Celebration Over the past several years it has become a tradition at TSL to hold a breakfast and program honoring the veterans of our two congregations who have served or are currently servicing our country in the armed services. This year’s cele-bration will be held on Thursday, November 12. The breakfast will begin at 8:00 am. followed by a program at 9:15 am. All events will be held at our Clark Street campus.
This year’s speaker will be Pastor Paul Burk who serves our sister congregation at Immanuel Lutheran Church in John-son Creek (Farmington). Pastor Burk is himself a veteran and will be talking about serving our veterans as one who also served.
All of our families and friends of Trinity and St. Luke’s are welcome to come to our celebration to join us in honoring these men and women. Veterans and their spouses are invited to join us for breakfast. If you plan to join us for break-fast, please contact Mrs. Kiecker at the Clark Street campus (206-1844) so adequate preparations can be made.
Following the celebration the students will be spending some time preparing place mats, cards, and tray favors that are sent to the Zablocki Veterans Center in Milwaukee to brighten the days of the patients there.
TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH Church Office—920-261-3511 [email protected]
Trinity Lutheran Church
604 S Fifth Street
Watertown WI 53094
PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
WATERTOWN WI
PERMIT NO. 120
www.trinitywatertown. net
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
Pastor Brett Brauer
CELL: 920-915-9070
HOME: 920-261-1599
Sunday Worship Services
8 & 10:30 am
Bible Activity Hour & Bible Class
9:15 am
Wednesday Worship Service
6:30 pm
Pastor Dustin Yahnke
CELL: 414-614-0077
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