News and Announcements
Special Thanks
• To Rev. Don Niederfrank for serving as our Interim Minister during the months of November and December.
• To Phil Stepanski and Tracy Bretl for changing our Sanctuary windows for Epiphany.
• To our faithful Christmas Tree Sale Committee for planning and running a smooth and successful sale: David Franks and Louise Mollinger, Angelo and Cindy Lopez, Joe Rychtik and Scott Symes.
• To the crew that took down the Christmas tree lot on December 19: Bill Bond, Mike Jaquet, Bradd Lemke, Angelo Lopez, Joe Rychtik, Matt Schlehlein and Scott Symes.
• To the following families who contributed to one or more of the six community organizations that our church supports on an ongoing basis as a Christmas Gift: Joy Bloemer, Allen and Patt Cottrell, Brett and Jennifer Dimmer, David Franks and Louise Mollinger, Dave and Jeanne Mantsch, and Jerry and Sara Packard.
• To the following folks who helped support Family Promise's Christmas efforts: Jeanne Mantsch, Terry McManus, Matt and Sarah Riemer, Jane Schneider and Dianne Taylor.
• To Nicki Lesnik and her family for setting up and decorating our Christmas tree in the Sanctuary.
• To Kathy Bretl for being appointed to serve as our church Treasurer.
• To Peter Muehleis for putting the garbage bins at the curb each week.
• To Joe Mueller and Claude Zimmerman for conducting weekly walk-throughs of the church building and grounds.
Archives
December 30, 2020
December 22, 2020
November 1, 2020
October 21, 2020
October 14, 2020
A WARM WELCOME TO PASTOR SCOTT
We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our new settled minister, Rev. Dr. Scott McLeod! Pastor Scott conducted his first virtual church service on Sunday, January 3. Pastor Scott and his wife, Laura, recorded a virtual Meet and Greet during the Call Week in September. If you haven't viewed it yet, it is a great way to start to get to know Pastor Scott. We encourage you to email Pastor Scott a welcome message, his new email is pastorscott@portucc.org.
STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN - REMINDER
The Stewardship Committee thanks the 117 individuals and families who have completed and sent in their pledge forms. Our pledges total $118,000 as of the first week of the new year. We are over halfway to our goal of $215,000. The Committee would like to encourage those who have yet to pledge to Ponder their love of the church, Plan their giving, and Respond by sending in the form or submitting their pledge online! Please visit the Stewardship page on our website for more information and forms.
OUR CONFIRMATION PROGRAM
You might interested to know that our new minister, Pastor Scott, will be conducting our Confirmation program the second half of the program year (January to May) for our current 8th graders. If you would like your child to participate, please email Amy Gilhooly, our Communications Director, at amyg@portucc.org.
PLEDGE ENVELOPES READY FOR PICK UP
Those of you who have indicated that you would like to receive Pledge Envelopes can pick them up in the church. If you prefer, we can arrange to have them mailed or dropped off to you. Simply email Lorraine Halls, our Financial Administrator, at lorraine@portucc.org, to let her know.
CHRISTMAS TREE SALE A SUCCESS
Our 35th Annual Christmas Tree Sale was a success! All of our trees and wreaths sold out mid-way through December. Many thanks to everyone who supported the sale!
OUR FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATOR
Lorraine Halls joins the Office Staff as our Financial Administrator. Lorraine is transitioning to this position after serving as Treasurer for almost four years. We welcome Lorraine to our office staff! Lorraine can be contacted at lorraine@portucc.org.
"STAYING THE COURSE" - OUR STATUS
Our traditional in-person church services continue to be suspended at this time. First Congregational Church will continue to provide spiritual guidance and care. During this time, we welcome you to call or email if you have any pastoral needs or questions.
MAKING PLEDGE PAYMENTS
Since we are not currently conducting in-person church services, we wanted to let you know that you can drop off your pledge payments by using our mail slot to the right of our Webster Street entrance. Or you can simply mail it to the church. Thank you!