Fabulous Gifts and Prizes

"Thank you for joining St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church! As soon-to-be new members [as of Sunday, October 28], you are hereby welcomed with the following Lutheran gifts:


Note the smart St. John canvas tote bag in the back next to the bound, hard-cover edition of the church membership directory, from the corner of which hangs a Crystal Impressions Christmas tree ornament (made in Israel, engraved in Dickinson) featuring an image of our church itself. Other high-end items include a Bible in the center and a decorative plate--suitable for wall display--from our church's centennial four years ago. Also included is a variety of informative handouts about our church and Lutheran magazines and prayer booklets and a plastic-covered pocket calendar reminding you to contribute to our church's trust fund.

Thank you for attending this evening's 'Pizza with the Pastors' event for incoming members. Not only did we have the opportunity to give you the gift-stuffed tote bag, but we also got to feed you Domino's Pizza, share a Christian puppet show performed by 7th- and 8th-graders, and lead you in a service project: creating care packages for college freshmen from our congregation. We were happy to have laid out in advance piles of microwave popcorn, hot chocolate mix, powdered drink mix, bandaids, and business cards with our church's contact information on them. We were happy, too, to have laid out sheets with various freshmen's names and college addresses on them so that each new member could take one, stuff a package, write an encouraging note, and address the envelope for us to mail later. When we found that there were wa-a-ay more addresses than new members, we were happy for the Mobergs to grab the remaining addresses and make care packages for the rest of the students. How nice that even the Moberg girls wrote notes to the recipients.

We look forward to your arriving about a half-hour early on Sunday morning so that we may introduce you to your mentors: current members whom we have matched with you to invite you to church events throughout the coming year, to check in with you, and to serve as a liaison between you and St. John. In the meantime, enjoy the gifts, get started with the reading, and welcome to your new church home!"

P.S. Not pictured, but still given to us by the church, is an orange, transluscent rubber ball with "Jesus lights the way" inscribed on it. It's supposed to light up when bounced, but it came to us pre-broken for our inconvenience.