175th Anniversary Planned Schedule of Events

Guests invited to be honored or speak at events:

• Rev. Chick Biegner - regional church historian
• Rev. Jerilyn Brown - former pastor from 1997 to 2001
• Mr. Scott Hannon - our seminarian
• Mrs. Lily Ireland - wife of Rev. R. M. Ireland
• Bishop Marie Jerge - the Bishop!
• Ms. Jill Meek-Davis - great-great-great granddaughter of Rev. Francis Guenther
• Rev. Jen Rude - daughter of Rev. Ron Rude
• Rev. Ron Rude - former pastor from 1985 to 1996
• Rev. Z. Anne Schmidt(-Snider) [aka Schotzy] - daughter of Rev. John & Lucille Schmidt
• Rev. Richard Siemann - our German-speaking visiting Pastor

FEBRUARY

• 2/10/2008 - Actual 175th Anniversary date. See Press Release at this link.
  Bishop Marie Jerge was present to attend worship and preach at the only service, 10:30am.
  An elaborate coffee hour began at 9:00 with Bishop Jerge hosting over a “Town Meeting” session before the service..
Members of the press attended.

MARCH

• 3/30/2008 Rev. Jerilyn Brown

APRIL

• 4/27/2008 Rev. Chick Biegner to speak on church history, offering an interesting prelude to visit of Rev. Schmidt and family.

MAY

• Honor Rev. Guenther, our first pastor. Jill Davis has been invited to speak about her ancestor (tentative).
• 5/4/2008 Rev. Z. Anne Schmidt(-Snider).
• Confirmation Reunion Sunday (tentative). Events may include a “virtual” reunion where invited guests can send recorded messages and events can be streamed online.

JUNE

• Mrs. Lily Ireland and family as honored guests (tentative).

JULY

• Rev. Christina Koppes - either 6/29/2008 or 7/6/2008 (tentative).
  Rev. Koppes will be ordained (Methodist) in June.
• 7/6/2008 150th anniversary of the first burial in St. John Cemetery.
  Events may include an outdoor service at the cemetery followed by a guided tour.
• 7/20/2008 Rev. Ron Rude and daughter, Rev. Jen Rude.
  Rev. Rude was the first pastor to offer a contemporary service.
  Events may include Saturday night dinner, a picnic on Saturday, or a brunch on Sunday.

AUGUST

• Scott Hannon possible guest (tentative).

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

• A grand finale celebration to be held at church on either 9/27/2008 or 10/4/2008.
  Fully catered event with a variety of activities planned (tentative).
• Rev. Siemann to speak for a “finale” sermon (tentative).
  May include some German liturgy and singing of a German hymn.