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2016 Year End

Report

ZION EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHRUCH PESHTIGO, WI

IN THIS REPORT

PAGE 2 Church Officers

PAGE 2 Organizations / Staff

PAGE 3 Membership Activity

PAGE 7 Attendance

PAGE 8 Giving Pattern

PAGE 9 Ladies Aid / Altar Guild

PAGE 10 2016 Financial Report

PAGE 11 CDC Financial Report

PAGE 12 2017 BUDGET

PAGE 13 Message from Council

PAGE 15 WELS Annual Report

The Bible Is To Be Used

The Lord directed Philip to go down the road to Gaza (Acts 8:26). On the way he met an official from Ethiopia. The man was sitting in his chariot and reading from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. He asked Philip what the prophet meant in a certain passage. “Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35). In that con-versation about Jesus, God’s Spirit gave the Ethiopian saving faith and a desire for Bap-tism.

By using the Bible to introduce the man to Jesus, Philip was carrying out Jesus’ Great Commission for his followers. Jesus has also given us the same mission: make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them. He has also graciously equipped us for this mission just as he equipped Philip. He has given us the powerful, effective, life-giving tool of his Word. He has given us the Bible.

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2017 Elected Officers and Boards

Chairman Steve Rich N 3242 Schacht Rd, Pesh. 715-582-0754

Vice-Chairman Charles Risner 240 S Brown Ave, Peshtigo 715-582-4255

Secretary Ron Lesperance 637 Walker St., Pound 715-927-5906

Financial Secretary Chris Lemke 632 Harper Ave., Peshtigo 715-582-2823

Treasurer Richard Polzin 3810 Irving St., Marinette 920-740-6746

Adult Discipleship Allen England 320 S. Ellis Ave., Peshtigo 715-938-2575

Outreach Les Gertz W1513 Cty B, Marinette 715-938-1045

Youth Discipleship Position Open

Property Position Open

Organizations

Ladies Aid President Joyce Caebe 715-582-4077

Altar Guild President Shirley Motkowski 715-582-3451

Sunday School Pastor Myslik 715-801-0051

Choir Director Susan Myslik 715-801-0051

Preschool/CDC Director Stephanie White 715-582-2800

Oversight Committee: Rich and Sue Polzin Wendy O’Day

920-740-6746 920-897-4547

Endowment/Trust Fund David Spangenberg 715-582-0463

Staff

Pastor Luke Myslik 221 S. Ellis Ave. Home Phone: 715-801-0051 Church Phone: 715-582-3680 Cell Phone: 507-327-0902 Email: zionpeshtigo@wi.twcbc.com Secretary Allen England 715-938-2575 Email: zionsecretary@wi.twcbc.com Organists Bonnie Behling 715-582-3011 Ellen Fritz 715-789-2754

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World Missions

World Missions has a presence in 23 different countries;

serves 79,780 baptized members in Lutheran churches;

serves 60,000 more souls through correspondence and workshops;

is training more than 160 men to become pastors in their own countries;

is assisting national pastors to train hundreds of people to be Sunday school teachers, liturgists, evangelists, and leaders in congregations in their home coun-tries;

is exploring outreach possibilities in 14 additional countries; supports 38 missionaries, 9 teachers, and more than 60 lay workers in our missions; and

is reaching more than 1,000,000 via Internet outreach.

Christ-centered resources from Academia Cristo (Christ Academy) are reaching Spanish speakers around the world. Academiacristo.com offers free Spanish video and audio resources. Visi-tors can ask questions and chat online with national pastors and missionaries. In 2016. Academia Cristo Facebook videos were viewed 8.6 million times.

Christ Evangelical Lutheran Ministries, WELS’ sister church in India, supports Gentle Shepherd Lutheran School, which serves more than 200 students. WELS’ friendly counselors and their wives meet regularly with the teachers to help them practice and improve up-on their English.

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NE W MI S SI O N S A BOU T

Rockwall, Tex. Connected with Divine Peace in Garland, Tex., this multi-site mission will have two locations for worship but one

Victoria, Tex. A second pastor is needed to serve this new multi-site

mission of Redeemer, Edna, Tex., which offers both Eng-lish and Spanish worship each Sunday.

Stevens Point, Wis.

In 2015, Divine Word, Plover, Wis., called a second pas-tor to focus on campus ministry as well as reach out in the community. Divine Word has purchased a building

for a campus center and second worship site.

Meridian, Idaho Cross of Christ, Boise, Idaho, is starting this multi-site

mission to serve families living in the neighboring city of

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Members of St. Matthew, Spokane, Wash., will support

Lehi, Utah Prince of Peace, Salt Lake City, is starting this mission in

an area that has a strong Mormon presence.

Fredricksburg, Va. Members from Trinity, Woodbridge, Va., are eager to start a mission in this growing community about 40

Atlanta, Ga. The city of Atlanta is ringed by seven WELS churches. Over the past two years, WELS members have been

holding Bible studies in the city, and a core group has

Home Missions

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Baptisms

The Power of Baptism (Luther’s Catechism)

How can water do such great things?

It is certainly not the water which does such

things, but God’s Word which is in and with the

water and faith which trusts this Word used with

the water.

For without God’s Word the water is just plain

water and not Baptism. But with this Word it is

Baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a

washing of rebirth by the Holy Spirit.

Name Birth Date Baptism Date Parents

Cooper Emery Oberg 11/20/2015 2/14/2016 Justin & Sheena Oberg

Ariella Saige Behnke 2/23/2016 4/30/2016 Marcus & Lauren Behnke

Sylas Richard Swiatnicki 12/30/2016 5/7/2016 Derrick & Chelsea Swiatnicki

Henry Jeffrey Carlson 1/13/2016 7/10/2016 Jeffrey & Shayla Carlson

Archer Richard Polzin 6/27/2016 8/28/2016 Bryan & Andrea Polzin

Grayson Russell Risner 7/31/2016 10/9/2016 Greg & Danielle Risner

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Confirmation

Confirmands Parents’ Names Bible Verse

Mason Bohaczek Jason & Maddie Stibbe Joshua 1:9

Jacob Gordon Jason & Heather Gordon Philippians 4:13

Tanner Marquardt Leon & Tracy Marquardt Matthew 5:6

Matthew O’Day Sean & Wendy O’Day Deuteronomy 31:6

Alex Prestine John & Lauera Prestine Matthew 6:33

Austin Thome Ryan & Kristen Marks John 3:16

Name Date

Katie Entringer & William Seidler 5/14/2016

Paige Immel & Cody Mielson 8/6/2016

Gary Eick & Joan Kelly 8/20/2016

Joel Ahrens & Melanie Miller 10/8/2016

Nicki Neelans & Cody Wozniak 10/22/2016

Weddings

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“One in Christ” is an all-encompassing description of who we are—members of God’s family, united in a common faith, and working side by side in the mission he has called us to carry out. WELS ministries are thankful for the privilege to carry out God’s work and for the many ways in which God continues to bless these ministries.

For the 2015–16 fiscal year, Congregation Mission Offerings (CMO) plus bequests, foundation grants, and other gifts funded $29.1 million of ministry programs and ser-vices. Additionally, gifts of $3.1 million were received from the “One in Christ” special debt elimination offering. These gifts, along with allocation of synod support, resulted in the debt being paid off in December 2016.

Congregation Mission Offerings are the foundational source of synodical support. An-nual growth of 3.5 percent is necessary to keep pace with cost increases. In calendar year 2016, CMO of $21.1 million was 0.3 percent below commitments from congrega-tions and 2.1 percent below prior year receipts. Increases in operating costs such as wages, benefits, insurance, and utilities continue to outpace the growth of CMO. As a result, special gifts, the elimination of debt payments, and other cost savings are nec-essary to sustain ministries at current levels. CMO growth of more than 3.5 percent or special gifts would allow for the expansion of support programs for congregations, mis-sions, and our ministerial education schools.

We are thankful for the support of our congregations and members and ask God’s con-tinued blessing on our efforts to most efficiently and effectively utilize available re-sources.

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Name Date of Death Date of Funeral Sermon Text

Harold Marquardt 1/10/2016 1/15/2016 Jeremiah 31:3

Donald Bloch 2/28/2016 3/4/2016 Psalm 116:15

Joyce Larsh 3/21/2016 3/24/2016 Romans 3:23-24

Herbert Kamm 3/19/2016 3/26/2016 John 3:16

Ruth Limberg 4/2/2016 4/8/2016 Revelation 2:10

Richard Netzer 5/13/2016 5/17/2016 1 John 3:1

William Wienke 5/16/2016 6/12/2016 Memorial Service in Chicago

William Ruechel 6/9/2016 6/18/2016 Psalm 23

Roy Fritz 8/6/2016 8/10/2016 John 14:1-6

Norman Marquardt 8/31/2016 9/6/2016 1 John 2:7

Richard Neumann 12/5/2016 12/8/2016 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Called to Glory

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June Lobeck 1/11/16 St. John’s Lutheran Church, Grover, WI

Lloyd & Deb Heitman 5/10/16 Calvary Lutheran Church, Abrams, WI

Released from Membership

Membership Changes

Transfers In

Transfer Out

Jason & Melissa Christenson St. Paul’s, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 7/10/2016

Jim & Grace Ryan Good Shepherd, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 10/9/2016

June Ehlers 7/24/2016

Daniel Ehlers 7/24/2016

Erin Ehlers 7/24/2016

Linda Newbury 7/24/2016

John Anderson 10/16/2016

Yvonne Banach 10/16/2016

Wes & Violet Borchert 10/16/2016

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THE WORK OF OUR SYNOD WELS Annual 2016 Report

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens, no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. . . . See, I have placed before you an open door” (Revelation 3:7,8).

We stand before an open door. The Son of David opened the door to God’s family and household with his life, death, and resurrection. It’s a door standing open for sinners like us, a door thrown open by the grace and mercy of a God who found a way for sinful people to be with him, at his side, as members of his family.

It’s a door that is opened not only for us. It’s been opened for a world of sinners living in the darkness outside of God’s family, with no hope and no future other than eternal darkness.

Our synod is comprised of nearly 400,000 people who have been brought through that door and into God’s family. Because we know the truth of his gospel message and joy of God’s forgiveness in Christ, we have gathered together as a synod to bring as many people as possible through that same doorway to God’s household.

In this annual report, you will see exam-ples of how God is enabling us to do just that, as we work together to strengthen congregations, train future church work-ers, and plant the seed of the gospel at home and around the world.

Thank you, Lord, for your grace.

May we continue to work together to seize the opportunities that God gives us as we carry out his mission to bring more people through that open door into his family.

Serving in Christ,

Rev. Mark Schroeder, WELS President

WELS In brief

As a Christian church body, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod’s calling is to nurture the faith of our members and to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

WELS maintains four schools for the education of our pastors, teachers, and staff min-isters—Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wis.; Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minn.; Luther Preparatory School in Watertown, Wis., and Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw, Mich.

WELS congregations—either individually or as federations—operate one of the largest parochial school systems in the United States.

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windows are currently installed, all else is in progress. Please note that these improve-ments are all being funded independently from money presented to the Endowment Trust Fund specifically for this type of project only.

8) The start of the Direct Deposit program for offering contributions. We are very happy to have this program available to our members. However, we need your help, we cannot figure out why approximately 50% of the people who completed the survey said they would be interested in this before we started, and only approx. 10% of those people have enrolled. Please help us in understanding why we don’t have more inter-est, we need your thoughts, concerns and suggestions.

Listed below is our list of goals for 2017 that we will asking for your help and support in meeting:

1) As of writing this report we are still looking to fill the 2 vacant positions on the church council. Youth Discipleship, and Property and Grounds, please contact Pastor or any council member if interested.

2) The continuation of uniting the operations of the CDC with the Church as one, and a continued combination of both budgets.

3) Continued Congregational Outreach (as explained above), and Community Out-reach to also include this year, a community invitation in local papers to our Lenten Meal services, a community Golf event to fund local charities, rather than the SPAM only event as in past (all ideas still in progress for this yet), and bringing back our off-site (Badger Park), closing of Sunday School/Church Picnic service (all details will be coming). We welcome and encourage your ideas and suggestions for these projects and any others. We NEED your input.

4) Completion and implementation of an Electrical Power Usage survey. We are planning to a more efficient lighting program. This has the potential of a significant savings to the congregation after initial costs of the change over

5) The continued efforts of completing the funding for the Projector Project and 150th Anniversary Celebration

6) Completion of the rest of the Parsonage updates

7) Start and continue a vision of where we/you would like to see our congregation be in 3 years, 5 years, 10 years and beyond

Thank you again to every one in the congregation for your time, patience, suggestions, and efforts over the past year. We are all very proud of what we have been able to accomplish this past year, and realize that, without the help of God, and yourselves, none of this would of been possible.

Very Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Zion Church Council

Chairman, Steve Rich

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Month 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

January 126 128 134 146 147 146 140

February 141 119 132 160 150 148 150

March 140 149 182 156 156 161 139

April 136 158 148 156 146 204 129

May 130 137 140 143 147 120 125

June 117 124 118 120 152 125 100

July 114 117 117 144 143 143 100

August 142 123 117 135 144 139 99

September 132 139 169 165 161* 157 178

October 127 140 155 196 158* 163 184

November 123 146 179 166 165 150 169

December 112 135 139 150 173 177 96*

Average 128 135 144 153 153 152 134

* There were no Monday services for this month.

Attendance

Special Service 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

Lent 60 56 59 56 58 50 60

Maundy Thursday 37 52 48 65 40 61 39

Good Friday 113 112 108 106 123 128 116

Easter Sunday 277 295 369 281 340 328 316

Confirmation 157 248 212 166 216 268 262

Thanksgiving 40 44 41 72 52 43 55

Midweek Advent X X X 24 25 19 22

Christmas Eve 323 370 376 428 468 423 533

Christmas Day 86 101 98 98 124 86 102

Special Services

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Envelope Giving Patterns for 2015

Contribution

Range

Number Of

Contributors

Total Given Average Per

Contributor

$0 164 0.00 0.00

$1-49 49 $773.50 $18.42

$50-99 99 $1758.00 $70.32

$100-199 17 $2134.00 $125.53

$200-$499 41 $14051.00 $342.71

$500-$999 36 $23628.50 $656.35

$1,000-2,999 29 $48084.00 $1658.07

$3,000 and up 10 $47662.00 $4766.20

Total 364 $138,091.00 $379.37

Envelope Giving Patterns for 2016

Contribution

Range

Number Of

Contributors

Total Given Average Per

Contributor

$0 106 0 0

$1-49 33 $734.00 $22.24

$50-99 20 $1322.00 $66.10

$100-199 14 $1840.00 $131.43

$200-$499 45 $14736.00 $327.47

$500-$999 33 $22901.00 $693.97

$1,000-2,999 33 $58630.95 $1776.60

$3,000 and up 11 $58810.00 $5346.36

Total 295 $158973.95 $538.89

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Message From Our Church President

As a council we feel that it is important to present you with this report to keep you updated and informed on the things that we felt we have been able to accomplish this past year, the things we need to work on, and what some of our goals for the upcom-ing year are. First, we realize we could not have done any of this without your help and would like to thank everyone for your continued support, suggestions, and help in any and every way that we have received from our members of the congregation in helping our/your church grow stronger in faith/unity and hopefully a more active and growing membership.

Listed below is a list of what we feel were some of the highlights or goals met for the year (in no specific order):

1) Continued operations of the CDC, through a more efficient and informed way of working together with the CDC oversight committee and staff, to get a better under-standing of operations and budgeting, the goal of working as one Zion entity.

2) Extended outreach to the community. Last year’s biggest Community project was the Car Show, which we will be doing again this year.

3) Internal outreach to our existing non-active members. Led by our Adult disciple-ship committee, there has been and intense and ongoing campaign reaching out to this group of members, with the main goal being to bring as many members back into ac-tive/attending members as possible or to release if that is their intentions.

4) Completion of our mailbox system, trying to keep all members as best informed as possible, while reducing postage costs.

5) Conducting a congregational skills survey. We as a council found this to be a very useful tool in helping us match our member’s personal skills and talents to places where they can best serve. We will be placing a new survey in everyone’s mailboxes again and asking to be completed and returned either to the office or in the collection plate. The first reason and main reason is to have everyone fully complete the section asking for your contact information, so Al can continue updating our Church Directory as most people are no longer in the phone book. And secondly, we had several mem-bers that said they would have more time next year. WELL, next year is here, so we want to give everyone a chance to complete and update again. This is NOT a commit-ment to anything and only a tool to ask for help when needed.

6) The restructuring and simplifying of our bill paying and budget reporting. This we feel now gives the congregation a more realistic and easier to understand budget. Please see the reports in your mailboxes. One of the biggest changes is that we have made is that there is no longer a separate building fund. Our mortgage is NOT paid off, we are paying all bills/operating expenses through the current fund. On the bright side, if we continue paying $2000 per month on our mortgage as we have been doing, we will have it paid off in a little less than 4 years!

7) The start of much needed and overdue improvements to the Parsonage. New

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Voter Approved Budget for 2017

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2016 Altar Guild Report

We Altar Guild member are proud to take care of the Altar here at Zion along with dec-orating for church holidays throughout the year. We are a small group of about 10 members. We are dedicated to the preservation of our heritage. Our officers are Shirley Motkowski, Debra Techmeier and Mary Radtke. We welcome anyone wishing to enhance our church. Everyone is welcome to join even if it is a couple times a year when we decorate. You don’t have to become an official member to help. Meetings are every other month September thru May on the 2nd Tuesday at 4:30pm.

As of this date we are in the black in our accounts. We try to keep a small balance in case there comes a need for improvement in our paraments and decorations. We want to thank our Zion members for their generosity to us.

Yours in Christ,

Zion Lutheran Altar Guild

Zion Ladies Aid Society

Zion Ladies Aid Society

The ladies in Ladies Aid are continuing a 110 year tradition of serving the Lord and members of Zion. We meet to grow spiritually and encourage each other. They have also introduced an annual fall Be a Blessing Bake sale with all profits going to help the local needy. Our organization is open to all lady communicant members of Zion and visitors are always welcome.

We join together for meetings the 1st Thursday of the month in our Fellowship Hall. Dues are $5.00 per year and a freewill donation is taken at our social time after each meeting.

Our monthly meetings include a Devotion by Pastor, Ladies Aid business, fun and fel-lowship. We also host a Christmas party and a Mother/Daughter banquet in the spring in which we invite the congregation to join us.

Officers for 2017 President: Joyce Caebe Vice President: Lois Kamm Treasurer: Susie Rudolph Secretary: Diane Stewart Ladies Aid Financial for 2016 Checking Account $475.20 Savings $1,876.33 Kitchen Remodel Fund $1.307.54

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Zion Year End Report 2016

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Child Development Center 2016 Year End Report