Welcome Pastor Joshua Schmidt and Kristin!
Joshua Walter Schmidt was born on September 2, 1984 to William and Brenda Schmidt. He is the second oldest of five children, including Sarah, Jennifer, Holly and Alison. He attended bot
h church and school at St. Matthew Lutheran and graduated high school from St. Matthew in 2002. He went to Concordia University, Ann Arbor, for college and enrolled in the pre-seminary program. He graduated from Concordia in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Communications. He continued his education at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO. While he was in St. Louis, he met his future wife, Kristin, daughter of Christ and Marilyn Haldiman. Kristin had graduated from Concordia University, Nebraska and was a second grade teacher at Child of God Lutheran School in St. Peter, MO. Josh and Kristin were married on July 19, 2008 in Springfield, MO. Almost immediately, they moved to Winter Haven, FL, where Josh began his year of vicarage at Grace Lutheran Church. In 2009, they moved back to St. Louis so Josh could finish seminary, and on April 27, 2010,
Josh received a call to become the associate pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Defiance, OH. Josh and Kristin will be moving to Defiance soon and Josh will be installed on July 11 at 4:00 in the afternoon. Josh and Kristin both give thanks to God for all that He has blessed them with, especially their family and friends and new congregation.
July 11, 2010 Pastor Joshua Schmidt Installation Pictures
Welcome to Zech Teasdale, our new youth intern.
I am very much looking forward to meeting all of you and learning about the special things that make you all unique. My name is Zechary Teasdale. I am attending Concordia University Chicago. I have gone there for four years and am now on my final year of internship here at St. John Lutheran Church. I first met pastor a little over a month ago and since then I have been ecstatic to get here. I have been greatly looking forward to coming here to serve with you and for you. I was born in Waupaca, WI. I have three brothers and no sisters. I know…poor mom. I moved to Fort Wayne, IN when I was eight and lived there until I went off to Chicago. I enjoy playing sports. I played football and basketball in High school. I am a huge fan of a little game called Ultimate Frisbee. I like card games especially euchre and Pinochle. I like to snowboard, ski, wakeboard, tube, and all those other fun activities. I also enjoy riding horses even though I am not very good. While attending Concordia Chicago I was part of a few different ministry opportunities. I hosted lock-ins and retreats for churches with a CYM (Concordia Youth Ministries) team. Doing this really reinforced my passions about serving the Lord, especially when it comes to encouraging people and sharing his word with them. There have been a lot of people in my life who have had huge influences on me. Both my parents have been there for me whenever I needed them and always encouraged me to maintain a relationship with Christ. My brothers also have influenced me greatly although it certainly wasn’t always easy for us to get along. Like I said would like to get to know all of you so feel free to call, text, or email me. Finally I love reading the Bible and learning more and more about what God has done for all of us. A few of my favorite passages are Matthew 6:25-34, 1 Peter 5:7, Eph 3:8a, and John 14 especially verse 27. I do ask for you to pray for me as I do my best to serve you. If there any of you have questions, need to talk, or just need some prayer please feel free to visit with me.
Web Page Submissions
Please contact sjl@defnet.com for your St. John web page submissions. Please fill out the Web Page Submission form. Thank you for helping keep St John web page current and interesting.
Simply Giving
Simply Giving is a program designed to help you conveniently contribute to a Lutheran congregation or institution or to pay tuition at a Lutheran school. Through Simply Giving, your gifts or tuition payments are made through a pre-authorized withdrawal from your bank account or credit card. You determine the frequency of your automatic gift—weekly, semi-monthly or monthly. Your gift or payment is deposited into the organization's bank account on the same day it is withdrawn from your account, at no cost to you or the recipient. Enrollment Forms for Individuals To participate, first make sure the institution you wish to benefit is enrolled in Simply Giving. Then download and complete the following form and return it to the congregation or institution that will benefit from your giving. Simply Giving Individual Enrollment Form (PDF, 58K).
https://www.thrivent.com/community/outreach/giving/simplygiving/index.html
St. John Lutheran Endowment Fund
Purpose
The St. John Lutheran Endowment Fund was set-up to receive and administer gifts, trusts and bequests of cash, securities, insurance policies and real estate given to St. John Lutheran Church. The assets received by the Endowment Fund are administrated separately from the General Fund of the church. The Endowment Fund invests and re-invests assets of the fund to produce income to carry out the objectives of the Endowment Fund.
Objectives
The St. John Lutheran Endowment Fund was formed in 1992 to establish a fund dedicated to the Glory of God and to enhance the work of the Church in non-budget areas with emphasis on new ministries, capital improvements, educational supports and evangelical outreach, and to perpetuate St. John Church until He calls all believers to His home above. Benefits to St. John Lutheran While the regular work of the Church is supported by the proportional giving of its members, there must be provision for non-budgetary needs. The Endowment Fund strengthens the Church by providing a permanent source of funding for long range planning, emergencies and growth in many areas.
READ MORE ABOUT HOW YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
First Base-Second Base and now making our way to Third Base
Our congregation is making progress! We are making it to third base this fall. If you have not taken First Base, Second Base Bible Study then plan to do so. That way you will be ready for Third Base Bible Study. Pastor is preparing the materials so the Bible Studies will be launching on October 12th. We will need people to host a small group Bible Study in their homes or at church. The materials will be ready the end of September. Please prayfully consider hosting a small group.