Reports - Central Illinois District - Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

*January 2008: Bid Pr. Sidenstricker farewell as he accepted a call to Good Shepherd, Newton.*Palm Sunday, 2008: Regretfully acknowledged the departure of Pr. Douglas Handrich and Holy Cross,Peoria from the LCMS.*Summer 2008: Saw Pr. Joe Meyer installed at Redeemer, Peoria; saw Pr. Aaron Schellhas installed atChrist, Peoria; inducted Vicar Ken Serr to serve at Grace, Canton; and consecrated and installed DeaconessChristine Buchinger to serve at Mt. Calvary, Peoria.The congregations and people of the Peoria Circuit remain grateful to God for His abundant gifts in Christ, andtrust that they will be led to witness to that grace in their teaching, worship and outreach to the greatercommunity.Quincy Circuit – Rev. Harold Bender, Circuit Counselor“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because ofyour partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a goodwork in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:3-6) Our gracious Lordhas continued to shower His blessings upon the Quincy Circuit these last three years.There has been only one pastoral vacancy in our circuit in the past three years. In July of 2006, Pastor Mark Eddyleft the dual parish of Holy Cross, Golden and St. Paul’s Bowen, to serve the people of God gathered at ZionLutheran Church in Taylor Ridge, Illinois. Just about one year later, God’s people of Holy Cross and St. Paul’sLutheran Churches called Michael Grieve, a candidate from Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, to betheir pastor. Also, this past year Rev. Stephen Mueller was called to be the Assistant Pastor of St. JamesEvangelical Lutheran Church in Quincy.The following is a list of churches in our circuit and the pastors serving in them: Concordia Warsaw – Rev. PaulBeisel; Good Shepherd, Clayton – Rev. Robert Alexander; Holy Cross, Golden and St. Paul, Bowen – Rev.Michael Grieve; Immanuel, Macomb and the Lutheran Student Center – Rev. Michael Burdick; Lutheran Churchof St. John, Quincy – Rev. Harold Bender; Our Redeemer, Quincy – Rev. Larry Troxel; St. James, Quincy – Rev.Marlin Rempfer and Rev. Stephen Mueller; and St. Paul, Pittsfield – Rev. Stephen Southward. We have oneretired pastor in our circuit, the Rev. Larry Saeger, who attends St. James in Quincy.Our circuit saw the departure of our two Directors of Christian Education: Dean Christ who served at Immanuel,Macomb, headed off to seminary at Fort Wayne; and Katy Rudzinski who served at the Lutheran Church of St.John, Quincy, headed to Seymour, Indiana, when her husband, Mark, accepted a call to teach at ImmanuelLutheran School, Seymour. The Lutheran Church of St. John is also in the vicarage program, with VicarsStephen Mueller serving 2006-7, James Fernandez serving 2007-8, and G. Tim McCall serving 2008-9.St. James Lutheran Church continues to serve the Quincy Community through their pre-k through 8 th gradeLutheran School. They serve about 150 students each year, as they help students and their families in “Seeingand Sharing Jesus.”Our circuit pastors meet monthly from September to May for Winkel conferences. One pastor hosts each month,leading us in an abbreviated service of Holy Communion. Two other pastors lead us in an exegetical study of apericope and a topic each month. We have very good attendance at our Winkels.In the Winter of each year, our circuit hosts the Quincy Bible Institute, which takes place on three successiveSunday evenings. This past February saw a new format for the Institute. The first night we brought in a guestspeaker, Rev. Tom Baker who hosts “Law and Gospel” on KFUO Radio; the second night had three circuitpastors leading topics; the third night was the Quincy Circuit Bible Bowl with seven youth teams competing. St.James was the host church this year.Finally, the Lutheran Church of St. John celebrated the dedication of their new facilities on March 18, 2007.About 325 people were in attendance at the dedication celebration. Funding for the project was a combination ofpledges in excess of $1,000,000 and additional funding from the Central-Illinois District Church Extension Fund.2009 Convention Section B – Reports Page 44