On Monday, October 17th, St. Paul congregation extended divine calls to three teachers to join us starting in the 2023-2024 school year. They are Joshua Lepke, 5th grade, Elizabeth Broring, 3rd grade, and Melissa Koenig, 1st grade. Please keep these called workers in your prayers as they consider their calls to serve here at St. Paul. Each of them sent us an acknowledgment letter, which you can find below.
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October 20, 2022
Dear Members of St Paul’s Lutheran School and Church,
With this letter I am acknowledging that I have received the Call to serve as 5th grade teacher and Associate Athletic Director at St Paul's Lutheran School. As you have called me trusting the Holy Spirit, I will treat this call with the respect it is due. Over the next few weeks I will give much thought to the information you have sent me and will look forward to talking with the members of your congregation. I will look at the current and future needs of St Paul’s Green Bay as well as my current call, St Paul's Muskego, and trust that the Lord leads me to a decision that will be the best for His kingdom.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for me and my family.
In Christ,
Josh Lepke
St. Paul's Lutheran, Muskego, Wisconsin
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October 19, 2022
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am writing to acknowledge the divine call extended to me on Monday, October 17, to serve as third grade teacher at St. Paul Lutheran School. It is a humbling privilege to serve God and his people through the public ministry. Such divine calls need and deserve careful and serious consideration.
Throughout the coming weeks, I want to thank you for your prayers and humbly ask you to continue to remember me in them as I prayerfully consider where I can best use the gifts that God has given me to serve his Kingdom. Please also keep the ministries of Trinity and St. Paul in your prayers. I am confident that the Lord will draw all of us closer to him as we lean confidently on his Word and promises to bless and guide us.
May our Father, who has shown his victory over sin and death, continue to bless us all with the peace of forgiveness and the outpouring of his Holy Spirit, so that we may glorify him and serve those around us with his Good News.
In Christian Service,
Miss Elizabeth Broring
Trinity Lutheran, Marinette, Wisconsin
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October 21, 2022
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ at St. Paul Lutheran Church and School,
Greetings from northern Minnesota where the leaves are falling from the trees and cooler weather is upon us. This past week the Lord extended a Divine Call to me through your congregation to serve as your first grade teacher. I am humbled to receive this Call and grateful for the opportunity to consider how my gifts may best serve the kingdom of God.
I look forward to communicating with your leaders, and I welcome the opportunity to speak with anyone from St. Paul who would like to contact me. I can be reached by call, text, or email. My cell phone number is 920-562-4863 and my email is ms.koenig@stmarksbemidji.org. In addition, I will be speaking with the leaders and members of St. Mark, Bemidji, where I am currently serving.
As I prayerfully consider where to serve the Lord, I ask that you please keep me in your prayers, as well as God’s people here in Bemidji, Minnesota. Please be assured that St. Paul Lutheran Church and School are in my prayers and in the prayers of the members of St. Mark as well.
I am currently in my fifth year of teaching. After I graduated Martin Luther College in 2018 with an elementary education degree and an instrumental music degree, I was assigned to Bemidji, Minnesota to teach kindergarten, first, and second grade. This year, we are blessed to have 31 students in our school with 14 students in my classroom. My principal teaches 3rd-8th grade with 17 students. We are in the final stages of a building project where we added a classroom for our 3rd-8th grade students to our current facility.
I love using my musical abilities to edify the church and glorify God. Our students sing multiple times for church services where I direct them in song. I have played the piano and trumpet for church. Also, I enjoy singing in our adult choir. I know there are many opportunities to use my musical gifts at St. Paul within the school and church as well.
In northern Minnesota, there are not many WELS schools or churches. The closest WELS church to St. Mark in Bemidji is over an hour away, and the closest WELS grade school is over three hours away. I am quite familiar with the city of Green Bay since my hometown is De Pere, Wisconsin. I attended First Lutheran in Green Bay through first grade until the school closed. Then, my family and I became members at St. Mark Lutheran in Green Bay, where I attended school from second grade through eighth grade. From there, my high school years were spent at Fox Valley Lutheran. I am also familiar with St. Paul, as I have played trumpet for a few Easter services several years ago. I have wonderful memories growing up in “Packerland,” and I look forward to exploring more about the community!
Thank you for the trust you have placed in me by extending this Divine Call. May our gracious Lord continue to richly bless you as we serve him day by day.
In Christ,
Melissa Koenig
St. Mark's Lutheran, Bemidji, Minnesota
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