Confirmation gets underway for St. Paul youth, with Wednesday gatherings beginning Sept. 9. The journey includes fall retreats and culminates in ninth-graders sharing their Faith Stories with the congregation on three upcoming Sundays. Confirmation F…
This has to be one of my favorite seasons of the year. And no, I’m not talking about the slightly cooler temperatures, nor am I referring to the arrival of college football season. I’m talking about back-to-school time. It’s this time of the year tha…
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Justin Marquis (pronounced “marquee”) joined the staff in August, bringing a philosophy professor’s curiosity, a semi-cross-country bike tour’s worth of patience, and a conviction that church can hold both its history and its future at once. Justin s…
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When my daughter started preschool, she had the most enormous backpack. Not only was she a tiny two-year-old, but I bought her the most oversized bag. I read that she needed a “full-sized” backpack, so her art wouldn’t get squished. Not wanting to ge…
The Guerin family has spent years serving alongside Russ and Jeannine Johnson, and their family, at Hope at the Brick House — and one gaga ball pit later, the connection runs deeper than ever. On a Friday night on the west end of Davenport, a buildin…
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Several weeks ago, in the midst of the wonderfully exciting World Cup tournament here in the United States, I found myself listening to a conversation on National Public Radio between the host and a sports psychologist. The psychologist was offering…
One St. Paul family finds fun, friends, and family on the Rock River through the Backwater Gamblers water ski show. Bridget Berger grew up in Westosha, Wis., where she did gymnastics and 4-H and developed an athlete’s sense of balance and body awaren…
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There are many attributes that come with being a proper Midwesterner: knowing how to drive in the snow, mastering the 10-minute good-bye, apologizing when someone bumps into you, serving dessert salads, saying “It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for…
Behind every worship service are the people who show up to make it happen. Saturday evening or Sunday morning, the doors of St. Paul are unlocked and the lights come up one section at a time. Coffee brews. Someone from the tech team tests the slides…
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I love a good car game. You know, the type of game that is played while traveling from place to place, designed exclusively to pass the time? Growing up, my brother and I would play the “car color” game. It was a simple one. Each player picks a color…
This fall, St. Paul children’s ministries launches Godly Play, a curriculum rooted in more than four decades of research, shaping faith formation in churches across the country. Director of children’s ministries Abbey Cathelyn has been working with t…
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Many summers ago, my son was playing with friends on a Wisconsin lake beach. Nearby, another child was digging a hole in the sand with the tiniest shovel. As you can imagine, progress was slow. Little by little, she kept at it until another child ask…