In our 10:30 service today we will be welcoming new members to our congregation, including Hayden Kimmel, who moved to Modesto earlier this year from Milwaukee, and Paul and April Vasquez and their children, Donovan, Tiffany, Brittany, and Amber. May the Lord Jesus bless them through their membership here as we serve and encourage each other on the way to heaven!

Our annual Festival of Favorite Hymns will be held on Sunday, October 26. Voting to establish the ten favorite hymns of St. Peter members will take place the next two Sundays, October 12 and 19. The favorite hymns will then be included in the service on the 26th. Ballots are included in today’s service folder. Please take a moment to vote for your five favorite hymns. Completed ballots can be placed in the box in the narthex.

Pastor Paul Mueller, who served here at St. Peter from 1988 to 1994, is celebrating 25 years in the pastoral ministry this year. Good Shepherd, Livermore, the congregation he currently serves, is planning a special anniversary service of thanksgiving on Sunday, November 9, at 4:00 pm. A meal will follow the service. Our congregation has been invited to attend. So that the anniversary committee in Livermore can plan the meal, please sign the sheet in the narthex if you plan to attend. One more thing: Pastor Mueller does not know about the plans for the anniversary celebration.

A special thank you for the generous donation of a new Yamaha Clavinova, an electronic piano, for use in our school. This instrument features a full sized piano keyboard and has a true piano touch. We are sure instrument will be a very pleasant and beneficial addition to the school. Please take a moment to take a look at it located presently in Mr. Linton’s classroom.

Aloha St. Peter, a Hawaiian Luau, is today following the late service. There will be a Hawaiian dance show at 12:30-1:00 pm. We will also have photos taken in your Hawaiian get up. We hope you will stay or return to enjoy the fellowship and get to know one another better.

Our annual Fall Festival is scheduled for Friday, October 31, at 6:00 pm. There will be the customary chili cook-off, in addition to games and treats for children. We hope this will provide a safe and enjoyable alternative activity for our children on Halloween. A sign-up sheet for the Fall Festival will be posted in the narthex next Sunday.

Hope Lutheran Church in Penryn will host the annual WELS Northern California Reformation Service on Sunday, October 26, at 4:00 pm. The speaker will be Pastor Peter Kruschel, who recently moved to the Las Vegas area to serve as the mission counselor for the Arizona-California District and for the Pacific Northwest District. He was previously the administrator of the synod’s Board for Ministerial Education. Hope Lutheran Church is located at 7117 Hope Way in Penryn, just off the Penryn Road exit from I-80. A meal will be served following the service. Those planning to stay for the meal are asked to bring a salad or dessert and also to sign up in the narthex.

The Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society fall rally will be held on Saturday, October 18, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Citrus Heights. The speaker will be a former Muslim who has converted to Christianity. He will tell his own story and describe the Muslim faith. His goal is to equip people to share their Christian faith with their Muslim neighbors. The rally begins at 9:00 am.

A WELS-sponsored marriage enrichment weekend will take place November 14-16 at the Doubletree Hotel in Rohnert Park. The goal of the retreat is to strengthen the friendship and Christian faith that are at the heart of our marriages. The weekend costs $325 per couple. More information can be found under the Adult Discipleship tab on the WELS web site.

Today in Sunday School students are studying Deborah, one of the Old Testament judges. Through Deborah, Barak, and Jael, God brought about victory for His people and freed them from cruel oppression; through Christ’s death on the cross, God brought about our victory and freed us from sin, death, and the devil. The students will discuss questions like, “How did God use Deborah to help His people? How does God help His people today?”

The Sunday morning adult Bible study focuses on the Bible’s teachings about the roles of men and women. The course begins by emphasizing the shared blessings and responsibilities that men and women have in serving Christ. The second half of the course looks at the unique callings of Christian men and women. Each lesson provides opportunities for men and women to discuss what Scripture teaches and how it applies to family, church and society.

The lay-led home Bible will begin a study of the topic of predestination. This class is scheduled to meet this Wednesday, October 15, and then again on Wednesday, October 29. This class begins at 7:00 pm. For more information you may call the church office at 209-551-0563. Please note the dates have been moved one week later from those published in last week’s Notes & News.

Our Tuesday morning men’s Bible study meets on Tuesday mornings at 6:15 am in the fellowship hall. We are studying “Intrepid Heroes of Faith,” an examination of the lives of Old Testament heroes of faith. This Tuesday we will continue the discussion of the three men in the fiery furnace. All men in our congregation are invited to join us as we begin this new study. Bring a friend!

The topic of this class is “Connecting Sinai to Calvary,” based on the book by the same name. The author is John C. Jeske, who is now retired after serving for 25 years as a professor of Old Testament and homiletics (preaching) at our Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.