Welcome Elyse Yocum: St. Mark Summer Intern

Elyse will join the St. Mark staff on May 30, 2023 as the summer intern.  A few of her responsibilities this summer will be helping prepare for and lead part of Vacation Bible School, working with the youth, and learning the overall day to day workings of a church.  Elyse will have the opportunity to use her creativity to plan events for the youth and others.  She will work with the Sunday school age children during VBS and experience their energy and pure joy.  She will be able to build relationships with the youth and others in the church.  I am hopeful that Elyse will grow in many ways this summer.

We as St. Mark staff and members will have the opportunity to learn from her and witness her passion and creativity come to life.  We as a staff will get to know Elyse and grow alongside her.  Elyse and I have already talked about some fun outings for the youth group.  We have discussed possible outreach and service opportunities for the summer.  I am confident there will be more exciting things to come. 

Elyse will introduce herself as the summer intern on June 4^th at both worship services.  If you don’t already know Elyse, please introduce yourself to her.  I am excited for this summer! 

Peace, 

Pastor Katrina Steingraeber 

Hello, my name is Elyse Yocum, and I am excited to be this year's summer intern!  I love the outdoors and being active.  I hope to help grow the youth's faith in God, as well as mine.  My future plans are to get a job in the medical field this fall.

A New Vision for Our Youth Ministry

After months of conversation, prayerful discernment, and careful planning, I am excited to announce that we have begun the search for a full-time Shared Youth Ministry Director!

For many years, we have been able to meet the needs of our youth ministries at St. Mark through a part-time director. As we began to imagine the future, our discernment team agreed that these needs would remain at about the same level.  At the same time, we wondered how our congregation could benefit if we were able to offer a full-time position to a dedicated person with a heart for youth ministry. We began to think outside the box, and one idea has grown into a new vision of ministry, community, and collaboration.

To make a long story short, we are thrilled to be partnering with Grace Lutheran Church of Loves Park to share this ministry together — hence the title, Shared Youth Ministry Director. This new position will serve both of our congregations with new, combined opportunities for our youth. Our two congregations have much in common, and our differences can truly be beneficial in this new ministry. For instance, the majority of our members come from opposite corners of the metro area. Grace has a gym while we have a bounty of outdoor spaces. By combining our efforts, we will be able to do things we could not do alone. And so, when it comes to middle school, high school, and college-age youth, we will be two congregations with one combined ministry.

Many of the specifics of how the ministry will look will be up to the person we hire to take our vision and direct it into concrete, faithful programs. In the meantime, the leadership at both St. Mark and Grace will continue to work on the details that will allow us to collaborate for years to come.

We are launching a wide search for this position. If you know someone who may be interested, please direct them to the job listing on our website, this will be listed under the staff and leadership page. I look forward to announcing our new hire to you sometime this summer!

I would like to express my gratitude to our Youth Ministry Discernment Task Force, a group of parents, staff, and youth who met regularly over the winter months to imagine the future of this ministry at St. Mark. Their creativity and passion planted the seeds for this innovative new direction, and I am excited to see how our faith can flourish because of their work. 

Peace,

Pastor Chad McKenna