New Beginnings

​Today I find myself in an interesting place. I am reflecting back on 2025 and the challenges and joys I faced. I am also looking forward to what the new year will hold for 1st Pres and for me.
 
There have been many positive developments at our church this past year, and we have much to be grateful for. The recent 

Ellen Taylor

celebration of Christ’s birth, with candlelight services, was a beautiful way to serve our congregation. The Deacons were honored to assist with both services, and I am happy to report that all the candles were lit without problems. There were 545 attendees at the 4:00 pm service, a new record! In 2025, 1st Pres continued to grow. The difference in attendance on Sundays today as compared to a year ago is significant. The pews are consistently filled, and we are now offering overflow seating in Krueger Hall. This provides comfortable seating and a big screen TV to view the service, with easy access to coffee and donuts. We continue to welcome new families and children, while staying steadfast in our commitment to serve our community. We have also met our Capital Campaign Goal, ahead of schedule. The future for 1st Pres looks very bright. We are blessed to have Pastor McLane as our leader.

Personally, 2025 was an interesting and challenging year for me. I continued to be very involved with church service and, as a Deacon, helped organize the Spring and Fall Kick-off Potlucks, as well as the much-anticipated Christmas Potluck and Chili Cook-off. Our winner this year was fellow Deacon Karen Grace! The challenging part was that I managed to seriously injure my right shoulder, overdoing landscaping work on our property. As it turned out, I needed to have a complete shoulder replacement in September and am still continuing to recover from that. Hopefully, I have learned my lesson this time.
 
One other challenge for me was to help train my youngest son’s new puppy, Cooper. Spencer and his wife, Jordan, live with me, and the puppy was a bit of a surprise. Especially since they had an out-of-town trip planned shortly after Cooper came home. He is an adorable 10-week-old black Labrador that Spencer plans to use for duck hunting. Like Pastor McLane, this is his favorite type of outdoor sport. Five days of watching Cooper continually was exhausting. Trying to encourage him to sleep at night, ask to go out when needed, and remember that furniture is not edible are all skills we are still working on.
 
I am looking forward to whatever 2026 holds, and I hope you feel the same. We are very blessed to have a Savior who loves our Church and all of us.

​In His Name, Ellen
​

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (Corinthians 5:17).
 
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).