Friends of Immanuel,

We’re now a full week into the new year and I’m guessing that, like me, you’re getting back into the regular routines of life, work, eating, school, recreation, exercise, etc., after our Christmas and New Years celebrations. That’s happening here at Immanuel, too! I’m excited about what 2026 will hold for us as we continue to carry out our Lord’s mission and vision for us in this time and place!

As we start the year, I want to hold up Immanuel’s Mission and Vision, so we can keep that in the front of our minds as we serve our Savior together.

Immanuel’s Mission
Transform lives by Loving, Learning, and Living in Jesus

Immanuel’s Vision
We reveal the love and grace of Jesus to our community by our Radical Hospitality, Transformational Learning, and Fearless Living

Our school ministry is a significant part of who we are here at Immanuel and, when it comes to carrying out our mission and vision, the school is definitely one of the important ways we do that here at Immanuel! Let me share some good news to start the year. Starting this month, we have 2 new toddlers, 2 new 3-year-old preschoolers, and 1 new 5-year-old preschooler! There were over 50 inquiries made about the school in December, and more tours continue to happen. Praise God!

We have an amazing school ministry with an amazing staff of gifted teachers, who love the Lord, and who readily share that love throughout the course of every given day. I encourage you to spread the word about our school to families with toddlers through high school and who may be looking for alternatives to public school or homeschooling. We have also worked with homeschool families providing various classes or extra-curricular activities or sports that their children can be involved in.

If you have questions, would like more information, or want to set up a tour, go online to https://school.immanuelloveland.org/, or contact Cheryl or Carrie directly at 970-667-7606, or SchoolOffice@ImmanuelLoveland.org. Enrollment for the 2026-2027 school year will open on Monday, January 26^th at 8:00am for currently enrolled families and there will be open enrollment for new families on Monday, March 2^nd.

Also in this update is a poster about an Immanuel celebration happening on Thursday, January 29^th from 5:30pm-6:30pm. It will be a fun night to gather our community together and thank all of our school’s amazing families and supporters, which is all of you! Appetizers and refreshments will be served. Free childcare with pizza and activities will be provided. There will also be a standup comedian as part of our fun celebration. You can RSVP for the Immanuel Celebration here by 1/23.  Or you can use the QR code on the poster later in the update. I hope you can take time to come together to celebrate and be encouraged as we promote our school ministry and give thanks to God for the work He is doing here!

Thank you for being part of this community of faith at Immanuel. And thank you for joining me and many others as we follow Jesus wherever He may be leading us together into this new year!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Yesterday in worship we celebrated the Epiphany of our Lord, which traditionally includes the reading in Matthew 2 about the coming of the Magi or Wisemen and the reading from Isaiah 60 about darkness and light. This begins a new season of the church year and a new worship series for us at Immanuel. This new series, entitled Darkness Overcome, will take us through the middle of February.

Epiphany is a season that emphasizes both light and outreach, beginning with the actual day and celebration of the Epiphany of Our Lord, which is on January 6^th, the twelfth day of Christmas. Throughout this season, we’re using the theme, Darkness Overcome, considering the powerful themes of light and darkness The darkness we see all around us, as well as the darkness we see in ourselves, is all very real: sin, broken relationships, health issues, accidents, tragedies, death.

In this series, we’ll have the opportunity to address the darkness – but even more importantly, the truth of Darkness Overcome! Jesus has overcome the darkness through His death and resurrection, and He continues to overcome the darkness by His grace and forgiveness. As we’ll explore throughout the series, there are a variety of ways that Jesus demonstrates Darkness Overcome, not just by shining His light into that darkness but by other means of grace as well. The victory is secure and darkness is overcome – and that is a message all people need to hear! I’m looking forward to journey through this Epiphany season with all of you as we explore these important matters of faith and life!

Yesterday’s launching of the series took us to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah and in the opening verses of chapter 6, Isaiah speaks of the realities of darkness and of light. His charge to God’s people in exile is the same charge given to us today – to “Arise! Shine!” and be about what the Lord has called us to do. Here is this week’s What Now? that I pray will offer some direction and encouragement for all of us as we begin this new week.

What Now?

Look for opportunities to “Arise! Shine!” to let Jesus and His light (and love!) shine into the darkness of your life as well as the darkness that is so evident around us – in our world and in the lives of people around us.

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Well, it’s all things Christmas this week! Whether it’s in our homes, our offices, or here at Immanuel, we’re all working on those final details, making sure everything that is needed is as together as it can be.

One encouragement I want to offer you today and is to take the time today and tomorrow (if you haven’t already!) to extend invitations to your family members, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, and neighbors, to join you for one of our Christmas worship services. Go the extra mile and offer to pick them up or meet them in the parking lot – remember that for people who have never been here or perhaps have never been in a church before, it can be very scary not knowing what to expect. To have a friendly face and a hand to guide them can go a long way in easing some anxiety.

For those who haven’t experienced Christmas worship at Immanuel, I’ve expounded below on the various worship services so you know what to expect and can select which service or services you’d like to come and be part of.

On a final note, because this is the last email update going out until Monday, January 5^th, I’ve included all the information you need to know in regard to ministries, events, and activities coming up into early January.

Blessings to all of you on this week and in these wonderful and holy days before Christmas!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Last Sunday’s football game between my Packers and the Denver Broncos was a big one – a game that many thought could possibly be a preview to this year’s Superbowl. The Broncos were on a 10-game winning streak while the Packers were on a 4-game winning streak. Each team boasted one of the top defenses in the NFL. Many of you talked to me about it before the game and there was a lot of kidding around over who was gonna win. I had the awesome opportunity to go to the game with my son Jonathan, and we had a great time taking in the game together on a gorgeous December afternoon. As anticipated, it was a battle and a hard-fought game between two of the best in the NFL, but my Packers headed back to Green Bay Sunday night with a loss. It was certainly disappointing for me and all Packer fans.

Because of how many of you were watching or checking in on the game or thinking about me, knowing my personal interest, I gave some thought to what I could say (and not in a sermon!) about this passionate interest of mine. So here are a few observations, warnings, insights, learnings, and take-aways from my afternoon down at Mile High.

Football is big, big entertainment. This is obvious – from the multi-million-dollar contracts of NFL players, to the billion-dollar TV contracts, it is excessive. But our country is obsessed with football. When I was going through my doctoral program, meeting with my cohort and our instructors each week, on the Monday after the Superbowl for all three years in the program, we dissected and discussed how the Superbowl and everything surrounding it falls into a high civic religious holiday. I would contend that can now be said of any given Sunday and all that goes into each game in each venue across the country.

I witnessed it on Sunday – rituals abound! Tailgating and the pre-game rituals, which for some fans include certain attire or costumes or wearing your favorite players’ jersey, to face paint and signs, to what you eat, where you eat, and when you eat. There are the pregame shows and predictions and analysis and breaking the game down by the celebrity experts. Then, once in the stadium, as we sat in the south stands, we had a large cardboard cutout with instructions on what we were to do with certain events during the game. Peyton Manning was on the big screen giving instructions to the home crowd about when and how to yell and scream to disrupt the opposing team, and a tally was kept and announced whenever the fans scored a disruption and messed up the Packers. The Broncos Thunderstorm, a four-person parachute team, pumped up the crowd by skydiving into the stadium and dramatically landing on the field (it was impressive!). The National Anthem was sung and at the end of the anthem, two powerful planes from the 16^th Special Operations Squadron did a flyover the stadium that boomed in our chests and elevated pride in America and our troops. There were introductions of the players amidst fire and smoke and running out of the tunnel. There are the scantily-clad cheerleaders, Miles the mascot, and Thunder, the white bronco who is the official live animal mascot, all working hard to keep the adrenalin pumping and emotions high. And these were the rituals of pregame and, I must admit even as an opposing fan, there was so much excitement, passion, emotion, and power that it was hard not to get swept up into it all! You want your child to be a Broncos fan? Don’t just watch the game on television or talk about your team – bring them to the game and have them partake in the liturgy of it on a regular basis. That’s where the real impact and formation occurs (this is one of the main reasons we include children in worship at Immanuel!).

I say that and share all this with a warning. Football is a game, it’s entertainment. But in our culture today, and witnessing it live with over 75,000 fans filling the stadium last Sunday, it’s obvious that it has become far more than that. There is very much a religious and ritualistic aspect to the NFL. As fans who are Christians, we need to keep a healthy perspective, recognizing the dangerous temptations that all of this can play when it comes to who our God is and who it is that we follow. Not to throw cold water on the fun of watching football on Sundays (and Thursdays and Mondays and Saturdays and Thanksgiving and Christmas…), but for us to take seriously the gods of our time.

There are also lots of positives to take away, which I also saw and experienced on Sunday afternoon. Football is a team game – it takes the offense, the defense, and the special teams; it takes the star players as well as the second and third stringers. When injuries happen (which we saw a lot of for my Packers!), the next guy needs to step up and do the job that needs to be done. But when those injuries happen, the stadium gets quiet, the players take a knee. Some offer prayers, all of them, in good sportsmanship, offer encouragement and cheer when the injured player gets up or comes off the field.

In the Church, we, too, are a team where every single person is needed and important. St. Paul writes extensively of this in 1 Corinthians 12 when he talks about the Body of Christ. When someone is hurting, we’re to be here for each other to help, to pray, to support, to encourage. There is no one less or more important than the other. While there may be different churches and different denominations, we are all one in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. We need to be about the same mission of sharing Jesus and His love and promises with all people.

In football, these are professional athletes who spend their lives training and lifting weights and working out and eating right. But they are a team, comrades and co-workers, if you will, all together in the NFL. They have to learn the playbook, memorize the plays, practice hard, listen to their coaches. There are rules to the game (lots and lots of rules!) and there are penalties when those rules aren’t followed.

For us as followers of Jesus, we have God’s Word that points us to Jesus and also lays out so much of how we are to live life. We’re to spend time in His Word, learning, listening, practicing what we’ve been given. We, too, have laws and commands and rules that God has given us – not for punishment, but to urge us to live life as the Lord designed it and how He intends for us to live our lives in Him and for Him.

In football, tragedies and troubles hit, and everyone faces adversity. I’ve heard many coaches say that it’s not about the adversity but how you respond to it. In our broken, sin-filled world, those are realities all around us. How will we respond to the tragedies, troubles, and adversities in our lives? This is where God’s gifts of grace, forgiveness, hope, and love play such important roles. We can’t avoid those troubles, and there are plenty of times that we’re actually the cause of them. But will we seek God’s grace and forgiveness? Will we look to Him for help and guidance? Will we lean into Jesus and His love and the hope we know because of Him?

Football? It’s just a game, just entertainment. Hopefully it’s something that those of us who have an interest in it can enjoy and joke about with others, cheering when our team does well, and taking defeat with grace and humility, and all of it in a proper and healthy perspective. For me, I’ll always love my Packers, through thick and thin. But at the end of the day, it’s just a game. Jesus is who everything comes down to – and I will always live my life for Him! Thanks for joining me in this journey of faith and life in Jesus!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Yesterday was a glorious celebration of JOY on this third Sunday of Advent. The setting of the chancel area in Immanuel’s sanctuary is just beautiful with all the poinsettias. Thank you to all who donated toward the purchase of these poinsettias in memory of loved ones and to the glory of God. And thank you to Cindy Eversole for purchasing, delivering (with help from her dad!), and arranging them to beautify our worship space throughout the rest of this Advent season and throughout this coming Christmastide! JOY!

The Christmas cantata, The Gift, was a beautiful expression of the Christmas message from God’s Word and in song. Thank you to Kathy Schlecht for her leadership and directing, and to the Christmas choir and readers. Wow! JOY! 

The children did a wonderful job with their Christmas program, Sounding Joy. Way to go Miss Emma, Kathy, Elizabeth Grimm, and Sandy Meske for leadership and support of the children and their sharing the Christmas story! And way to go, kids – that is, all of you sheep and cows, angels and shepherds, Mary and Joseph! JOY!

We had a baptism at the 10:30 service and we welcomed little Delaney Chandler Reed into God’s family through the waters of baptism. Congratulations to Tanner and Sara and we pray God’s blessings on this young family and the partnership in the Gospel that we share. What JOY as the Kingdom of God expands!

I pray that the JOY of the Lord is our strength, as we journey together through this glorious season of the year. Let this gift of JOY fill your heart, sustain us through the challenges that will come our way, and point us to the source of this and all good things – Jesus our Savior and King!

Serving together – with JOY! – in Christ alone!

Pastor Glen

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve had so many amazing things to celebrate and be thankful for. At the top of the list are baptisms that we celebrated last Sunday, December 7^th, as Nina (age 15) and Sylvia (age 9) Gates received God’s gift of baptism. As St. Paul wrote in Titus 3:4-7, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Nina shared a neat story of her basketball coach and the influence that Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) has had on her with her involvement at Loveland High School. Praise God for His work in the hearts of lives of these young girls and this family!

On Sunday we also received lots of new members who finished up my most recent Immanuel 101 class. In the first picture from the 8:00 Classic Grace service, we have (from left to right): Dick and Linda Wiglesworth, Jamie Penny, Pam and Scott Moody, and Jay Crouse and Jenelle Kemper.

And at the 10:30 Contemporary Joy service we welcomed (from left to right): Victoria Mendoza, Patrick Reynolds, Judson Knowles, Kurt and Kathy Holdorf, Marissa and Brian McFadden, and Josh Hubble. We had a couple of people who were not able to be at the services on Sunday that we are welcoming into membership and they are Eunice Chambers and Gordon Krueger.

In addition to baptisms and new members, we are also celebrating and so thankful for all who have helped with the huge task of decorating the church for the Advent and Christmas seasons. We captured pictures of some of our helpers and the amazing job they did. Those include Donna Aigner and Barbara Tuttle who hung the garland with bows and decorated the tree near the gym entrance; Bob Kamtz and Jeff Deaner who initially put together the large Christmas tree in the west atrium and also hung the beautiful wooden nativity on the west wall of the atrium; Jake Hollen who put the finishing touches on that west atrium Christmas tree, making sure all the lights were working, and who also replaced many of the lights in the sanctuary; and Miranda and Luke Grossaint, pictured as they put up and decorated the large Christmas tree in the sanctuary. Miranda also decorated both trees in the breezeway of Immanuel’s main entrance. Not pictured is Cindy Eversole who did an amazing job decorating “the dent,” which is the open spot in the center of the atrium which includes Christmas trees, a large nativity, and other beautiful decorations. Cindy also selected, transported, and arranged the many beautiful poinsettias that have been donated (with help from her Dad in getting the many poinsettias to Immanuel). Thank you to all of you for the GREAT job you did in making our atrium and sanctuary look so beautiful for this season!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

In worship yesterday we talked about how there’s no place like home! The Lord’s invitation to us through the prophet Isaiah in chapter 55 is absolutely astounding – “Come, all you who are thirsty… you who have no money, come, buy and eat!” God’s grace could not be more clear in these prophecies from our Lord. The table to which we’ve been invited, our seat at the feast prepared for us and for all who believe in the Promised King, comes at no cost for us – but the price has been paid in full by King Jesus on that cross on Calvary. And by grace through faith in Jesus, our seat at the table will always be ours. Praise God!

One aspect of Isaiah 55 that I didn’t have time to share in yesterday’s message, but is important enough that I want to speak briefly to it here today, is that, as with all good things, it’s better when it’s shared. While our King invites us to His table, He gives us the privilege and responsibility of passing along His invitation to others.

Let me go back to our imagery of our favorite Christmas foods from yesterday’s sermon. When you taste something divine, our instinct is to turn to the person next to us and say, “Have you tried this? Here, have some!” A great feast begs to be shared with others who are hungry for the satisfying tastes and smells of home. In Isaiah 55:4-5, the Lord is stating the mission we’ve been given – to be a witness to the people in our lives. And the promise the Lord gives is, as we share His love with others, others will come home, will come to the feast the Lord has prepared for all who come to believe in Him.

You see, the feast and all its promises were never intended for just a select few. It’s for the world! This feast, which is free, satisfying, and filled with God’s promise of love, is something we get to share with others. Who in your life seems hungry? Who in your circle of family and friends, co-workers and acquaintances, are hurting, searching, wrestling, or wandering? Are you open to the idea that perhaps part of why Jesus has brought you to His feast is so that through you, He might feed them?

What difference might it make for someone to find a seat at your table? To step into your home and feel God’s love flowing from you to them? What impact might a simple invitation to an Advent or Christmas worship service have on one starving for grace? A satisfying feast begs to be shared! So let’s share it!

We have postcards available that lists all the various Christmas programs and services that are upcoming at Immanuel. These were given out on Sunday and we have more here at the church! Grab one or several and then share an invitation for those you know to come and join you in worship, here at our home at Immanuel. Coming Home for Christmas is what this is all about, isn’t it? And we know that we find our home, our True Home, in Jesus!

Serving together in Christ alone!

Pastor Glen