Wow!!! 2025 has gone and 2026 begins. Let us start with thanking all of you for your support and financial donations and contributions to keep St. John’s up and running.

After many months of work by TNT and the call team Pastor Tom was hired and began his tenure with us on September 1, 2025. We are blessed to have a great call team with members Steve Barritt, Steve Kindschi, Kristin Ryan, Mary Weeks, Sean Jager and Nancy Passehl. Thanks to their dedication the hiring process went very well. A special thanks to John Ballweg and many others for their tireless effort to refurbish our parsonage to welcome our new pastor
and family. We welcomed Pastor Tom, his wife Karen and family to our congregation, community and to our parsonage.

We added new board members, Charlie Kruchten, Mary Weeks, Audrey Leutscher, Kendra Frey and Josie Fentress. We thank all of them for their willingness to serve on our board.

We have been through some staff changes and are now full-staffed with our new office coordinator, Angie Updike, who is doing a fantastic job. We have also hired a bookkeeper, Karissa Johnson, who is getting us acquainted with new software ICON. We thank John Brennan for his dedication to making this transition work smoothly.

Life continues with high level of hustle and bustle. The children’s music, the choirs, the youth programs, the laughter in the halls are all signs of a youthful, healthy and happy congregation.

In closing, I ask for your continued prayers for our staff and we thank them from the bottom on our hearts. Our staff members are Tom, Sally, Angie, Ruellene, John, Connie, Kim, Penny and Jackie. Without all of them we would not be who we are today. We thank all of our council members for their dedication and hard work. We thank Pastor Tom and Pastor Sally for their dedicated service to all of us.

Again, we would not be where we are today without all of you. We thank you for all your time, talents, donations and contributions. We are humbled to lead your church. Finally, when you have ideas and/or suggestions, we’d love to hear them!

Nancy Passehl and Marv Hupp

Please join us for worship!

We have worship at 8am and 10:30am every Sunday in the fall, winter and spring months. Fellowship, Adult and Children’s Education take place at 9:15am between services. Our summer worship schedule is one service at 9am on Sundays from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.

All services are available in our sanctuary or on Zoom.  To join by Zoom, use this link St. John’s Worship.  You can also join us using the link on our webpage in the upper right hand corner, “Join Us Live for Worship.” 

I am thrilled to be the new Office Administrator at St. John’s.  I am a retired teacher who taught for 30 years in a variety of grade levels, but mostly in Kindergarten and 4-Year-OldKindergarten, in the Wisconsin Heights School District.  My husband and I live in Mazomanie and have a 22-year-old son.  I enjoy reading, doing crafts, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.  I am very excited to begin my “second act” here at St. John’s.  Please feel free to stop in the office and introduce yourself.

Angie Updike

“Hello, I’m Pastor Tom Kreis, and I’m passionate about connecting faith to the messy, beautiful realities of our everyday lives. My sermons attempt to challenge us to embrace a radical, Christ-like love, pushing past societal labels like ‘enemy’ to see the inherent dignity in every person. This conviction is born from many years of life experience and is at the very heart of my ministry.

My journey into pastoring began later in life, a testament to God’s patient calling. For 22 years, Karen and I were rooted at Norway Grove Lutheran Church, a community where our daughter was baptized and confirmed, and where my own faith truly deepened. It was there that I felt compelled to embark in seminary studies, a decision that has been fulfilling. I’m forever grateful to the pastors and congregation of Norway Grove for nurturing that call and shaping the servant I strive to be today.

Karen, my wonderful wife of 32 years, and I live near Orfordville, Wisconsin. We’re incredibly proud of our 28-year-old daughter Katie and her husband, Josh, who, with their dog Luther, call Cedar Falls, Iowa, home.

My path to ministry took a few interesting turns. I started life in Janesville, Wisconsin, and my family moved to Brownsville, Texas. Our family moved back to Wisconsin when I was a junior in High School, and I graduated from Darlington High School. I then went to UW-Platteville and graduated with a degree in Political Science. Before seminary, I spent 17 years in manufacturing at Penda Corporation and then a decade in the insurance industry with American Family. These experiences in the business world gifted me with a unique lens, helping me understand the diverse joys and challenges faced by people from all walks of life.

Ultimately, graduating from Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, wasn’t just a degree – it was the culmination of a lifelong journey of faith leading to service. Karen and I love to travel and cherish every moment spent with friends and family, finding joy in connection, much like the connection I strive to build within the church community.”

Pastor Tom begins as Lead Pastor at St John’s in September 2025.

(August 2025)