And Giving Numbers
We have heard from many members that are on electronic giving, that they don’t want or need envelopes. 
We have implemented a new system, where there is an opportunity to opt out of receiving offering envelopes.
Besides electronic giving, if you are on annual or semi-annual giving, you also can opt out of envelopes. Contact Michelle Rankin to get set up.
With this change, many of you will have new envelope numbers for 2024. The 2024 envelopes will be ig envelopesssued sometime in December.
Contact: Michelle Rankin at michelle@sotpmail.com
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Submit prayer requests to: www.bit.ly/SOTPpray
To join our prayer chain and receive requests, email Donna at donna@sotpmail.com
From Your Stewardship Team
Dear Partner in Ministry:
Generosity is all around us, but sometimes we have to look for it. In the feeding of the 5,000 story in the Bible, significant generosity happened once the child shared (John 6:9). That is how it is here. Once we begin to share, we will see God has blessed us with plenty. 
“507 – (Re)Forming our Faith, (Re)Membering Who We Are, (Re)Acting to God’s Call is the theme of our fall stewardship appeal. This theme points us to the generosity we have witnessed around our church over the last year, but also reminds us of our rich heritage and our responsibility to continue to make Christ known.
There are always reasons to worry there might not be enough. As people of faith we plan, prepare, and trust in the abundance of God in all things.
Our grateful response in generosity helps to demonstrate to us and to the world around us God has provided us everything. We have enough, even enough to share.
In the weeks ahead, you will be hearing more about generosity and thankfulness along with celebrating our rich heritage as Lutherans. Newsletter articles, mission moments, emails and more will be used to share this story and our hopes for an even more robust ministry next year. In Christ, we believe the best is yet to come!
In the coming weeks, please engage the materials. Pray about how you can become more generous. Then, on All Saint’s Weekend, November 2-3, please bring your intent card with you to declare the generosity you intend to share with this congregation.
Thanks be to God, you are part of this exciting congregation. Pray for our common work together as we continue to reach out with the Gospel.
Sincerely in Christ,
Mike McCann
Stewardship Team Leader
Jesus never simply invited people to believe in Him—He invited them to follow Him. This fall, we’ll explore what it means to move from believing in Jesus to becoming more like Jesus in the ordinary rhythms of everyday life. Discipleship isn’t about perfection; it’s about practice. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, God forms us through holy habits that shape our hearts, deepen our faith, and transform the way we live.
Beginning August 30, each week will focus on a simple invitation from Jesus: Follow Me. Trust Me. Love Like Me. Learn From Me. Love God With Everything. Together, we’ll discover how surrender, faith in action, compassion and forgiveness, learning from Jesus, and wholehearted love for God can become practices that shape who we are.
Come this fall ready not simply to learn more about Jesus, but to become more like Jesus.
Pastor Mark
From Pastor Mark
Returning to Give Thanks!
Luke 17:11-19
Next month, many of us will gather around tables with familiar foods, well-worn stories, and perhaps someone reminding us that we really do not need another helping of pie. Thanksgiving invites us to pause and remember that the food before us, and the people beside us, are gifts.
Luke’s Gospel offers that same pause. Ten people living with leprosy, cut off from family and community, call out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Jesus sends them to show themselves to the priests, and as they go, they are made clean.
Notice what comes first. Jesus does not ask whether they are thankful enough or make them prove they deserve his attention. Grace comes first. That is at the heart of our faith: our gratitude does not purchase God’s love; it grows from receiving it.
All ten are healed, but only one turns back to give thanks—a Samaritan, the one many would have considered an outsider. He returns to the feet of Jesus, where mercy has made a place for him.
Turning around to give thanks doesn’t mean pretending this has been an easy year. For some, this year’s table will have an empty chair. Others carry worries about health, finances, family, or what lies ahead. We can be grateful and grieving at the same time. The Lord who heard the cry of those ten people hears ours, and his mercy reaches us in sorrow as surely as in celebration.
When we return to Christ in thanksgiving, he opens our eyes to the people around us. Who needs a place at our table this year? Who needs someone to listen, an invitation to dinner, help with groceries, or reassurance that they still belong?
At Shepherd of the Prairie, we often speak of being a place to belong even before you believe. Thanksgiving gives us a chance to make that welcome tangible. Because God has been generous toward us, we are free to be generous toward others. Our gratitude can become an open door.
May the grace that came first follow you to your table, deepen your gratitude, and widen your welcome.
I’ll see you in worship,
Pastor Mark
Ushers Needed
Saturday night ushers needed for the 5th Saturday of the month.
You would serve ONLY four times a year. Wanted: two persons or a couple to fill this request.
Please join our Team.
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Shepherd of the Prairie has a document that is helpful to have filled out for your loved ones as they plan your funeral.
This funeral planning guide is available online at www.bit.ly/SOTPplan or as a hard copy in the church office.
Shepherd of the Prairie Lutheran Church, Huntley, IL
The Youth Room is now THE SHEPHERD’S LOUNGE
Unveiling and Blessing of THE SHEPHERD’S LOUNGE on October 18, 2026
