September 30, 2025, it has been a good year for St. Jacob’s so far! God has blessed us in 2025. From the beginning of Q4 2024 to the end of Q3 2025, we have seen real growth.
In Members:
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We were blessed to celebrate two baptisms (one infant, one adult).
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We gained eight faithful members (three new households, one baby).
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We have one catechumen.
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We have one faithful and several “on again, off again” repeat inquirers.
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Last year about this time we usually had between 15 and 18 parishioners for a Sunday Liturgy; now we can expect between 20 and 24 occasionally closer to 30.
Developing Gifts:
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Two parishioners completed programs at the Pastoral School of the Diocese of Chicago & Mid-America:
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One completed a one-year Catechist program and is preparing to take over Church School.
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Reader George completed a Diaconate Program and is scheduled to be ordained on November 30th.
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We continue to support development of the talented parishioner whom we helped sponsor through two week-long icon painting seminars by commissioning icons for all new converts and a large Patronal Icon for our parish.
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We trained two new Altar Servers for a total of four who serve regularly.
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Our parishioner James continues to completely manage Mother Olga Food Pantry under the direction of the Parish Council.
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This Saturday I’ll be training our new volunteer Parish Librarian, who will be in charge of managing the collection and suggesting new titles for acquisition.
In Liturgical and Parish Goods:
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A parish in Pennsylvania donated a 100-year-old Greek baptismal font.
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Reader George carefully refinished and hung two hand-made Deacon’s Doors that were donated from a mission that closed down in the 90s.
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We obtained liturgical fans from Ukraine.
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Hand-painted icons commissioned from our parishioner.
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Liturgical Texts.
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Deacon’s Vestments–some purchased, some donated–for George to serve in after his ordination.
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Because parishioner and inquirer education is very important to me, we continue to expand our Parish Library, which is housed on two (soon to be three) rolling library carts and safeguarded with a small library management service (Tinycat, $36 per year and well worth it!)
Financially:
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Outside of generous monthly support from Share the Faith, our financial donations increased about 50% from the beginning of Q4 2024 to the end of Q3 2025. In real dollars, our annual income (apart from your support) grew from $12,143.94 to $18,164.59 during this period.
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We continue to aggressively save for a building of our own. Our building fund has reached over $10,000.
In Feeding the Poor:
St. Jacob’s allocates $200 per month toward operating our ministry to the poor, Mother Olga Food Pantry. We partner with Feeding America and, with some help from special donations, we have purchased $2,878 worth of food from Feeding America West Michigan during this period. A local convenience store, Kwik Trip, has come on board and now donates their overstock every week. Understanding that our statistics include many repeat clients and not just unique visitors, we are privileged to distribute food to an average of 59 households (including 57 children and 153 individuals) per month. 
A full liturgical life:
In the past twelve months we have celebrated:
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63 Divine Liturgies (including Presanctified Liturgies)
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60 Vespers
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4 Great Compline’s
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1 “All Night” Vigil
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34 Small Compline’s
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19 Midnight Offices
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6 Matins
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7 Panikhidas
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4 Molebens
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2 Akathists
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2 Processions
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Weekly Church School
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2 adult study courses (Apostolic Fathers and St. Ephrem through the Gospels)
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2 Overnight Pilgrimages (St. Paul the Apostle Monastery and Sts. Sergius & Herman of Valaam for their 30th Anniversary Feast)
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2 Parish Picnics
Looking toward the future:
We project that with continued support from Share the Faith Ministries; we will be able to make an offer on a building of our own by 2027—releasing us from rent obligations and enabling us to start building the beauty of our community in earnest.
How Share the Faith’s Support Benefits My Family:
While Share the Faith deposits are made directly into the Church account, my family and I count this as our monthly tithe, while still making smaller monthly donations.
Continued Need:
Share the Faith support goes further in the Upper Peninsula. The US Census Bureau reports that median household income for the city of Ishpeming, MI is $52,717 (1). That’s nearly $28,000 per year lower than the national median income of $80,610 (2). While many parishes in urban areas are used to support from their fair share of college professors and small business owners, our tithers include a warehouseman, retail workers, restaurant workers, and a bus driver. This reflects the economic reality of the rural Upper Midwest.
Your love in Christ:
We deeply appreciate your continued monthly support of $800. This funding gives us hope that we can afford a permanent parish home of our own in the near to medium term. Without your generous support, we could (Lord willing) cover the rent and keep the lights on, but our hopes of finding a liturgical home of our own within the next few years would be greatly diminished, and I personally would struggle be challenged financially as I sought to increase our family’s giving to help offset the loss.
May God bless your ministry and all who give!
In Christ,
Fr. Jesse
