Join us on Tuesday, November 4, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
Join us on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m. We give thanks to The Terre Verde Garden Club for providing and serving this meal of Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, green beans, and dessert.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
The First Friday Concert at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1000 Michigan Ave., La Porte, at 12;10 p.m. Oct.3, will feature jazz pianist Billy Foster and his wife, Renee Miles-Foster.
Foster is a composer, educator, and producer who has been an active professional musician for the past 35 years. He has performed across the U.S. with others, as well as with his own groups. He has written and produced recordings with both the “Billy Foster and Audio” and the “Billy Foster Trio.”
Foster is a featured soloist on two of guitarist Henry Johnson’s CDs on MCA records. His work as a pianist and composer with the “Valparaiso University Faculty Jazz Trio” can be heard on the CDs, “CDs For The Moment” and the 2010 recording “Journey.” Foster has also written and produced music for several television commercials.
He retired after 35 years as a music teacher in the Gary Community School Corporation and was jazz piano instructor at Valparaiso University from 1980-2014. He has served on the Indiana Arts Commission Advisory Panel for three years.
Foster received his Bachelor of Science from Defiance College and a Master of Music from Roosevelt University with additional study at New York University. He has studied with famed jazz pianist, Jaki Byard. Currently, Foster teaches piano and Jazz History at Indiana University Northwest.
He recently played at the Chicago Jazz Festival, has been playing at Winter's Jazz club in Chicago, Merriman's Playhouse in South Bend and has played at the Elkhart Jazz Festival.
Miles-Foster began singing at an early age, influenced by the sounds of her parents lovingly sharing their radio and albums with jazz music, showcasing prolific American jazz giants of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.
She absorbed the wonderful artistry of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Mahalia Jackson, Johnny Hartman, and Billy Holiday.
She enrolled in the Indiana University Northwest campus and later transferred to Indiana University Bloomington. Miles-Foster was awarded a scholarship from the African American Studies Department allowing her to further her studies in gospel and spiritual music at Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, with the renowned Dr. Wendell Whalum.
Miles-Foster has advanced her professional career and has been blessed with the opportunity to branch into many wonderful and life-changing settings. As protégé of the internationally acclaimed diva Donna Hightower, she was invited to travel abroad to Munich and Frankfurt, Germany, and Switzerland.
St. Paul's is air-conditioned and handicap-accessible via the Harrison Street entrance. People are encouraged to bring their lunches for the half-hour concert. There is no charge, but a free-will offering box is available to sustain the series.
Join us on Tuesday, October 16, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m. We give thanks to The La Porte Service League for providing and serving this meal of mostaccioli, vegetable sides, salad, garlic bread, and dessert.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
The fourth series of First Friday Concerts at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1000 Michigan Ave., La Porte, will begin Sept. 5 at 12:10 p.m.
The 2025-26 series will kick off with Lee Knitter, who has been a musician for 30 years. His focus is bringing the Gospel to the community through music, singing and playing acoustic guitar. He primarily sings gospel music at assisted living, nursing homes and rehab facilities. He also performs country and folk music.
He was on the worship team at La Porte Missionary Church for 16 years and is retired after spending 43 years at Burns Harbor steel mill.
St. Paul's is air-conditioned and there is a handicap-accessible entrance on Harrison Street. There is no charge for the performance, but there is a free-will offering box for donations to sustain the series. Concert-goers are encouraged to bring their lunch and enjoy the music.
Join us on Tuesday, June 17, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
Join us on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
Join us on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m. We give thanks to The Terre Verde Garden Club for providing and serving this meal of Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, green beans, and dessert.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in La Porte has received a grant of $60,000 to enable its priest in charge, the Rev. Canon Michelle Walker, to participate in the 2024 Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Program.
St. Paul's is one of 34 congregations in Indiana selected to participate in this competitive program, which is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. and administered by Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. Established by the Endowment in 1999, the program’s grants allow congregations to support their pastors with the gift of extended time away from their ministerial duties and responsibilities.
Ministers whose congregations are awarded the grants use their renewal experiences to engage in reflection and renewal. The approach respects the “Sabbath time” concept, offering ministers a carefully considered respite that may include travel, study, rest, prayer and immersive arts and cultural experiences.
Walker will spend time from May to early September traveling with her family to several national parks in the United States and to the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. Her theme for the application for the grant was "When I Am Among the Trees" and focuses on contemplative prayer practices. Leave-taking will occur with a send-off coffee hour celebration April 27. Walker's return will be celebrated at Cummings Lodge Sept. 14, with a Eucharist among the trees, a catered meal, and joyous reunion.
During Walker's absence, the congregation will visit local parks and mirror the contemplative practices that Walker will be doing that same week. At each location, one of 15 contemplative exercises will be used. Each Sunday the current week’s park and practice will be shared during announcements. The community is invited to join us. Visit stpaulslaporte.org for details. Conversations about the previous week’s practice will occur during coffee hour. Coverage for Sunday services will be provided by supply clergy. At the return Eucharist, priest and congregation will reflect on their experiences and renewal.
Since the Endowment established the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Program for Indiana Congregations in 1999 and the National Clergy Renewal Program for congregations in the other 49 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico in 2000, more than 4,293 congregations have participated in the program, including the 34 Indiana congregations receiving grants in 2024.
Through the program, Indiana congregations may apply for grants of up to $60,000 to support renewal experiences for their pastors. Collaborative in nature and implementation, the program allows congregations to partner with their ministers in developing experiences that address their unique renewal needs and aspirations. Recognizing that ministers’ families are subject to the stress and demands placed on pastoral leaders, the program encourages pastors to involve their families in renewal activities. Congregational needs during the minister’s renewal experience also are considered.
