Welcome to St. Paul Lutheran Church

St. Paul Lutheran Church in Harvard, is a welcoming Christian community grounded in God’s Word. As part of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, we seek to grow in faith through worship and learning, and to serve others with compassion and care. We gather to hear God’s Word, support one another, and share Christ’s love with our church family, the Harvard community and neighboring communities.

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Sunday, May 17th, 2026

A Special Message from Pastor Todd

On Sunday, the sermon focused on the first chapter of Acts. The Apostles had just witnessed Jesus ascend to heaven, leaving them behind to spread the Gospel around the world. But before they did that, they needed to replace Judas. I summarized Acts 1 in three words: prayer, scripture, and action. Right after that mountaintop experience, the Apostles returned to Jerusalem. Luke writes,

“All these, with one accord, were devoting themselves to prayer.”

They prayed consistently and with one heart. They set aside their own desires and prayed with the others in unity. They did this before getting down to the business of finding Judas’ replacement. Given all that had happened over the past 43 days, including death, resurrection, and ascension, selecting a replacement for Judas would not seem like a priority. But Peter quotes the Psalms, which years earlier had predicted what Judas would do and what would be needed afterward.

That’s what they did; they had two qualified candidates. They had prayed, consulted scripture, and now it was time to act. They cast lots. On first blush, it would seem that the replacement Apostle would be selected by chance. But it was actually a spiritual selection. When believers put prayer and scripture into action, spiritual results occur. How cool is that!

Pastor Todd