ABOUT US
Who We Are?
First Lutheran Church is God’s people inviting, involving, equipping, and
empowering to serve, that all might know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
SUNDAY SERVICE
Join us on Sundays in Gladstone. Want to check us out from home? We live-stream all of our worship services on YouTube.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Our 8:00 am and 10:30 am Sunday morning worship services (one worship service at 9:00 am for the summer) include hearing the Word from Scripture, and the proclamation of the Word through the sermon. The celebration of Holy Communion is a part of worship each week. Choir anthems on a regular basis enhance the hearing of God’s word. An intergenerational message is presented. We have a quiet room with video, for parents who wish to observe and participate in the service.
NURSERY
First Lutheran does not provide a staffed nursery. Members and guests are welcome to use the nursery room but will need to provide their own adult supervision for their children. We hope that we may be able to provide staffing again.
PASTOR
Senior Pastor Elisabeth (Zant) Daniels was ordained in the ELCA on January 15, 2011. She has served in two other ministry settings. For seven years, she was a Staff Chaplain at St. John’s United in Billings, MT, and her First Call was at Eden Lutheran Church in Munising, MI. Pastor Elisabeth and Wesley have been married since 2014 and have two children who attend school in Gladstone and enjoy living so close to the beach!
Pastor Elisabeth has a pastoral care/clinical background and has completed four units of CPE. She also loves parish work and serving people in the community. Wesley is a proud-born and raised Yooper. He works for the government at the Delta County Airport and is a veteran of the Navy.
Pastor Elisabeth graduated from Luther College in Decorah, IA, in 2006 and from The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2011. She was ordained by Bishop Emeritus Tom Skrenes of the Northern Great Lakes Synod at her home congregation, Grace Lutheran Church in Elroy, Wisconsin.
Pastor Elisabeth loves spending time with her family, reading, and exploring the woods. Now that they are back in Michigan, she and her family dabble in cross-country skiing. Pastor Elisabeth enjoys baking and growing things, which is something the whole family enjoys. She used to enjoy walking with Hufflepuff, the Goldendoodle, but Hufflepuff is so old now that she prefers the sunny spot on the couch.
First Lutheran Church is a wonderful place to serve, and Gladstone is a great community to raise a family in. Pastor fully embraces the opportunities she has to invite, involve, equip, and empower one another as we serve Jesus Christ in this place.
STAFF
Office Administrator
Rhonda Husbye
Rhonda was born and raised in Escanaba. She and her husband, Eric, have four children. Rhonda studied psychology and early childhood education & development. She worked at Flinn’s Flowers & Garden Center, managing the main Escanaba location for 28 years working in all aspects of the company, ending as their Floral Manager and Lead Designer. After retiring, and she took a six month health break and later found work at Lakestate Industries as a Job Coach until First Lutheran called.
Social Media
Stephanie Normand
Stephanie was born and raised in Gaylord, MI, but grew up visiting family often in the Gladstone area. In the spring of 2023 Stephanie graduated with her Bachelor’s degree from NMU in Social Media Marketing and went on to work for
the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Wanting to be closer to family, she moved to Escanaba and now works for iBeAuthentic, a beauty marketing agency in Menominee, MI. In her free time she like to read, go shopping, and hang out with her family.
Director of Music, Kris McDonald
Custodian
Hope (Kleiman) Thompson
Hello! My name is Hope (Kleiman) Thompson. I was born and raised in Gladstone as was my husband, Joe. We’ve been married for nearly 34 years. After Joe’s tour of duty in the Air Force, and other civilian job assignments, we moved back to the area in 2000. After being away for 12 years, we thought, what a better place to raise our children than back here in the UP, where our Parents were still living. We now reside in Gladstone with our dog Maggie, who we adopted 2 years ago. Our kids are, Kyle (Paige) and JJ, Appleton WI, Natalie (Erik) Gammon, Marquette, and Jillian (Bailey) and Barry (our Grand dog) Lamb, Escanaba. We are thrilled and blessed to be new Grandparents! I am very happy to be a part of the team at First Lutheran.
LEADERSHIP
At First Lutheran Church we are blessed with a talented and dedicated council. Members of the council meet once a month to consider the work of the congregation, and to work with the pastoral staff in meeting the needs of the congregation and the community.
First Lutheran Church Congregation Council
Lisa Thomas, President
Lloyd M. Tuskan, Vice President
Pamela Brown, Secretary
Ray Miller, Treasurer
Paula LaCrosse
Myra Skorupski
CONTACT
Church Office: 906.428.4565
office@firstlutheran-gladstone.org
LOCATION
1212 Minneapolis Ave.
Gladstone, MI 49837
SUNDAY WORSHIP
8:00 am and 10:30 am