Officially members and Lutheran

This Sunday, Ryan and I officially became members of Christ our King Lutheran church in Saline, and Ryan had his confirmation and became Lutheran.  Pastor Tom called all of the new members to the front of the church - there was 7 adults and 4 children.  Then he welcomed each of us by name and we said where our home town was.  For each person who was also being confirmed, he read a Bible passage for (which he picked).  Ryan's Bible passage was Psalm 55:22 "Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall."  Pastor Tom nailed that verse - perfect for Ryan. 

We were also very excited the Dad and Julie drove down to join us and then we all went to breakfast at Zingerman's after.  YUMMY!  It was a very special moment to share with Ryan.  I feel so blessed that I can now share my faith with my future husband and raise our family in the faith.  This has always been something very important to me and just reaffirms that God had a plan for Ryan and I.

Baptized into God's Family

I have had the privilege of being part of and witnessing several baptisms throughout my life.  I am Karle and Kahle's godmother, been at all my cousin's baptisms, members of my church, etc.; however today I was so honored to be part of Ryan's baptism.  We invited both of our families to take part in this special event. Pastor Tom from our new church was wonderful and made it very personal to both Ryan and myself. 

It was such a spiritually moving event watching an adult receive the Holy Spirit and it makes me overjoyed for Ryan and I to grow in our faith with God.  I know He has great things in store for our future. 

"Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"  (Mat 28:19)

Church and Class

So Ryan and I are taking a new members class at Christ our King... we love it!  However this past week, I learned some very startling statistics.  See what you think.

A survey was done on 10,000 Protestant pastors.  They were asked 3 Yes or No questions...

1) Do you believe the Bible is the word of God?
2) Do you believe that Jesus' resurrection happened?
3) Do you believe that Jesus is man and God?

As I was hearing them all, I answers... yes, yes, and yes.  Easy questions - move on!  But wait... 75% of pastors answered no to them all.  What?  Are you kidding me?  If you break down that statistic, 25% of Missouri Lutheran pastors said no to the them and only 3% of Wisconsin Lutheran pastors said no to them all.  We then had an awesome discussion about this (way off track from our book, but it didn't matter).  Our pastor, Pastor Tom, actually called a few pastors up and did his own little survey because he didn't believe it.  And got about the same response.  One pastor even wanted him to come and preach at his church so his congregation could hear what amazing things he was saying.  When Pastor Tom said no... he then asked if he would come to his confirmation class... again Pastor Tom said no. 

Just makes me wonder.  I'm just glad that I know the answer to all these questions!  Thanks Mom and Dad for instilling this in me!

New member class

So Ryan and I started New Member classess (also know as adult confirmation classes) today at Christ our King Lutheran church in Saline.  After the first time going there, I knew this was the church for us.  Great pastors, really friendly people, young congregation, and very meaningful messages.  Love it and Ryan did too. 

So after our first class, I realized how much I had forgotten since confirmation classes and attending St. Paul.  And it was really great to be learning with Ryan together.  We have 7 more classes and I think this will definitely help us build a solid Christian foundation together so when we have kids we can raise them together in the faith.