Sept 19th, Dedication Sunday for Living Waters

Today we celebrated as a congregation as Living Waters Lutheran dedicated its charter membership of 113 individuals. This has been an eventful journey for this young congregation. In April of 2010 the initial worship service was held and now only six months later the church officially received its membership.

Emily and I feel very honored to be part of such a Spirit-filled group of believers. They are not afraid to be a "different" kind of Lutheran church that holds tightly to good theology, but is willing to think outside the box and try non-Lutheran practices to reach the lost for Jesus Christ. For starters they called a pastor who was clear to say that he will not wear "liturgical garments"! Even, when I informed them that I tend to borrow from both Lutheran and Baptist tool boxes when preparing sermons, they did not even bat an eye. They are determined to break out of mold and seek to fulfill our call to make disciples of every nation. I am pleased that each time I have preached and asked people to hold up their bibles, almost 90 percent of hands are holding the Word of God. Then, they open their bibles in their laps ready to follow along with the message and use their sermon notes. We are off to a great start.

Emily and I feel very welcomed and cared for by this congregation as well. When we arrived in Peoria our little house was already filled with 15 church members who quickly unloaded our truck, installed our washer and driver, and put together our bedroom. It has been a busy first weekend and now I am enjoying a typical pastor practice, Sunday afternoon football on the couch! Tomorrow I plan to open my first office hours in a local coffee shop, inviting members of the church to drop by for spiritual conversation and fellowship.

God is truly good. Please pray for church unity, energy for mission, and passion in worship!

Mark and Emily