A Journey

I am a strong believer in the power of a story.  We are a culture of storytellers, whether it be in the classroom, at home, or in the pulpit.  We tell story to capture our imaginations to lead us to a greater understanding of the subject.  Sometimes those stories are funny.  Sometimes serious.  Sometimes tragic.  Sometimes inspirational.  Regardless of the effect, stories matter.  Therefore, as the family pastor here at First Baptist in Elgin, I believe it is important for you to know my story of faith.  It is a story of ups and downs but most certainly reflects the consistent and merciful nature of God.  For that I praise Him and thank Him!

My journey of faith began early on in my life as I attended West Clermont Lutheran Church in Clermont, Iowa.  My mother and her family had this as their home church and though we weren't "every Sunday" attenders, we went enough for me to understand the importance that God played in the lives of those that went there.  I remember being involved in everything from Sunday school to Junior Choir.  Confirmation and youth group were then the necessary steps to take but yet church stuff became more of a religion of things to do.  It didn't feel powerful or necessary and so my journey away from the church began.  That is not to say that there wasn't any value in my upbringing because there certainly was.  My church experience taught me much and gave me a Godly worldview and that stuck with me throughout my life.  For that I am eternally thankful.

As I grew, I lived a life that was not honoring to anyone.  I led a broken life chasing temporary things.  Whether it was relationships with girls, alcohol or just simply going through life living for the world, my life was empty.  I knew it.  Many in my family knew it.  But you know what, sometimes the more that you know, the more one walks further away until a breaking point occurs.

That leverage point came during the Fall of 1999 as I moved to LaCrosse, WI to do my student teaching.  I was introduced to some people my age through family acquaintances.  I immediately noticed a difference about them.  They were joyful, passionate and professed to be followers of Christ.  But in my world, I had never seen or been around individuals like this---I was intrigued.

Over the course of the next several months a gentlemen by the name of Clint West took me under his wing.  He challenged me with questions.  He listened intently about my successes, struggles, dreams and wants.  He directed me to the Word of God and pointed out several things that would shake the foundations of what I thought I knew.  Overtime, things began to make sense.  I understood them in my mind and was eager to share these new ideas with friends from my days at the U of Iowa.  One night in early December it all came to a head.  I was trying to share with my friends and I wasn't prepared for the pushback that came nor was I ready to work through the questions they posed.  In fact, as a result of their challenges I fell back into the same behaviors that I had previously exhibited while with them before I had met Clint and the others in LaCrosse.

It was that very next morning as I woke that the Spirit of the living God grabbed ahold of me.  I began sobbing.  Sobbing because I realized that in my own understanding I was not able to be that which God was calling me to be.  Rather, it had to be from my heart.  That morning in 1999, I realized the magnitude of what God had done for me through His Son and it was no longer head knowledge but for the first time in my life it was heart knowledge.  I accepted this gift of salvation and sought to live and grow in a way that is honoring to God, my redeemer, my Father, my King. 

I hope that no matter where you might be with the Lord, that you understand that He is there.  He is waiting for your heart to fall into His hands so that He can mold you, shape you and lead you to live this life for Him and His eternal kingdom! 

For God so loved...

Baptism...An Amazing Testimony

The Testimony of the Believer

August 16, 2015 was a great day of worship, praise, thanksgiving and testimony as our First Baptist Church family and other family members witnessed two young men being baptized in the Turkey River.  Being a part of something like this is powerful and draws me closer to the God of our salvation.

Both of these young men came to faith in Christ at an early age and had been praying to God, receiving counsel from parents and pastors and had been encouraged by their friends to take this step of obedience when they believed that their heart was ready to do so.  Seeing them both stand before the loved ones gathered and provide their testimony about who Jesus is to them was inspiring.  All I could think was, "Thank you, Jesus!" because you are raising up a new generation of believers that will go into this world to seek to share your love and your truth to wherever you may call them.

But perhaps some are asking, "Why did they get baptized in the first place?"

Great question!  God lays out pretty clearly in Scripture that when a person comes to faith in Christ Jesus (which is the receiving of salvation) that a next step in obedience is to be baptized.  We call it believer's baptism because we believe that these individuals made the decision to follow Him on their own and then decide to be baptized.  In Acts 2, Peter delivers a sermon and "Those who received his word were baptized" (Acts 2.41).  These individuals committed their lives to Christ by receiving the word that Peter was speaking and in response were baptized.  There are other scripture passages that are similar in nature but given the purpose of this blog I will stop with that amazing testimony in Acts.

So what are we being obedient to?  Jesus' commission of His disciples in that they were to go to all nations and teach, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28.20) We, as people of the Christian faith are to publicly and symbolically experience death (going into the water) and resurrection (coming up out of the water) of new life in Christ.  This is a way to make our faith known.  Our belief in Christ is never meant to be a private thing between just you and God.  Rather, He made it very clear that we are to take His love and message of the Gospel to all people.  A logical step in that process is baptism.

Like my son, Caleb last summer, these two young men invited others to come and witness this public profession of faith.  It was fitting that there were also campers, people canoeing and several kayackers.  There were people driving by on the highway and there were those that surrounded them as they told their story about Jesus in their lives.

I want to encourage any that haven't been baptized but have welcomed Jesus as Lord and Savior to reach out to myself or your local pastor and visit about your journey regarding baptism as a believer.  It is a powerful statement of faith that is made in a day and time that very rarely gets to hear about the good that God is doing in this country.

August 16th was a special day for these two young men, their families, their church family and most importantly honoring to God.

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6.4)

Reflections from the Sermon on Acts 12.1-19

The church at this point in the book of Acts has witnessed persecution.  They have witnessed the arrests of apostles (Acts 5).  There has been a scattering of the people to escape the situation in Jerusalem.  Stephen has become the first martyr of the church and James, the brother of John, has been arrested and beheaded.  These major events lead to the testimony of the church as it sees another one of their own leaders (Peter) fall into the hands of King Herod.  As Peter awaits his public execution it should be noted that because of the miraculous escape of the apostles in chapter 5, Peter is surrounded by four squads of soldiers (that is 16 soldiers).  Two are constantly chained to him while the other two members of the squad stand guard.  It is clear that Herod wants no escape this time.

However, we witness something here in Acts chapter 12 that is a beautiful picture of the church.  Scripture tells us that they are gathering together in the homes and praying.  They are praying constantly.  Through their own experiences as a church they are taking the opportunity to communicate and plead with God for the release of Peter.  They are focused.  They are purposeful.  They are praying with a sense of urgency.  They understand the magnitude of Peter's arrest and do not want to see him suffer the same fate as James did.

Peter, on the other hand, is at peace.  Scripture tells us in Acts 12 that on the night before he was to die, he was sleeping.  In fact, he is sleeping so soundly that the angel of the Lord has to do more than nudge him to wake him up!  He had to speak quite loudly and shake him a bit.  It is a testimony of faith that no matter what happens that next day, that Peter is fully trusting in the Lord.  Either he will be freed and delivered from Herod's prison, or he will be with the Lord in glory if he is martyred.  The former occurs through a miraculous event and joins those (the church) that had been praying for him.  If you have not read the account of this story, I encourage you to do so!

It is such an encouragement to read about the examples in Acts 12 that are set before us as a church today.  There is no doubt that the church's testimony is to be one that resounds in our hearts as we strive to be a body of Christ that is a body that prays.  Prayer is not a program.  It is not just a meeting that we have.  Rather it is an essential part of who we are as followers of Christ.  We as a church in this day can grab ahold of the examples in scripture and have prayer be focused and purposeful.  It should be something that is at the very core of who we are as believers.  We can be the church that prays with urgency.  An urgency that looks at our days and realizes that they are uncertain.  An urgency that pleads with the Creator of the universe to accomplish his will here on earth.  We can be a church that looks with great anticipation upon the predetermined gatherings to pray and comes with a peace that surpasses all understanding.  God gave us the gift of prayer!  He gave us testimonies of people long ago to be an example for us today.  Let us pick up the torch that is being passed to us and run with it.   I am excited to see prayer become an essential piece of everything we are not for our own glory but for the glory of God!  For He is worthy to be praised!

The challenge is out there.  Look for opportunities to pray with other believers and pray with passion, joy, purpose, focus and urgency!  For you are communicating with your Creator and He hears your every word!  What an amazing gift!

Be a blessing to someone today! God's peace be with you!

Humbly,
Ryan Zurbriggen

Here we go!

I am hopeful that through this reflection and updates that you will be able to see my heart for the Lord and His people.  This journey has been very humbling since the position was voted on and passed back in mid-July.  I feel it is necessary and appropriate to communicate my thoughts as we move forward.

I firmly believe that we are doing some great things through the Church.  With that being said, I feel very strongly that I don't want to create programs or do things  just for the sake of doing them.  Therefore, as I spoke with the deacons on this topic I communicated my desire for us to pray.  Pray that God would give us the vision for family ministry through First Baptist.  Pray that He would be the one directing our decisions and actions.  Therefore, as we move through the early stages of this position, Renessa and I are praying and the deacons are praying.  We also would ask to that you would pray with us in this venture.  It is our hope that through prayer we would be given clear, focused visions for our family ministry. 

Efforts are already being made to communicate more with you on this subject and others.  I am providing a blog to anyone that would like to subscribe to it.  This blog will be a link to thoughts, reflections, resources and encouragements to families on their journey with the Lord.  If you would like to take a look it is at: A Life Worthy of the Call.  The title is based off of Ephesians 4.1 where Paul is challenging the Ephesians that as they have came to Christ in faith that they live their lives worthy of that call that He placed on their life.  It is a tremendous reminder for me that as a man, husband, father and just a person in this world that I am Christ's ambassador to those around me and for Christ's sake I am living my life in such a way that honors the sacrifice that He made out of love for us.  In addition, the life that I live personally should spill over into my life as part of the body of Christ.  The Church is called to live a life in a similar fashion.  This verse and set of verses in Ephesians 4.1-16 drives me.  I look forward to serving in the role of family pastor at First Baptist Church in Elgin but more importantly I am excited to see our church continue to live in such a way that is worthy to the call that He has placed on us.  To Him be the glory!

In Christ,

Ryan Zurbriggen