Deacon Ordination

I am so proud of Ryan.  He was recently nominated to serve a three year term as a deacon at our church.  Out of the 8,000+ members of our church, he will be one of the approximately 150 men who serve in this capacity.  Nine of these men (including Ryan) are first-time deacons while the others have served before and were coming back for another term.  This is a huge honor, but also a big responsibility.  The purpose of a deacon is to serve the church body by praying for it and helping in many roles.  I am confident Ryan will do a great job with both of these.

We returned from our cruise on Thursday the 12th.  On Friday, Ryan left for an overnight retreat for the deacons.  The new deacons shared their testimonies, and from what I can gather, this was a wonderful experience for all involved.  On Sunday evening, we got to go to the deacon's ordination at the church.  All the new deacons were introduced by our pastor, Bryant Wright, and then they were challenged and charged by chairman Pat Abney with the new duties requested of them.  We all joined in singing several worship songs together, and one of the deacons, Trevor Lang, gave his testimoney.  After that, each deacon kneels to pray at the front of the church.  Each had asked three experienced deacons beforehand to come and pray over them.  Ryan had asked Brian Fox, Shane Gary and John Gary who are all really good friends of Ryan's, and they each share his passion for missions.  It meant a lot to Ryan to have them pray for him.  Additionally, our former Sunday School teacher, Ron Hughes, and Bryant prayed over him as well which was greatly appreciated.

After this, the new deacons and their wives stood at the front of the church for everyone to come up and encourage us.  We greatly appreciated all the deacons, their wives and church members that came to speak to us.  We were both truly grateful too that Liz, my mom, my dad and my cousins, Sid and Elaine, were able to come be a part of this very special evening.

We are both very excited about Ryan's time as a deacon in the upcoming three years.  I can't wait to see how God continues to use Ryan in furthering His Kingdom.  I am so proud to be married to Ryan, and watch him grow in his faith and love of the Lord.

Thanks to Shane for snapping this picture before we left: