As a missionary, Roberta has maintained her church membership at her home church on the North Arkansas District, while pursuing ordination. When I discovered the North Arkansas District Assembly was just over 3 hours from Kansas City, I invited friends of Roberta to send cards to my address, which I would deliver personally. She received cards from friends around the world. Paula (Cini) Creely (who grew up in the Sighişoara church and now lives with her husband and infant son in Pennsylvania) decided to fly to Kansas City with her 11-month old and travel with me, Nancy Cantrell, and Chris Strickland to surprise Roberta.
Needless to say, Roberta was surprised. We spent time visiting with Roberta (as well as members of her family and life-long friends from Arkansas) before and after the ordination service before heading back to Kansas City. Since ordination is the authenticating and authorizing act of the Church which recognizes and confirms God's call to ministerial leadership, it was meaningful that representatives of Roberta's ministry in Romania be present to recognize and confirm her ministry.
Here are some pictures from the ordination ceremony:
General Superintendent Jesse Middendorf ordains Roberta.
The ordained elders of the district lay hands on Roberta.
Roberta is presented with her Certificate of Ordination.
Roberta and the 3 other newly-ordained ministers are presented to the assembly.
Click here for more photos I took at the District Assembly. Paula took many more pictures from the 3 days she was in Kansas City and Rogers, including the ordination reception and an EuNC reunion with the Staples. Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/gscreely to view her pictures.
No comments:
Post a Comment