Hephatha Lutheran Church & School, Anaheim, CA
Hephatha Lutheran School, Anaheim, CA recently conducted their Baptism Chapel where they baptized six students. They are thrilled to have two more baptisms scheduled in the coming weeks. Their most recent student record of baptisms was nine little souls in 2020... just weeks before the Covid shutdown. Since then, baptisms have been on a family-to-family basis, so returning to their traditional National Lutheran Schools Week Baptism Chapel has made this year's extra special to the student body, teachers, and families! During the chapel service, Pastor Arthur Andrews said, "In the waters of baptism the Lord has given these children a new name, a new relationship, and a new identity." Mrs. Glicker, Hephatha's Principal, said, "Our Baptism Chapel was a wonderful experience, watching God's love poured out on six of His children!"
“Whenever the question ‘why Lutheran education?’ is asked on a tour, this Chapel always comes to mind; what a blessing it is to be baptized, at school, amongst your peers, parents, and parish," commented Deena Knudsen, Director of Admissions and Student Relations. "For the staff and faculty, walking into Church and seeing each child's name with "Child of God" next to it is an unexplainable joy. God is so good!”
In a message to the congregation Pastor Andrews said, “I believe it’s no accident that our very first school Baptism took off as it did. When we dive into the Scripture the Holy Spirit cultivates the soil of our souls. Jesus tells a story like that in Matthew 13:1-23. This passage shows us how good life gets when a good seed (God’s Word) finds good soil (faithful souls). As it turns out, our Baptism Chapels, as glorious and awe-inspiring as they were and are, might just be the first of many amazing experiences for us as a church family in 2023.”
The addition of a new Director of Christian Education at Hephatha is additional cause for excitement. For more than 6 months, Hephatha was prayerfully and thoughtfully searching for a new DCE. After prayerful consideration, the search committee reached out to Mike Mueller from Immanuel Lutheran Church, Fort Hood, Oregon, and he agreed to to serve as Hephatha's new DCE. Pastor Andrews is excited that, “Mike brings a wealth of creativity, outreach orientation, experience, and a deep passion for youth ministry.” Mike and his family have now moved to Orange County. His boys are attending OLU. Mike will be serving children, middle school, and high school students. Pastor Andrews also shared, “Our congregation is excited about the new ministry opportunities ahead and the work God is doing in our congregation, school, and community.”
Enable more stories of transformed lives through Jesus
Untold thousands are still in darkness, lost like “sheep that have gone astray”. But this is exactly the mission our Lord has created His Church for – reaching the lost for Jesus’ sake in as many ways as necessary. This is the purpose for which our 300 churches and 150 schools were founded in their many contexts. And “the fields are ripe for the harvest” right now!
Your gifts are critical and enable us to continue and expand our shared work together, fulfilling the PSD mission of effectively resourcing congregations and schools for transforming lives and making the Great Commission REAL!
Share Your Story
We love sharing the work God is doing in our district and would love to share what He is doing in your ministry!
Comments