Pastor Gabe

On Sunday, January 11th, Gabe got ordained! He is now (officially) Reverend Gabe Barber. (Although he's still called Pastor Gabe.) The ceremony was AWESOME! We couldn't have asked for anything more. The chairman of our elder board and his wife put together a beautiful ceremony and a fun reception afterwards.The whole day made us even more thankful for our congregation and made us realize again how blessed we are to be right here right now

There were, more or less, three parts to the ordination process during the ceremony. First, after a wonderful sermon by Pastor Chen (our previous senior pastor), he asked us several questions, such as our beliefs and commitment to the ministry, etc. Then, he asked the congregation several questions, such as if they would support us as their pastor, etc. After we all agreed to everything, we moved on... (I hate to brush over this part so quickly. This was actually a very meaningful part to me.)

All of the ordained pastors in the room came forward to lay hands on us and pray for us and our ministry. It was a really special time, especially now that Gabe has grown much closer to the other English pastors. I was also very blessed to have been included in all of this. Our ministry has always been together even if I'm not physically there with Gabe. I'm very happy to know our church recognizes that even though they don't see me much.

The final part was Gabe's "robing". This was the frosting on the cake.

There were so many special things done by people at our church. It seemed like everyone used their special gifts and talents to bless us that day. This is the Mandarin worship team. They sang a special song for us during the ceremony. It was so beautiful. It seemed like there were WAY more than just 6 voices.The reception was great! I love seeing our worlds collide. We had family, local friends, out of town friends, and of course our church there all at once. It was fun to watch them all interact.

Andrew loved Gabe's new garb. (Shout out to Tai-Wai!)

One of the women at church made beautiful floral arrangements for us all over the reception hall. She even made us a bouquet!

Cutie!

One of the men at church is a baker and is famous for his cakes. (Can you see why?) It tasted good too!
Congratulations, Pastor Gabe! You ROCK!!!