SPDLC Blog

What year did you begin attending St. Philip the Deacon? We began attending in the summer of 2011 and became members in the fall of 2011.

What is your faith background? Julie is Catholic and attended Catholic parochial schools from kindergarten through high school in Fargo, ND. Greg is Lutheran and grew up in the small town of Rothsay, MN (pop. 500) located on I-94 between Fergus Falls and Moorhead. Both families have a strong faith-based background.

What is your professional background and experience? Julie has been in the financial services industry her entire career. She is currently working for a large diversified financial services company. Greg started his career with an international CPA firm in Minneapolis and then followed that with other financial/accounting positions. He is currently the co-owner and CFO of a small ad agency specializing in the retail and franchise industry.

What is something you love about St. Philip the Deacon? We love the 11:00 contemporary service and its wonderful music. The musicians are so talented!

Have you ever been surprised by God? If so, how? Rather than being surprised, we are constantly in awe of how God spreads his message through acts that we may not understand at the moment, but know that we are to learn from each and every one of them.

If you could meet God face-to-face, what would you want to ask or say? Is there any hope that we can remove all hatred and evil from this world?

What year did you begin attending St. Philip the Deacon? 1987

What is your faith background? Doris: I am from rural Minnesota and attended a small-town Lutheran church, where Carl and I were married—the church has a bell in the steeple and a family friend rang the bell to begin the ceremony—it was a thrill to hear! My mom was a long-time Sunday School teacher to preschoolers and was my first Sunday School teacher. She taught the basics of faith: “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know” and “This Little Light of Mine, I’m Going to Let it Shine.” Carl: I was baptized, grew up and was confirmed in a Lutheran church in northern Minnesota. As an adult, I have been involved in various Christian organizations and churches up until we joined St Philip the Deacon more than 25 years ago.

What is your professional background and experience? Doris: I have been a corporate attorney for many years, working at a law firm and then in-house at a publicly-held company. Carl: I have worked as an engineer since graduating from college with an engineering degree.

How are you involved at St. Phillip? We started attending SPD in 1987 when we moved to Plymouth. Our two sons were baptized and confirmed at SPD. Doris taught Sunday School and Confirmation when the boys were at those stages. Carl has been a tutor for many years in an after-school program with Interfaith Outreach Community Partners that he became involved with through SPD. We have also volunteered for various events and service projects over the years. It is a great way to be part of a community and do something that makes a difference.

What is something you love about St. Philip the Deacon? Doris: I love weekly worship on Sunday mornings. It is good to remember who we are and what is important in life—we are bombarded with other messages and values during the week. Carl: SPD is a place that acknowledges God’s presence in our world, identifies ways to become involved, and encourages our participation.

Have you ever been surprised by God? If so, how? Doris: Yes. I think there have been times in my life when God was speaking to me when I didn’t expect it at all—a different path or a new way of looking at something. Carl: Yes. I have learned at St. Philip the Deacon that God is way more accepting of everyone than I ever thought.

What year did you begin worshiping at St. Philip the Deacon? 1993

What is your faith background? Curt grew up Methodist and Nancy grew up Presbyterian. We were married at Colonial Church in Edina where we were Congregationalist. When we moved to Plymouth we visited a number of different churches and felt St. Philip the Deacon was the best match for us. We weren’t necessarily searching for a certain denomination but a church where we felt comfortable and knew that our children would too. St. Philip has been an incredible place for our family to grow and further our journey with Christ.

What is your professional background and experience? Curt is a professional photographer and videographer. He has been self-employed for 16 years and has had a studio in downtown Minneapolis for the past 16 years. The majority of his work has been in the advertising and marketing field. Nancy has worked in an area school district for the past 30 years as a Special Education Teacher/Team Facilitator at the elementary level.

How are you involved at St. Philip the Deacon? Curt and Nancy help with serving communion, volunteering as prayer partners for the Confirmands, and have been part of the Capital Appeals committee. Curt has served on Church Council.  He also takes photos of the church  staff, as well as additional pictures of the church for use on the church website, newsletters and emails.

What is something that you love about St. Philip the Deacon?  The people are clearly the best part of this church. That includes the staff and the congregation. The quality of the entire staff is amazing. Each pastor is uniquely qualified and provides an amazing service to God and the entire congregation. The gifts and talents of the people that comprise the congregation clearly mirror scripture in 1st Corinthians, not one body but many members comprising the body of Christ.

Have you ever been surprised by God? If so, how? We are frequently surprised by how God works in the world. Most of the time we are aware of how God has been working in our lives and in others near and dear to us after the fact. Once we have had a chance to look back upon a problem or situation we have been involved in, we can clearly see how God was at work. We believe he works everyday in our lives, sometimes it is obvious to us but many times it is in more subtle ways.

If you could meet God face-to-face, what would you want to ask? We doubt we’d be able to even utter a word if confronted face to face with God. We would ask for forgiveness and for the opportunity to walk beside him and see his great works.  One area of deeper understanding is learning more about why bad things and great suffering happen to good people?

What year did you begin attending St. Philip the Deacon? We began attending St. Philip in 1996 or so. We had just moved to the neighborhood and were thrilled to have discovered St. Philip.

What is your faith background? We were both baptized, confirmed and grew up in the Lutheran church.

What is your professional background and experience? Mark is a business owner who has three locations of a hearing aid franchises in the Twin Cities area. Previous to his entrepreneurship, Mark worked in the grocery industry for 34 years as the COO for a family-owned franchise company. Deb enriches women’s lives as an sales director with an international women’s cosmetics line.

How are you involved at St. Philip the Deacon? We love being involved and attending church weekly as a family. Both of our children—RJ and Berit—were baptized at St. Philip. RJ was confirmed at St. Philip in January 2011 and our daughter, Berit, will follow suit in January 2014. What a special time it is for these young adults! Our involvement has changed over the years from volunteering in the nursery, to teaching Sunday school, to leading Leadership Studies, to chaperoning Confirmation retreats, to serving communion and ushering at SPDLC. We love helping to stock the Christmas Store during the holidays, assisting local children in the fall with warm winter clothing and helping out with Families Moving Forward.

What is something that you love about St. Philip the Deacon? We immediately fell in love with hearing such powerful message’s from the pastors every week at service, the music being amazing, and were duly impressed with the leadership and children’s ministry at SPDLC. We felt like family from the beginning attending St. Philip the Deacon!

Have you ever been surprised by God? If so, how? For Deb, I have been amazed at how awesome of a God our God is as I have strengthened my understanding of the God’s word in the Bible over the years in various Bible studies. God surprises me every day by what He does and by what He demonstrates to me. He is truly incredible and I am so blessed to have Him be my Father. Mark and I continue to be amazed what an awesome God we have as our Father and what His purpose is in us to spread His word to others.

If you could meet God face-to-face, what would you want to ask? That’s a big question. And how cool that would be. Mark and I would ask God if all of the different faiths out there were his idea besides Christianity. We find it hard to understand how there can be so many different beliefs out there today. We would also like to ask how difficult it may have been for Him to watch us humans on earth be so divided in our beliefs.

At St. Philip the Deacon since: 2009

What is your faith background? Jill grew up in Chicago with a Lutheran background — a long history of German Lutherans for many generations. Tom grew up in East Moline, Illinois, going to a Presbyterian church. We met at Valparaiso University in Indiana.

What is your professional background and experience? Jill is a Registered Nurse for an area health network, working primarily in Emergency Nursing. She is also starting a Master’s degree in Nursing Education. Tom is the CIO of a locally based global coatings manufacturer.

How are you involved at St. Philip the Deacon? We moved here after five years in Tokyo, Japan. Some long-time members of St. Philip the Deacon who we became great friends with in Tokyo — Chris and Jolynn Gardner — recommended the church to us after we moved back to the States. Tom has been active in Friends of St. Philip. Jill has been active with Middle School Ministry, starting a parents of teens support book group. Together, we ran the 9th grade house group last year.

What is something you love about St. Philip the Deacon? We immediately fell in love with St. Philip after getting involved with the youth ministry. The kids actually liked going to Confirmation and that was incentive to keep going.

Have you ever been surprised by God? If so, how? Jill: After living abroad for so long, I saw God in so many other religions. I saw wonderful, faithful acts and realized that no matter your religious affiliation, God works through the goodness of people of all faiths. Tom: I am surprised by God in all parts of life. He is there to guide us through the most difficult/impossible times through his unconditional love and the awe-imspiring beauty of “mother nature.”

If you could meet God face-to-face, what would you want to ask or say? Jill: I would want to know if all faiths are part of God’s love and acceptance, not just Christianity. Tom: Thank you for teaching me to live life by accepting and dealing with problems and, in doing so, creating real joy.