Josh’s Ordination

Obviously this post is a little past due, since it happened in mid-August… but life is still crazy around here, and since I didn’t take any of these pictures, it kind of slipped my mind to post them!

Anyway, one of the first things that THBC did when Josh started serving was ask if he wanted to be officially ordained.  And, of course, he did.  So they set up his ordination service for August 13th.  Josh’s Mom, Dad, and Grandma came for the service, as did Brother Dave and Nancy from MHBC, which was really cool.  It was a quick and busy trip for his parents, but we had fun showing them a little of Etown, and they got to see our house all (finally) fixed up and put back together!  Which I still owe you pictures of, but, well, it has to be clean to take pictures, so it might be a bit…

But back to the ordination… church that morning was pretty normal, and then Josh had to head back to church for the ordination council, which is basically where any ordained man can come and ask him questions to judge whether he is suited for ordination and ministry.  Since Dave was there, he got to be a part of it, too.  They weren’t too rough on Josh, and they had no trouble seeing that he is definitely called to ministry.  After the ordination council, everyone was invited to his ordination service.  He got to pick out all of the songs, Pastor Nathan spoke, as did the head of missions for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, and then all of the men who had been a part of the ordination council laid their hands on him and prayed for him.  It was a very cool ceremony, very solemn, and very meaningful.  The church historian took pictures, so these are his pictures… he got some good ones!

All off the ordained men, during the laying on of hands.  They all kneeled down and prayed with Josh one at a time.  It was very cool.

Pastor Nathan praying with Josh.

And, of course, my favorite- Bro. Dave praying with Josh.  Dave has been such a huge part of Josh’s spiritual growth that I was thrilled he could come and be a part of the ordination service.  Watching him just wrap Josh in a bear hug and pray with him totally made me cry, though…

And after the ceremony, the party began!  We had an ice cream social to celebrate!  Lots of people, and lots of the youth, came, which was really neat.  We had a good time just hanging out and talking and laughing with everyone.  And it was a good chance for Josh’s family to get to meet some of our new church family.

Josh’s certificate, signed by all of the men who were a part of the ordination council, and the Bible they got for him, with Rev. Joshua Lloyd Looten on it.  Pretty cool!

Grandma Jo & Audrey, enjoying some ice cream

Laney, mooching cookies & ice cream off of Grandma & Grandpa Looten… who were more than happy to share! :)

Audrey and Paige, one of the youth, who has taken a real liking to our girls!

After the ordination service and ice cream, we headed back to Mom & Dad Looten’s hotel, which had a pool.  True to form, our girls were absolutely water babies, despite the fact that the water was pretty cold!  We got Laney a noodle, and she realized she could kind of lay on it and kick her feet and swim around, and she did about a million laps.  Audrey just wouldn’t keep her face out of the water- she’d duck it under, then pull it back up, gasping and grinning like a maniac, and then do it all over again.  She is so crazy when it comes to water.  When it looked like it was going to rain (and the grown ups were pretty much done swimming), we headed inside and ordered pizza from Snappy Tomato, which Josh and I had been wanting to try.  They have a GIANT pizza, which was really good. 

Josh’s Mom, Dad, & Grandma headed back to Missouri Monday morning, so it really was a quick trip for them.  We are excited for them to come back and stay for a more relaxed visit, but are thrilled that they could make it for Josh’s ordination service.  It’s pretty cool that Josh is officially The Reverend Joshua Lloyd Looten!  I’m so proud of him, and I know that God is going to do great things through him. I’m just along for the ride! :)