FAMILY EVENING VBS IS COMING JUNE 18-22!
WELCOME!
There is a place for you at the Faith Lutheran Center in Rio Rancho! We are a growing congregation with a lot to offer. We invite you to worship with us this coming Sunday and encourage you to get involved in our wide variety of missions, classes, programs and special events that we share with our Main Campus in Albuquerque. Come be a part of our Serving, Equipping, and Transforming together in Christ Jesus!
Bring Your Bible and Join Us for Worship!
SUNDAY MORNING SCHEDULE:
Sunday School for ALL ~ 9:15-10:15 AM
K-5 Kid's Word TIme ~ 10:45-11:30 AM
Nursery ~ 9:00-11:30 AM
Take This Cup Café ~ 9:00 AM-Noon on Sundays
Be sure to click on "Activities and Events" (above) for up-to-date information on next Sunday's Worship focus and upcoming Ministry & Fellowship Events!
WEB LINKS TO OUR AFFILIATES:
Faith Lutheran Center is located at Southern Plaza in Rio Rancho, NM, on the northeast corner of Unser and Southern. Our address is 2003 Southern Blvd SE, Suite 116.
Come worship with us at 10:30 am on Sundays!
Pastor David addresses the real issue of ministries built around a church leader, instead of the Word of God: Follow The Leader
1 John 5:9-13 ~ 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 ~ Acts 18:1-17
Bring Your Bible and Join Us for Worship!
WEEKLY EVENTS:
(Except holiday weekends)
Family Evening VBS!!
June 18 - 22, 2012 5:30 - 8:00 PM
Discover the best destination of summer -SunRise National Park!
Come to a land of invigorating power and beauty where there is
nothing between you and God’s big sky!
Children and their families will enjoy the thrills of daily treks, facing
extreme challenges and learning to depend on Jesus and his promises.
We will begin with a light meal at 5:30pm followed by an
evening of music, games, and crafts.
Please come and join us for a week
of great activities and family worship!!
WHAT WE BELIEVE AND TEACH
THE BIBLE: We believe and teach that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of the church’s proclamation, faith and life. The truth we learn in the Bible is both reliable and dependable for believing and living as followers of Jesus Christ.
GOD: We believe and teach that there is one God who is the Creator of us and all that exists. God has revealed himself to us as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God expresses his power through what he has created. God makes himself known to us through the person of Jesus, the Lord and Savior of us all. God continues to make himself known to us through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
JESUS CHRIST: We believe and teach that Jesus is the Christ. He is Savior and Lord. This is expressed in the words of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended to the dead/hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”
THE HOLY SPIRIT: We believe and teach that the Holy Spirit is the presence and power of God at work in the world, especially in human lives. The Spirit is at work in convicting sinners of their need for God’s grace, and in empowering people for effective Christian living. The Spirit produces “fruit” in the lives of believers as expressed in the fifth chapter of Galatians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
SIN: Sin describes our condition and our actions…what we are and what we do. All of life is affected by sin. Sin separates us from the Lord causing discord and brokenness with God and with others. Sin is expressed not only in broken relationships, but in personal greed, unloving thoughts, disobedient actions and hurtful deeds as well.
SALVATION: Salvation describes God’s activity in restoring us to a right relationship with himself. God forgives us and gives us the promise of eternal life. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God provides salvation which makes it possible for us to be saved from the consequences and power of sin. Out of his gracious love this salvation is offered through the Word and Sacraments and received by faith. Faith is believing and trusting Christ as Savior and Lord. We believe and teach that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus. We believe and teach that God desires for all people to be saved, rejecting the idea that some people are predestined to be saved and others are predestined to be lost.
CHRISTIAN LIVING: Christians are called by God to live in a way that is pleasing to him. The Christian life is one of dependence on the Holy Spirit, who equips people with wisdom, discernment and power to do the will of God. The fruit of the Spirit as expressed in Galatians is evidence of a God-pleasing life. The Christian life is also expressed in responsible management of resources such as time, money, and abilities; in sacrificial giving to make the Gospel known to all people; and in helping to prevent and alleviate suffering.
THE CHURCH: We believe and teach that the Church is the people of God, the Body of Christ, created and sustained by God himself. All Christians are part of the church universal (catholic). The Biblical expression of being a member of the Church is faithful participation in worship, regular fellowship and generous support of the mission of one’s congregation.
SACRAMENTS: We believe and teach that Holy Baptism and Holy Communion are the two Sacraments given by Jesus Christ to his Church. We teach that Baptism is the sign and means of incorporation into the Christian life and the Church. Through Baptism God makes us his own as we are joined with Christ and with his people. Both children and adults are candidates for Baptism, which means we baptize both believers and the children of believers. We do not “re-baptize” people, but accept the validity of all Christian Baptisms. We teach that it is imperative for children who are baptized to come to a personal faith in Christ in order for the promises of Baptism to be effective. Even though we teach the importance and necessity of Baptism for Christian discipleship, we do not teach that unbaptized children are lost from God.
HOLY COMMUNION: Also called the “Lord’s Supper” and the “Eucharist” in many congregations. We teach that Holy Communion is the meal of grace that God uses to reassure, renew, and strengthen us in our relationship with him. It is also a sign and means of our unity and fellowship with other believers. We teach that in and with the bread and wine of this Sacrament we receive the Body and Blood of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. God fills us with the life and presence of Christ through this precious meal. We are to receive this Sacrament with a believing heart, trusting that God loves and forgives us more than we can imagine and more than we deserve. All adult Christians are invited to participate in Holy Communion along with children who are prepared through our “Welcome to The Lord’s Table” classes.
OUR LUTHERAN IDENTITY: We identify with the Church movement which began in the sixteenth century in Europe, sometimes called the Lutheran Reformation. We teach the Lutheran themes of grace alone, faith alone, word alone and Christ alone. We are a member of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) and are involved cooperatively in the mission of the Church around the world.
THE THINGS TO COME: We affirm the words of the Apostles’ Creed that Christ “will come again to judge both the living and the dead,” and we believe in “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” We avoid what we view to be speculative teachings concerning the “end times.” As Christians, we believe that every day is an opportunity to live in a vital, loving, and growing relationship with God. We do not fear the future. “Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39)
HUMAN SEXUALITY: The Christian Church is called to be in the world, but not of it. Our lives are to reflect the will and purposes of the God who created and loves us. The Word of God, not the ways of the world, is the ultimate standard by which we are called to live. This includes our sexuality, marriage and the ordination of pastors.
Many denominations and congregations have already or will soon be deciding on what they believe and teach regarding human sexuality. Here at Faith, we believe the teaching of the Scriptures and the nearly 2,000 year old traditions of the Church are clear on such matters. As a result of our faith and conviction, we affirm the following statement as adopted by the Church Council of Faith:
We believe, teach and confess that:
1. Sexuality is a good gift God graciously bestows on humanity for the sake of love, devotion, and procreation.
2. By creating us male and female, God has built gender complementarity into the very fabric of human existence.
3. Marriage, the lifelong union of fidelity between one man and one woman, is the only relationship God has ordained for the full expression of human sexuality.
4. Marriage is neither a private arrangement nor merely a human construct or custom. It is, rather, a divine institution by which God has founded human community in a joy that begins now and is brought to perfection in the life to come.
5. Neither the Scriptures nor the Lutheran Confessions grant any authorization to the church to recognize as divinely approved any relationship other than the marriage of one man and one woman for the full expression of human sexuality.
Faith Associate Pastor, David Breidenbach, serves as Lead Pastor at Faith Lutheran Center in Rio Rancho. He is also Director of East European Missions at Faith. A second career pastor; David began his pastoral internship in 2004 at Faith and was commissioned as a contract-call pastor under LCMC guidelines on Easter 2006. After completing his seminary education, David was ordained in November 2007.
Since 2006, Pr. Breidenbach has been leading volunteer summer missions teams to Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine in partnership with East European Missions Network (www.eemn.org), and recently completed a 3-year term serving on the EEMN Board of Directors. He also led a team from Albuquerque on a three-week archeological expedition to Jordan as part of the Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project, with Trinity Southwest University (http://tallelhammam.com/). While on Sabbatical, June-July 2012, Pr. David will serve in Belarus as a student of church planting; team language camp leader in Russia; and as an English teacher and worship leader in Ukraine.
Pr. David attended the University of Albuquerque and UNM. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in biblical and theological studies and his Master of Divinity degree in biblical and theological studies from Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque, NM.
David’s interests include music, reading, photography, hiking in the mountains, fishing, four-wheeling, hot air ballooning, and Near East biblical archaeology.

David and his wife, Angela, married in 1991, though they first met as students, while attending Eldorado High School at Albuquerque, in 1981. Their youngest daughter attends high school and their eldest is a university student.
Pr. David is quick to share: “Unlike most people who receive ‘the call’ to ministry, my personal journey to faith did not begin with a childhood spent in a Christian community. Instead, my faith developed many years later. I would not even walk into a church; for fear that the ceiling might cave-in! Then one day my wife, Angela, and I received an invitation to sing with a church choir for a Good Friday service. It was while attending that service in 1992 that I began to realize a powerful presence in my life; one that I had not recognized before. We attended the Easter celebration the following Sunday and I discovered a new strength in fellowshipping with the Body of Christ – the people of God. After learning to let God into the “driver’s seat” of my life I now find myself serving this incredible congregation. The power of the Holy Spirit will do amazing things in your life when you open your heart and mind to the things of God!”
Pr. Breidenbach looks forward to meeting you; and he welcomes you to become a part of our life and mission at Faith in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho!
ABOUT THE ALTAR
THE WOODEN CROSS, featuring Martin Luther’s rose seal, was created and hand-carved by Nick Garcia. The cross reminds us that Christ is central to our faith and theology as an orthodox, evangelical Christian congregation, while the rose seal represents our expression of Christianity through our rich Lutheran heritage.
THE COVENANT OF THE CUP altar painting, by Vicki Garcia, was inspired by the work of German artist, Tobias Kammerer, as found in two Lutheran sanctuaries at Odesa, Ukraine. The Faith Lutheran Center altar features Vicki Garcia’s talent and artistry as a painter of traditional retablos and reflects our unique New Mexico heritage. The powerful symbolism and strong colors used serve to remind us of the redeeming grace and love of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
THE YELLOW SHAFT OF LIGHT, streaming down from above, represents God’s providence and the descending of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus at his baptism in the River Jordan, anointing him as the Savior, and at his Resurrection. The Yellow Color throughout the building reminds us of our own anointing by the Holy Spirit, at our baptism, in which we are each uniquely gifted as members of the Body of Christ – the People of God.
THE GOLD RING represents the Cup of the New Covenant, which holds both, Christ’s blood that was spilled out as the final offering for the forgiveness of sin; and the wine, which we receive every time we celebrate Holy Communion. The Color Red can be seen throughout the building as a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
THE BLUE WATER flowing from the cross represents the water that spilled from Christ after he was pierced, while hanging on the cross, and that he is “the spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13,14). The Color Blue in the Sanctuary chairs also represents the waters of Holy Baptism, through which we are adopted as children of the same Heavenly Father.
THE COLOR GREEN can be found throughout the building and is also the finish chosen for the altar furniture to represent our new life found in Jesus Christ and the sure and certain hope we may each know in the hearing, reading, and preaching of the Living Word of God!