Challenged & Sustained by Faith – Stewardship Testimonies

As part of our Stewardship Campaign this year, we will hear different personal testimonials that reflect how we are Challenged and Sustained by Faith.

Challenged and Sustained by Faith
from Susan Robbins

Since joining the Point Pleasant Presbyterian Church in 2005, I have faced a few medical challenges. These include Cancer, two Open Heart Surgeries with complications after the surgeries, a broken arm, and a broken shoulder. I got by with a lot of help from my Circle, Dee D’Amore, and my friends – all of which I believe received a calling from God to help. Believe me, I needed help to get back on my feet after each event. God not only provided me with the help that was needed and my faith sustained me into keeping a positive attitude no matter what challenge I was facing. I am now in a good place – feeling really healthy and exceedingly grateful that I have finally reached this place where I can enjoy each and every day.

Challenged and Sustained by Faith
from Randall (Randy) Crate

Our daughter Rebecca has been involved with the Point Pleasant Presbyterian Church all her life: she was baptized at this church, she attended Sunday school, and was very active in the Youth Program and Bell Choir. From the beginning she has always felt welcomed into this church, at ease and very comfortable. Before we would have the official church greeting, Rebecca would always be asked how she was doing, what she was doing, and did she have anything coming up in the future. It is nice when you get introduced in church as Rebecca’s dad. At age fourteen, while she was a girl scout, she applied for a career badge – she thought about it and considered ministry. She spoke to Pastor Carl and on one Saturday afternoon, he took her to Princeton Theological Seminary and this helped her to always have this in her mind. Someone else I give credit for Rebecca’s interest in ministry would be Robin Lostetter and the talks they had covering so many subjects so many times. Both Carl and Robin opened her mind to ministry. Through this church, Rebecca joined Burning Bush at the Richmond Seminary, visited Montreat Retreat Center for classes, and went to the Presbyterian Youth Triennium at Purdue University. Rebecca truly received a lot from this church and we thank you.

(Rebecca earned her Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and her Master of Theology in Ministry from the University of Edinburgh’s New College and was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament at this church on May 22, 2016. Since then she has been serving as the Lead Pastor of Springfield Presbyterian Church in Sykesville, Maryland.)