Newsletter (pdf)
Pastor Steven FerberHi, I'm Pastor Steve.
Welcome to Living Branch!
I was born in 1955, one of 5 kids in a house filled with Christian love but also many challenges. My parents divorced when I was 6. My brothers and sisters and I were raised by our mother, a woman who had (and still has) great faith in Christ and worked hard as a registered nurse to provide for us. In high school I enjoyed running track and cross country and playing trumpet in the band. In college I continued running and playing the trumpet. I graduated with a degree in physical therapy and worked for seven years as a physical therapist and athletic trainer, working at two universities and in private clinics.
In 1982 I attended brother Ken's church in a Chicago suburb for a year. That was a life-changing time. I was struck by the warmth, Christian love, and commitment to Christ in the congregation. God's Word was preached and taught in a powerful way. My faith matured and my vision of life changed. I began to ask, more and more, what the Lord's will was for my life. Three years later, convinced that God was calling me to be a pastor, I enrolled in Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. What a change! And what a blessing. I graduated in 1989 and served a congregation in northern California for 8 years before coming to North Branch as a new church planter. I began knocking on doors on Labor Day weekend in 1997, looking for folks with no church home. God has blessed our congregation, and me, in so many ways.
I met my wife on a Christian web site in February 2002. God works in mysterious ways! After corresponding via the net and the phone for a few months, we met face-to-face in July 2002, got engaged on New Year's Eve 2002, and married in July 2003. Donna is a wonderful woman of faith and an awesome life partner. She was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and vowed never to move any further north! But when love touches the heart, it moves us in strange ways. Love moved Donna all the way to the frozen tundra of Minnesota! She teaches A.P. American and history at Cambridge-Isanti high school.
In December 2009, Donna and I traveled to China and returned home with a very precious gift: a 13-month-old baby girl, whom we named Hannah Joy YiXian Ferber. In November 2010, we traveled to Ethiopia to adopt 20-month-old Maggie Grace Deme Ferber. The adoption process was long (5-1/2 years) and difficult. We are blessed and challenged every day as we raise our family.
What will you find if you walk through the doors of Living Branch? LBLC is a small but growing congregation that feels like a large family. We are close-knit without being cliquish. We are "conservative" in the sense of following God's Word as inerrant and inspired. We're also progressive, offering two worship styles (an early traditional and late contemporary), an awesome Wednesday night family ministry, and hosting the annual North Branch Kids' Carnival, a fabulous outreach event that attracts some 1,500 people. These are just a few of the strengths of our congregation.
If you have no church home, please come and visit Living Branch! We are a Christ-centered, Scripture-based congregation committed to serving the Lord with joyful hearts.
God's peace to you,
Pastor Steve