We welcome our new full-time pastor, Rev. Ernest L. Gardner, III, to First Presbyterian Church! Below you can read his Statement of Faith and learn about his Personal Testimony.
Statement of Faith
The Reverend Ernest Leatherbury Gardner, III
In Exodus 15:11 Moses asked, “Who is like thee, O Lord, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds?” I believe God created all things and continues to create through God’s handiwork. I believe that Goad exists in a community, the Trinity; the Holy Trinity is God.
I affirm the Trinitarian formula from Matthew 28, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
How would we believe in such an awesome God unless God chose for us to encounter God? God constantly reaches out to humanity. Whether via a burning bush, a cloud by day or a pillar of fire by night, the person of Jesus Christ, or the moving of the Holy Spirit, it is God who reaches out to humanity. God calls us into a faith community of every time and place, and God will call us home to God’s presence when our physical bodies can no longer sustain life.
God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, into the world wrapped in human flesh, offering humanity abundant and eternal life. Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord. Because of Christ’s sufficient sacrifice, humanity received the possibility of atonement with God based on faith. Jesus Christ promised he would be with us always, and that one day he will return.
The Holy Spirit is God as well. The Spirit intercedes for us and guides our faith journey. The Spirit brings us into the presence of Jesus Christ in the Lord’s Supper. The Spirit transforms our lives and molds us more into the image of Jesus Christ. The Spirit calls us to respond to the Word of God with voices, vocation, and vibrancy. When we read and meditate upon Scripture, the Spirit enables us so that we may encounter the presence of Jesus Christ.
I believe that Scripture: is the inspired Word of God, sharing the covenant history of God’s love and plan for humanity; that the Bible is essential in teaching the Body of Christ how to live faithfully; that Scripture has authority over our creeds and confessions. Through the work of the Spirit, Scripture helps us relate Jesus Christ to people in our time.
In the Sacrament of Baptism, the baptized receive initiation into the Body of Christ. In spite of many years in the Baptist Church, as a pastor I appreciate the Reformed understanding of infant baptism, because it affirms that God initiates the covenant of faith with the elect. Baptism seals us with the Holy Spirit and engrafts the baptized into the community of faith. Baptism also prepares the baptized for the day when they will profess Jesus as their Savior and for service where God calls and sends them.
In the Lord’s Supper the church participates in the suffering and death of Christ as he spiritually nurtures us with his body and blood. In this sacrament we come together not only as Presbyterians, but also alongside the One Body of Christ of every time and place. As we encounter Christ in this sacrament, we are sent out into the world bearing witness to his resurrection and saving grace. Let us sing with Miriam, “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.”
Soli Deo Gloria!
The Reverend Ernest Leatherbury Gardner, III
Personal Testimony