Farewell Letter to Salem

Salem Pastors and church family,

We would like to first off express our thanks to Salem and to you for everything you do. We have really enjoyed our time at Salem, but now we feel that it is our time to move on. This coming Sunday will be our last. We have felt for a long time that Salem was a temporary home for us, and recently as we have seen the church heading in a different direction than we are being led, the Lord has made it clear to us that it is time to go.

Salem has been such a wonderful home to us these past few years. First to me as I was alone in college, I always felt at home on the weekends at Salem and I praise the Lord for the gracious folk at Salem (specifically Glenn & Sheri Harris) who took me in and gave me the home base I needed during that time. Then when Hannah started coming, she was welcomed with open arms just like me.

I have great respect for Salem and the wonderful ministries in place there, but most specifically I love the evangelistic fervor at Salem. From the bus ministry to the large number of missionaries to the consistently presented Gospel in the services Salem’s heart for the lost is seen. We are honored and thankful that we got to be a small part in that.

But now we are going to be looking for another church in the area. God has not given us a specific location yet, but we are confident He will lead us there soon. We will be looking for a smaller congregation and a church with meaty, expository preaching. We have seen Salem over the last few years move toward a Rick Warren style “Purpose Driven Church” model that is very different from what Hannah and I are looking for. We are also excited to find a church where we will be asked, “How have you been doing?” rather than “How have your parents been doing?”

We have put lots of time into praying over this and it is clear that this is God’s will for us. We want to thank you for everything you do and we pray that God will continue to bless the church and its ministries.

Thank you and the church body for everything,

Ryan & Hannah Burgett

Praise, Praise, Praise God!!!!

I have felt the Spirit working mightily these last few days... and now I have seen that work manifest itself! My friend Ed from work just accepted Jesus as Savior!!!! I have felt God working in him for quite some time, but it all came together over this weekend and today he accepted Christ's atonement for his sins and he wants a relationship with Jesus!!!!!!!!!!! I told him to pray and tell Jesus what he was doing, so he basically said, "God, I believe in You, that You exist. I believe that You came and died on the cross for our sins. I want a relationship with you, I can not do this life on my own."

Praise to God!!!! Thank You Spirit for the incredible things You have been doing!!!!!!!!!!!!!