On April 29, 2012 Brittany Pfoltner, Emma Johnston, Megan Sattler, Madeline Diedrichsen, Isabella Starkey Meier, Andrew Johnston, and Jonathan Killingsworth presented to Session as part of their formal examination their statement of faith project. This project could be in prose, poetry, art, and media as long as it answered the questions: 1) “Who is God?”; “Who is Jesus?”; “Who is the Holy Spirit?”; “What is the Church?”, ”What is the Church called to do?”; and “What am I called to do?”. Quite frankly by the responses of our confirmands, we were blown away by their depth of insight and creativity. Thus, it is fitting that we seek to share their work with our congregation and others that they too might celebrate in their confirmation experience.
For 10 weeks, beginning with Ash Wednesday service on February 22, 2012 our confirmands met with Dustin and myself on Wednesday nights from 6:45 PM to 8:00 PM to check-in and go over the lesson from We Believe published by our denomination. For those who could not make the Wednesday meetings, Debbie Defrain met them on Sunday morning from 8 AM to 9:30 AM. Also part of the confirmation experience was attending different faith communities in the act of worship. Our confirmands visited the following faith communities: First Baptist Church, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, St. Marks on the Campus Episcopal Church, St. Marks Methodist Church, and South Street Temple Jewish Congregation. Their final worship experience was to attend the Interfaith Yuval Ron Worship at First Presbyterian on April 22. As you can see, our confirmands experienced worship in large and small settings, in contemporary and traditional settings, from high and low liturgical traditions, and from other faith traditions. All of this to emphasize the point that there are many ways to worship and to discover how one in particular gets connected to the Holy. What communal practices enhance worship and what communal practices do not if they themselves were to design a worship experience.
So here are the Statement of Faith Projects by our confirmands.
Brittany Pfoltner’s Statement of Faith video:
Megan Sattler’s Statement of Faith:
I believe in God as the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth and my 
best friend. I can talk to him anytime, anywhere and about anything. He will always be here for me and will not judge me and like me for who I am. Jesus is nothing less or more then God but another form. He is the son of God who came down to earth spreading the good news about God and then dying for my sins. He continues to talk to me through Pastor Brent, Dustin and my Sunday school teachers. Now he sits at the right hand of god and watches over me. The Holy Spirit is yet another form of God. It is like the breath of God. It is there for every beginning and part of the making of every beginning. The Holy Spirit is what follows me everywhere I go in my heart and mind and helps me make my everyday and life changing decisions whether they are good or not. I think the Holy Spirit is like the little voice in the back of my mind telling me what the right thing is to do.
I believe the Church is the people who come together as one big family to sing and praise the lord all together in a similar way. The church is called to praise the works of God, serve other people, and spread the good news. When someone is in need of a friend or some food they would be right there 
caring for that person and giving them a meal to eat. I am called to help anyone in need, be a good friend to anyone and tell people about God. I should not walk away from a hurting person but instead walk up to them and ask if they are ok and help them. I would tell people if they are feeling lonely or unloved that God will always love and be there for you just like he is for me. That could be through prayer or going to church. Lastly, I think God called me to do the Yuval Ron performance and to change the lives of the people that came there. It showed me that it does not matter what religion we practice but that it is important that we worship God in whatever way that is comfortable for us.
Jonathan Killingsworth’s Statement of Faith
God is my savior
Jesus is the man who died for me
Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity
Church is the house of God
To help spread the word of God
To live the word of God
Madeline Diedrichsen’s Statement of Faith:
God
God is our father
Who keeps us close to his heart
Even if we think he isn’t there
He watches us wherever we are
And helps keep us from walking astray
Honor and respect him because
He’s the one who helps us
Be ourselves
Jesus
God’s son is the one
Who gives us life after death
Because he died on the cross
To save our sins
He performed many miracles
And is called messiah,
Our teacher
Who teaches us to walk in the way of the lord.
Holy Spirit
The third person of the holy trinity
Who acts as our self- conscience,
Telling us what is right
And wrong.
He’s God and Jesus’s messenger
Who everyday watches us
Because we are his sheep
And he our shepherd
Church
The church stands as a foundation
Teaching us God’s word and
Helping us reach out to others
Who, in a time of need
Come to us
To help ease their pain
We are God’s people
And we stand together
As one
Me
Feeling the wondrous music flow,
Seeing the radiance of kids smiling faces,
Hearing their musical laughter,
And being able to help out with mission work
Is what wakes me up
In the morning,
But if it weren’t for God
The days ahead would
Be filled with darkness
So I will keep God with me
And will love him forever
Favorite bible verses
The lord is my shepherd I shall not want
He makes me lie down in green pastures
He leads me beside still waters
He restores my soul
He leads me in the right paths for his names sake
Psalm 23:1-3
Emma Johnston’s Statement of Faith Project:
God is
God is the person who stays through the night,
Protecting us,
Helping us,
Making it all right
Protector, savior many a name,
God is the person who loves us all the same
Catholic, Muslim, Protestant, Jew
Everyone’s different, we have many a hue
But yet in each of our darkest hours,
He loves us and cares for us,
He is the one true power.
God is that special someone who lends you a hand
God is the person who takes a stand,
For what’s right, for whats true,
God lives in all of us,
Me and you
Jesus
Jesus is God’s only son,
People didn’t believe him
When he said he was the one,
Yet he loved us still,
Even when we flicked him away like a fly on a ‘sill
He loved us now,
He loved us then,
He loved us like a mother hen,
He died for us on the cross,
He also made the gate across
From us to heaven
From us to him,
He really saved us from our sins
What God calls me to be
There are so many things that a person can be,
a teacher,
a lawyer,
a banker,
a thief,
But what I’m called to do, now that’s a bit harder,
He doesn’t really expect us to be a martyr
God calls us to help and love,
To care, to help, all of the above,
I’m called to serve the lord willingly and happily,
To put myself in a good mentality
God wants me to spread the word about Him
And praise the Lord just like the hymns
Isabella Starkey Meier’s Statement of Faith Project:
This artwork represents how I feel about my faith. The cross represents Jesus. God is represented by the color red and I have a little bit of red in everything God is everywhere. Church is a small but important part. The Holy Spirit is everywhere and inside us.
Andrew Johnston’s Statement of Faith project:
I chose the sunset to represent the sun setting on sin, and the blue represents the good shining through the clouds of evil.
You can see the holy trinity of God the creator, Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit, the breath of God.
You can see the Holy Spirit in the dove in the clouds.
You can see the tomb that Jesus rose from.
The Holy Trinity triangle is the roof of the Church, and the foundation of our beliefs.
You can see the light of God shining down on Jesus.
