LIDGERWOOD – Rev. Adam Filipek desires all individuals, not simply his congregation, to see the one related story of the Bible after which to see their lives in that story.

Connection has been a dissertation matter, pulpit educating and now a guide theme for the Minot-area native, who serves Holy Cross and Immanuel Lutheran church buildings in Lidgerwood. Filipek’s guide, “Life in Christ: Rooted, Woven and Grafted into God’s Story,” publishes June 6 via Concordia Publishing Home.

As he pastored varied church buildings, and even earlier than he grew to become a pastor, Filipek mentioned, he observed that educating the religion concerned numerous tales, however individuals weren’t making sense of them.

“Every part simply appeared disconnected and decompartmentalized,” he mentioned. In his guide, he makes use of the imagery of a 3,000-piece puzzle dumped on a desk to signify the best way many Christians obtain the teachings about Scripture and the Christian life. They really feel adrift in determining how the items come collectively to create a stupendous image, he mentioned.

“That’s what my doctorate targeted on. How do you train the religion? How do you join these items collectively? So the guide arose truly out of 13 years of ministry and considering every part is simply form of disconnected for the individuals. So how can we put this image collectively in a method that you just see your life is not only what you do in church as a Christian, not only one Sunday for one hour, however it is a complete life,” Filipek mentioned. “This can be a complete story – God’s story. And right here’s my little puzzle piece. Right here’s the place I match into that bigger image.”

His efforts to place that complete story collectively for his parish led to the creation of eight stained glass home windows in Immanuel Lutheran Church that present connections between the Previous and New Testaments. He posted on Fb a photograph of one of many home windows and a little bit of his doctoral dissertation, and an assistant editor on the church’s Concordia Publishing Home noticed it.

The publishing home requested Filipek to put in writing a guide proposal as a result of the subject of connecting Scripture in an comprehensible method has been a problem in lots of church buildings. As soon as his proposal was accepted, Filipek went to work on writing. He would learn via the Scriptures once more with the guide’s focus as his lens and discover new meanings he hadn’t seen earlier than.

“So that you’re studying as you go, too,” he mentioned.

Over the course of a yr, he invested 558 hours into the guide.

“However I believe it’s labored out rather well. I had numerous enjoyable,” he mentioned.

Promotional info will likely be popping out quickly and preorders can be found on Amazon. When it comes out June 6, Filipek will likely be in St. Louis, Missouri, visiting his spouse’s household, however he is aware of his parish will likely be awaiting the guide’s debut.

“The congregation is actually simply very supportive, and the primary dedication web page is to them as a result of with out their help, I wouldn’t have gone down this street,” he mentioned.

Filipek additionally has served as an adjunct faculty professor for the previous 4 years at Concordia in St. Paul. He teaches in the course of the summers for Concordia Seminary in St. Louis as a preaching professor.

Filipek attended Burlington Elementary and Des Lacs Excessive Faculty, graduating in 2001 and happening to graduate from Minot State College with levels in administration info methods with a minor in philosophy. He then moved to St. Louis to enter the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod seminary.

Filipek credit the encouragement of his pastor at St. Paul Lutheran in Minot for his choice to attend seminary.

His 4 years there included an internship in Chester, Illinois. Finishing his research in 2009, he accepted a name to Hicksville, New York, on Lengthy Island. Three and a half years later, he took a second name to Florissant, Missouri, within the St. Louis space. He was there in 2014 when a younger man, Michael Brown, was killed by a police officer in close by Ferguson, producing racial rigidity and unrest in the neighborhood. Filipek mentioned his church had been very concerned in the neighborhood, and its connection to metropolis leaders, police and residents led to beginning a avenue ministry to carry peace throughout that point of protests.

In October 2016, Filipek left Missouri to return to North Dakota.

“I like North Dakota. I all the time have. My household continues to be right here,” he mentioned. He wasn’t considering of returning, although, till urged to contemplate it by the North Dakota District president at a nationwide synod conference. Filipek later accepted a name from the Lidgerwood parish and made the transfer together with his spouse and 4 youngsters, now ages 9 to fifteen.

His guide is his newest ministry, and his want for it’s two-fold. First, the guide dietary supplements his educating, and he hopes his congregation will acquire extra understanding from it.

“The second factor is that Lutheran, nonLutheran, Christian, nonChristian – it doesn’t actually matter – however that anybody can decide up this guide and that it makes an affect on their life. It offers them a better understanding of the Christian religion, of a Sunday service, of the every day life that you just stay in Christ, how God is at work in your every day life. It offers you possibly a few of these solutions that you just’ve been searching for,” he mentioned. “If it helps individuals in rising within the religion and in strengthening religion, that’s what I really need out of this guide.”

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