Pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church
Hi, I’m Pastor Steve. Welcome to Redeemer! After 25 years of pastoral ministry – in northern California and planting a church in central Minnesota – God called me to become the next shepherd of Redeemer in January 2014. In my first professional life I worked in sports medicine as a physical therapist and a certified athletic trainer. You could say I moved from physical to spiritual therapy! But in both professions, God gave me the ability and joy of serving Him by helping people. I am a blessed man.
My first blessing was to be born into a Christian family. All five Ferber kids were born in Fargo, North Dakota, at St. Luke’s hospital, over a span of 10 years. Although my parents divorced when I was six, the Lord provided for us in many ways. Our mother, Leola, a registered nurse, loved the Lord deeply. Her example and direct spiritual leadership of our home has had a lasting, powerful influence on all her children. This is an amazing blessing: a mother who loves the Lord. Mom died in 2022 at the age of 96.
In His mercy God chose to bless me again with my beautiful wife, Donna. Four months after “meeting” on a Christian website in 2002, we met in person around the fourth of July. Six months later we were engaged, then married in July 2003. I waited 48 years to find the right one, and God did not disappoint! I definitely “married up.” Thank You, Lord! In 2009 and 2010 more blessings arrived: Daughter Hannah (2009) from China, and Maggie (2010) from Ethiopia. Both are blossoming into strong, beautiful, young women of faith.
In 2015 we prayed that the Lord would perhaps see fit to send us one more child; we were surprised with a double blessing of identical twin girls from China in 2016. Ila and Rose fill our lives with such joy! When they arrived in America, they spoke only Mandarin Chinese. Two months later they had mastered English; the minds of children are amazing! Thank you, Lord, for the blessings of our family. We now have four teenaged daughters!
Marriage and parenthood have shown me how imperfect I am in my love for others. I often fall short of God’s goal to love my family. At the same time, I am able to feel God’s mercy multiple times a day as I repent, apologize, forgive others, and am forgiven by my fellow family of sinners. This is my greatest blessing in life: to know the forgiving love of God through His Son Jesus Christ.
I am beyond thankful that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners. Without His friendship with me, sealed with His precious blood shed on the cross and confirmed by the empty tomb, this sinner would have no earthly hope, no heavenly future. Thank You, dear Lord, for loving me.
As the pastor of Redeemer, my highest goal is to communicate God’s forgiving love through Jesus to sinners – you and me. My highest vision for our congregation is a united, repentant, joyful body of believers who know the Lord and make Him known to the world. The heart and center of Redeemer is and must always be Jesus as taught in God’s inerrant, powerful Word. I am a blessed man! We are a blessed congregation. I believe that you will be blessed at Redeemer, and you will have opportunity to be a blessing to others.
God’s love and blessings to you! Pastor Steve
