Marriage of Pastor Tim and Pastor Jenn! 

It was a busy year in 2006 at Pughtown. The big event of the year was the wedding that joined our Pastor Tim Schwartz with his new wife, Pastor Jennifer Rugletic!  We are so excited to have Pastor Jenn here at Pughtown Baptist Church! Here is some information about Jenn and how she and Tim met.

Jennifer (Rugletic) Schwartz
Jenn has been the lay pastor at United Baptist Church of Scranton since her certification in November 2005. She received her Masters degree in physical therapy from the University of Scranton May 2006. Her interests include horses, music, singing, reading, and spending time outdoors. She enjoys getting together with friends and having a great time. God has blessed her immensely in the past year. She is excited about serving Christ in a powerful new ministry team with Tim!

How Jenn and Tim Met
For about a year and a half, Rev. Jeff Johnson told Tim about a young woman in Scranton who was on fire for Jesus, turning her church around. Jeff told Tim he needed to meet her. At the same time, Jeff was telling Jenn about a young, strong pastor down in Philadelphia whom she needed to meet. They first met during the summer of 2005 at the American Baptist Biennial Meeting in Denver, CO. Early in the week, Jeff introduced them quickly and they chatted a bit before they had to head in different directions. Later, in the exhibition hall's bookstore, Tim finished his rant about smiley Joel Osteen to a friend. Jenn came by and listened to Tim repeat his rant about smiley Joel (Tim was all fired up). They spent some time together and chatted a little bit more. On the last night of the biennial meeting, as things closed, Tim and Jenn exchanged contact info and planned to get together when they got home. After some emails and phone calls, Tim and Jenn went on their first date on July 18, 2005 to Panera Bread for dinner and Barnes and Noble afterwards.

The Proposal - January 26, 2006
On the coldest night in January, Jenn went over to Tim's house for dinner. As Jenn entered the house, Tim convinced her that one; she wasn't quite hungry yet, and two; that night would be a good time to take a walk out back to the creek. Amazingly, Jenn said yes to both ideas. Tim ran upstairs to find some flashlights. He put his jacket on and secretly hid his bookbag under his bulky jacket. They went walking through the woods behind Tim's house until they came to French Creek which runs through the woods. At the creek, they came to a huge rock that jutted out into the water. Tim and Jenn sat down on the rock and Tim pulled out a gift from his backpack for Jenn. The gift was a children's book called "You and Me" - a story about two ducks that realized as long as they were together they could face whatever life would send their way. So Tim read the story to Jenn. At the conclusion of it, on the inside cover, he had written a poem which he also read to her. The poem told about the time that they had spent together and the love that they shared. The last staza of the poem is as follows:

You are the one that God ordained
For me to share the rest of my life.
So tonight I want to ask you
Will you bless me by being my lawfully-wedded wife?

Tim offered the ring to Jenn and Jenn said yes! After a couple of hugs and kisses and some quiet prayers, Tim and Jenn realized that they were freezing and returned to the warmth of Tim's home.

The Wedding - July 29, 2006

Jenn and Tim were married at the United Baptist Church in Scranton, PA surrounded by many of the people who love them.  The service was a moving and spiritual event that spoke of not only Jenn and Tim's love for each other but also their love for Christ and the major part He will play in their new life together.