SPARTA, Mich.-- Peace Lutheran Church in Sparta has a new member. Her name is Agnes and she's a three week old lamb, born from Pastor Bryan Schneider-Thomas' ewe in his backyard.
"She was born too small and too weak to nurse and what happens is the mom kind of abandons them and moves on," Pastor Bryan explained.
Near death, she was nursed back to health by Schneider-Thomas and his family of three with sugar-water and formula. Now she's an active lamb who gets into everything inside Peace Lutheran Church each day.
"Since I pulled her away from her mom she bonded with me and the rest of the family," Schneider-Thomas adds.
Since she needs to eat every three hours, she spends her days inside the church with Pastor Bryan and the rest of his staff.
Agnes is bringing a lot of joy to his church each week, Schneider-Thomas said.
“She comes to youth group and everybody has fun with her. It’s so cool to see the youthfulness she brings out in people."
Schneider-Thomas' goal is to get Agnes big enough to eventually go in the field with her fellow sheep, but she's not ready yet.
"We tried putting her out there with her sister and she just plowed her over."
When she does, Schneider-Thomas knows she'll certainly remain close to him and his family.
"Maybe she’ll come and visit, because she’s bonded with humans, she’ll always be really friendly to humans."
