As I sit and write my newsletter after a year as a called pastor at First English Evangelical Lutheran Church I have to reflect on the road that got us to this place. I have to say us, because of my family. It was not an easy road to come along. There were several times I wondered if it was the right road for me to be on. I wondered what in the world I was doing to my family. Was this the actual path we were to be walking down, or had we missed the boat, or the carriage, or the bus? We traveled a lot of roads it seems, talking to a lot of different people about ministry possibilities, but none of them seemed right. It seemed the path we were on was heading in the wrong direction. Maybe Robert Frost would say we were on the path more traveled…
I also have to say us because of all of you, the worshiping community that is First English Evangelical Lutheran Church. You are involved and have been traveling a road or two over this time as well. Your former senior pastor announces he has ALS, and creates an opening at First English for a new leader and possibly (& hopefully) new ministry.
A year ago today as I type this, my family and I were on the road from Grand Rapids, OH to Victoria TX. To continue down the path that God had set before us. I wondered again if this was the right path for us, but we have been truly blessed to be a part of this community here at First English. God knew what was going on when Jerry Wirtley was matched with First English Evangelical Lutheran Church. My family and I truly are blessed to be here in Victoria with such great people. You have blessed us from the moment our conversations have begun.
Thank you to everyone who has stepped up to the plate and helped us here at FEELC to move forward in the ministry that God has placed before us. The past year has been a wonderful time for my family and I and we look forward to many years to come here in Victoria, doing ministry with all of you at FEELC.
So as I think of the paths and roads we have come down to get us to the place we are now at, I pause only for a moment, to say thank you, we have made it this far, yet we can not always look back, but also must look towards the future. What will our path hold for us now? I really do not know what the future holds, yet I know God brought us to First English, and God will help guide through the years and paths ahead of us, as we journey through ministry together here. So let’s decide together on the path we shall take and move forward with God, stepping out on faith, even more than we have, living in the hope of our time with God. Let us take that road less traveled by and then in the end hopefully we all will hear, “welcome home, my good and faithful servant!”
aSacredRebel 