Born and raised in the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, my faith journey has been a series of forward and backward steps. At times, it was more forward progress and at others all momentum was lost and the backward strides won out. However, the Lord is always faithful. He endured—even overlooked—my wanderings and always found a way to reveal Himself again and I would fall into His arms. The touchstones of faith are many and it was always the Lord’s doing to lift me up out of the miry clay and set my feet upon the Rock.

Having been baptized at eleven days old, attending Sunday School, Confirmation classes, Lutheran High School, studying for ministry, and serving in churches in several states all played a part in my development. The right people placed in my path at the right time—orchestrated by the Spirit—encouraged me along the way. Coming to Grace was one of those moments. Realizing that attending church over thirty miles away was hindering our ability to be involved, Nancy Jo and I began talking about finding a church near our home. We wanted a place we could invite families from her school to attend and to connect our neighbors with. We barely started to pray about it and twice in the same week someone mentioned Grace Old Brooklyn. We had planned to attend several churches multiple times but after two weeks at Grace we never left. That was nearly seven years ago.

You might describe me as “the Reluctant Elder” of our team. Being a part of the Worship Ministry was plenty for me to focus on and I didn’t want to get involved in “church meetings” or “church problems” since I did that as a job for 29 years. However, Pastor Tom has a gentle way of encouraging, and when I was finally willing to pray about it, the Spirit made it clear in my heart that I was to serve in this capacity for a time. My passion is to see people come into a genuine loving relationship with a Father who loves them more than they will ever know on this side of Heaven.  I am still learning to do that and our Pastors and Elder team are God’s current “right people at the right time” for the Spirit to grow my relationship with our Father through Jesus; my Lord and Savior…Who calls me His friend.