Vicar Brandon’s Page
“Things I Need to Be Reminded of “
July 2021
Quite simply, we have been truly blessed this year at Zion. By “we”, I mean our congregation as a whole as we have seen tremendous growth in our school, Vacation Bible School, and summer camp programs. We’ve added members into our family through our Zion Connect program. We’re reaching out in new ways to our community and in missions around the world. Fellowship opportunities are opening back up, and chances to serve abound. Pastor Kale, Kristen, and the rest of the church leadership are providing a great vision for what’s next at Zion. There’s truly a lot to celebrate about the work that God is doing in and through Zion.
We have been truly blessed this year at Zion. By “we”, I also mean my family in particular. It has been a great year to be on vicarage with you, in spite of all of the limitations due to the pandemic. We are grateful for all of your prayers and support of our family as we’ve grieved our daughter’s loss last January, and as we anticipate our newest blessing’s birth in a few weeks. Benjamin had a fantastic year at Zion’s amazing preschool. We couldn’t have asked for a better place to live than the Cedar St. house. The awesome staff at Zion is a blessing to work with, and we have felt very welcome here. Truly a lot to be thankful for!
The words of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 are very appropriate as some closing words: “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Thank you, Zion. We will keep you in our prayers and thank God for your continued work of faith and labor of love in Jesus name as you serve our community for the sake of the Gospel. Keep running the race!
June 2021
On our last day of preschool for the school year, our preschoolers presented a program entitled “Everything Grows.” They sang a few very catchy songs, said John 3:16 from memory (awesome!!!), and celebrated a fantastic year. These children of God will continue to grow. They will grow in their knowledge. They will grow physically. They will grow in their gifts and abilities and in their independence to be able to use those abilities. And all of that growth is possible because of the roots that are being planted now- like how the ability to read is built on the foundation of learning your letters and their sounds in preschool.
Their theme of “everything grows” reminded me of 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” That verse was a school theme verse when I was an elementary student at a Lutheran school growing up, and I still have it memorized because of that. I’m glad that I’ve had this verse with me for all of those years because it reminds me of one of the fundamental truths of the Gospel: we grow deeper into the grace of God, never past it. We will never outgrow our need for the Good News of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. It’s not like that’s the basics and then we move past that onto something else, something more important. No, we grow deeper roots into what God has done for us.
John Newton, the famed hymn writer of “Amazing Grace” reflected on this towards the end of his life. He said, “I’ve come to know two things in my life: the first is that I am a great sinner. The second is that Christ is an even greater Savior.” That’s what it looks like to grow in grace- to know more deeply that Christ is an even greater Savior than you thought the day before. As we head into summer and continue to grow in various ways, my prayer is that we will all grow in the way that truly matters most: deeper into the love and forgiveness of our Lord and Savior, as He reaches out to us through His Word, His Sacraments, and His Church.
May 2021
May is a month of celebrating and remembering. We have Cinco De Mayo, Mother’s Day, and “May the Fourth Be With You” (for the Star Wars fans) in the first half of the month. Plus graduations, Memorial Day, and the end of another school year in the back half. In the midst of all of this, there’s another day of celebrating and remembering that probably gets overlooked: Pentecost. We celebrate Pentecost on May 23rd this year and it’s one of the few days of the year that we remember and celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit.
We don’t talk as much about the Holy Spirit as the other persons of the Trinity, so it’s worth us being reminded about. Here’s the Explanation to the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed in the Small Catechism: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.” This is one of the many sections of the Catechism that is absolutely worth memorizing, because I’ve found it so helpful as I think through issues of faith and life. For example, we’ve been talking about mission and evangelism a lot in recent Sundays, and the explanation of the Third Article reminds us that it’s not us doing the heavy lifting in evangelism. It’s not up to us to “save” others. That’s the job of the Holy Spirit and He does that through the Gospel. That’s why we share the Good News that because of Jesus’ death and resurrection for you and for me, we have forgiveness, life, and salvation. I’m not in charge of the results of when I share the Gospel, that’s what the Holy Spirit does and He’s been changing hearts and lives, well…since creation.
As we celebrate Pentecost this year (and every other day), I hope that we will celebrate how the Holy Spirit has changed our hearts and lives through the Gospel. I also hope that in celebrating the work of the Spirit in our lives, that we would be led by that same Spirit to share the Gospel with our friends, family, and neighbors. That we would be led regularly back to God’s Word and to His Church to receive His gifts, to be “kept with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.” And that we would take time to celebrate God’s miraculous saving work in our lives and in those around us!
April 2021
“The days are coming.” These are the opening words of Jeremiah 31:31-34, which served as one of our readings leading up to Holy Week. And these are words that I’ve heard a lot in the past year. “The days are coming….”
“When we can all meet together in person again”
“When we won’t need to wear masks”
“When we can travel and see loved ones”
“When we can fill the sanctuary once again for worship”
“When we’ll get back to normal”
“The days are coming.” These are statements of hope, but also of a future that has not arrived yet. We hope that these days are actually soon, in fact it looks like this will in fact be the case. But even as we get through this present crisis that has lasted for over a year, there will be something else that replaces it. Probably not on the same
global scale, but whether it’s something that’s happening just in our life, in our family, in our community, or in our
country there’s almost always something that has us longing for days that are coming
In the midst of these days and any time going forward where we are in the midst of waiting, this is what we
need to be reminded of: “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah… I will be their God, and they will be my people… For I will forgive their
wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (v31, 33, 34). We are living in these promised days of the Lord.
We are His people, adopted as His own in baptism, and He is our God. He has forgiven all of our wickedness and remembers our sins no more, seeing Christ’s righteousness instead. There certainly is a Day that is coming where this
new covenant, and all of God’s promises will be fulfilled. In those days, there will be no sin, no separation, no illness,
no pandemic, no cancer, no broken relationships, no death. Only God. Only perfection. Only because of Jesus.
We truly look forward to those days, to eternity with Christ. But we also know that in these days, today, God
has not left us empty-handed. In these days of waiting, of trying to figure out whatever “normal” looks like, God is
with us. He forgives us. He saves us. He calls us His own. And He is enough. So whatever it is that you find yourself
waiting for, in the days or even years to come, know that while you wait for “the days that are coming”, know that
your God is with you and you can wait with hope. And it’s hope that you can pass on to others- which will be our
focus for April in our sermon series. Because Christ is risen, He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
March 2021
“It’s no big deal.” “Don’t worry about it.” “No problem.” These are phrases that are used often in response to receiving thanks for something that you did. But what they do is minimize your contribution, their need and gratitude, or both and that really isn’t helpful. It’s better to say “you’re welcome” (or if you’re at Chick-Fil-A, “my pleasure”). Or, we say these phrases in response to someone trying to compliment us on work that we did. But again, instead of using one of these phrases to minimize their compliment, it’s better to just say “thank you”.
Where this really becomes a problem is when these phrases are used in response to conflict and sin. These past few weeks, I’ve been going through some ongoing education training in Christian reconciliation that’s really reminded me of the importance of forgiveness. Minimizing sin by saying “it’s no big deal” is never the proper response to sin, because it doesn’t actually deal with the problem. Sin, by definition, is a big deal. It hurts, it breaks relationships, and ultimately leads to death. It is never to be celebrated, minimized, excused, or explained away. God doesn’t deal with our sin by saying, “Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal. Just try better next time!” No, God sends His very Son to die for our sins because sin is a big deal. It cost Jesus His very life. Minimizing it is never the answer. That’s one thing that I really appreciate about the season of Lent. Lent is the time in the church year where we are especially reminded that our sin is a big deal. It leads to death, not just Jesus’ death but also ours. And rather than living with our sin, because “it’s not a big deal”- we are called to confess it. And to repent (to turn away from it). And to receive God’s forgiveness in Christ. That’s what brings healing.
My encouragement to us all is to deal with our sins towards one another in the same way that God deals with them. First, we confess our sins. To actually say, “I confess that I have sinned against you by….” When we confess, we are acknowledging that our sins are a big deal, have caused pain, and that we are grieved by those results. Minimizing sin makes us comfortable in our sins and makes it easier to live in those sins habitually. Confession makes us uncomfortable with our sins, so we don’t want to live with them anymore.
Second, when sin is confessed, we do what God does- we forgive. We don’t say, “it’s no big deal” because it is a big deal. We don’t say, “don’t worry about it” because that doesn’t bring true healing. We don’t say, “no problem”, because it is a problem. Instead, we say, “I have good news for you…” and then share God’s unconditional forgiveness with them (hopefully also followed by our forgiveness for them too). Here’s a verse that I really like to use that shares God’s promises of forgiveness to someone else: “As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our sins from us” (Psalm 103:12). Replace “us” with that person’s name. Forgiveness brings healing, and it is a joy for us to share those promises with others!
God’s blessings to you in this season of Lent- a season of confession, certainly, but also a season of forgiveness because of what Christ has done for you on the cross.
February 2021
One of the best ways to learn something or be reminded of it, is to teach it to someone else. That’s certainly been my experience when it comes to teaching Bible studies throughout my life. The times when I’m the most attentive as a husband is when I’ve been teaching a class on marriage or communication. I’m more likely to focus on sharing my faith with others after I’ve worked with a youth group on an evangelism module. That’s one of the reasons why I’m glad that we were able to do a Bible study this past month on having an active devotional life, because that was definitely something I needed to be reminded of.
Having a regular devotional time is a struggle in terms of finding time, figuring out what topic or passage to study, or creating habits that last. I hope that these three categories of devotions will help you think more broadly about carrying the Word with you wherever you go:
Time: A “time” devotion is an intentional set-aside opportunity for focusing on the Word, fellowship, and prayer. This is what most people think of when they think of having a devotion. A few tips on this kind of a devotion is to choose devotional material that connects to your life, schedule time for this devotion in advance and protect that time in your schedule, and use Sticky Notes to write down key verses, learnings, or questions that you can place somewhere visible and keep your devotion in front of you all week long.
Moments: A “moment” devotion is when you take “teachable moments” throughout the week, and use those opportunities to have a faith conversation. This could be saying a prayer when you hear an emergency vehicle drive by, talking about the Scriptural response to anger with your child, asking for forgiveness for your harsh words, or any number of opportunities to live out your faith each day.
Milestones: A “milestone” devotion is where you intentionally look at various key events, anniversaries, or other important markers in your life or that of your family, and remember those milestones by reflecting on God’s faithfulness. There are many opportunities to do this, from birthdays and anniversaries to celebrating a promotion or achievement, or reflecting on a difficult time that God carried you through.
I hope this framework can be helpful for you as well in your individual or family devotions, as it provides a multi-faceted way to live out your faith and be strengthened by God’s Word on an ongoing basis. The recordings of
our adult Bible study on this topic are available on our church website or by contacting the church office- we’d love to come alongside you and help in any way we can! Blessings to you as you grow in your devotional life this year!
January 2021
My son, like many preschoolers, really loves patterns. It’s great to have things in an order and figure out what the order is. Something as simple as red, green, red, green can be a pattern. The educational part of a pattern is to figure out what comes next in the pattern. Coming off a year where there was so much up in the air, something simple like finding patterns can actually be quite comforting. The past few weeks, there has been a key theme throughout a lot of what I have been studying and teaching from the Bible. It’s a theme that has some up in recent Bible studies, confirmation lessons, sermons, and devotions in my life recently, so apparently it’s something I need to pay attention to. The pattern in all of these places has been: “it’s not about you.” Maybe not the lesson I want to hear (or even teach sometimes), but one I need to be reminded of nonetheless.
It’s not about you. This is actually good news, because the pattern in our sinful lives is that we make life about us, something bad happens because of our selfishness, we try to stop, and then the cycle or pattern continues. We need something to break that cycle, and that’s what Jesus does. Not only does He forgive us from our selfishness and give us a new heart and the Holy Spirit, but He also gives us somewhere to look other than just to our own interests. He gives us a mission to be focused on, and people to care about, to share that mission with. Setting a resolution of “I’m going to think about myself less this year” is, I’m convinced, doomed to fail because who am I thinking about the entire time I’m saying that resolution? Myself! Maybe a better way to accomplish this is to simply fix our eyes on something else. So a better resolution would be “I’m going to fix my eyes on Jesus more this year”. And you know what, as we do that, I think we’ll find that we’re also less selfish. Because the solution to our selfishness is not more of self, but Jesus.
So how do we do this? What does this resolution actually look like? It looks like fixing our eyes on Jesus, on where He has promised to be found and on who He has promised to love. God has promised to meet us in worship, to give us His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation, and to then send us to share those gifts to the world. God delivers His promises in His Word, as we grow deeper in faith and trust through Bible study. God sends us out then in service to those whom He has died for, those around you. This pattern of worship, Bible study, and service is a lifegiving pattern instead of the destructive patterns of selfishness that come so easily to us. So my prayer for us this year is that this year would not be about you or me, but about Jesus. As we live in this pattern of worship, study, and service, I pray that God would change our hearts so we look more like Him, trust more in Him,
December 2020
“Christmas will be different this year.” Those are the opening words from a devotion book that we shared with participants at our “Surviving the Holidays” event in November. And as I read those words, I thought of how especially true that is this year. As I write this, there’s so much unknown hanging over Christmas celebrations, traditions, and gatherings that I honestly don’t know what it’ll look like this year. But I’m sure for all of us, it will be different at least in a few ways. This brings me to a truth that I think we all need to be reminded of: just because something in different doesn’t mean it’s not meaningful.
Most of us thrive on traditions. From kids all the way to the oldest among us, we love traditions and things that we can do again and again, especially during Christmastime. We always gather at grandma’s house, we always have soup for Christmas Eve dinner, we always open presents at this certain time, or we always sing Silent Night during the candlelight service. I love so many of these traditions, as I’m sure you do to, and what I need to remember heading into what is a very uncertain December, is that the traditions don’t equal Christmas. We can have Christmas without our normal gathering, even though we will miss seeing one another. We can have Christmas without our traditional foods, though you still may be craving them. We can have Christmas even if there are less presents or we open them earlier or later. And as much as I hate to say it, if candles aren’t a good idea for this year (who knows what the answer will be!) it’ll still be Christmas. It may not feel like Christmas as much, but the beauty of the hope we have is that Christmas still comes to us because Christ comes to us. Christ comes to you, even if you’re in your home and can’t come out for Christmas services (and through livestream, His Word comes to you where you are too!). Christ comes to you with the promises of forgiveness, hope, and peace. Regardless of how “different” Christmas is this year, Christ is still Immanuel, “God with us” and that will make this time of year meaningful, no matter what.
Hold onto that hope as we journey together into a lot of uncertainty and unknown. What isn’t uncertain is the promises of God- that Jesus came, and He is for you. And think about those times in your life where you had to scrap tradition for the sake of necessity. Most of those times in my life I look back on fondly because it made me appreciate what was “normal” even more, and those moments of change and adversity tend to bring people together.
May God strengthen our hope, our relationships, and our love for one another in Christ Jesus this Christmas season.
Blessings to you this month! May you always know that your meaning for all of your days, Jesus, is with you!
November 2020
As I’m looking at the calendar for November and thinking about some of the exciting events and opportunities we have coming up, I’m drawn to another big event for November: Thanksgiving. I’ve always liked Thanksgiving because I like family meals, especially when the food is extra delicious. I’m not a chef, by any stretch of the imagination, so I really appreciate
those who actually make the meal taste good. Thanksgiving is another reminder for me of a truth that I think we all need to be reminded of: we all have different gifts, and this is something to be celebrated.
Paul writes in Romans 12:4-5, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Our school theme song for this year actually picks up on this verse: “Though we are many, we are one body, we are one body in Christ.” It is Christ that unites us as one, even though we are so different. Oftentimes in our world, it’s our differences that tend to divide us from others, but in Christ, our differences become something that makes us better than we are on our own. Because we are in the body of Christ, we need people that are gifted differently than we are.
Think about an area that you’re not gifted in. For me, what comes immediately to mind is cooking, graphic design, and just generally making things look nice. It’s a really good thing that I’m not in charge of fellowship meals or decorating our sanctuary or the Ministry Center- because I don’t have those gifts. Maybe for you it’s music, teaching, working with children, listening to those who are hurting, meeting new people, or something else. Rather than wishing we had different gifts, let’s thank God that we’re in a body with others that are gifted in those ways.
I think one of the aspects of being a part of the body of Christ is to thank God for those people who do tasks that you’re not equipped to do. This thank you involves two people. First, thanking God for that person and the way He’s gifted them. Secondly, thanking the person directly for the blessing they are to you and others around them. That’s my encouragement to all of us this month: to think of someone who is serving the church and their neighbor in ways that you simply can’t do, and to thank God and them for the blessing that they are in the body of Christ. What a blessing that we are united together in Christ!
October 2020
One of the things we’ve asked our Zion members to do the past few weeks is to share their
“Zion story.” Many of you have called or emailed me with your answers to the prompt: “How I got connected at Zion is…” Your stories have been encouraging to me, and I hope to continue to hear more of them as time goes on. Here’s what your stories have helped me to remember, a truth that I think we all need to be reminded of: hospitality matters.
A theme that ran through so many of your stories was how many people got connected at Zion because they felt welcomed. Someone talked with you, greeted you like a long-lost friend, or simply acknowledged that “we’re glad you’re here.” We gravitate towards an environment and a community that demonstrates hospitality like this because we know that church is more than a place you worship, it’s a community you belong to. It’s a family that you become a part of. So far this fall we have had a surprising number of visitors at Zion. We have had many members that are reconnecting in person or online. We are all in need of feeling welcomed because hospitality matters.
Just because hospitality matters doesn’t mean it’s easy. It’s hard to be welcoming, especially in an era of spatial distancing and online worship. It’s hard to think you’re being hospitable from 6 feet away. It’s hard to see a smile underneath a mask. It’s hard to feel connected to the family of God when you’re worshipping online. But let’s be honest, all of us struggle with hospitality and being welcoming even when we’re not under guidelines or restrictions. We naturally tend towards those we’re familiar with rather than those who are new or different. But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean we give up on hospitality. In fact, it’s the opposite. We have to fight for hospitality, because it matters. Hear the words of 1 Peter 4:8-9, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” When we love one another deeply, which is only possible through Christ, we are led to hospitality and welcoming.
Let’s strive to continue to find ways to be hospitable regardless of the obstacles. We have never been perfect at this, and it will continue to be a struggle, but it’s worth it so that everyone at Zion would know the truth that they are welcomed into the family. Give someone a wave while you’re keeping distance at church. Send a text or call afterwards telling a friend you’re glad you got to worship together with them. Help a visitor find a spot to sit if they look a little lost in all the tape. Invite another family to join you for the live stream so you can worship together. If you don’t recognize someone, introduce yourself and bump elbows instead of shaking hands. What we all need to keep sight of most of all is that you are still welcomed by our hospitable God- who comes near to you through Christ, and makes you a part of the family. Blessings to you all this month!
September 2020
“Never underestimate my Jesus
Your telling me that there’s no hope
I’m telling you your wrong
Never underestimate my Jesus
Cause when the world around you crumbles
He will be strong
He will be strong”
These are the lyrics of the chorus of a song by the band Reliant K. If you’re familiar with the song, I’m sure you sang the above words out loud or at least in your head. If you’re not familiar with it, I encourage you to look up the song and take a listen. I hadn’t thought about this song for a number of years, but it came into my head a few weeks ago out of the blue. The chorus really resonated with me in a new way after all these years, because there is so much that seems like it’s crumbling in the world around us. In the midst of that, when it seems like there’s no hope, God is still at work. Never underestimate my Jesus. Don’t count God out.
The title of this song is actually one of my favorite parts about it. The song is titled “For the Moments I Feel Faint.” This seems like a weird title because those words aren’t mentioned anywhere in the lyrics of the actual song. Rather, the song title is an invitation to return to the song during specific situations. The artist is saying, “In those moments when I feel faint, when I can’t hold on, when I don’t know where to turn, I need to be reminded of these truths.” We all need our own songs or Bible passages that are marked “for the moments I feel faint”- the go-to places where we turn to be reminded of what is true, real, and good.
While sometimes it is possible to find those key songs or passages when you’re in the middle of one of life’s storms, oftentimes it’s much easier if you already have a few in mind. For many, it’s Psalm 23 or a hymn like “Be Still My Soul.” For others it is “Mighty to Save” and Romans 8:38-39. My encouragement to you is to actually make a list of those Bible passages and hymns or songs that contain the truths and messages that you know you’ll need to hear when life hurts most. And then share that list with someone else, because if it’s what you need to hear “for the moments I feel faint”, then maybe it’ll help someone else too. I’ll close with one of the verses from my list: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness”. (Lamentations 3:22-23).
August 2020
If I had to pick one of the key words from the past few weeks for my family, it would be “boxes.” Packing up, moving to a new place, and unpacking are such a time-consuming process that I, at least, want to find any shortcuts I can. One that I try every time we move (even though I should know better by now) is to try to put as much into each box as possible, even if not everything in the box goes together. So the box might be labeled “kitchen”, but there may be an extension cord, one of Benjamin’s toys, a couple of books, or some other random item in there so that there isn’t “wasted space” in the box. As I’m stuffing this out of place item into the box, I tell myself every time, “I’ll remember what box this is in. I don’t need to put that on the label.” Rarely does that actually work out well for me in the long-run. Sure, I remember that day, but the more boxes are packed and unpacked, the more time that passes, or the more other stuff I have on my mind, the more faded this memory comes.
Memory doesn’t work like this only for boxes, but for all of life. The things that I keep in front of my eyes, heart, and mind are the things that I tend to remember and actually prioritize. For example, when I have a note on my desk that says “pray for _______”, chances are I will actually pray regularly. Having a friend call and check in on me reminds me of the importance of relationships, and I am more likely to follow their lead and check in on someone else. Whenever I teach a Bible study about marriage, I am a more attentive husband to Dana for at least a couple days afterwards while those truths are fresh in my heart and mind (and then it’s time for another reminder). It’s not that I don’t already know that I’m supposed to pray, care for people, or serve my wife. I already know these things, but when I am being reminded about them regularly, they become more entrenched in who I am and what I do and I end up doing those things more faithfully, attentively, and regularly.
That’s my hope for what my newsletter thoughts will do each month. I’ll share a truth that I need to be reminding myself of, and I pray that the reminder will help you too as God’s Word and truth become more and more engrained in our hearts and lives. For this month, in the midst of the transitions that a new school year and all the unknowns that our current circumstances cause, I need to be reminded to take time to slow down and reflect on the goodness of God. God is good and He is trustworthy, no matter what. To help keep this truth in front of me, I’m writing Psalm 34:8 on a Post-It note where I can see it each day: “Oh, taste and see that the
Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”
July 2020
I am so excited and blessed to be able to work with you on vicarage! A little bit about me: I was born and raised in St. Louis, MO and grew up at The Lutheran Church of Webster Gardens. I went to college at Concordia University- Nebraska, where I studied to become a Director of Christian Education. I served as a DCE for 5 wonderful years at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Lake Ozark, MO focusing on children’s, youth, family, and educational ministries. I continue every day to use the skills and experiences I gained as a DCE, and we’ll always love our Christ the King church family. Our seminary journey has been great so far, and we’re looking forward to what God has in store during vicarage!
My family is very important to me. We love family walks, movie nights, and playing games together.
My wonderful wife, Dana, and I met in college and have been married since May 2014. She helped out in the preschool while I was a DCE, stayed home with Benjamin for a few years, and for the last two years has taught middle school at St. John’s Lutheran in Arnold, MO.
We have been blessed with two children- Benjamin, who was born in August 2014 and Lydia, who went to be with Jesus in January 2020, on the day she was supposed to be delivered at the hospital. We are holding tightly to the promise of the resurrection and the hope of Christ during this time.
We are thrilled for our family to join your church family during this year of growth and learning over vicarage!