Archive for category: Staff Ministry Profiles

My name is Chad White, and I serve as a staff minister at Holy Word Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. I have been serving in this call since April of 2002. Wow! It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 14 years! God has blessed me with a wonderful, very supportive wife and ministry partner of 21 years, Cindy. He has also given me my three beautiful children, Emma (17), Bryant (15), and Danni (12).

My family, Christmas of 2015. From left to right: Bryant, Chad, Danni (front), Cindy, and Emma.

How did I become a staff minister? Good question! I am what people often call a “second career” called worker. In other words, I started my career going to college to be an electrical engineer at UW-Madison, and then working for IBM and Motorola for several years before God redirected me into life as a staff minister. While working at Motorola here in Austin back in the late 1990s, I served as secretary to our church council and then as an elder while also attending various Bible studies. As an elder I got to see and work with people on a more intimate basis, helping them in their walk with the Lord. Through these experiences, spending more time in the Bible, and the encouragement and mentorship of Pastor Don Patterson, God’s grace changed my heart and led me to consider the possibility of full-time ministry. Over the next couple of years I continued to speak to Pastor Patterson, my wife, church leaders, and friends about being a called worker. Then, in the spring of 2002, God provided a unique opportunity for me to leave my job as an engineer and work full-time at Holy Word as a staff minister. It was a major change in my life and the life of my family but one that I never regret and something I thank God for regularly.

Over the next 10 years, I had the wonderful privilege of serving Jesus full-time in my church while also taking classes towards my synod certification in staff ministry. I took on-line classes and also traveled to MLC almost every summer for on-campus classes. I can’t thank God or my church enough for providing that education for me. It opened new windows for me into the world of called ministry. I met some great professors and was able to not only learn from them in class but also spend time together with them in social settings outside of class. Their encouragement to me was invaluable. I also met other incredible, gifted people seeking full-time ministry. Lifetime friendships were formed with those people whom I still turn to today for guidance, encouragement, and comfort as we do ministry together, but in separate places, sometimes across the globe. Most importantly, my education prepared me to serve God’s people in the ways I needed. I was much more confident in teaching the Bible after my Bible and doctrine courses. I can also remember going into ministry situations after taking my professional classes (i.e., youth and family ministry, caring and counseling) and being able to directly apply what I had learned. It was awesome!

What do I do as a staff minister? Well, that’s a good question too, and the answer to that question for every staff minister can be different, depending on the congregation and setting. Here at Holy Word, God has called me to serve in many different ministries, and those ministries have changed in the years since I started. Originally, I was largely involved with outreach to the community, like following up with church visitors, leading faith-in-action teams, and organizing for evangelism events, including a large outdoor Easter sunrise service. As time went by, I also got involved with family ministry (premarriage courses, marriage counseling, parenting classes/ counseling) and youth ministry (the teen group at our church, mission trips, district teen activities, youth Bible camps). My call has also included visiting shut-ins and people in the hospital, prison ministry, teaching Bible studies, leading and serving on assimilation teams (we call them “connection” teams here at Holy Word J), presiding in worship services, various administrative duties, and even preaching occasionally when needed and with guidance from the pastoral staff.

Hard at work at the community outreach event in the Spring of 2016.

What would I say are some of the highlights of being a staff minister? For one, I feel like I have the dream job. I really do! I get to do something I love, serve Jesus full-time. I get to work with others who love Jesus and want to serve him too in a grace-centered environment. And on top of it, God has graciously allowed me to make a living doing it. How could you ask for more!? I honestly get to tell people, “I love my ‘job’!” Second, I love working with people and helping them grow as disciples of Christ. I believe there is no greater experience than to share the truths of God’s Word with people and then sit back and watch God work. Sometimes it’s not always in the way we think or in the timing we desire, but it’s always what’s best. That gives a lot of peace and contentment in my work. And there’s no greater good that you can do for someone than to help them grow closer in knowing, trusting, and serving their Savior. A cool side benefit is that while ministering to others you often get ministered to in return, equally or even more. Finally, I would say it’s a tremendous joy to work with other Christians every day. I am blessed so much more than I deserve with a great staff at Holy Word, an incredibly gifted and supportive wife who is also basically a full-time called worker, and many faithful, Christ-centered lay leaders. To be able to work with them every day is such a refreshing change from much of my experience in my secular job.

To someone who is considering full-time ministry, whether you are young and still in school, or are already deep into a secular career, I would say give it a fighting chance. If you’re young, full-time ministry may seem like a lot of schooling, work, and stress for little pay. If you’re older with a family and career, full-time ministry might seem like too big of a change. Whatever your hesitations, give full-time ministry a fighting chance. Dig deep into God’s Word. Consider the amazing sacrifice and gift that Jesus gave to you and ask how you might best serve him with your life. Consider God’s promises that he can overcome all challenges and obstacles. Consider God’s promises that he will provide for all your needs as you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Jesus gave all of us the great commission, “Go and make disciples . . . ” For me, the best way to fulfill that commission was to become a full-time called worker. I love it! God has blessed me in SO many ways through it!

Picture a small congregation in the suburbs of Seattle. There is one pastor, three teachers for Pre-K through grade 8, and a layman as our youth leader. This is where I grew up, and the youth leader was my dad. I loved being at church and youth group, and I loved the relationships I had with the people there. They were family. After graduating high school I spent a year at public university and then took a year off, all the while getting more involved at church – leading youth group, doing liturgy, and organizing fellowship activities.

Here I am with the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church youth mission team to Raleigh fueling up for a day of canvassing. Many of our teens become coffee drinkers on mission trips.

One evening I told a friend that I’d love to just do that all the time, but that I didn’t really want to preach or be an LES teacher. He told me about staff ministry. This led me to MLC and eventually to Call Day, when I was assigned to one of the largest churches in the synod.

It certainly was a culture shock to go from what I expected ministry to look like, based on my small church upbringing, to what my ministry would actually be like. I was called to be minister of family and youth, with hundreds of families and more youth than the total membership of the congregation I came from. Needless to say, the Lord was challenging me.

It’s been ten years, and I am still blessed to serve at St. Paul’s.

Picture taken at Christmas for Kids. We brought the kids to
Bethlehem, and all crew members were dressed as townspeople,
shepherds, angels, and we had Mary and Joseph to help tell the
story. I was the owner of the stable where Jesus was born.

As family minister I am responsible for all the programs that assist our families in raising disciples of Jesus. This includes all of our children’s ministries, and I’m thankful to have a group of volunteers who serve as our children’s ministry team to help coordinate Sunday school, Wednesday school, Christmas and Easter for Kids, and VBS. It also includes youth activities, with a couple youth nights each month, retreats, summer mission trips, and quite a lot of one-to-one ministry to teens – texting, talking, counseling, or just going out for coffee, all for the sake of being a Christian friend and mentor to them.

Equipping parents to have strong marriages and lead their families spiritually is the most important part of family ministry. For this reason, in 2013 I achieved my master’s degree in family life education. This helped me develop skills in pre-marriage education, marriage counseling and enrichment, parenting, and financial management. I provide a variety of opportunities for couples and parents to plug into classes, workshops, and counseling to help them grow in these areas.

Like most called workers, my ministry isn’t limited to the things that fall under my title. I teach confirmation class, visit shut-ins and the hospitalized, lead Bible classes, organize special events, and serve as advisor to various committees, boards, and the council. A few years ago I took on all of the technology management for our church building, including our web and social media presence, an ever-expanding opportunity for us to reach people with the gospel. Our worship space includes a projection screen, a sound system that can handle a full praise band, cameras for recording and streaming, and an assisted listening system. It takes a full team to manage all of these elements, along with an advisory committee to oversee everything, and I work with them to establish priorities and set the budget.

Brandon with his wife, Nikki, and boys Athan (right) and Paladin (left).

There is always more ministry to be done than I can find the time for, and this is why it’s a blessing to work on a team. I serve alongside three pastors, another staff minister who serves as our church administrator, a full-time office secretary, a full-time custodian, a part-time bookkeeper, and a part-time cemetery manager. We have dozens of volunteers in our building each week, helping with various aspects of the weekly ministry of the congregation. I love sitting down with couples for pre-marriage sessions, getting to know them and helping them see how their marriage can be a picture of Christ and the church. Even marriage counseling, which is so often a difficult and heartbreaking process, is something I really enjoy, because I have seen how the gospel can reunite couples who thought all hope was gone. I have hopes of developing an area marriage workshop in the next year or two.

I’ve often said that my favorite thing to do in my ministry is mission trips. We take our teens to mission congregations throughout the US and Canada, and provide manpower for canvassing, VBS, and sports camps in situations where the congregation has lots of opportunity but not enough people to make the most of it. We’re working on the next step, which will be to take teens to a mission in Costa Maya, Mexico, to teach ESL and share God’s Word in an area that is hungry for the gospel. As I spend time with teens on these trips, I see the power of God’s Word at work. Sometimes the work our teens do bears immediate fruit, and we see someone come to understand God’s love for the first time. Often, we are planting seeds. But I see the teens themselves changed by their experiences, matured and built up to be more confident in sharing their faith with others. Many are inspired through these experiences to begin training for the ministry. Even when they don’t, they come away more equipped to serve God with their lives. It’s a joy for me to be a part of that maturing process for them.

I left my small home church in Washington State to become a staff minister in hopes that I would get to spend all my time at church, doing youth work and teaching God’s Word. I certainly get to spend a lot of time at church, and I get to do so much more than I bargained for. I’m amazed, humbled, and thankful that this is the life God has given to me.

After five years of learning, I graduated from Martin Luther College in 1998 equipped with a degree in education and trained in parish ministry through the Staff Ministry Program. I awaited Call Day with great anticipation, eagerly looking forward to discovering what role God had for me in his church.

President Olsen announced my call from the podium: “Brent Bitter, staff minister, exploratory mission, Jacksonville, Florida.” I had lived almost my entire life in the heart of Wisconsin surrounded by long-established WELS congregations. What did it mean to be called to an “exploratory mission”? And what would my responsibilities be in such a setting?

Pastor Phil Hoyer, my new teammate in the ministry, briefly greeted me after the Call Service. He had accepted the call to lead the exploratory efforts in Jacksonville just weeks before Call Day at MLC. He had spent half of his 19- year ministry in the mission field and was excited to begin this new venture with a partner.

I hurried to receive my call package from the South Atlantic District President, Pastor John Guse. As I perused the call materials, I discovered that my assignment was to assist with “outreach to the unchurched; training lay members for service; teaching, visiting the sick; administrative work and other ministerial duties as directed by the pastor and mission board.” I didn’t know what specific duties my call would entail, but I was thankful to serve under the direction of an experienced mission pastor and a District Mission Board experienced in starting new congregations. Pastor Hoyer and I began working as a ministry team in August 1998. The congregation was named Victory Lutheran Church with the mission of “Winning Souls for Christ and Coaching Christians for Life.” Now all we needed was people!

In these early stages, being a staff minister at Victory Lutheran Church meant knocking on doors and making phone calls; developing brochures, tracts, newsletters, and invitations; and also managing a prospect database. We canvassed thousands of homes in our area as we searched for people who were not attending a Christian church. We’d invite them to participate in a Bible Information Class that Pastor Hoyer led at a nearby elementary school each week. Our first class had five participants. After six months of making contacts, we celebrated our first worship service on February 21, 1999, in a conference room at the University of North Florida. We diligently worked to maintain relationships with the prospects we discovered through mailings, phone calls, and visits. We averaged around 40 people in attendance each Sunday during our first year of worship.

Victory has come a long way after nearly ten years of mission work. The congregation operates a beautiful 7,600 square foot facility located on six acres of prime real estate. We average just over 100 people in worship each weekend, and we have 145 souls in our membership records.

As the congregation has changed, the role of the staff minister has changed too. The duties of the staff minister have regularly been modified to suit the needs of the congregation.

At some point in my ministry, being a staff minister at Victory has meant knocking on doors, making telephone contacts, following up with worship visitors, coordinating mass mailings, publishing a monthly newsletter, presenting children’s sermons, leading Vacation Bible Schools, creating a church website, leading Adult Bible Studies, teaching Bible Information Class, coordinating fellowship activities, leading the Sunday School ministry, teaching confirmation class, organizing small group ministries, leading our youth group, coordinating a Lutheran Pioneer program, assisting with weekly worship, visiting hospitalized members… and other privileges as directed by the pastor and District Mission Board.

Being a staff minister at Victory today is distinctly different than it was ten years ago.

The congregation recently altered my call to focus on reaching out to the community through the development of a preschool ministry. As the years pass by, the needs of the congregation will continue to change and the role of the staff minister will change with it.
This venture of a pastor-staff minister team to establish a home mission was a new approach by the District Mission Board and, after ten years, still remains a one-of-a-kind strategy. The team approach to mission work in Jacksonville has been an expensive endeavor, but it has enabled our congregation to touch more lives in more ways than just one called worker, the pastor, could have done alone. I’m thankful to have served in this mission congregation for nearly ten years. Lord willing, I’ll serve Victory for years to come in whatever capacity is needed.

Mr. Brent Bitter serves as staff minister at Victory Lutheran Church in Jacksonville, Florida.