Call Day!

     Greetings to you all in the name of our amazing and wonderful Lord and God.  I am sure almost all of you know by now, but Call Day was yesterday.  I am so excited to announce that the Lord who is in control of all things is sending me to Peace in Christ Lutheran Church in Hermantown, MN.  I will be the associate pastor under the senior pastor, Pastor Ludwig.  Pastor Ludwig planted the church 25 years ago and has been there ever since.  Over the last 25 years, the church has grown to over 800 members on the books.  They built a fellowship hall first, then built a sanctuary, and now have even built an education wing for the preschool they have.  They have a DCE, two preschool teachers, and two part time secretaries.  They worship an average of 300 members in three services on Saturday and Sunday.  As associate pastor some of my focus will be in coordination with the preschool, starting more small group ministry for 20 to 40 year olds, starting a men's club, possibly campus ministry since there are five colleges or tech schools in Duluth which is only nine miles away, as well as preaching, teaching, and visiting.  I will be busy, but it will be a wonderful busy.
      Hermantown is about 9,000 but is only 9 miles from Duluth.  It is very close to the banks of Lake Superior and is growing very rapidly.  There are a lot of opportunities for service to the community, especially in Duluth.
      I will be ordained up there one of the Sunday's in July.  We are still working out the official details of that date.  In June I plan to go up and visit and try to find a place to live since they do not have parsonages.  I am so excited to go up and meet every one and begin my full time ministry in such a wonderful place.
      Minnesota North District is the most rural district of the 35 LCMS districts, and yet very very little of it is farming or agriculture.  It is a lot of mining and forestry.  I will definitely get my fair share of winter, but I love that part of it.
      For being my first call, it is exactly what I was hoping for.  I wanted team ministry with a secondary focus of a school/preschool, possible campus ministry opportunities, and a busy atmosphere.  I am also thrilled to hear Pastor Ludwig is an extremely hard working man who expects a lot of himself and will expect a lot out of me.  I am more than willing and ready to step up to the challenge.  I cannot thank the Good Lord enough for this opportunity and to putting me in the place where he saw fit for me.
      There will be plenty of hunting, fishing, ice fishing, and winter sports opportunities for me.  The people from the church who I have already met or been in contact with are all amazing people who are so friendly and welcoming.
      Last night they told me that they had 100 people gathered at the church to watch the call day service.  They watched the first part of the service on the big screen in the sanctuary.  Then when it came time for the actual assignments, they gathered in the fellowship hall for ice cream and call day bingo.  They made up their own bingo cards with the different districts on the cards.  When each district was read along with each guy, they got to put a button on that space until they got bingo.  Pastor Ludwig told me when they read my name and Peace in Christ the room went crazy.  He said you would have thought the Vikings won the Superbowl with all the cheers and high fives.  This just shows how loving and caring they are and how much they already support me.  I was genuinely touched when he told me this and I thought about that many people being that excited over little old me.  Today they posted pictures on my Facebook of different people holding up welcome signs for me.  I am so blessed already and I haven't even gotten there yet.  The Lord is good and I cannot imagine doing anything else with my life.
     Now I have to focus on school for a couple more weeks, finish my field work responsibilities, and make official summer plans.  It is hard to keep from wanting to be there starting tomorrow, but I am trying to enjoy the time I have left with my friends and brothers here at the seminary.  I was so excited to see where they will all be going as well, but am sadden that they will be so far away.  I truly believe there is nowhere else in the world quite like this place.  The last four years have been some of the best years of my life and I would not be here today if it were not for a family who raised me in the faith, family and friends who supported me the entire time, and so many generous, loving, caring people supporting me both emotionally and financially and praying for me the whole way.  So to every one of you reading this, I know you have supported me and I want to thank you so much for that.
     Please continue to pray for me as I finish up my seminary career, enjoy a few weeks of summer, and move to Hermantown to begin the rest of my life as a servant of the Lord through one of my vocations being an official Lutheran Pastor.  one dilemma I am having is trying to decide whether I will continue with this blog after I graduate.  I mean I will most likely continue to do a blog of some sort; however, the entire intention of this one was to cover my seminary career.  I mean I won't be the "sem stud" (seminary student) after I graduate.  So if you have any suggestions for a new name, new ideas of what you would like to keep reading in a weekly (possibly VERY short daily) blog, please, please, please let me know.  My email is richterk@csl.edu and I am open to any ideas, comments, or suggestions.  However, for the next couple weeks I am still THEE sem stud :) and will try to keep posting more frequent blogs.  Thank you and may the Lord who has blessed me so abundantly all of my life bless each and every one of you even more richly through His grace and mercy.