Our Pastor

Pastor Stephen is a life-long Lutheran having grown up in the mountains of Western Maryland. He earned a Bachelors degree in Landscape Management from the University of Maryland, College Park. While in college he was very active in Lutheran Campus Ministry, serving as their Peer Minister for Music among other things. After graduation he spent a brief stint in the landscaping industry before he realized that his call was more about planting seeds of hope than planting flower seeds (though he still enjoys creating more work for himself with flower beds around the house). He then served as the Director of Youth and Family Ministry at a Lutheran congregation just outside of Washington DC until he felt an even stronger call to ministry. This brought him to Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio where he met his future wife, Kim. After graduating in 2013 with a Masters of Divinity degree, he followed Kim, also an ordained pastor, out here to mid-Missouri where she was serving a nearby congregation until stepping out of full-time ministry to focus on family and writing.

If you have a story to tell (or a joke), Pastor Stephen is ready to listen. He views his role as an ordained pastor as helping us see how our stories are all a part of God's great story. God's story is a story of love: love for you and for everybody, as we have all been claimed as children of God.

Pastors Stephen and Kim feel very fortunate to be able to raise their two children here in Cole Camp, as well as their shelter dog, Lars. When the weather's nice you'll probably find their family camping, hanging out under the shade trees in their yard, or driving their golf cart around town. Pastor Stephen has a knack of collecting hobbies (jack of many trades, master of none), as well as being snobby about his coffee and craft beer. So, what are you waiting for? Come by and say hello!