We’ve had some significant transitions in our campus ministries at Purdue in West Lafayette and at Indiana University in Bloomington over this past month. From University Lutheran at Purdue, Rev. Justin Herman accepted a Call to Grace Lutheran Church in Hamilton, Montana, after ten years of good and faithful service in West Lafayette. We are going to miss him in our District, but we are grateful for the contributions he has made, for the good work that he will now do in Montana, and for the continued service of Rev. Jared DeBlieck as pastor at ULu Purdue.
Also over this past month, Rev. Timothy Winterstein was installed as the new pastor of University Lutheran Church at I.U. in Bloomington, as Rev. Richard Woelmer has now retired after his thirty years of good and faithful service there. Special thanks are due to Faith Lutheran Church in Bloomington for supporting and sustaining that campus ministry throughout those thirty years. As of now, the Indiana District is resuming responsibility for the compensation and benefits of the sole or senior pastor at ULu Bloomington – for which we certainly do welcome and encourage the contributions and support of congregations, circuits, individuals, etc.
This past weekend, I had the joy of attending Pr. Woelmer’s retirement celebration, hosted by Faith in Bloomington. I was impressed by the robust attendance and enjoyed the many great stories that were shared by past and present students. Everyone who spoke offered thanks for – and testimonies of – Pr. Woelmer’s steady and faithful service over these past several decades.
I was especially struck by how many of the students echoed the same key points, each of them focusing on Pr. Woelmer’s obvious love for the Lutheran Confessions, his steady consistency in the conduct of the Services, and his clear emphasis on the Gospel of forgiveness, articulated in all of his preaching and teaching. It was increasingly evident that his gentle pastoral care and forthright speaking of the Gospel have provided a real oasis and safe haven in the midst of the chaos and confusion that are so prevalent on a university campus. Students from a wide variety of backgrounds were given something solid, steady, and true by Pr. Woelmer’s campus ministry.
On a personal note, I have also long been grateful for Pr. Woelmer’s faithful service and pastoral care at ULu Bloomington, ever since my eldest daughter, DoRena, was a student member there almost twenty years ago. As now eight of our ten children have grown up, moved away from home, and struck out on their own, my foremost hope and prayer for each of them has been that they would have a good and faithful pastor to serve and care for them with the Word of the Lord. That is, of course, what all of us need all of the time, wherever we are and whatever we are doing in life; but it is all the more crucial for young people heading off to college or university, away from home and family for the first time in life, and surrounded by many competing influences.
I am so deeply grateful for all of our campus ministries, not only our University Lutheran Churches in Bloomington and West Lafayette, but throughout our District and Synod. I pray that our Lord in His mercy would preserve each of them in the faithful preaching, teaching, and confession of His Word and faith. Along with that prayer, I urge you to support these ministries – and to encourage the support of these ministries – and above all, to encourage the young people heading off to school from your congregations to seek out a campus ministry (or a local congregation) and avail themselves of the Gifts Christ freely gives through the ministry of faithful Lutheran pastors. God grant that many more will hear consistently the clear Word of forgiveness from such pastors!