Dear Friends in Christ,
We are pleased to be writing this letter as your Interim Pastors for this continuing time of transition at Two Steeples Lutheran Parish. This is a time when we embark on a journey together. It is a time to reflect on the ways you have lived out the mission of Christ here at Springdale and West Blue Mounds, and to share the visions and hopes for the next stage of ministry for the congregations.
As a beginning, we would like to tell you a little about who we are and where God has led us over our shared years of ministry. We are Pastors Loren and Linda Schumacher. We have been co-pastors over the past 39 years serving congregations first as interim Pastors at a two-point parish in Merrimac/Mazomanie, Wis. Our first call was at Christ Lutheran in Paddock Lake, Wis., in the then Southern District of the ALC. From there we served a two-point parish in Curtis/Medford, Wis., a rural congregation in Amery, Wis., and finally a congregation in Cloquet, Minn.
We retired from active ministry in August of 2017. We then moved from Cloque to Madison. We have two children, a daughter, Amanda, who lives in Georgia, and a son, Matthew, who lives here in Madison. We have always worked together sharing our calling in Ministry in the congregations we have served. Linda had attended the training course for Intentional Interim Ministry before we retired. Loren began our new adventure in Interim Ministry last year when he served a six-month interim at Spring Prairie Lutheran Church in rural De Forest. We are pleased to be back working together sharing this interim at Two Steeples.
As people of the resurrection we are called to serve Christ in new and exciting ways building on the strength and faith of those who have heard the call to the mission of the gospel in the past. As we work together in the months ahead, we pray that the Spirit will guide the process forward in ways that will lift up the ministry of all who gather at Two Steeples Parish as disciples of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
May God bless our time together,
Pastor Loren & Pastor Linda Schumacher
From dark to dawn, from start to finish, from death to life, from the cross to the throne. . .