Brothers and sisters in Christ and fellow members of Trinity Lutheran Church, West Seneca. I am writing this article from the LCMS Convention in Tampa, Florida. While I am many miles away from you, my heart, my thoughts and my prayers are with you – especially one of you! (Can you guess?) This article may be a little different than usual. I want to share some thoughts and reflections on my heart with you.
By the time you read this article I will have celebrated another anniversary of my birth. (OK the 66th!) I remember thinking how far away this day seemed when I could receive full social security retirement benefits. That day has come and gone, but I have no desire to retire quite yet. In fact I’ve never been more excited about ministry and serving as a pastor in God’s church than I am now. I am thankful to God for granting me relatively good health and seeing me through a few challenges over the years. I look forward to more years at Trinity serving in ministry partnership.
This Fall will mark my 5th year as the pastor at Trinity. In spite of my wife’s death and a bout with cancer, they have been the best years of my life and ministry largely because of your love, care and prayers. I thank God for all of you. I may not always express my gratitude for all that you do and I apologize for that. Trinity Lutheran Church is a wonderful congregation that is richly blessed – and a rich blessing to many, especially me! I look forward to the next 5 years serving God, serving you and serving with you. These will not be years to ‘coast’ to retirement. Not at all! These will be important years of planning and praying for the future ministry of Trinity Church and School.
Another thought on my heart, as you might expect, I am thankful and very excited about my upcoming wedding and marriage to Lynn Rodgers. She has become a precious blessing to me and I love her dearly!! As most of you know, about 3 years ago God called my wife, Ruth Ann, to heaven after 21 years of marriage. Once again God has put another wonderful Christian woman in my life – and she said “yes!” On August 24th she will become my wife! I am humbled at God’s grace and loving care. Lynn and I invite all of you to rejoice with us on Saturday, 8/24 at the 5pm outdoor worship service/wedding. Pray for good weather so that we can worship and fellowship together outside.
The theme of our recent Summer Bible Camp (VBS) was: “Roar! Life is Wild – God is Good”. Life can get a little wild at times for all of us! But God is always with us and always good to us. God has been especially good to me and I give all thanks and praise to Him. God has been very good to all of us in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, and His Spirit among us. Let us go forth in that joy and peace!
~ Pastor Dennis Krueger