Thursday, November 15, 2007

New Nortonville pastor hails from LA

by Kenneth Lassiter

The new pastor at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Nortonville didn’t take the traditional path to the job, but felt the call to ministerial work all the same.

Pastor Michael Van Velzer, 58, began work at the church Aug. 12. The position marks Van Velzer’s first ministerial job after graduating from a St. Louis, Mo., Lutheran seminary. Nortonville is a long way from Van Velzer’s roots in Los Angeles, Calif., where he was raised and still has family. He flew B-52 planes and was a T-37 instructor in the Air Force from 1972 to 1992 before retiring. He then spent 10 years in the insurance field before making the move to the midwest.

“I felt called (to the ministry) when I was a young man and then spent 30 years running from it,” Van Velzer said. He and his wife, Lynn, live in Nortonville with their children, Cassie, 12, Devin, 9, and Clay, 7. The kids attend Jefferson County North Elementary and Middle School. “A series of things backed me into a corner in my life and, when I gave up, there was God, and He still wanted me to do this. It’s turned out way better than I ever thought it would.”

Van Velzer was attending a Lutheran church when he decided to go into the ministry and the church has seminaries in St. Louis and Ft. Wayne, Ind. Van Velzer came to St. Louis and spent four years in seminary. An added bonus was meeting and eventually marrying Lynn there. His last year at the seminary was spent in an internship at Lutheran Senior Services, which he said was a “wonderful” experience.

From there, his path led him to Nortonville, which although very different from Los Angeles, proved to be a very good fit for the new pastor.

“The more I think about it, the more I think it’s better to live in the country and visit the city than vice versa,” Van Velzer said with a chuckle. “I’ve had enough city life for all of us. We’ve certainly felt welcome and helped here. The congregation brought us meals in the beginning when we were getting settled in, so that was great. The kids have a short walk to school. We just think it’s great here. It’s such a good match for us – we wouldn’t have known it could be this good. I’m praying it has worked out as good for the church.”