On July 3, the congregation at Pinnacle Lutheran Church on Pinnacle Road welcomed a new pastor.
Adam J. DeGroot, 32, was ordained and installed in a service at the church, followed by a reception and luncheon across the street at Norman Howard School.
“This was the first-ever ordination in the history of our church, so we were excited about that,” said elder Ron Manning. “Usually a new pastor comes already ordained from another parish, rather than direct from seminary.”
In recent years, interim pastors have been filling in at Pinnacle Lutheran. The Rev. Delbert C. Tiemann, now retired, was the church’s first pastor in 1956. He stepped down a number of years ago and is still active: now helping introduce DeGroot to the community.
“We are very pleased with the wonderful opportunity we have here in Rochester,” said DeGroot. He and his wife, Melissa, came to Pinnacle after he completed his studies at
Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind. He explained the several-stage selection process by which the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod matches a pastor and congregation.
“Pinnacle Lutheran knew they were getting a new pastor from seminary, but didn’t know exactly which seminary or if he would be old or young, etc.”
Now that the suspense is over and he’s here, church members seem to be delighted.
“We’re honored and lucky and blessed to welcome Pastor DeGroot, said Bess Garibay, the pastor’s secretary.
“This is a second career for him,” said Manning. “He was an educator before attending seminary, so he’s young, but also has life experience.”
The pastor and his wife have more life experience on the way. The De-Groots are expecting their first child in January. Asked if the Pinnacle Lutheran members are excited about the baby, he laughed and said, “Oh yes, they’re very excited to know we’re practicing some Lutheran Church growth.”
The couple are buying a home in Henrietta.
DeGroot, originally from Spearfish, S.D., is learning his way around the Rochester community and plans to meet with every one of the 700 or so members of the congregation. When he settles in, he plans to put a strong emphasis on furthering Lutheran Christian education, a major focus of the church throughout its history.
“For adults and teens,” he said, “some things that will be happening over the next year include a continued education opportunity open to all members of the community, most specifically Lutherans. They will be invited to come to Pinnacle to be taught by professors from the seminaries. We also have a youth opportunity coming next summer, where we’ll send our kids to a five-day long Lutheran youth conference.”
DeGroot said he sees religious education as a vital foundation for individuals and for the church’s work. “It prepares those Lutheran Christians who are going out into their various vocations in the world to be able to stand up and give a solid biblical account of why they believe as they do.”
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