|
|
|
|
Bridle Ridge 113 Appaloosa, 1999, 3/2, 1809 sq. ft., $147, 000. Relocating. Must sell. Call 361-212-0393.
Heinold blesses congregants during communion on Sunday at St. James Lutheran Church.
Click to view more
063008 RONI GENDLER Chris Heinold, 27, a newly ordained pastor at St. James Lutheran Church in Ganado, prepares for communion during Sunday services.
Click to view more
Though he seems to himself an unlikely person to minister the word of God, others see Christopher Heinold as a natural leader who will do well in his new role as pastor of the St. James Lutheran Church in Ganado.
Heinold was ordained June 7 at his home congregation at Martin Luther Lutheran Church in Coletoville, making him the first minister to come from their congregation.
The church is the same that Heinold grew up in and where he met and married his wife, Gemayel Heinold.
The day Heinold was ordained was special for another reason as well – it was his parents’ 28th wedding anniversary.
“I think it was divine planning, it couldn’t have worked out any better,” his mother Barbara said. “Who would have thought 28 years ago we were saying our vows (and now) he was saying his vows to God. It was quite touching and moving.”
Heinold has felt a call to ministry since he was 13 or 14, he said. “But ministry wasn’t directly in my family and seemed like an unachievable goal.”
“‘Not very practical’ is the language I used to persuade myself against the ministry,” Heinold said.
While attending Victoria College, Heinold split time between classes and working at the old Victoria power station on Bottom Street. At the station, he discovered he liked to work with his hands. But in the classroom, his mechanical engineering courses showed him his working with his hands was a hobby, not a way of life. That’s when Heinold seriously pursued the calling.
The 26-year-old said he is considered a pipeline student because he went straight from college to the seminary. He was the youngest student in his class by nearly 10 years
Time at the seminary was not easy, Heinold said.
“You learn things about God and the scriptures you never knew. Sometimes that could be frightening and disorienting,” he said.
Heinold spent two years at the seminary and then took part in a year-long internship in a church in Wakeeney, Ks. He was away from his wife of six months and his family.
“It was really rough. I don’t think it would have been possible had she not supported me,” he said.
The two had only been married six months at the time. When Heinold could find no closer church for an internship, the thought entered his mind that ministry may not be for him, he needed to be there for his wife.
“No,” she told him. “If this is what God wants you to do I will support you,” he said.
She was able to visit Heinold every six to eight weeks. Travel was difficult as the closest airport was in Denver.
With his wife’s support, Heinold made it through. He also credits his family and congregation at home with support through prayers and financially.
Paul Wauson, a member of Heinold’s home congregation, has known the new pastor since he was 10 years old.
“By the time he was in his early teens he was always active in our church,” Wauson said. “Once he arrived at the point after confirmation when he was becoming a young adult, he started to take the lead in anything the youth did. Not forcibly. He had natural talent and natural leadership capabilities.”
Heinold is as ideal a man as Wauson has ever seen to be an ordained church leader.
The Rev. Sharon Wiggins, pastor of Martin Luther Lutheran Church, knows firsthand what Heinold will need to succeed as a pastor.
“What he needs to succeed is the love of God and he has that; and the humility before Christ and the faith he has been raised with,” she said.
“He has a very strong sense of his call to further the Gospel and spread the Gospel and bring people to the Lord.”
Everything Heinold will need will be given to him as he needs it, she said.
The young pastor sees a lot of potential in his new congregation in Ganado.
“The community is ripe and the congregation is willing to embrace new ways of ministry. They are willing to hear God’s call in a new and changing and difficult time,” he said.
One new thing Heinold is implementing is a Wednesday night worship service beginning in September.
“We are envisioning a chance to minister to people who can’t make it to traditional Sunday services. People who work at plants and shift work,” he said.
The Wednesday service is the first major plan Heinold has for his new congregation.
While he has started a new venture in life, he remains proud of the history made with the congregation he grew up in.
“It really speaks to the ministry that happens in the most unlikely places,” he said. “Sometimes people can think well Martin Luther is a country parish way out in rural Victoria County. They’ve been there 100 plus years and while they have done good ministry, they haven’t had a pastor.”
His ordination speaks to the thought that God is always ready to surprise people. Heinold said he takes comfort in the scripture that says God always sends unlikely people to minister.
“It’s awe inspiring and almost kind of funny,” he said. “But I was always ready to embrace that call.”
Bj Lewis is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6535 or bjlewis@vicad.com or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.