I was born, baptized, and raised Lutheran as the eldest son of an ELCA pastor.  My experience in the church was good growing up and I believe that Lutheran Theology at its core is the best there is.  While I was in college I attended and became involved with a church that was “nondenominational”.  From that exposure, I gained an appreciation of more contemporary styles of worship and a variety of approaches to ministry and outreach.

I had the opportunity to work in the secular world as a schoolteacher at Minturn Middle School in Minturn, Colorado and as a roofing subcontractor.  In these jobs I had the opportunity to experience the perspective on the church from the eyes of the common person.  Some of these people were connected to church bodies to varying degrees of involvement and some of the people were very cynical about the church.  These experiences were invaluable for me, as a pastor to help me better understand how to reach people with the Gospel.

I feel strongly God’s call upon my life to serve the church as a pastor.  At the same time I also value God’s call to all people as servants of Christ in their various callings and occupations in the world.  I work within the priesthood of all believers and seek to utilize all the gifts of God’s people.

My pastoral ministry has been shaped by many wonderful mentors, the first being my own parents.  Life and faith in the church was a central part of our life.  I had great camp and youth ministry experiences that shaped a deeper commitment to Christ.  Many key adults have affirmed and supported me, including faithful church members, who when I was a child, showed me love and care.

My other pre-pastor ministry includes being a camp counselor at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp in Hillside, CO; being a summer youth director at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bellevue, NE; and being the National Spoke Folk Director for Youth Encounter Ministries based in St. Paul, MN.  I earned my Bachelors degree in Science and Education from Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, NE in 1990.  I earned my Maters of Divinity Degree from Luther Seminary in St. Paul in 1997.

My ministry experience began with a fantastic internship experience with a great supervisor.  His example in work ethic, passion, and faithfulness helped to shape my pastoral ministry.  It was a large and thriving congregation in Southern California with 1,400 members.  Part of my internship call was to help prepare a daughter congregation.  This has occurred and this church now serves two campuses.  My first call was as an associate pastor to Atonement Lutheran in Billings MT with 1,200 members.  My responsibilities included oversight of youth and family ministries including supervising a full time youth director, Evangelism, and small group ministries.  I served Atonement for 4 years including a year alone when the senior pastor took another call.  I currently serve as lead pastor of a church of about 900 members and have been here 4 years.  I have supervised two interns, which is something I dearly love.  I currently serve on our Synod’s Board of Congregational life.  This last year I have also served as President of our area Ecumenical Ministerial group.

I have been blessed with an amazing family.  My wife, Elizabeth, is very gifted and has been youth director for churches I have served.  She is by far my best asset. We have three boys Benjamin who is 9, Peter who is 5 and Nicholas who is 2 and one daughter who is 8 weeks.  The boys are joyful and energetic.  As a family we love being outdoors and sharing the joys of life.

I consider myself laid back and easy going.  I don’t get worked up about too much.  At the same time I am very firm and uncompromising to the things that are the core of our faith.  I love people and love the ministry.  My greatest desire is to make Christ and the power of God’s promises known to all people.  When you get right down to it our relationship to Christ is all that really matters in life.

It has been my intent to be very careful and selective about my next pastoral call.  I believe that Lutheran Church of the Cross in Evergreen is that church.  This is what I am praying for: an openness to be challenged and work with me on a huge dream.  The dream is to grow and nurture a church to become what I believe God intended for us on earth.  God created us in His image and planned us to be in intimate relationship to Himself and be a reflection of His Glory.  However, our own sinfulness and the influence of the devil work to disrupt that intended plan of life.  We will never be perfect and will never cease to be sinful; BUT this must not deter us from God’s plan for us.  Though the power and example of Christ we can daily grow into God’s plan for our lives.

My desire is to lead a congregation willing to become the body of Christ: A body, which first and foremost worships and glorifies Christ.  A body, which strengthens and supports one another.  A body, which reclaims healthy bodies, healthy minds, and healthy souls.  A body, which grows deep and wide in prayer, stewardship, discipleship, outreach, missions, evangelism, etc…  A body whose first priority is Jesus Christ glorified in our daily lives.

These ambitions are attainable.  People are searching for God and meaning in life.  Much of what we focus our lives on is not bad – simply misguided.  Together we can build a church, which will meet the needs of people in a way that keeps a relationship to God a priority.   A place willing to dive deep into God’s mission on earth and ready to change hearts and lives.  This requires the involvement of more than just one person/pastor.  Effective change needs effective leaders.  I ask every member of LCC to begin to pray, “Where is God calling to me lead”; not if God is calling you to lead, because He is, but where!

I believe my greatest gifts as a pastor are passion for ministry, loving people, casting vision, powerful preaching, and leading people to deeper discipleship in Christ.  I look forward to the possibility of many years of exciting ministry with the people of Evergreen at LCC.

In Christ,

Pastor Philip Reimers