Pastor Chad Brekke:
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity
under the heavens.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
November 3rd, 2024
marks 4,789 days, or 683 weeks, or 13 years, 1 month, and 10 days, that I have had the honor and privilege of serving as Senior Pastor at Prince of Peace! November 3rd also marks 33 years, 10 months, and 27 days since I was ordained as a Lutheran pastor. In this span of time, I have served only three congregations, and each of these communities helped to shape, not only my ministry but who I am as a person.
There are different concepts related to time in the Bible.
There is chronos, which indicates the time counted on the clock and the calendar (13 years, 1 month, and 10 days for instance). There is also kairos, which is understood as the appointed time in the purposes of God. It is with a heart full of gratitude that I have come to recognize the kairos moment has arrived for me to retire from the active ministry. My final day serving as the senior pastor of Prince of Peace will be November 3rd, 2024.
Thirty-four years ago,
I loaded everything I owned into the back of the little old Isuzu pickup my dad gave me and started off for inner city Philadelphia to begin my first call as a pastor. I ended up spending the first 21 years of my pastoral ministry serving in Pennsylvania. I am grateful to reach this next transition here in my home state of Minnesota, and specifically, here at Prince of Peace.
Though our lay leadership and core staff have evolved and changed over the years, I have felt at every turn that I am blessed to work with the dream team here at PoP. I have often thought wistfully about what an advantage it would have been to have the ministry team I am blessed with at PoP back in my first two calls. I have never seen a more gifted, creative, faithful, and effective ministry team than the one I have been blessed to work with here at Prince of Peace.
From the beginning,
I have felt called to serve congregations that are struggling and at risk. Atonement Lutheran in the inner-city neighborhood of Fishtown in Philadelphia was a little bit like stepping onto a movie set. The historic neighborhood had its own energy with old churches converted into apartments, some dilapidated row houses, and corner stores along with the elevated train (the “El”) passing through every 10 minutes. Atonement Lutheran was struggling but together we celebrated the 100th anniversary of that congregation and found ways to renew a sense of mission and purpose. Atonement continues with a vital ministry presence in Fishtown to this day.
St. Matthew’s Lutheran out in Chester County Pennsylvania was aging and tired and had even entertained a vote to close the 175-year-old congregation not so many years before I started my 17 years of service there. By the time I left, we had completed massive renovation and expansion projects, paid off the debt on those projects, and added a day school and kindergarten that continue to serve the community along with hundreds of new members and a growing ministry and support staff.
Prince of Peace faced a more dire financial situation than most members were aware of at the time I accepted the call.
The congregation had both existing and looming personnel challenges that would need to be addressed in short order. Through it all, our church council and staff teams have led with grace and creativity as we have cut the inherited mortgage debt in half, curated faithful, moving, and engaging worship services before, during, and after an extended deadly worldwide pandemic, and served those in need through deep partnerships locally and across the world.
Imagine,
through the Vision Trip to Tanzania program, 27 safe and dry homes have been constructed and donated to families struggling with chronic illness living in remote villages on the rainy lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. School dorms have been repaired, science labs constructed, and dozens of scholarships given to poor students. Local congregations have received support from us and there is even a big pink library on the side of that holy mountain bearing my name that serves hundreds of children coming from schools all around that region!
Our Jamaica outreach teams have built a lasting legacy of Christian compassion and service to folks in need through that ongoing ministry outreach. Teams from Prince of Peace are received as true siblings in Christ every time they arrive on that island nation to serve and fellowship with people coming from uniquely different faith traditions than our own. I have even seen video clips of PoP members clapping and moving about during worship!
Prince of Peace has been a blessing to our family in so many ways.
Our youngest daughter Clara will always remember experiences like the confidence that comes from surviving a stormy week in the Boundary Waters wilderness during a canoe trip with PoP youth. Our daughter Lydia was embraced by the congregation on so many occasions when she sang during some deeply moving Holy Week, Christmas, and Easter worship services.
The blessings that will last for Lori and I will be the people gathered for worship at PoP and the faithful, gifted, and creative worship leaders who help us experience the Spirit’s presence. I have so appreciated our ministry team, that I asked them to be there in New Prague to help lead the funeral service when Lori’s father passed away and then to be there in Bloomington for my own father’s memorial service. Because the PoP ministry team was there, the gospel held sway and each of those services will continue to comfort and bless our extended families forever.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.
After 34 years, the time has come for me to step aside in order to cheer on and support the new generation of pastoral leaders. Leaders like our own Natalia Terfa and so many of her colleagues and peers. They fill me with a sense of optimism, hope, and anticipation as new pathways forward continue to emerge for the church.
My sincere hope is that each of you will continue to deepen your commitment to this ministry we have shared for over thirteen years. Prince of Peace is a force for goodness, faith, and compassion in our community and well beyond. What a privilege it has been to be part of it with all of you.
The Brekke family extends our deepest appreciation to the people of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church.
God’s peace be with you all!
Pastor Chad Brekke