Pastor Will Rose’s “Call Story”

I grew up a cradle Lutheran. That is, I have never known a day I wasn’t “Lutheran” or my family involved with church. I had what I believe to be a normal childhood and normal church upbringing. I was involved in the usual youth programs; Sunday School, youth choir, confirmation, going to Camp Lutheridge and Middle School and High School Youth Group. However, most of these years I consider to be my “clueless years.” I went to church and I was involved in its programs but I didn’t really have a clue what faith was all about or what a difference Jesus can make in your day to day life. I was one of those youth who went to church because my parents made me. I didn’t put up much of a fight because I knew I had good friends at church and it was fun giving my Sunday school teachers and youth advisors a hard time. I can’t pin point the exact day when my “clueless ness” was lifted, but around my junior/senior year of High School the seeds of faith that were planted in my life, by countless and patient youth leaders, began to take root. I found myself paying a little bit more attention to sermons, listening to what my youth leaders were sharing with me, praying more often and even opening the Bible on my own. I began to ask the big questions: “What do I want to be when I grow up?” “What am I here for?” “How does God want me to live and what does God want to do with my life?”

Even though I had ministry in the back of my mind, I decided to go to college majoring in Marine Biology. After freshman year was over, and I made a C in biology, I knew I wasn’t called to be a scientist. I found myself asking the big questions once again. The summer after my freshman year in college I decided to work as a camp counselor at Lutheridge in the NC Mountains. That particular summer was life changing for me. Not only did I have the time of my life but I also heard God’s call that I have gifts for ministry. Not just “ordained ministry” but also the ministry of being a youth leader, sharing my faith with others, and even connecting with people being a waiter at a restaurant. Over the next few years and summers I continued to discern God’s call in my life. I continued to work at Lutheridge, stayed involved in a Lutheran congregation, got involved in the Campus Ministry at college and geared my classes and major towards ministry in the Lutheran Church. In the summer of 1996 I entered seminary at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia SC and the discernment continued. I graduated from Seminary in 2000 and accepted my first call to word and sacrament at a church in south Florida. I served the church for 4 years and then accepted a call to a church in Columbia SC. Over the years I have learned that “discerning God’s call” in your life never ends. It is a life long process. God continuously calls us in our baptisms to use the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit. Discovering these gifts and discerning how to use them is the life long adventure of discipleship, that is following Jesus. The journey and adventure continues.

Pastor Will Rose
pastorwill@bellsouth.net
Christus Victor Lutheran Church
Columbia, SC 29212
803-732-2668 www.cvlc.ws

Project Connect is an initiative of the Eastern Cluster of Lutheran Seminaries. Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, and the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Funded by a generous grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc.