JOHN SABATELLI CALL STORY
My call to ministry began when I was a young boy and Sunday Church School teachers and two very special pastors encouraged me to think about becoming a pastor.
Involved in the church on many different levels from Luther League to being a counselor at Lake Chautauqua Lutheran Camp and being an officer in the Lutheran Student Movement at college, I toyed with the idea as I explored the alternatives of becoming a lawyer or an English history professor. I also had to work through some honest doubts I had about the faith of the church. My understanding of Scripture and my knowledge of science were colliding and I needed answers.
With the war in Vietnam raging and not wanting to fight, I entered Philadelphia Seminary. I said to myself at that time “Could there be a better place to explore the faith and see if this 20th century young man could bring both his head and his heart to it.” To my delight I found out I could. Seminary changed my life in many positive ways and would have even if I had at the end of four years decided on a different call than the ordained ministry.
Now ordained nearly 35 years and looking back on my call I clearly see the hand of the Holy Spirit. As my wife, Jane, says, “John, you were born to be a parish pastor.”
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. 
