Retired Pastor Jonathan Schultz from Calgary, Alberta, reflects on his experience serving as a mentor.

As I approach the end of the third year of my pastor-partner relationship with Dan Spaude, I pause to thank God for our WELS ministerium. Our humble church body has been blessed with dedicated students, professors, and pastors who follow the ascended Lord’s commission to make disciples of all nations. 

I’m thankful for the time I’ve spent meeting with Dan, discussing the blessings and challenges of ministry, and offering any encouragement or advice from my experience as a pastor. Since I had served the vacancy at his congregation before he arrived in 2023, I believe I was especially equipped to understand the concerns he expressed and the joys he shared as we discussed the ministry of the gospel. The hour-and-a-half meetings we planned over brunch at a family-style restaurant often turned into two- or three-hour visits simply because we enjoyed the conversation about our Savior, his Word, and his people. 

On one occasion we even got a free meal. The waitress remarked, “The gentleman at the table across from you overheard some of your discussion and paid for your meal!”

It wasn’t the quality of the meal, the bottomless cup of coffee, or the friendly staff that made our visits memorable. It was the Holy Spirit working through His powerful Word to touch the heart of a young pastor . . . and a pastor of forty-five years, now retired, with the promises of eternal life in Christ.

Visiting with Dan helped me appreciate anew the blessings I have through Jesus and the blessings Jesus poured out on me through my role as a pastor in his church. If the Lord has used me in some small way to bring his blessings to another brother in ministry, I am truly grateful. 

To all our pastors, let me say, “Thank God for what Christ has done for you and for what Christ is accomplishing through your ministry. Whether seen or unseen, appreciated or unappreciated, you are taking part in the ministry he ordained, carried on by apostles and martyrs through the centuries before, and now entrusted to you to proclaim the everlasting gospel. God is good! Heaven is our home! Carry on!”