Let me begin by extending to you my warmest welcome to Redeemer and our website. Redeemer (a small but vibrant congregation) has called me to be their pastor since July 1, 2008.

My personal journey owes much of its foundation to the southwestern Ontario farming ways of my parents and grandparents where stewardship of the land and the faith journey were an inseparable part of life. Worship on Sunday mornings was as inseparable from the schedule as feeding the animals or cleaning the stalls - it was not to be missed. From an early age I felt a certain magnetism to "churchy things". My hometown parish pastor and the interns that we supported for many years were important in my understanding that God's call is not based on age, or gender, or marital status, or where you grew up, or nationality or colour. If God had called all of these people then was it possible that God was also calling me? At high school and then during undergraduate studies I wrestled with two career paths - agriculture (like my parents and grandparents) or ordained ministry in Christ's Church. It was at the University of Waterloo where I met Paula and we were married in 1996 while I was in Seminary at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary.

Ordained in 1998 my first call was to serve among the people at Zion Lutheran Church in Philipsburg. My first official day of Pastoral Ministry will be forever engrained in my memory for it was also the day our first child was born. The four years in Philipsburg were an excellent start for family and ministry. The rural setting felt like home, the people became like family and our own family grew with the birth of our second child. In 2002 we packed up all our belongings (which had grown substantially with our young family) and headed for Unionville.

The day we moved in the parsonage next to Bethesda Lutheran Church felt like the hottest day of the year and the guys from the moving company were happy when the last piece of furniture was finally unloaded. We had arrived in the big city: (well not really the big city but we certainly were not in rural Ontario anymore.) Ministry there was busy right from the start: new names and faces to remember, new visionings to explore, new liturgies (and the accompanying "worship wars"). Outreach and community building was an important part of my personal ministry goals and we soon got to know many of the neighbours and local business owners. The start of school was also part of the new experience as our daughter began kindergarten. Through our connections in the community we saw several new young families join the congregation. Support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank through the congregation's "sharecropper program" grew exponentially year after year. After six years of ministry at Bethesda it was clear that it was time for another change.

In the summer of 2007 we bought a townhouse and in September moved 2 blocks to our very own home. For the next six months I was involved in the Contextual Pastoral Education program as a student chaplain at Scarborough General Hospital. The experience allowed me to further explore the possibility of chaplain ministry, something I had been growing more and more interested in during the previous few years. As the program at Scarborough came to a close there was definite time of praying, waiting and listening for the Spirit.

In the spring of 2008 a part-time on-call job position became available at Humber River Regional Hospital and a part-time call was issued from Redeemer Lutheran in Toronto, …. and the rest is still in God's time - Kairos.

Again, welcome to Redeemer's website, and if you are in the West Toronto area please join us for worship or give me a call to arrange a time for a chat over a cup of coffee.

Your Partner in God's Mission

Pastor Eric

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