Ordination

The big day has finally been! I'm now a pastor of the LCA (Lutheran Church of Australia).

Here's a shot of the whole group of new pastors, along with President Mike in the middle. Right between me and Bentschke!

It was very exciting and a huge honour to be ordained in front of many friends and family at Concordia College.

Penny, Mark, Anna, Owen, Lee, Rita and Peter

My white dress (alb) was made by Anna and Penny and my red stole was made by Ma. The stole has a dove and 7 flames, both symbols of the Holy Spirit.

Probably the biggest highlights of the day for me were actually being ordained - having my vicar father Wayne Boehm, new district president Rob Erickson from NZ, John Henderson (soon to be principal of ALC) and national president Mike Semmler lay hands on me. Also giving my family communion during the service - a very special moment.

The day was just great - being ordained amongst some really great guys. I know I'll miss the coffees and discussion at Vagabondo's on O'Connell St in North Adelaide with Bentschke and Luke!

Our happy family! Even if Owie looks generally confused about it all - maybe it was because Aunty Bec was being so silly behind the camera!

Now we're really getting ready for the big shift to the Land of the Long White Cloud. I really can't wait to get started. Manawatu sounds like a really good fit for us as a family, for me as a pastor and for us as a family in ministry. I found out today that my supprt pastor will be Mark Whitfield, who was Anna's pastor when she was living in Tarrington, Vic when she was early primary school! The LCA isn't that big and this proves that fact once again!

Sometime I'll post more photos of ordination, this is just a taste to see what went on.

Here is a picture of all my stoles. These were hand crafted by Ma - I'm really impressed with the way she made my ideas look a lot better than I could ever imagine... Thanks Ma! You're great.