Reverend Jedidiah T. Maschke was installed as the fourth pastor to lead First Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Concord, in its nearly 70 year history, on Sunday July 13, 2008. Pastor Maschke takes over for retiring Pastor James W. Mueller, who served as First Lutheran’s Shepherd for 27 years.

Pastor Tom Norris (Senior Pastor at Faith, Pleasant Hill, representing the CNH District President Robert Newton) officiated over the installation service. Pastor Maschke’s father, the Rev. Dr. Timothy Maschke, Professor of Theology at Concordia University Wisconsin, gave the message. Doctor Maschke’s message was a very personal one, entitled “Beautiful Feet?” He told Jedidiah that he indeed did have beautiful feet, as he brought the message of Christ’s salvation. Dr. Maschke split a pair of socks between his son and congregational president, Ellen Kuykendall, as a reminder that all believers have beautiful feet, in Christ our Savior.

Pastors Dick Brewer (retired), Dave Reese (Grace Lutheran, Pittsburg), Sergei Koberg (retired), Jason Moreno (Faith Lutheran, Pleasant Hill), Robert Koch (retired) and First Lutheran’s retiring Jim Mueller, were also present at the service. The service was well attended by family and friends of Pastor Maschke, First Lutheran members and friends from the surrounding area.

Prior to this call, Pastor Maschke served in southern California at Lutheran High School of Orange County in Orange, Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Cypress, and Faith Lutheran Church in Huntington Beach. Pastor Maschke is married to Anna, and they have a daughter, Alaethea, born in 2006, and a son, Josiah, expected in October.

The search and eventual calling of Pastor Maschke was handled using a new process. Pastor Mueller announced his retirement plans two years in advance, allowing the leadership of First Lutheran to begin a search for a new Shepherd early. The process began with a values inventory of the church, conducted by Pastor Ted Hartman (CNH District), followed by an effective interview process lead by Pastor Rod Hall (St. Mark’s Lutheran, Sunnyvale). This helped the church fine-tune what they needed to look for in a pastoral candidate. The pastoral search committee was comprised of four demographically diverse members of the First Lutheran congregation. While the search committee conducted the detail work of searching and interviewing pastoral candidates, the entire congregation was involved, receiving regular briefings from the search committee.

Pastor Jedidiah Maschke becomes only the fourth pastor to serve First Lutheran Church since its inception in 1940. The first minister, Pastor Herman Seyer served from 1941 until 1960. From 1960 until 1980 Pastor Fred Behrmann was First Lutheran’s second shepherd. Pastor Jim Mueller followed, serving from 1981 until his retirement May 2008.

The God SquadFirst Lutheran Church of Concord has an active membership of 150, with a preschool and is involved in many outreach projects. Current outreach programs include the Preschool, small group bible studies, an annual Crab Feed, F.L.I.R.T. (First Lutherans in Retirement Together), LWML (Lutheran Women in Mission League), and several community service projects. The most recent outreach project was their Vacation Bible School, with the theme “Power Lab”. Several multi-generational families attend First Lutheran. Some members having grown up in the church in the 1940’s & 50’s continue as active members of First Lutheran. The First Lutheran purpose statement is, “Friends of Jesus, making Friends for Jesus” (John 15:15-17).

(Reprinted with permission from CNH District "In Touch" eNews of 07/22/08, Chris Fenske, Editor)

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