Pastor Brent Hartwig of Our Redeemer Lutheran ChurchPastor Brent Hartwig of

Pastor Hartwig is a family man. He and his family are immersed in our church family. He attends the funerals of our member’s loved ones that have passed away from out of town if at all possible. He has traveled 2 hours one way to attend the funerals. I don’t know of many pastors who would do that, but he feels the need to offer that support. He is also a teacher of our vicars each year. Pastor has been with us 16 years and each of those years we have been assigned a Vicar. The vicars that have been here go back to the seminary talking about how much they learned in a year under Pastor Hartwig and how much they were allowed to do and lead in the ministry field. The pastor also is very good about showing he is human. If in a service he might make a mistake, he laughs at himself showing the congregation and the Vicar, that it’s okay to be human. A very common phrase he has taught the congregation is “You’re forgiven “. Each year he plans a theme and centers all the ministry around it. He plans and prints a whole booklet each year centered around the theme that includes all the Bible studies, activities, etc. in this booklet with all the dates. This year’s theme is “Chosen. Amen. Amen. Amen.” He is also involved with the youth along with his wife Kara. Goes on youth conventions and mission trips. His family is involved in many ways. His daughters and sons helped teach VBS, they have run the camera, and the screens at church. Pastor Hartwig is involved with mission trips with the youth (UKANDO in Chicago) each year. He just returned from a mission trip to Panama that he headed up with members from the congregation that were trained to do eye checks and give the people eyeglasses. They worked with 4 different mission congregations to reach people and also share the good news of God. He is also not afraid to step up and prepare food for an event. He was in charge of the meals each night for VBS this year. Just this week someone asked my husband where we go to church and he said Our Redeemer and the guy said “Oh, I heard they have a really good pastor.” He is right!