We have been serving as the interim pastors of Good Shepherd since August 1, 2007, and the excitement we experience as we work and serve within this community leads us to feel that God has truly called us to this place!

Our presence at Good Shepherd is all the more remarkable because of the paths in life that have led us here. Becky was Minister of Music at First Church of the Brethren in Roanoke, Virginia. Classes, studies, and travel back and forth kept her busy as she worked towards her Doctor of Ministry degree from Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Indiana. Harry was active in his congregation in Roanoke, Central Church of the Brethren, when he was not working in his private law practice. Neither of us had any plans to pastor a church - or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we had no immediate plans to pastor a church. Ever since Becky first spent a week in the community at Taize, France, she has been discerning God's call to her life. She has known that she has been called to minister, but the future and direction of that call has not been clear to her. She has studied hard and has been ordained by the Church of the Brethren, but as she served as the Minister of Music and Nurture at Williamson Road Church of the Brethren in Roanoke, at First Church and on various district and denominational committees for the Church of the Brethren, she knew that she had not yet found her place. She thought that some day being a pastor might be God's call for her.

Harry had felt God's call to pastor as a teenager. But the strength of the call had waned, and he became a lawyer, seeking to serve as he engaged in the practice of law. He has found many opportunities to serve in the church, but he feels that much of that has been preparation for serving at Good Shepherd.

As our youngest child went to college this fall, we were called to serve at Good Shepherd, and though a surprise, the timing was right. And so we are here, seeking to serve God, this congregation, and this community!