Interim Pastor Dell Schomburg

My life began in 1948 being born to God-fearing parents who faithfully took their two sons to St. Paul Lutheran Church in Latimer, Iowa. My parents were farmers on 160 acres which they farmed “50-50” as it was called since my Dad’s parents owned the ground. “Sharecroppers” might be a better understood term. Unfortunately, we had to move away from the farm in 1962, and my parents purchased a custodial nursing home in Indianola, Iowa from Mom’s aunt and uncle. That was quite a leap from farm life to say the least. I then went away at the ripe age of 14 to an LCMS high school in the metropolis of Concordia, MO.

Fortunately for me, I finished high school there and stayed for Junior College. In the fall of 1966 I met a coed from Memphis & Chattanooga, TN. Turns out she had quite a way with me so we continued dating through Jr. college and then through our last two years of college (Judy at Concordia Teacher’s College in River Forerst, IL and me at Concordia Sr. College in Ft. Wayne, IN.) Shortly after we were graduated from college, we were married by Judy’s Dad in Memphis.

In the fall of 1970 I enrolled at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Judy obtained a job teaching 2nd graders at St. John’s Lutheran School in south St. Louis, although she was actually paid by St. Lucas Lutheran Church which was primarily of Slovak origin. After two years in St. Louis we spent the next year on my vicarage at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Lakeland, FL. Judy taught kindergarten at the church. In August of ’73 we headed back to St. Louis for my final, tumultuous year at the Sem (oh yes, we picked up a daughter, Jennifer, while in Lakeland).

In May, 1974 I was graduated from Concordia Seminary in Exile (Seminex) which is an involved story all in itself. That summer I was Called by the Eastern District to be its coordinator of Outdoor Ministry in the Poconos of NE Pennsylvania. and was ordained into the ministry of the LCMS (we managed to pick up another daughter, Rebecca, in Pennsylvania).

That position lasted two years until I received a Call to be pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Oakridge, OR. Yours truly felt like a pioneer driving a U-Haul truck across the country, and I was joined several weeks later by my family. We loved it there from 1976-1981 (and yes, we managed to pick up a third daughter, Deborah). I also was bitten by the fly-fishing bug.

In 1981 I was Called to be pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Salem, OR where we stayed until 1994. Redeemer had a very active refugee resettlement ministry going when we arrived. By the time we left, I estimate that the congregation had helped about 150 refugees from SE Asia start a new life here in the U.S.A, and some became Christians, Praise God!

In 1994 the NW District Called me as Missionary-at-Large to E. Vancouver where I helped Good Shepherd Lutheran Church get started. In 1996 I decided to pursue additional training for institutional chaplaincy which I completed at the Portland VA and Oregon State Hospital in Salem. In ’98 the NW district Called me to be sort of a roving chaplain, and that sort of morphed into being a Corrections Chaplain for the State of Oregon until 2006. Then I was Called to be pastor at Calvary Lutheran Church in Stayton, OR where we stayed until I retired in July, 2012. In 2016 we moved to Vancouver to be closer to family. We are blessed with: three daughters, two of whom live in Vancouver, and one in Boise; three son-in-laws; and five grand daughters ranging in age from 10-20. I have done quite a bit of pulpit supply since retiring, and now happily find myself as CTV’s Interim Pastor.