New Mission: Palm Coast
When Phil Huebner heard his assignment on Call Day 2007, he noted that there was not a named congregation where he would serve. That’s because there was no congregation at all. Three years and a lot of canvassing later, there is a congregation, a church and school building, and many big plans. In a recent Q&A session, he tells us more about his work at Christ the King Lutheran Church.
Where do you serve God’s people?
I was assigned from the seminary to a new mission in Palm Coast, Florida, halfway between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach on the eastern coast of the state.
What were the primary influences on your decision to enter the public ministry?
My father was a great role model as both a father and a pastor and was influential in my decision. Several family members and friends also thought that I had the gifts to be a pastor. Those factors combined with a desire to help the lost and to learn more about God’s Word made it obvious to me that there was only one thing I wanted to do.
Tell us about your current ministry.
I was assigned to begin exploratory mission work in Palm Coast. The first organizational meeting of the congregation occurred in July of that same year. Three years later we have an average attendance of 50 people worshiping in a public elementary school.
We are ready to enter our new church and school building once it is completed. Beginning in the 2010-2011 school year, we will offer day care for 1-2 year olds, 3-4 year old preschool, and kindergarten. We plan to add grades every year after that.
What are some of the challenges you are facing as a congregation?
Since we started from nothing, it has been a challenge to develop leadership, to get our name out into the community, to maintain a good budget, and to attain all of our plans and goals. Now that we are beginning to grow as a church and school and will soon have a new building, some of these early challenges are becoming a bit easier for us.
We have recently been challenged more specifically since all of our church possessions were recently stolen. Everything we had been using for worship was in a trailer and someone stole our trailer and everything inside of it. That has made it very difficult to reach out to people and especially to worship. We are doing our best to get by until our new building is finished.
What are some of the blessings?
It has been an incredible blessing to see the growth of our church in such little time. By the third anniversary of our first organizational meeting we will have a school with almost 100 children in it, a congregation of well over 50 souls, and a brand new church and school building. That God has led us to this point in such a short time has been an incredible blessing and adventure!
Can you share an outreach story?
My favorite is Dale. Dale was canvassed around Easter of 2008 by a pastor-track student from Martin Luther College who was participating in a Travel Canvass Witness program sponsored by WELS Kingdom Workers. Dale greeted him rather rudely at first, but eventually thanked him for the visit and the hard work he was doing. Dale even called me to say he was sorry for how he reacted and that he would come to worship on Easter. I didn’t believe him at first. But sure enough Dale and his wife Gloria came to our Easter service. For the next few months they came off and on to church. I made several stops at his house. Finally I suggested that we do a Bible study at his home and they agreed. By October of 2008 they joined our church. But just two weeks later Dale had triple bypass heart surgery. Now I was visiting Dale in the hospital as his pastor. Eventually Dale recovered enough to attend Christmas 2008. At the service he said he thought what we were doing was really great and that he wanted to be a part of our outreach team. Sure enough, Dale has now canvassed with us, has trained to do follow-up visits, and is even on our church vision team.
Another good story is of Brit. Brit was born in Bavaria, Germany, and was confirmed in the Lutheran church there. She has even showed me her confirmation picture and German certificate. She called me in November of 2007 when we had our first community event and grand opening. She asked what synod we were and quickly hung up after hearing we are WELS. Now, almost three years later, she has joined our church with her husband Victor and friend Laurel since they realized the Lutheran church they were attending was not preaching sound doctrine. One simple postcard reaped life-changing benefits three years later.
Finally, we are very excited about our annual Kids’ Carnival. It was our first public grand opening event in November of 2007. We were happy to have 167 people in attendance. We planned for 300 attendees in 2008, but ended up with 750. This past year we had over 1,500 people in attendance. We are already beginning plans for the 2010 event. We’re hoping for 3,000.
How has your theological education prepared you for your service to others?
It is the background for everything that I do. At any particular moment of any day I might get an e-mail or a phone call, I might speak with a school parent or visit a prospect, and I might be called on to answer a question or share a biblical truth. The whole idea of all our outreach is to get out and share the gospel with people, to encourage them to come to church. My schooling has prepared me to do this.
*Note: The members of Christ the King (CTK) will move into their new facilities at the end of May. For more information and for photos of their building project, visit their Web site at www.ctkpalmcoast.com.