Pilgrim Lutheran Church is ultimately not a building or place. The Church is people. It is the type of people we are that makes us unique.
As Lutheran Christians we believe we’re sinners who are saved by grace through faith. Since we’ve been redeemed, restored, and forgiven we then become Jesus’ disciples. A disciple is a person who, in response to the new life she or he has received through Christ Jesus, then takes that living faith relationship they now have with Jesus Christ out to others through who they are and all they do.
Our mission statement expresses our understanding of God’s will for who we are together as God’s people called Pilgrim Lutheran. The purpose of Pilgrim Lutheran is to welcome God’s people and be faithful to His Word. Through this vision we understand the following as the God-given direction for our ministry and life together: Pilgrim will be known as a beacon of God’s light to this community, a flourishing place of Spirit-led people, and as a resource of leadership and service. We will be a witness of God’s inspiring love.
Our guests will be welcomed, encouraged, enlightened, embraced, and befriended. They will be invited to enjoy God’s blessings with us and to be touched by Christ. Our members will be nourished by God’s Word and supported by God’s grace. As one body, our faith will be active, motivated to minister and serve as God’s light in this place.
We encourage you to join us, as together, we seek to learn God’s will for us—as individuals and as the community we call Pilgrim Lutheran—and then live that out in our individual lives, Church community, and world.
The Pilgrim Church community gathers weekly on Sundays for worship and Christian education for all ages.
We regularly offer worship services at both 8:30 and 11:00 AM every Sunday. These services generally follow one of the service orders from Lutheran Service Book. On the third Sunday of the month the 11:00 AM service is a Contemporary Service, which features praise songs.
At 9:45 AM we offer Sunday School, Youth, and Adult Bible Classes. We offer Sunday School classes for students beginning at age three. We offer a separate Youth Bible class for High School Youth. Finally, an Adult Bible Class (generally led by our pastor) is offered every Sunday. We offer a variety of different activities and ministries during the week as well. Be sure to check for a list of what’s happening through our monthly newsletter, Pilgrim’s Progress, or our weekly bulletin. You may also find what’s happening on our Pilgrim Place web site. Better yet, ask one of our friendly Pilgrims to see what’s happening here at Pilgrim Lutheran that will meet your particular spiritual needs.
Our Staff
Pastor John Duran
Pilgrim Lutheran Church Welcomes Pastor John Duran as Interim Pastor. Pastor Duran has served for 17 years as a senior Lutheran Pastor in Ottawa Kansas, and vacancy pastor in Auburn, Alabama, York, Pennsylvania, and most recently in Towson, MD.
Michael Rossi- Music Director
Michael Rossi is a rising star in the next generation of conductors. He recently made debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony and the Orchestra Sinfonia de Xalapa as well as the First Annual PepsiCo National Young Artist Competition with the Charleston Symphony. Last season, he was reengaged by the Philadelphia Orchestra to conduct a performance of Handel's Messiah and will return to the Charleston Symphony this season for performances of Handel's Messiah and 2nd PepsiCo Competition.
As an opera conductor he made his international debut conducting Plácido Domingo and the Chinese National Opera Orchestra in Beijing in a live television broadcast and his Washington National Opera Main Stage Debut conducting Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. He also led the WNO Orchestra for a production of Hansel & Gretel, the first National Endowment of the Arts Opera Honors, and the orchestra’s Strathmore Hall Debut concert. In 2011, he made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting the premiere of Marcos Galvany’s opera Oh My Son and has recently recorded the album that will be released in late 2014. He returns to WNO this fall to conduct a performance of Puccini's La Boheme.
Michael graduated from the Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, having been selected for the program by world- renowned tenor Plácido Domingo. As a Cover Conductor for the Philadelphia Orchestra he has assisted world-renowned conductors including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Stéphane Denève, Manfred Honeck, Itzhak Perlman, and Vladimir Jurowski. Michael was awarded a fellowship to the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen in 2009 and 2010 where he studied with David Zinman, Robert Spano, Hugh Wolff and Larry Rachleff. He was selected by Kurt Masur to participate in the Kurt Masur Conducting Seminar at the Manhattan School of Music in 2010 and 2012. Mr. Rossi is following the path of many conductors who began their careers first as instrumentalists. At the age of 22, he won the position of 2nd Trumpet in the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.
Officers
Darrel A. Regier—President
Kyle Drefke—Vice President
Michael Boerger—Secretary
Robert Pearsall—Treasure