'Outwardly focused'

New Lutheran pastor says ‘go out and love others’

July 13, 2019 at 1:00 a.m.

by Becca Martin-Brown

Courtesy Photo The Rev. Eric Longman, new pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Rogers, brings with him Donna, his wife of 28 years -- who, he says, has been "a brilliant mother, mentor and example to our kids. Nowadays she's figuring out what she wants to be now that they're grown up." Daughter Emily is 24 and teaches fourth-grade at a Lutheran school outside Baltimore, Md., Longman says, while her husband, Alex, is director of Christian education at a Lutheran church in the same area. Son Christopher just graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, and works as a resource forester for Weyerhaeuser in Hattiesburg, Miss. He and his fiance, Lynne, will be married in late December in Texas where she grew up.
Courtesy Photo The Rev. Eric Longman, new pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Rogers, brings with him Donna, his wife of 28 years -- who, he says, has been "a brilliant mother, mentor and example to our kids. Nowadays she's figuring out what she wants to be now that they're grown up." Daughter Emily is 24 and teaches fourth-grade at a Lutheran school outside Baltimore, Md., Longman says, while her husband, Alex, is director of Christian education at a Lutheran church in the same area. Son Christopher just graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, and works as a resource forester for Weyerhaeuser in Hattiesburg, Miss. He and his fiance, Lynne, will be married in late December in Texas where she grew up.

As Eric Longman puts it, when he felt he was being called into the ministry in 2008, it meant he had "finally started listening to what God had been telling me through a lot of different people over the years."

"My grandfather was a Lutheran pastor, so I had some exposure to that role from an early age," says Longman, who grew up in Athens, Ga. "Ever since I was in high school, people told me they thought I should be a pastor, but I just thought they were crazy, so I went off and had a whole career in technology."

Installation Service

For The Rev. Eric Longman

When: 3 p.m. July 28; a reception and celebration will follow

Where: Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 1101 Hudson Road in Rogers

Special guest: The Rev. Dr. Roger Paavola, president of the Mid-South District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

Longman owned a company in Atlanta that did web hosting, web design "and other internet stuff," but he was also serving as the head elder at a church in Sandy Springs, Ga., when the pastor took a call to a church in Boca Raton, Fla.

"Because of my position, I was heavily involved in the pastoral role while we were seeking another pastor, and about six months into that process I felt that I was being called into the ministry," he remembers. "My wife and I took a couple of years to get our finances in order, and we moved to St. Louis in 2011 so I could attend Concordia Seminary. In 2015, when I graduated with a Master of Divinity, I was called to serve as associate pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson, Mo." -- and that's where Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Rogers found him.

"In our church body -- the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod -- the process of calling a pastor is carried out at the congregational level," Longman explains. "We don't have an administrative hierarchy in place that moves pastors around; we let the Holy Spirit work through His people. It's a wonderfully complicated process with lots of moving parts -- which I figure gives God lots of room to work!

"In short, though, my name was suggested by one of my seminary professors through a member of the congregation," he continues. "After a process of discernment and interviews, the congregation voted to extend a Divine Call to me, and after much prayer and deliberation, I accepted it. Ultimately, we view the call as coming from God, working through the people who are involved in the process."

"We believe that God sends the Holy Spirit to guide us in calling the right man to lead us," says Brent S. Garner, chairman of the Elders Ministry Team at Holy Trinity. "In Pastor Longman's case, he had a great background to relate to people, lead our church in a new direction and create a positive, loving atmosphere."

Holy Trinity "is a wonderful and remarkable congregation! With a 57-year history, I will be only the fourth pastor the congregation has ever had," Longman says. "The congregation is stable, healthy and faithful."

Longman explains that there are three large Lutheran church bodies in the United States, "plus a whole bunch of smaller ones." His, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), is the second largest and more conservative than the largest, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

"We believe, teach and confess that we are all sinful, but that God in His love and grace sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who took our sins upon Himself and died on the cross, taking our punishment and giving us His own righteousness and the promise of eternal life with Him," Longman explains. "Lutherans are known for the 'Solas' of our theology (from the Latin word for 'only'): We are saved by God's grace alone, through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and God's Word alone is the source of all authority and truth. If you visit Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, you will notice that Jesus Christ is at the center of everything."

Where he believes he can serve the church is outreach, something that was his primary role at his previous church.

"What we do on Sunday is meant to build us up and strengthen us to go out and love others for the rest of the week. Because of my past experience, my entire approach to ministry is 'outwardly focused,' which is a really good fit for the work that God has given us to do here in Rogers."

NAN Religion on 07/13/2019

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