“Go in peace, confident that your Lord will be with you,” said Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS civilian chaplain to the military, on April 26 at Trinity, El Paso, Tex.

Ziemer was concluding the “Farewell and Godspeed” rite used by WELS Military Services. The April 26 worship service was designed for members of Wisconsin’s 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, who were heading overseas for active duty later that week.

These members of Wisconsin’s National Guard had been training at Fort Bliss in Texas. While there, servicemen and women worshiped at Trinity, El Paso. Master Sergeant Andrew Phelps, a member at St. Matthew, Janesville, Wis., helped coordinate these trips to Trinity.

“Pastor Caauwe and the entire Trinity congregation were absolutely wonderful in every respect,” notes Phelps. “The first Sunday I attended alone and was immediately welcomed and felt very comfortable. As time went by, word spread, and we had perhaps 20 or so soldiers attending. It was very warming to be able to worship together. Although each of us is planning on spending time in Iraq, with any challenges and risks we will encounter, the reassurance that Christ is in control melts the fears.”

Sergeant First Class Sherri O’Neal, a member at St. John, Waterloo, Wis., adds, “The church was a very welcome one and made me feel a little closer to home.”

Johann Caauwe, pastor at Trinity, says that 27 members of the 32nd—16 of those current WELS members—attended Trinity in the weeks leading up to their deployment. “I appreciated the opportunity to serve these men and women. Even though I only saw them for a few weeks, their names and faces will remain with me for some time as I remember them and their families in my own prayers.”

More than 40 WELS members are part of the 32nd Infantry Brigade. WELS Military Services has been working to identify these members so that it can minister to them while they are overseas. As Mark Vance, programs and communication director for the Military Services Committee, explains, “The military will grant us access to our troops overseas,
but they need a detailed list of which people we want to see and where they are stationed.”

As for Phelps, he says, “I am looking forward to a visit from Pastor Ziemer, complete with helmet and body armor.”

If you or someone you know is being called to active duty, fill out a military referral form at archive.wels.net/jump/referral