Congratulations are in order

In keeping with the long-haul theme, I believe there's someone who deserves a big congratulations for his commitment to vocational ministry for the long-haul. These congratulations are a little late, but they are for my dad, who officially retired at the end of July after 46 years as a Pastor.

My dad, Karl Kloppmann, graduated from Grace Seminary in 1971 and later got his Doctorate of Ministry in Pastoral Studies (by correspondence) from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2001.

He began his ministry as the pastor of Village Bible Church in Lansing, Illinois in 1971. Five years later, on July 4th, 1976, he moved to Ephrata, Pennsylvania (where I was born!) to assume his role as the new pastor of Grace Fellowship Church.

He stayed there for sixteen years until the end of 1992, when God led him to First Baptist Church of Warsaw, Indiana (where I married Mike!). At the end of the year 2000, he moved to St. Louis to pastor Brentwood Bible Church, where he served for the last 17 years.

He has written numerous articles for The Gospel Herald and Sunday School Times and also wrote a book titled A Men's Ministry for a Small Church.  In addition to leading a church and writing, he taught as an adjunct professor off and on for Brook's Bible College in St. Louis.

https://www.amazon.com/Mens-Ministry-Small-Church/dp/1594672407

After suffering from a brain injury sustained in a car accident on June 2nd of this year (precisely in the middle of my son, Juan's graduation ceremony), he felt the need to officially retire from his reponsibilities as a pastor so God can bring about a new pastor to guide his church into a new facility in a new location. Brentwood Bible Church will soon move to a different part of St. Louis and will assume the name New Beginning's Bible Church.

My dad has gone through extensive therapy for the last two months to recover and heal from his accident and has made excellent progress, although it has definitely changed his life in more ways than he ever imagined. He continues with some therapy while he is now working through the details to eventually relocate again in order to be closer to family.

Last year, Mike and I made the boys choose between going to camp or a mission trip to LA. When they chose the mission trip, we took off during the week that David would have gone to camp to go on a family vacation to see as much family as possible in one trip. We purposely made it a point to spend a Sunday in St. Louis so Juan David could visit his grandpa's church and watch him preach for the first time. I'm so glad we made that part of our trip so Juan David didn't miss out on that opportunity to hear my dad preach.

Congratulations, Dad. Thanks for being an example of what it means to commit to the long-haul, even when it's not an easy road. You knew your purpose and your calling, and you stuck to it.