The Rev. Jeremy Ullrich and the Rev. Amanda Ullrich

ELCA Pastors for Congregations in Texas

Pastor Jeremy serves at Shepherd King Lutheran Church in Lubbock, Texas. Pastor Amanda serves at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Levelland, Texas, and St. Martin Lutheran Church in Littlefield, Texas. They both have been serving since July 2014.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

This question haunted me, Amanda, since the sixth grade when I took my first “test” intended to magically determine what I would do with the rest of my life. It never worked.

I met my husband, Jeremy, my freshman year at Texas Lutheran University. He had known he wanted to be a pastor since high school, having seen the power of the gospel to transform broken relationships and felt called to ministry. I, however, explored two majors before the idea of attending seminary became a conscious thought. But I just couldn’t figure it out: How could Jeremy and I both serve as pastors and be married and have a family? How would we find two open positions close enough together? How would we pay for it all? Did I even have what it took to be a pastor?

Once the thought occurred, it just wouldn’t go away. I learned more and more about the pain and brokenness in the world around me – grief, illness and disasters – and all the brokenness of our own making – wars, conflict and poverty. But I also saw the power of the gospel to change our experience of reality – to turn the pains of our world into labor pains – the birth of new life.

So together we said yes to seminary, to ordained ministry. Since then, the Holy Spirit has continued to reveal all the details that I just could not figure out. I thank God for these first few years of ministry and look forward to following the Spirit’s call for years to come as we continue to learn what it means to be the body of Christ today.