Marking a milestone

Pastor Warner celebrates 30 years

LAUREL — A Laurel minister marked his 30th anniversary last week.

Yes, June 18 was a special day for Pastor Jeffery Warner. Warner, 58, has been leading Immanuel Lutheran Church in Laurel for nine years this upcoming October.

Growing up and graduating from Plainview High School, ministry was not always Warner’s goal. In fact, it really wasn’t something he’d considered until another pastor suggested the idea.

A graduate of Wayne State College with a double major in English, Warner said he planned on continuing to graduate school but was unsure of his exact path.

“In those days, my church attendance was dropping off,” he said.

He said he was frustrated with the pastor, because he did not enjoy how his sermon was taught.

“I was having a hard time,” said Warner. “I would go to church, and the pastor would get up there and read a Bible passage and then he would preach the sermon … that didn’t have very much to do with the passage, or I would be wondering why isn’t he talking about this part or that part.”

Warner said he felt awful and like he was unfairly judging the pastor. In order to not get frustrated, he decided to attend services less often.

“My fiancée asked me, ‘Why aren’t you going to church? I want a man who goes to church,” said Warner.

After sharing with his fiancée and now wife of 35 years, Kim, she informed the pastor of Warner’s concerns, resulting in a meeting.

“He called me into his office and said, ‘Hey, I heard you don’t like my preaching,’” said Warner. “He was very good-humored about it, and he explained why he did what he did.”

It was in this meeting the pastor suggested, because of Warner’s critical eye, it may be the Lord’s way of saying he should try being a minister. Warner said after that conversation, he began considering seminary.

He soon attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Mo., but was still not positive about his career path.

“I wasn’t convinced I was gonna be a pastor, but thought I would go try it out and see whether it was a fit for me or not,” said Warner.

He claims he tried to quit three separate times within the first year, but the dean of students encouraged him to continue.

After successfully getting through school, Warner did an internship at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Ferrin, Ill. At this location, he was half-time in the parish and half-time in prison ministry.

His first full-time parish was at First Trinity Lutheran Church in Beatrice.

After his time there, Warner served on the Omaha Indian Reservation as a missionary at large for around eight years. While there, Warner worked with the mental health staff and the development office and served as a chaplain in their nursing facility.

“I got to learn a lot about another culture and another way of life,” said Warner. “Being there taught me a lot about ministering to the individuals. No matter where they are or how they are.”

Warner’s next years were spent part-time at Zion Lutheran Church in Bancroft. He taught religion classes to the 6th-8th-graders in the church’s small Lutheran school. His three children, Erik, Noah and McKenna, attended the school.

Eventually, the mission closed, and the congregation couldn’t afford to pay a full-time pastor, said Warner. In order to not burden the church, Warner began looking for additional employment.

“I figured all my forefathers had raised their own cattle, and done all these other things,” said Warner. “So, I looked around, but I couldn’t find anything for the longest time.” Finally, Warner found another job as a chaplain for an Aseracare Hospice in Norfolk. After a year of doing both the parish and hospice chaplaincy, Zion Lutheran peacefully released Warner. He began to work full-time as a hospice chaplain and continued for eight years. “I think I served around 2,000 families in a 60-mile radius of Norfolk,” said Warner. “I loved working as a hospice chaplain; it really sharpened my skills to help people know that not everyone is going through the same thing at the end of life.” While serving in his role, Immanuel Lutheran Church needed a pastor. “Since I wasn’t preaching anywhere on Sundays, I came and was helping out with them, and they ended up asking me to stay,” said Warner.

Warner’s work in Laurel and with Immanuel Lutheran Church began in 2016, making it nearly nine years of fulltime ministry.

With numerous roles in religious service, Warner believes the most growth has come out of his ministry.

“I used to be a lot more of an academically-based preacher. My mind early on was very much in the books,” said Warner.

With time, Warner has learned and applied life knowledge to his congregation and sermons.

“You just have to live that life. Go through and experience those heartaches, and go through the life crises, grief, fears and the things everybody deals with, before you can come to a point where you are talking to people where they live,” said Warner.

To people looking to get into ministry, Warner said patience and life experiences are essential to growth and development.

“It took a while for me to get it out of my head that I knew how things should be,” said Warner. “Instead, I needed to learn how to let God work with the people that he has worked with. I learned that I have got to slow down and plant seeds and water seeds and let God give the growth.”

Warner said his personal growth over the years can be attributed to the Lord.

“I think about how God has taken me from a kind of rough around the edges young man and chiseled and fashioned me through the years by his grace,” said Warner. “I am in awe that God can take a dairy farm kid and turn him into a preacher, and he did.”

As he continues his ministry in Laurel, Warner said he hopes to help the people in the Laurel community and church grow in numbers as well as their faith.