Pastor Phil Spaude of Lord of Lords

Phil Spaude, a 1983 graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been pastor of Lord of Lords Lutheran Church, Casper, Wyoming since 2001. He attended a four year college preparatory school called MLS in Saginaw, Michigan and graduated from Northwestern College in Watertown, Wisconsin in 1979. He has also served congregations in Kansas City, Missouri and Beatrice, Nebraska.

Our goal as a congregation is first to nurture and strengthen the faith of all of our people. Our Bible studies and Christian education classes must center on Jesus Christ as the source of our strength. We want every member to be active in a Christian education class. One key teaching of Scripture that Martin Luther rediscovered is that every Christian in a sense is a priest (1 Peter 2:9). One application of this teaching is that the more people we have teaching a Sunday School or Bible School class or their kids at home, the more they are growing as well.

Then too we try to lead our people to understand what their spiritual gifts are (like administration, music, teaching, mercy ministry, evangelism) so that they can serve as priests in meaningful ministry and become fully equipped.

We also put much time into our worship planning, especially sermon preparation, that must be Christ-centered with real life applications. A well memorized sermon that reflects the truth of God's word still is one of the best avenues we have to inspire God's people to live the Christian life. We also emphasize a rich devotional and prayer life. Although Christians have used the Lord's Day (Sunday) for worship for centuries, one dose of God's Word on one day of the week was never designed "to do it all." As we feed our faith more regular portions of God's Word between Sundays, the Holy Spirit blesses our efforts and our faith in Christ, and our love for one another grows.

Our second great goal is outreach to the unchurched, unbelieving in our community. If it's true that Jesus Christ is the best thing that has ever happened to me, then he will also be the best thing that has ever happened to the more than 50% of people here in Casper who do not know Him by faith. We have a huge pool of people to reach with the gospel! Christians who have the gospel of Jesus Christ need encouragement and training in order to fulfill the purpose for which God put them here. In a broad way we might say that our mission as long as we are breathing is: 1) to come to faith, 2) to grow in our faith, 3) to live our faith, and 4) to share our faith.