Meet the editorial staff: Enderle
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This month, Forward in Christ welcomes Jeff Enderle to the editorial staff as the newest Bible study contributor.
The gospel is the focus of Enderle’s Bible studies. He hopes to demonstrate how the message that Jesus lived, died, and rose again for us should be central to daily life.
“Sometimes we get so caught up in our responsibilities that we treat the good news as an afterthought rather than the main concern,” he explains. “It gives us the power, strength, peace, and comfort to meet other challenges. If the gospel is the key part of our lives, it will come out in all the things that we do.”
The gospel message was part of Enderle’s daily activities from an early age. His father served as a pastor at Christ, Grand Island, Neb. Enderle recalls helping his father with basic Sunday worship preparations such as using a mimeograph machine to print out the weekly bulletins. Occasionally, he or one of his siblings would travel with his father to a mission site for a second Sunday worship service in the afternoon.
Seeing his father serve and developing a love for sharing God’s Word, Enderle pursued the ministry himself. He attended Nebraska Evangelical Lutheran High School, Waco, Neb.; Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn.; and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., graduating in 2002.
Enderle currently serves at Christ the Rock, Farmington, N.M. He was called to the congregation “to reach out to the cross-cultural communities of the Four Corners,” including the Navajo nation and Hispanic groups.
“We’re blessed that our church reflects the whole of our community,” he says. “We have a diverse congregation.”
While cross-cultural ministry has its challenges, those challenges can bring about opportunities to share the gospel message.
“We had a funeral for a gentleman who was a member, but he hadn’t been coming to church for a while,” Enderle recalls. “After his funeral, we were able to reach out to his wife and her family, who are Navajo. She began to come back to church. I would visit her parents on the Navajo reservation in the same way I would conduct a regular shut-in visit.”
Soon, a few members of this family began taking Bible Information Classes.
“It’s a tragic, heartbreaking situation,” Enderle continues. “But, because of it, we are blessed with an opportunity as they turn to their church, their pastor, and the gospel.”
The next nearest WELS church to Christ the Rock is about three hours away. Knowing this, Endrele is thankful for the connection he and the members have to the synod, which will hopefully be enriched even further through his Bible studies in Forward in Christ.
“Our people really appreciate the strong bond of faith and prayer we have with WELS,” says Enderle.
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Volume 106, Number 2
Issue: February 2019
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