Pastor considers the ministry a privilege

The Rev. Mark Schaefer "It's a privilege to be called because all of us are called to be in a ministry for Jesus," said the Rev. Mark Schaefer, senior pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Agoura Hills. "There could be nothing better than a calling as a pastor," he said, describing it as a commitment to "raise others to the job and prepare others for work in His service."

Schaefer's father, a Lutheran minister presently serving in York, Pa., was influential in his son's decision to enter the ministry.

Mark obtained his bachelor of arts degree in family counseling from the University of Maryland in College Park, Md., and received a master of divinity degree in 2000 from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. Then he was called to the pastorate at St. Paul.

Schaefer met his wife, Lisa, "who's the musical one," in a Christian ministry group that performed in 26 states across the nation. They have two sons: Matthew, 8, and Nathan, 6, who are schooled in their Agoura Hills home under the Trinity Pacific Christian method.

Schaefer serves the 300 members of St. Paul, which began in 1965 as a mission church in Calabasas. The congregation moved to its present site at 30600 Thousand Oaks Blvd. in Agoura Hills in 1968.

Worship services are 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. each Sunday. Bible studies are 9:15 a.m. on Wednesdays and 10 a.m. Thursdays, with home study groups meeting each Friday.

Special Easter worship services are scheduled for 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. on Sun., April 16, and an Easter egg hunt for children is planned to begin at 9:45 a.m.

Church members are also planning a rummage sale from 7 a.m. to noon on Sat., May 20.

For additional information about St. Paul Lutheran Church, please call (818) 889-1620.