Hello brothers and sisters,

First let me say Thank you for all your thoughts, prayers, words of kindness, gifts in the fabulous basket, and the book you created in which many of you shared some of your histories and words of advice of things to see and do here on the Cape. You are a deeply gracious and thoughtful congregation, and you should know that! Not every pastor experiences such a warm and thoughtful welcome. Thank you!

For this first newsletter since I’ve come aboard here at FLC it only seems natural that I introduce myself. I’m Pastor Derek, or Pastor Cheek, or just Pastor—but mostly I go by Derek. I’ve had that name the longest, and I am certainly not offended when you call me by it. I don’t have a need to be addressed in any particular way, though I prefer not to be called rude names. I certainly have been before, and sometimes I probably even deserved it.

And that brings me to a second thought, I am certainly just as human as any of you. Lutherans have a fancy Latin phrase for this: “simul iustus et peccator.” It means that we’re at all times simultaneously saints, declared righteous by God’s grace through faith in Christ, while also being sinners. It is true of me, and its true of you. I’m not a perfect guy. I will try my best to pastor you, but I’ll mess up. I’ll try to lead you in a positive direction to build God’s Kingdom, but not all my ideas will work out the way I hoped.

That sums up the human condition of all Christians. We’ve been adopted into God’s family through the waters of baptism. But so long as we remain in this body we continue to be flawed and to make mistakes. Of course, with God’s help—especially through the work of the Holy Spirit in us—we’re supposed to be improving and growing more Christ-like. For most of us that looks a bit like the Stockmarket indexes, with a lot of ups and downs, but hopefully a generally upward trending slope.

As a “pastor,” a spiritual shepherd, I’m just a regular person like everyone else. I’ve simply been called and trained to carry out a specific function within Christ’s Body, the Church. Among German speaking people pastors are sometimes referred to as “Seelsorger”; which roughly means “physicians of the soul.” Like any other doctors we’ve spent time in study of things which affect health: both positively and negatively. Pastors do our job by practicing spiritual medicine—which means we offer advice and guidance to help people grow healthier in their souls, just as regular physicians do for our physical selves.

I’ve been blessed to be able to do this as an ordained minister for the last 24 years, and as a lay minister for 5 years before that. I worked as a minister for families and youth in Dayton, OH, while attending seminary. After graduation I was ordained and was sent to a congregation in rural Missouri, where I served for 5 years. I learned a lot from those brothers and sisters, as I cared for them. Then I was called by a congregation in Olean, NY, where I served for the last 19 years—the last 4 adding a second congregation in Allegany, just a couple miles away. I also served as Dean of the 20 or so congregations of Southwestern NY.

I feel very blessed by the time I spent there and the things we accomplished together for God’s Kingdom. The people in both churches, and the conference, are wonderful folks, and we parted on sweet terms. To use a sports analogy, I feel I left everything I had on the field there. It is time for a new leader to come along and take them a little further down the path.

I feel the same way as I settle in here. You’ve had many good, and godly leaders. Some settled pastors who stayed awhile, and others who simply filled in for a season. But all of them have offered you God’s grace and mercy, and have cast a vision for how to move forward into uncertain days with the Gospel. Now as I get to know you, I’ll be listening to your heartbeat, taking your blood pressure, and tapping on your knee with a little rubber hammer.

I’ll be assessing where you are, health wise. I’ll be listening to where you want to go as a congregation. Not just in the next year, but where you want to be in 5 and 10 years, too. I’ll be working up a health plan to put us on the road to get us there. And I’ll probably be making some adjustments to how we do things together to position us to welcome new folks more easily into our midst. And I know that’s not necessarily exciting to many—like when our regular doctor tells us to cut back on whatever, and to start exercising more... But we also know that’s always the inevitable result of a new pastor coming in.

I look forward to getting to know each of you better. I look forward to growing together as disciples of Jesus. And I am excited to be working side by side with you to reach others with the Good News of a God who loves us all.

Peace, Derek