Pastor Strey's Weblog

INFORMATION & BIOGRAPHY

Information

Welcome to the blog of the Rev. Johnold J. Strey, associate pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Citrus Heigths, California.  St. Mark’s is affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS).

Here’s the type of content that you can expect to find on this blog:

• Apologetics discussion
• Thoughts on liturgy, church music, and trends in Christian worship
• Sermons preached by Pastor Strey
• Interesting Christian and Lutheran quotations
• Commentary on current events in light of Scripture
• And occasionally some less serious, more light-hearted comments!

Posts, pages, and links on this site often cite sources outside confessional Lutheranism in general or the WELS in particular.  Whatever information is provided is given because of its usefulness relating to one of the subject matters reflected in this blog, but its inclusion should not necessarily be understood as a complete endorsement of the original source.

Comments to posts are welcome, including comments expressing disagreement.  Responses must be cordial: direct and firm comments are okay, but arrogant and rude comments are not acceptable and will be deleted.  Anonymous comments will not be accepted, and a valid email address must be provided.  The comments feature of this site will not be used as a forum for ongoing debate.  Posts will be open to comments for 30 days after the original posting date.  All comments are subject to approval before they are posted; as a result, comments may not be visible to other visitors immediately after they are submitted.  The final decision regarding all comments rests solely with the blog operator.

Biography

Pastor Johnold Strey is originally from Cedarburg, Wisconsin.  He is a graduate of Martin Luther College (BA, 1997), Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (MDiv, 2001), and Santa Clara University (MA in Pastoral Liturgy & Liturgical Music, 2009). As a part of his seminary training, he served as vicar at St. Paul’s First Lutheran Church in North Hollywood, California from August 1999 to August 2000.  He served Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Belmont, California from his ordination and installation on July 15, 2001 to June 12, 2011.  He was installed as associate pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Citrus Heights, California on July 3, 2011, where he oversees the areas of worship and adult discipleship.  In addition to his pastoral responsibilities at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, he serves the WELS at large in the following capacities:

• Arizona-California District Worship Coordinator (2006 to present; a member of the District Worship Committee since 2004)
• School of Worship Enrichment Presenter/Consultant (2007 to present)
• Christian Worship Supplement Introduction Committee member (2006-08)
• Presenter at the National Conference on Worship, Music, and the Arts (2008, 2011)
• Chairman of the Northern California Delegate Conference (2003 to present)

Pastor Strey and his wife, Emily, were married in the summer of 2000.  Emily is a graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran College (BA in Elementary Education & Music Education, 2000).  She taught Kindergarten at St. Matthew Lutheran School in Milwaukee (2000-01), and music and choir at Bayside Middle School in San Mateo, California (2001-03).  During her two years as a middle school teacher, Emily also sang as a member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.  From 2004 to 2011 she taught music classes for Mo Music, a Bay area franchise of Music Together, a nationwide, researched-based music education program for young children.  After moving to Citrus Heights, she now teaches for Capital City Music Together, another Music Together franchise serving the Sacramento area.  Emily’s first article for Forward in Christ magazine was published in the February 2012 edition.  Pastor and Emily have been blessed with two children and are expecting their third child later this year.

Pastor Strey’s published writings include:

• “Proclaiming the Gospel in Worship,” printed in the Fall 2008 edition of Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly (Volume 105, Number 4, pages 248-284), the theological journal of the WELS, edited by the faculty of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (Mequon, Wisconsin); the essay is also available in RTF, PDF, and MP3 files through the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library website at this link.
• General Editor for the Christian Worship: Supplement, Introductory Resources booklet, and author of the booklet’s article, “Prayer of Thanksgiving” (pages 16-19), published in September 2008 and distributed by the WELS Commission on Worship.
• “Christian Worship: Supplement, Divine Services,” printed in the November 2008 (No. 33) edition of Worship the Lord, a bi-monthly worship newsletter for pastors published by the WELS Commission on Worship.
• “Come, Lord Jesus,” a children’s Christmas service published in 2009 by Northwestern Publishing House.
• “Worship Words: Catholicity,” printed in the January 2010 (No. 40) edition of Worship the Lord.

Other resources by Pastor Strey include:

• “Exegesis of Ephesians 1:15-23″, an essay presented to the WELS Arizona-California District Pastoral Conference, meeting at Water of Life Lutheran Church in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 19, 2004.
• Organist Workshop presented at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Citrus Heights, CA on July 22, 2006.
• “Exegetical Presentation on 3 John 9-15″, an essay presented to the WELS Northern California Study Conference, meeting at St. John Lutheran Church in Vacaville, California on April 28, 2008.
• Worship Education and Exploration Month, a workshop presented at the WELS National Conference on Worship, Music, and the Arts, held at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota on July 28-31, 2008; additional resources distributed at the workshop may be found in the Commission on Worship section of the WELS Connect website (a user account and password are required for access to some resources on Connect).
• “Neither Papistic nor Karlstadtian: Luther’s Principles of Adiaphora Applied to the Liturgical Life of the Church”, an essay presented to the WELS Arizona-California District Pastoral Conference, meeting at St. Paul’s First Lutheran Church in North Hollywood, California on October 20, 2009.
• Enhancing the Liturgical Year, a workshop presented at the WELS National Conference on Worship, Music, and the Arts, held at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN and Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN on July 19-22, 2011.

To contact Pastor Strey, send him an email message at jstrey [at] stmarkslutheran [dot] com, or call the St. Mark’s office at 916-961-7891 (ext. 104).

Thank you for visiting!

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