The congregation of St. John’s Lutheran Church invites the community to join them as the Rev. Rhodes Woolly is installed as senior pastor at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 29.The formal message will be given by Woolly’s friend of many years, the Rev. Mark Fitzsimmons of Lutheran Church of the Nativity, Arden.
The community is invited to join in the celebration and meet Woolly at a reception to follow in the fellowship hall immediately after the service.
Woolly is the son of Don and Judy Woolly of Columbia, S.C. Don Woolly is a retired Lutheran minister. Woolly was born in Gastonia, where he lived until the age of 7. Reared in Columbia, where his father had a church, Woolly spent summers at Lutheridge and graduated from Lenoir-Rhyne University. He earned a master’s degree from The University of South Carolina in international studies. He is a 1996 graduate of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. Woolly, 42, his wife Krista, and their three children, Carter, Matthew and Anna, come to St. John’s from Bethel Lutheran Church in Winchester, Va., where they served for 13 years.
A primary focus of Woolly’s ministry is global service, necessary as an outreach of the church. His former church sponsored adult ministries in Tunisia, India and the Philippines. Because this global connection is strong in Woolly’s concept of the church, he hopes to encourage an outreach to missions worldwide.
“I feel strongly that the vision of the church is discerned,” Woolly said. “It is not the vision of a single person, but it is what the church does best: love and serve God.”Reaching out to those who need the extended hand of friendship through global missions is a form of discipleship, he added.
Woolly firmly believes in a ministry that exists from the bottom up, not a top-down leadership model. The pastor’s role, he said, is to lead a ministry by finding God’s purpose for all. Putting congregants in touch with their spiritual gifts, whether it is to be the best father or the most committed cook, the church ministry is based on the gifts of the people and the love of Christ. The minister of the church, he said, is charged with encouraging the gifts of the people who generate the work of the church.
Central to Woolly’s ministry is a strong integration of music and song. A guitarist, Woolly will use music as an avenue to share the Gospel and combine the emotional value of his ministry with the cognitive value.
“Music is the emotional expression of the Word, for me,” he said. “A careful balance of the head and the heart is necessary and music brings the two together.”