Interim Pastor
Pastor Ed Crotty has accepted our call to serve as interim pastor. Plans call for him to be in the office on Mondays and Wednesdays plus lead worship and preach on Sundays. He is open to helping with confirmation and other established ministries. Pr. Crotty shares this information about himself with us:
After being re-elected as a District Court Judge I felt a call to the ministry and moved from Hickory to attend Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. Our youngest daughter was only a few months old. My two calls were to churches in the steel mill towns outside of Pittsburgh. Anne and I moved to Charlotte in 1996 to be closer to her elderly parents. I served St. Thomas Lutheran Church, near Eastland Mall, for almost thirteen years before retiring on February 1, 2009. In May of 2009 I began an interim ministry at Lutheran Chapel in Gastonia and served until mid-August 2010. In September 2010, I began what became an intentional interim ministry at Holy Communion in Dallas where we worked together to address some challenging situations. This call ended last month. In May 2011, I was certified as an Intentional Interim Minister by the Center for Congregational Health. Since 2009, I have been active in Karios Prison Ministry. Recently I have become active in Via de Cristo.
Anne, my wife of almost forty years, and I joined St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Charlotte. She enjoys more freedom to lead since she is no longer the “pastor’s wife.” Currently she serves as president of the congregation. She directs the immigration clinic at International House, a Charlotte non-profit. We have three adult children. Susan teaches at a university in Dubai, Marian is in a PhD program at Florida State and is now overseas on a Fulbright research grant; and Elizabeth is starting her second year of law school in Chicago.
Pastor Crotty holds degrees from numerous universities: a B.S from Boston University, M.Ed. From University of Georgia, J.D. from University of North Carolina, an M.Div. from Trinity Lutheran Seminary and a D.Min. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is an Army veteran.
Sheila Wallace has served as Parish Administrator at Good Shepherd since 2000. Among her many duties are: receptionist, secretary to the Pastor, editor/publisher of the newsletter and weekly worship bulletin, webmaster, maintaining the parish register and databases among other duties. She and husband, Tom, are parents of adult twin sons and have two Lutheran pastors in their immediate family.
Sexton
Beverly Couto has served as sexton since 2010. She is creative, multi-talented, and very organized. She keeps the church sparkling clean and fresh as our sexton and plays many roles in ministry as a volunteer.