Pastor's Bio

Pastor

Hi!

My name is Jeff Heimsoth, and I have served as pastor of St. Peter since July 12, 1987. Some people call me Pastor Heimsoth, while others just call me Pastor.

This title is a reflection of what I do here. I “pastor” people which means I help to bring healing and peace to peoples’ lives. I do this by connecting them to Jesus Christ who is the only source for healing and peace.

I was not always a pastor nor is that all I am today. I am also a husband, married to my college sweetheart, Nancy, in 1980. God has blessed us with three children—Jeremy, Erika and Emily. Actually they aren’t kids anymore. Emily is the only one still in high school and Jeremy was married this July.

Time goes so quickly. It doesn’t seem very long ago that I was a young boy growing up on a small farm outside of Cole Camp, Missouri. I earned an A.A. degree at St. Paul’s College (Concordia, Missouri) and a B.A. degree in secondary education with a major in mathematics from Concordia College (River Forrest, Illinois). After teaching at a Lutheran high school in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area for three years we packed everything and went to St. Louis, Missouri where I attended Concordia Seminary.

Why did we do it? One of my geometry students challenged me one day wondering when he would ever use the things we were studying in real life. I dutifully told him that one day he’d need the skills learned in that class. In my heart I knew he would get along fine without geometry. I decided then that I needed to move on. If I was going to sell something, it would be something I truly believed in. And that is why I became a pastor.

I guess it really isn’t so different from when I was plowing fields on a farm in Missouri. It’s just that now the harvest involves people. I want everyone to come to know the truth about life—life that will last forever. I want everyone to come to know Jesus—the giver of life!

St. Peter Lutheran Church and School

Pastor

St. Peter Lutheran Church
and School