Faith without fail: The Rev. Steven Michael Malone is nearing a decade of service as pastor

The Rev. Steven Michael Malone grew up going to church every Wednesday and twice on Sunday during summers with his grandfather. He is nearing a decade of service as pastor, half of them as the pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church. Malone said Sundays are his favorite day of the week and that he loves preparing to preach and teaching. He loves fishing and bluegrass music.

How long have you been involved with a church? I grew up in a nominally Christian home. I spent the summers of my youth in the mountains of east Tennessee, where my granddad would take me to church every Wednesday evening and twice on Sunday without fail. As a child, I was involved in a Baptist church. In high school, I attended a Nazarene church with friends.

How long have you been a member of your faith? Some of what I heard in the churches I attended in my youth reached me, to be sure, but I always sensed something was missing, at least for me. My first exposure to Lutheran liturgy and theology happened when I transferred to a Lutheran university, Valparaiso University.

From the first service, I was awe-struck by the beauty and the words of the liturgy. Several weeks later, an announcement appeared in the Sunday morning bulletin inviting students to attend a class that would culminate in an affirmation of faith. Also in that announcement was an invitation to receive instruction in preparation for baptism. I signed up for that class, in which I studied harder and learned more than I remember learning in any class I took as a Valpo student. Through that class, I recognized I could articulate the gospel for the first time in my life. In hindsight, I could now see that Lutheran liturgy was so beautiful, in large part because in every word spoken or sung in the liturgy is the Word of God. At the heart and core of the liturgy is the gospel. On the first Sunday in Advent in 1984 I was baptized in the Chapel of the Resurrection on the campus of Valparaiso University.

What drew you to serve the church in a leadership role? My involvement in the church continued after college. Pastors began to encourage me to consider formal preparation for a call to the church. I remember some long conversations about the possibility of becoming a pastor. I also remember waiting foolishly and, I later learned, ignorantly ... for a more direct sign -- perhaps even the audible voice of God or the appearance of an angel before I could be sure I should become a pastor.

Not until a year or so of seminary training, years after the formative experience of Valpo, did I arrive at a Lutheran understanding of vocation, in general, and the call to the church as pastor in particular. Through my machinations, I delayed my decision to enter the seminary for a decade.

What education/background/studies did you go through to become a pastor? I received my formal theological education at an excellent institution -- Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. My time at Concordia Seminary was an intellectual awakening and wholly transformative experience. I am still learning. Last August, I earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago. Currently, I am a second year Ph.D. student at St. Louis University. I am training to become a professional historian focused on the intellectual and cultural history of early modern Europe. I will be writing my dissertation on the topic of the rise of historical consciousness in early modernity.

Where are you from and when did you move to the area? I grew up in the shadow of the steel mills along the shore of Lake Michigan. My family moved here from Indianapolis.

What do you think makes this church special? Among the most reliable barometer I know to answer this question is what visitors say about a congregation, especially after a couple of visits. I try to listen for the substance of what attracted a visitor to this congregation, which is often a better measure than what the congregation says about itself. For instance, a congregation might say, "we are like a family" or "we are a warm and friendly church."

Visitors might help you understand the congregation is like a family all right -- a closed, dysfunctional family -- or visitors might help you understand that the congregation is warm and friendly -- to each other -- but cold as ice to those who seek to become part of their fellowship. My favorite comment about this congregation was made by a former pastor to St. Mark whom I invited to preach in my absence. I thought he and the congregation would both benefit by his onetime presence in the pulpit -- as a visitor.

He said, "When I was pastor here, this place was full. There were people everywhere, but this congregation was spiritually empty. Now, as I look around this morning I see a few empty spaces in the pews, but St. Mark is spiritually full. Years from now, if I am blessed to return, I am confident that I will find St. Mark to be both spiritually full and very few if any empty spaces in the pews." I believe that people today are longing for the depth, richness and clarity of the gospel. Here, that depth, richness and clarity of the Gospel is palpable in the joy of this congregation, and that is special, indeed.

What's your favorite verse and why? 1 John 1:1-4, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched -- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete." This text speaks to the apostolic witness of the word made flesh. We continue to rely upon the direct, tangible witness of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In communion with others, centered in the cross, we are given to experience what "they" heard, saw and touched through the lives and faith of those whose fellowship is shared among those whose fellowship is with the father with his son, Jesus Christ. In that communion, on the sunny days and when the rains come, there is joy now in the Kingdom of God that will one day be made complete.

What program have you done with your church that you are proud of and why? This question is difficult to answer in part because my answer will not fit the mold of naming one or more programs. From the music that fills the sanctuary, to vibrant social ministry, our women's Bible study and even to the beer made by our Spirit Club, there are wonderful "programs" at St. Mark. To answer this question forthrightly, however, I must talk about our past as people and pastor.

Shakespeare once wrote in "The Tempest" that, "What is past is prologue," which I take to mean is not to say that what is past determines the future or that history necessarily repeats itself. With this congregation, I share an experience that is truly rare and quite extraordinary. Together we faced a nightmarish conflict perhaps best described metaphorically as a storm. I accepted the call to St. Mark knowing that conflict was almost certain. The call committee, expecting their new pastor would face church conflict, pledged individually and collectively to remain together so as to support their new pastor.

The prologue to my ministry here is common: A handful of people held too much power within the congregation for far too long. In our case, the laity eventually recognized that a small group of people were expressing, "an unhealthy sense of church ownership" with terrible past and present consequences and hurt persisting behind the scenes. Predecessor pastors had especially been hurt. Very early, this small group became aggressive, especially determined to control and eventually hurt me as they had other pastors.

We proactively engaged the efforts of this group by requesting they relinquish just some of the power they had held for many years. We asked them to share. The response of the most powerful among them was immediate, aggressive and vitriolic. This group sustained their efforts for several years, even long after leaving the congregation. Within most congregations that face this type of all-too-common conflict, there is a precipitous loss of membership followed by the loss of the pastor who is blamed for the losses. Sadly, we did lose members. Inevitably, the small number of people who caused the conflict return to the congregation now emboldened to repeat the past. In our case, the past may be prologue, but the past did not repeat itself. I am unaware of a congregation that has met the kind of conflict faced by this congregation in such an open and healthy way centered in the gospel.

St. Mark not only stayed the course through the storm with their pastor, but emerged as an even more joyous and healthy congregation. Adversity often provides the kind of crossroad that defines who we are. St. Mark faced the unnecessary and painful adversity created by a handful of people always seeking reconciliation in response to the gospel. I will never forget the extraordinary way in which this congregation responded to what is sadly all too common, a prologue to irrevocable damage leading sometimes to the irreversible decline of a congregation.

What events or occasions does your church have coming up? We will begin brewing in our Spirit Club soon. Our Oktoberfest will be on Oct. 24. Also, we have a vibrant preschool that will begin this year with an excellent new director.

What's your favorite day of the week and why? With a family that includes a wife, two young boys, new puppies, serving as pastor to St. Mark, and entering the second year of a Ph.D. program, there is little downtime. I suppose my favorite day is Sunday, because everything comes together on Sundays with church and usually a lot of family time.

What hobbies do you have? Fishing with my boys and dreaming about days past and hopefully to come on rivers communing with the trout. Since coming to St. Mark, I have been finishing our full basement, which I suppose, means that carpentry is a hobby. In completing my basement, I am also building a library. I also love bluegrass music.

Do you have a prayer, psalm or verse you would like to give our readers for the day? I would love to say something impractical but nevertheless serious like, "The Gospel of Mark or Romans in relation to the Torah and especially Leviticus." Instead, I offer 2 Corinthians 1:20, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God."