IBEW LU 697 Member Called to Ministery

http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto-story/news/z1/05-30-04_z1_news_10.html




Electrician uses spiritual spark to join ministry By Kass Stone / Post-Tribune correspondent
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Hobart On Tuesday, Scott Mauch will officially begin the next phase of his life. The longtime Hobart resident will become pastor of Lebanon's Trinity Lutheran Church.
Mauch, 46, has worked for 26 years as an electrician out of Hammond-based IBEW Local No. 697. In the early 1990s he began taking courses at Purdue University Calumet in order to earn a degree in electrical engineering.
But it soon became evident to him that electrical engineering was not his calling. Instead, he found himself drawn to the social sciences. In 1998 he graduated from PUC with a B.A. in clinical psychology.
"I just got to liking working with people," Mauch said. "I just loved my psychology and sociology classes."
Shortly after receiving his degree, Mauch's pastor at Hobart's Augustana Lutheran Church, Ron Deck, suggested that he enter the clergy. Mauch accompanied Deck to Chicago's Lutheran School of Theology and once there, became convinced to enter clergy.
"As soon as I visited there, I knew it was the right place for me," said Mauch. "I had this overwhelming sense of peace come over me."
For the next five years, Mauch worked full time as an electrician and attended classes three days a week. For the last year as a seminarian, Mauch apprenticed himself to a church in Jackson, Mich. This put a considerable strain on his wife of 27 years, Sherry, because she became the household's sole bread-earner. Scott had to take a leave of absence from his job in order to take the apprenticeship.
"It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be," Sherry said. "Everything just fell into place. I didn't think we could do it, but it just did all fall together.
After completing his seminary studies, Mauch was asked to take over as pastor for Lebanon's Trinity Lutheran Church. He accepted, and this May he was ordained by Bishop James Stuck of the Indiana/Kentucky Lutheran Synod at a ceremony held at Hobart's Augustana Lutheran Church.
While excited at starting a next chapter in their lives, Scott and Sherry are sad to be leaving Northwest Indiana.
The couple have lived in the region their entire lives and regret that they have to leave their friends and family, particularly their children and grandchildren.
Sherry is also worried about what her new role as a pastor's wife will be and how she will fulfill that role in their new home.
"I don't know how that will be," said Sherry. "Scott has four years of training to be a pastor, but there is no training on how to be a pastor's wife."