Pastor Eric Silberschmidt » Christ Lutheran Church

The Reverend Eric Silberschmidt has studied everything from political science to journalism, education and even exercise physiology.

Unrelated? To Silberschmidt, his background was perfect preparation for his ministry and his new job as senior pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, on Highway 50 in Paddock Lake.

"One day after I was a pastor for five years, I realized that was the only job that made sense with my educational background," he said. "Political science was about analyzing the world we live in; journalism was about communication. With exercise physiology, I walk into hospitals all the time and I understand what's happening to the person physically. It's helpful in understanding where they're at and what they need."

A native of La Crosse, Silberschmidt said he considered religious work in junior high, but didn't really consider the ministry until later.

"Along the way, there were a couple people who suggested it might be a fit," he said. "As things progressed, there were some experiences that confirmed the direction I needed to go in and that this was the direction I wanted to go in."

He was an associate pastor for three years in Minnesota, then six years at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Portage before being installed July 22, 2001 as pastor in Paddock Lake. He filled a two-year vacancy after the retirement of former pastor, the Reverend Dean Marin. This is Silberschmidt's first senior pastorate.

As a pastor, he said his main strengths are "probably connecting with people and helping them integrate faith and life together."

He hopes to do that, he said, by doing whatever he can to emphasize that worship is more than an activity confined within the church walls.

"One of my focuses is making worship a seven-day-a-week event," he said. "It's not something different we do on Sunday morning than we do the rest of the week."

He also sees a need for the church to play a bigger role in people's lives and the community. "I think there are so many ways the foundations of our society have fallen aside," he said. "There are lots of people who are not near family. All that stuff that held us together and told us who we were, we've lost a lot of that. I see one of the roles of the church being that sort of foundation, a place that gives us community."

Silberschmidt also believes in evangelism as being another important part of the church and all members lives. "I think folks too often when people think of evangelism, they think of television preachers," he said.

He sees it differently. "I try to explain to folks that evangelism is as natural as breathing." he continued, saying that it's like hearing a great song and wanting someone else to hear it. "It's sharing something that's important to you with someone else. It's just that sort of nuts and bolts real life connection."

As a pastor, he sees that as his strength. "I think my strength is connection," both with members and helping them to connect with each other, he said.

Silberschmidt attended the University of Wisconsin Madison, did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse, then attended Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. He was ordained in 1992 in his home church in LaCrosse by the same pastor who baptized and confirmed him, as well as performed his wedding.

He and his wife, Vicki, have three daughters, Suzanne, Erica and Laura.

Article reprinted from the Kenosha News