Pastor Michael Huntley

May God’s blessings be with you!

I feel blessed and humbled to be called to serve such a diverse, caring and gifted congregation as I do here at Good Shepherd, Morristown. Since I arrived in September 2003, I have been inspired to see the depth of faith, the strength of talents and gifts, the love and caring attitude of the members, and the strength of this community in Christ. If you are not a member or have not worshipped with the people of Good Shepherd, then I hope you will take the opportunity to come worship with us.

Here’s a bit of my history—as a child, I lived in a variety of places, including Modesto and Lodi California; Denver, Colorado; and Missoula, Montana. After graduating from high school in Missoula, I went to the U. S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO and I graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. I then served in the Air Force for five years at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida as a Flight Test Engineer and Electrical Design and Test Engineer. During that time I earned a Master of Science degree from Florida State University in Electrical Engineering.

During my time in Florida, God began to tickle my spirit with the question of serving Him as a pastor. This “tickling” was brought from the back of my mind to the front when my pastor suggested that I think about this question of whether or not I am called to ministry. I thought there was no way I could be a pastor, and I told him that I felt I could serve God just fine as the youth leader in our congregation (Messiah Lutheran Church of Panama City). A few months later, my pastor left to serve another congregation, and the Interim Pastor who followed him also encouraged me to consider whether or not God was calling me into the ministry. I prayed about it, and I visited a seminary in Ohio. When I returned, I thought I would pray about it for a week and make a decision. During that week, as I was considering this question, two or three different people (who didn’t know I was pondering this question) asked me the same thing; “Have you ever thought about being a Lutheran pastor?” This intriguing “external call,” coupled with an internal feeling that I would rather do something with eternal ramifications (i.e. ministry) as opposed to something with temporary ramifications (i.e. engineering things that will eventually be obsolete) moved me to begin the process of attending seminary and being ordained as a Lutheran pastor.

So, I attended seminary from 1994 to 1997 and I served as an intern at Garden of Peace Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg, Florida from 1997 to 1998. I then graduated from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree in 1998, and I accepted a call to serve Zion Lutheran Church of Philo, Illinois (near Champaign/Urbana) from 1998 to 2003. The people of Zion are marvelous people, and I cannot think of a better “first call” anywhere else. During that time, I also served as the Transportation Team Leader at the 2000 ELCA Youth Gathering in St. Louis, Missouri, where I was responsible for safely transporting 15,000+ people to and from hotels, servant events, and community visits. I also served on the Central/Southern Illinois Synod Task Force on Human Sexuality.

I hope your “visit” to Good Shepherd’s website has been informative and uplifting! Now that you have had an opportunity to learn a little about me, I hope that I can also have an opportunity to learn a little about you. If you have any questions, then give me a call at the church, (423) 586-1621 or on my cell phone, (423) 231-4789.

May God bless you and abide with you!

Pastor Mike