Pastor Drew Tucker was centered and anchored in faith at Augsburg Lutheran Church in Orrville, Ohio. He recalls being an elementary school aged youth when he was first pulled aside and told “you’re going to be a pastor.” While Drew was not so sure about this calling, the congregation invested in him and supported him throughout his life’s explorations. The pastor even took him as a junior high youth to visit a seminary.
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As Drew went to college, he found himself exploring his identity as a Lutheran. He had a sense of wanderlust that led him to travel with a music ministry and learn from mentors in other denominations. As he was preparing for graduation from college, Pastor Drew acknowledges wrestling with whether or not the ELCA was truly where his gifts were best utilized. Drew shares his thankfulness that nobody “gave up” on him when he went to explore. He was always welcomed back home joyfully and with open conversation.

When Drew decided to go to Duke Divinity school, he recalls the Northeastern Ohio Synod staff being supportive of his formational journey, but also made sure to check in with his experience. Bishop Eaton (then Northeastern Ohio Synod’s bishop and just a week before being elected as presiding bishop of the ELCA) sat down with Drew for an honest conversation about where God was calling him to serve next. Pastor Drew recalls that she (and the synod) “had my best interest in mind, even when I couldn’t see it. For that I’m deeply grateful.”

Pastor Drew went on to serve in campus ministries and higher education before being called as executive director for HopeWood Outdoors. As he reflects back on his formative years in Northeastern Ohio, he sees the ways that the generations before him gave Drew the opportunity to grow, learn, search, and seek God’s truth. Pastor Drew is now steeped in the same mission and values, both personally and professionally. He speaks passionately about pouring into the next generation, whether it’s his nieces, nephews and niblings or campers. “Camp is a space where people can encounter God/the church in a different way. It’s a context for conversation, engagement, and experiencing equity with people who may not be able to walk through the doors of the average congregation, for a variety of reasons.”
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Your Mission Support allows us to do more together as church for the sake of the world. Through your generosity, we can share God’s love and care through supporting organizations like HopeWood Outdoors where faith formation is happening with children, youth and families beyond your congregation. Thank you for recognizing the importance of our shared ministry. 

The leaders at Good Soil Lutheran Ministries understand what it is like to receive an incredible gift. Ellen Young, council president, and Bill Fink, council vice president were both members at the legacy congregations when Faith Lutheran and Our Savior Lutheran consolidated in order to “strengthen and expand” their ministry through Good Soil.

Faith and Our Savior were just two miles apart and in desperate financial straits. There was a time that the leadership knew money would run out and they weren’t sure what would come next. Through the redevelopment process, and grants from the wider church funded by Mission Support, Bill saw there was hope. People saw that there was “something worth investing in.”

Now Bill sees all the ways Good Soil is active and engaged in their community and is proud of the ministry they have built “both within and without” of their building. Just over five years after Good Soil’s commissioning worship, the members of the church are choosing to pay it forward. Last fall, the congregation held a “Multiplying Ministry” event to help decide where Good Soil’s tithe from an estate gift would go. “We’re grateful to be able to ‘multiply ministry’ in meaningful ways because of the generosity and legacy gift of Gary Dennison.” Each household was given the opportunity to designate a portion of the tithe to ten different organizations “doing God’s work in our wider community and the world.”

On Sunday, November 19th, Ellen presented Bishop Barbins with a check designated for our Northeastern Ohio Synod in the amount of $18,000. “It was important to council to designate a portion of the tithe to our Northeastern Ohio Synod as Mission Support as a way to give back to the larger church and support ministries across the ELCA and beyond.” Bill says, “We were the recipients of an incredible gift. The gift of hope. We wanted to pay that forward.”
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​Mission Support allows us to do more together as church for the sake of the world. Through your generous Mission Support, we can share God’s abundant grace and hope with others by providing support for congregations, raising up new pastors and deacons, and offering educational and training opportunities. Thank you for recognizing the importance of our shared ministry.