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New DCE at Resurrection in Garden City

New DCE at Resurrection in Garden City

Carol Mittelstaedt recently interviewed newly installed DCE Michelle Kollmeier to find out more about her and what makes her excited for ministry.

Carol Mittelstaedt recently interviewed newly installed DCE Michelle Kollmeier to find out more about her and what makes her excited for ministry.

Michelle is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is married and her husband is from Germany. They met in their last year of college while he was there on an exchange. Michelle went to live in Germany a year after graduating from college and stayed for seven years. During that time they married and their son was born in Germany. They returned to New York in 2009 and in 2010 found Resurrection Lutheran Church in Garden City. Their daughter was baptized there in 2011, and they have been at Resurrection ever since.

Fun facts about Michelle, other than her being a very talented painter: Michelle has a random background in food service, sales, landscaping, logistics, and IT – she is truly a jack-of-all-trades. She enjoys all manner of arts and crafts and considers herself “a very hands-on” person. Michelle enjoys music of all genres, films, and is a great lover of memes and good jokes.

She was led to ministry by the welcoming and engaging culture of the Resurrection congregation, and says, “Resurrection as a whole, has such a way of making a person feel like family that the desire to become active in ministry of any kind is a natural response. I first became active in our Confirmation and VBS programs, and then I began to visit some of our homebound. Primarily, I was encouraged and drawn into ministry by our Pastor Jeff Browning, as well as our dedicated group of Lay Deacons.”

Michelle has a keen desire to see all ministries that happen in and around the church stay on track and grow. All the behind-the-scenes tasks and responsibilities of the day-to-day activities of the church, as well as the larger outreach programs, keep her heart and mind active and encouraged to serve.

As many churches are hurting right now because of the pandemic, her hopes and dreams for ministry have changed a bit. Her prayer is to remain a loyal and dedicated servant of the church by being a strong backbone and a part of restoring and rebuilding her community of faith. Michelle likes to encourage current volunteers and to seek out new ones. “In everything I am called to do at Resurrection, it is my hope that whomever I engage with, will find the same encouragement in Christ within our congregation as I have, and in every way, learn more and grow in Christ each day.” Amen to that.

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