New Lutheran pastor to be installed

The Platte Valley Lutheran Church is starting the new year with a new pastor – Rev. Randolph Schnack. He will be installed at 4 p.m. Jan. 3 at the Platte Valley Lutheran Church. Because of the installment ceremony, there will not be a morning worship.

The church works on a call system and when he was asked to come to Saratoga, he had never heard of the town.

“When the congregation called me, I looked into Saratoga,” Schnack said. “Everything looked really wonderful and I really liked the idea of coming here.”

When Schnack was very young, he traveled though Wyoming, and until now that was his only experience with the state.

He and his wife Vicki, are pleased to be here and are finding the people in Saratoga very friendly and welcoming.

Schnack was born in Blythe, Calif., but spent much of his younger life in San Bernardino, Calif.

Schnack did not start his college career in theology. He attended University of California, in Riverside, Calif., where he earned his bachelor of science in biochemistry.

He went to Iowa State University to work on his doctorate. It was then he changed his field to theology. There, he met his wife, who worked at the college union in the reservations office.

Schnack’s interest in theology began in high school when he played chess with his pastor and they would talk about the subject.

“I took Latin in high school. I didn’t do very well … I was good in science,” Schnack said. When he attended Iowa State University, Schnack was not looking forward to 60 more hours of anatomy and physiology. In the meantime he was working in a research lab as a lab tech, and went into molecular genetics.

He finally realized that if God wanted him to make it through seminary, He would get him through Greek and Hebrew, which were required. He ended getting an A in both subjects.

After seminary, his first church was in Natoma, Kan. and he served there for five years. After that he was in Gallup, N.M. for two years. Kinde, Mich., was his next calling and he spent nine years there.

After that he spent time in several different churches and also served as a chaplain at Mark Luttrell Correction Center, which is the Tennessee state prison for women.

“That was an interesting job,” Schnack said. Schnack comes from the Lutheran Missouri Synod, which does not have women clergy. The Lutheran Missouri Synod is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination.

Throughout his career, Schnack discovered he likes to work with smaller congregations and he got a non-traditional license program with a special certification to teach in junior/high school. He is looking into getting the certification in Wyoming.

Because he likes small churches and works other jobs, he worked at the local college, teaching microbiology, immunology and diseases for the nurses’ program. He also taught biology and chemistry at the college level in Mena, Ark.

Schnack said his strength is in teaching and preaching. “The big thing about Lutheranism,” Schanck said, “is you have to separate law and gospel.”

The purpose of the law is to show you need Christ and you are totally saved by grace, Schanck said. “Therefore, our emphasis is not what we are supposed to do, but what Christ has done for us.”

The law is the natural way that man thinks, Schanck said. “It’s our natural inclination to think we have to earn (grace).”

Schanck continued on to say that the Lutheran foundation stone is grace.

Their children have chosen to join them. Andy is 38 and worked for Walmart for 10 years in Arkansas and Tim is 28 and graduated school two years ago with a degree in information technology. Jobs were scarce in Arkansas and the men decided to join in the Wyoming adventure.