A Greeting and "Short" Autobiography from Pastor Michael James Grannis.
Greetings in Christ,
I am Pastor Michael James Grannis, Senior Administrative Pastor of Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church. Since coming home to Calvary in March of 2018, I have enjoyed the ministry challenges and joys of shepherding this congregation. We gather weekly (and sometimes more) in Jesus' name, around the Word and Sacraments. I have served as we have celebrated several infant and adult Baptisms, and as we have mourned the faithful passing of several beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. We have seen youth and adults confirmed in their baptismal faith in Christ. We have shared the love of God in Christ with children during Sunday School and VBS; we have watched them grow both in faith and stature. Together all of us are growing in our depth and breadth of faith and knowledge, as we study the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. All the while, we are constantly being confronted and comforted with God's Law and Gospel.
We also gather for fun and fellowship – sometimes to support important causes, and sometimes just because. We have hosted youth and family game nights, held raffle and auction fundraisers, had youth lock-ins, and thrown many other get-togethers. We host an annual Harvest Party, and a Breakfast with Santa for our neighborhood, taking every opportunity to share our faith in Christ with our community. In 2019 we celebrated 95 years of ministry in the Downriver area, and we are looking forward to celebrating 100 years in 2024.
Through all of these things that make up the life of our congregation, we are being strengthened in our faith and equipped to serve our neighbors in Jesus' name. God bless us and keep us as we live as His kingdom people, proclaiming the Gospel of forgiveness in Jesus' name; for we have the blessed assurance of forgiveness, resurrection, and eternal life through Christ's glorious death, victorious resurrection, and eternal reign. Amen.
And now, my "short" autobiography…
I was born August 1st, 1979, in Mankato, Minnesota, and baptized on September 2nd at Zion Lutheran Church in Lewisville, Minnesota. From the age of 4, I spent about eight years growing up in Glendale, California, where my family and I were members of Zion Lutheran Church and School. We eventually moved back to Minnesota, where my family and I became members of St. Michael Lutheran Church in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington. There, I was catechized and confirmed in our baptismal faith in Christ.
For my undergraduate degree, I attended Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. My wife (Kristy) and I met there in 1999 while both of us were studying in the Director of Christian Education (DCE) program. During our course work, Kristy served her DCE fieldwork at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Circle Pines, St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Bloomington, and Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Anoka, while I served at Zion Lutheran Church in Hopkins and Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Anoka.
After getting married in August of 2001, we served from 2002 to 2005 as DCE interns in Japan. This internship was in cooperation with LCMS World Mission, through whom we served as lay missionaries in their Volunteer Youth Ministry (VYM) program. Kristy served at Omiya Zion Lutheran Church, while I served at Takenotsuka Lutheran Church, Ikegami Lutheran Church, and Suginami Lutheran Church. In our final year in Japan, I also served as the VYM Assistant Director. It was while serving in Japan that I discerned God's call (and was strengthened to follow His leading) into pastoral ministry. After returning from internship, we completed our final year of study in the DCE program, before graduating and moving down to Missouri so that I could begin my seminary studies.
In 2006 I began my pastoral formation at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Kristy began five years of serving as a rostered church worker at LCMS World Mission as the Mission Project Administrator. As a seminarian, I served at three different fieldwork sites: Unity Lutheran Church in East St. Louis, Illinois; St. Peter Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri (The Rock/Acts 1:8 Mission Society); and Jefferson Hills Lutheran Church in Imperial, Missouri. During this time, we were blessed with the births (and Baptisms) of our eldest two sons. After three years of study, I served a dual vicarage in the LCMS's Northern Illinois District at St. John Lutheran Church in Pecatonica, and Risen Savior Lutheran Church in Winnebago.
After graduating from Concordia Seminary, I was called to St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Norwood Young America (NYA), Minnesota. I was ordained into the office of the holy ministry on August 1, 2010. While serving there, our two eldest daughters were born (and Baptized). During the time, Kristy transitioned out of her position with LCMS World Mission, and into her vocation as a homemaker and life educator to our young children. I served St. John, NYA as an Assistant Pastor and Mission Planter until the summer of 2013, when Kristy received a rostered call to serve as the Family-Life Director of Open Arms Lutheran Church and Daycare in Belleville, Michigan.
In a bittersweet move, we followed God's leading to Michigan. While Kristy began serving among the people of Open Arms, I began serving as a guest preacher at various congregations in and around the Detroit area. I was also certified as an Intentional Interim Minister through training offered by the Michigan District. In November of 2013, I was called and installed as the full-time Vacancy Pastor of Berea Lutheran Church in Detroit. I served Berea for a little over a year as they prayerfully decided to sell their building and relocate as a congregation in order to continue doing ministry in a new location. At the end of my time of service among the people of Berea, I quickly transitioned into a new pastoral vacancy position, finally working alongside my wife at Open Arms.
At this time I also began enjoying the occasional opportunity of serving as an Adjunct Professor of Theology at Concordia University, Ann Arbor – In the following years I would go on to teach a few semester-long courses of both Christian Faith and The Bible. I was subsequently called to and installed at Open Arms (in cooperation with the Michigan District), serving as Assistant Pastor and Mission Planter (still fulfilling my vacancy pastoral role there). After several months the joint effort with the Michigan District was dissolved. However, I continued serving in a part-time vacancy capacity at Open Arms. During this chapter of our lives, our 3rd daughter and 3rd son were born (and Baptized). Somewhere in the midst of all of this, I also began homeschooling our three eldest children.
I continued serving as a guest preacher at various congregations, and for about three months served a limited pastoral vacancy role at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in southwest Detroit. After Open Arms called a new full-time pastor, I went on to preach frequently at Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Westland as well as at Greenfield Peace Lutheran Church in Detroit. While I was preaching at Greenfield Peace, they prayerfully decided to sell their building and merged with the newly relocated Berea Lutheran Church. (These congregations formed Faith Lutheran Church and subsequently went on to merge again with St. Paul Lutheran Church of Farmington Hills, forming Shadow of the Cross Lutheran Church.)
One of the congregations I occasionally preached at during those first four or so years in Michigan was Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lincoln Park. Upon receiving word that their Pastor (Rev. Mark Arendell) would be taking a call to another congregation, Calvary began informal talks with me to discern whether or not God was calling me to be their next Pastor. I became a frequent guest preacher during their time of pastoral vacancy and was officially extended the call to be their Pastor in late January of 2018 (while Kristy and I were visiting Israel).
After a few weeks of prayerful consideration, I accepted the call to Calvary. I was installed as Calvary's Pastor on St. Patrick's Day of 2018. While I began my ministry here, I finished instructing my four eldest through the remainder of that school year. That summer, Kristy subsequently resigned her position at Open Arms and has continued serving the very busy vocations of a child of God, wife, mother, homemaker and homeschool instructor. Since coming to Calvary, God has blessed Kirsty and me with the births (and Baptisms) of two additional boys (TWINS), for a total of eight faith-filled, loving and wonderful children.
Since the time we met and started dating, Kristy and I have been partners in life and ministry for over 20 years. I look back in wonder and thanksgiving over the amazing ministry opportunities God has prepared us for and guided us through. I look forward with curious anticipation and trust regarding whatever the future may hold for us. I humbly pray that God would use us mightily (as only He can) to accomplish His will in our lives among the people of Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lincoln Park, Michigan.
Living Forever, Now,
Pastor Michael James Grannis