Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

Our Pastor

The Reverend Matthew W. Vesey

Born in Cedar Rapids, IA June 2, 1964. I grew up in Cedar Rapids/Marion IA. and attended Linn-Mar Sr. High School (Marion, IA) and graduated in 1982. I graduated from Coe College (Cedar Rapids, IA) in 1986 with a B. A. in Political Science.

I received a M. Div from Concordia Theological Seminary (Ft. Wayne) in June of 1993. I was vicar at Bethlehem Lutheran Church (Ferrin, IL) serving both the congregation and as a prison chaplain at the Centralia Correctional Center, Centralia, IL. 

I served as sole pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church (Luzerne, IA) and St. Paul Lutheran Church (Mt. Vernon, IA). During that time I served two units as a Chaplain in the US Army Reserve.  I also served on the Iowa District East board for Human Care and organized the district’s prison ministry program.

From September 2000 to July 2007, I have served as an active duty chaplain in both the US Army and the US Air Force. In the Army, I served as Chaplain in the 10th Mountain Division (Ft. Drum, NY) with the 3-17 Air Cavalry Squadron and the 3-6 Field Artillery Battalion. After transferring to the Air Force, I served as the chaplain for Operations Group and later Mission Support Group 319th Air Refueling Wing (Grand Forks AFB, ND). I also served as the Operations/ Maintenance Group Chaplain for the 9th Aerial Reconnaissance Wing (Beale AFB, CA).  

In the Army I was deployed to Kosovo (Nov ‘01-May ’02) and in the Air Force I deployed to Diego Garcia in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (Sept ‘05-Jan ‘06). Donna and I were married on May 20, 1989. We have three children.