Number 100! Meet Ordained Pastor Brandon Schipper
The Alliance recently celebrated its 100th pastor being ordained through Pathways. That’s noteworthy, as the Alliance’s innovative ordination process got launched just a year and a half ago. Also noteworthy is the story of ordained pastor number 100, Brandon Schipper.
Brandon serves as Interim Pastor at First Reformed Church in Aplington, IA. People who know him testify to his giftedness. He exudes passion and sincerity. Thomas Cellilli of Upper Mississippi Valley Network notes Brandon’s commitment to lifelong discipleship, saying, "He's the kind of eager, excited pastor we want in the Alliance."
When it comes to ordination in the Alliance, though, what makes Brandon’s case so extraordinary is that he is, well, so “ordinary.” The majority of the pastors coming into the Alliance are not young, traditional pastors who have blazed straight through seminary and into full time professional ministry. Rather, most are like Brandon: 1) in an older stage of life, 2) non-seminary educated, and 3) experienced in ministry. It’s worth understanding - and celebrating! - the kind of people the Holy Spirit is calling into the pastorate today.
Brandon Schipper, our 100th ordination
First, Brandon is in an older stage of life, at least relative to the traditional new pastor. He’s 42, married, and raising a couple of boys. Being a pastor is his second career, no doubt. Along the way Brandon has been a farmer and a store manager. He also pursued a career in hospital administration, working as a scheduling and payroll expert. Ask him if his background helps him as a pastor, and Brandon will heartily agree. Administrative skills are naturally transferable to ministry. “Even the medical knowledge has been helpful,” he says. “I can relate to what they’re going through and understand their health conditions.” Starting pastoral work in middle age isn’t a liability. Rather, it is advantageous to step into pastoral work with life wisdom and “secular” skills.
Second, while Brandon is non-seminary educated, he is definitely educated. After completing associate degrees at Hawkeye Community College, he went on to earn a B.A. in psychology at the University of Northern Iowa, followed by a M.A in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. As Brandon began feeling called to pastoral ministry, it wasn’t apparent to him how he could get there with his educational background. Did he picture himself as a pastor? “If you would have asked me a year ago, no,” says Brandon. “I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as possible, because I thought I needed to go to seminary first.” Pathways was instrumental in showing him a way forward, and even finding competencies he had achieved already through his courses in psychology and administration.
Third, Brandon is the new normal in that he brings in a wealth of ministry experience. For many years he was active as a lay leader: deacon, elder, missions team, vision team, and Sunday School teacher. His sense of call actually emerged in those service opportunities, specifically during a search team he chaired. As his congregation looked for a new pastor, Brandon noticed that other churches in town were in need of a minister. It was around that time that he started wondering if he was part of the solution. Brandon started doing pulpit supply, and people were responding. “God was tugging on my heart, but I didn’t know what to do with it,” he remembers. Brandon was impressed that the Alliance of Reformed Churches was credentialing pastors who had the core competencies but weren’t necessarily MDiv trained. He was encouraged as he stepped into the ordination process of the Alliance. Through Pathways he was able to demonstrate that he had already developed the core competencies to be a pastor. His investment in church ministry had prepared him for pastoral work.
As the 100th person ordained through Pathways, Brandon Schipper is also a model of lifelong learning. He humbly admits that he has further growth ahead of him. There are practitioner competencies he will be working on. He already has a network Coach assigned to him and is studying systematic theology with Russell Muilenburg, a local Alliance pastor. That is the sort of thing that the Alliance loves to see: pastors who are aiming for maturity. A recent analysis showed that most of the pastors in the Alliance have some competencies that are unmet. Instead of seeing pastoral gaps as a glaring problem, we can learn from Brandon’s example. Pathways has given him confidence to lead well, he reports, “and it has also focused me on the ways I can improve.”
The Alliance gives thanks for leaders like ordained pastor number 100, Brandon Schipper. Who else will the Lord call into professional ministry? With the grace of a new perspective, the Alliance will be ready to recognize these leaders.