Rev. Joseph Summerville, referred to as Pastor Joe, has spent the past few months as the new pastor at the Good Lutheran Church and School in Plainview, adjusting to life on Long Island and within the community.
Pastor Joe was unanimously elected in March, stepping down from his role as senior pastor of University Lutheran Church and Student Center in Norman, OK.
“It’s gone very well, some slight cultural differences from Oklahoma, but it’s been wonderful,” he said. “We’re loving living on Long Island.”
Pastor Joe said the makeup of the congregation was very different than that of Plainview.
“It was a completely different type of congregation,” he said. “It’s a university parish and so we were right across the street from the University of Oklahoma. We had a lot of college students as part of our ministry. Here it’s different because we have a pre-school at the church.”
Pastor Joe said the pre-school at Good Lutheran Church has “kept him young” and has been a welcome addition to his everyday duties in Plainview.
“I’m over there every morning when the parents drop their kids off to greet the kids and parents,” he said. “I help with the chapel service for them every Monday and honestly, seeing all those little kids so excited about school and learning about God, it’s heartwarming.”
Pastor Joe began his journey to becoming a pastor in college, where he studied as an undergraduate at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.
“I had thought about it and it sort of came and went, but it was really when I was in college, when I started feeling like this was the path I should be on,” Pastor Joe said. “When I graduated from undergrad, I just went straight into seminary and I’ve been a pastor now for 30 years.”
He said the process of becoming a pastor has changed a lot over the past three decades.
Pastor Joe said if it weren’t for attending the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C., he wouldn’t have met his wife, who is now an ordained deacon.
He said they met two days after he arrived on campus.
Pastor Joe said he and his wife were both excited about the move to Plainview, partially because they could be closer to their son and daughter-in-law, who moved to Maine in January.
“We thought it would be good to be closer to them, but then this opportunity opened up in Plainview and we prayed about it, talked about it, and everything just fell into place,” Pastor Joe said.
With growing challenges facing many Americans across Long Island and the nation, Pastor Joe said his preachings have reflected on diversity issues.
“One of the things that is kind of a hallmark of mine or constant theme of my ministry is every single human being is created in God’s image and likeness,” Pastor Joe said. “If we look at people through the eyes of Christ, we would see a different picture; we would have more compassion and more understanding and love.”
Pastor Joe said that with all of the division present in the world today, everybody is entitled to their own opinion and beliefs.
“There are so many divisions today and they’re real reasons for those things, but we let things divide us so bad that it ends up becoming hatred and it shouldn’t be,” he said. “There’s room in the world and in the church for differences of opinion, style, and even in belief, but there’s absolutely no room for lack of love and compassion.”
Pastor Joe said he and his family have been met with open arms by the community.
“We have not had a bad meal or a bad cup of coffee,” Pastor Joe said. “Just something about this place and the people here are just so incredibly friendly. People have been so nice to us, strangers, in stores. It’s been a real blessing.”
