CHELSEA: Joe Jeffreys leads First Congregational Church as new pastor

One event can change the course of one person's plans for life. Sometimes it can even change the plans of a church community.

Thats what happened when Joe Jeffreys visited Chelsea last winter to meet a local need.

The minute I walked in the building, it was an aha moment, said pastor Jeffreys, the new minister at the First Congregational Church (United Church of Christ), 121 E. Middle St. in Chelsea.

Jeffreys was still in his final year at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago when he heard that the church was in need of someone to fill the pulpit on a substitute basis until they could find a new pastor.

Since there is an agreement between Evangelical Lutherans and the United Church of Christ, he volunteered to speak several times over the winter. Not only did he immediately fall in love with the church and its congregation, but they sensed that Jeffreys might be the pastor they were looking for.

Jeffreys received a call from the churchs search committee in March. After three interviews, including a meeting with his wife, Lisa, the church's committee asked him to be its pastor following his graduation.

Jeffreys said that the church went out on a limb to call him, since he doesnt fit the stereotypical minister for a church with a long history.

At the age of 51 and as a new seminary graduate, he lacks the years of experience as a head pastor that would be expected for a well-established congregation.

But even though he is beginning his first pastorate, Jeffreys is no stranger to church leadership. He began attending St. Georges Lutheran Church in Brighton about three decades ago when his two sons, Jacob and Joshua, were young.

Once I developed the relationship with Christ, my life changed, Jeffreys said. Continued...

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CHELSEA: Joe Jeffreys leads First Congregational Church as new pastor