SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

Getting to Know the Pastor

THE REV. DAVID JAY WEBBER is a native northeasterner, of English (Mayflower), Dutch, Frisian, Swedish, Danish, German (Palatine), Swiss (German), French, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Scotch-Irish, Belgian, Italian, Slovak, and American Indian (Iroquois) ancestry. He was baptized and confirmed at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germantown, New York (LCA, now ELCA). After receiving a B.A. degree in history in 1984 from The King’s College in Briarcliff Manor, New York, he studied for the Ministry and received his M.Div. Degree in 1988 at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana (LCMS). Also in 1988, he was ordained as a Pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, of which he has been a member ever since. In 2006 he was elected to the ELS Doctrine Committee.

He served as Pastor of Scriptural Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, from 1988 to 1990; as Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Brewster, Massachusetts, from 1990 to 1997; and as Rector and Professor of Theology at Saint Sophia Ukrainian Lutheran Theological Seminary in Ternopil’, Ukraine, from 1997 to 2005 (under the auspices of the Thoughts of Faith mission society). He has been the Pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, since 2005, and of Sun of Righteousness Lutheran Church in Queen Creek, Arizona, since 2006.

He has been a frequent speaker or essayist at various theological and genealogical conferences over the years, both in Europe and in North America. These have included the Bethany Reformation Lectures (on two occasions), the New England Regional Genealogical Conference (on two occasions), the Palatines to America National Conference (on two occasions), and the WELS National Conference on Worship, Music, and the Arts. He has also taught in the seminary program of the Lutheran Mission of Salvation in India. Papers or articles written by him in the areas of theology, liturgics, church history, and genealogy have appeared in several publications, including The Bride of Christ, Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly, Logia (of which he is a contributing editor), Lutheran Quarterly, Lutheran Sentinel, Lutheran Synod Quarterly, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Slovo (a bilingual Slovak-English publication), and Styah (a Ukrainian publication).

His wide-ranging interests are also reflected in his organizational memberships: the Governor William Bradford Compact (comprised of descendants of William Bradford), the Palatine Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Palatines to America (a genealogical society), the Slovak Heritage & Folklore Society International, the Civil War Preservation Trust, and the Scottsdale Civil War Round Table (in which he serves as a member of the Board of Directors and as Webmaster). In other times and places he served as a member of the Board of Directors and as President of the Abortion Alternatives Agency of Southeast Missouri; as the Pastoral Advisor of the Trail of Tears SEMO Chapter of Lutherans for Life; and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Cape Cod Chapter of Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

He has been married for 25 years to the former Carol Wimble (the organist at Redeemer and the keyboardist at Sun of Righteousness). They have three children: Paul, a first-year seminary student; Sarah, a college junior; and Catharine, a high school junior. He is known to be a fan of the movies of John Wayne, Morgan Freeman, Harrison Ford, and Jeff Daniels; the music of Hieronymus Praetorius, Michael Praetorius, Felix Mendelssohn, and John Michael Talbot; and the writings of St. Ambrose of Milan, Martin Chemnitz, Charles Porterfield Krauth, and Hermann Sasse. The web sites that he maintains on the topics of Lutheran theology, St. Ambrose, his family’s genealogy, the life and achievements of William Bradford, and the history of the 150th New York Infantry and of the 86th New York Infantry (two Civil War regiments) are enjoyed by Internet visitors from around the world. He is a cat person, is a lover of old books and freshly-brewed coffee, has a dry sense of humor, and doesn’t get enough exercise.