Ordination and installation worship service in my Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod denomination are joyous, reverent celebrations marking the completion of years of hard work and training. God has provided another shepherd for a flock of his sheep. The recent ordination and istallation of Gatluk Reat at Trinity Lutheran Church, Faribault, Minnesota was the culmination of years of study and training for this remarkable man.

Pastor Reat is a refuge from Sudan. When civil war broke out in Sudan, Reat spent time in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya before eventually coming to Minneapolis, MN. He graduated from High School at Fridley, MN and later relocated to Faribault, MN where he became an active member of the Sudanese Ministry of Trinity Lutheran Church. Through all his journeys he felt the hand of the Lord guiding and protecting him.

As this photo indicates, Pastor Reat joins several other Sudanese men who have been called by God to serve the Lord as pastors. Non-Sudanese pastors such as myself were definitely in the minority at this service.

I had no idea we had so many Sudanese pastors in our church body. As I mingled with these brother pastors before the service I met pastors from Canada, Iowa and Nebraska. Clearly these men were willing to travel great distances to celebrate one of their own joining the ranks of ordained clergy.