For Pastor Bill Mueller, leading a church is like being its “chief shepherd.” He leads the congregation in their spiritual growth, but he also gets to watch as the other members of his church lead the flock.
“I love it when staff members and various ministries of the congregation shine, and we see the gifts of God displayed through them,” he said. “I love it when we have teachers occasionally do a children’s message in a worship service. I just love to see the joy on the kids’ faces as they interact with the teacher. Or when we have a seminary student leading a Bible study and watching the people of the congregation sitting there at the table taking in everything that he’s sharing. It’s just a great joy to see God’s people at work like that.”
Pastor Mueller has served as the senior pastor at Suburban Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Ind., for more than 16 years, and he has served as a regular pastor on Worship Anew since 2016.
Pastor Mueller comes from a long line of pastors in his family, following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, uncles, and two brothers.
Most would think that he was born ready to be a pastor, but his calling actually took more of a winding road.
While in high school, an assignment made him think hard about what he wanted to do with his life. He had to choose a person to shadow. Yes, maybe a pastor, but he was around pastors all of his life, so he knew what they did. Maybe a teacher? Well, he was in high school so he “knew” what teachers did (at least at the time that’s what he believed). Third option? A meteorologist.
“I said to Mrs. Crownover, wow, okay, how about a meteorologist,” he recounted in a conversation with his guidance counselor. “A real National Weather Service meteorologist.”
It happened at the time that the National Weather Service was located in Fort Wayne, his hometown, and his guidance counselor made the connection for him to shadow someone for the day. However, within 10 minutes of arriving, he knew that was not the job for him.
“I remember walking back to my car, thanking God in a prayer,” he said after a bad shadowing experience.
Soon after that, he found his calling to be a pastor.
“My parents had always said, ‘You know, you can do anything you want to do. Just do it with all your heart,’” Pastor Mueller said. “And I really kind of realized there’s one thing that fits that description for me, and that’s to become a pastor.”
After high school, he enrolled at Concordia University-Ann Arbor (Michigan) in their pre-seminary program and then continued his studies by receiving a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo.
Today, he continues his work as the “chief shepherd” at Suburban Bethlehem. He loves how every day is different—how no two weeks are alike, not even two Sundays are alike.
“I love the vast variety of what a pastor does,” he said. “It’s a great joy because you get to share Jesus.”
Watch Pastor Bill Mueller this month on May 25 as he leads the Worship Anew program with his sermon titled, “Here She Comes.” Visit worshipanew.org/where-to-watch to see all the ways to watch Worship Anew in your area.
In the video below, Pastor Mueller shares about his Call to be a Pastor.