Ever heard the phrase, “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it”? That’s true for Joel Petermann, our newest editorialist. Besides writing for Forward in Christ, he serves as the only WELS pastor in New Hampshire and the newest member of the Conference of Presidents. He also has to try to keep up with his seven-year-old son.

“I’ve had to learn, especially in the last few years, that I just have to say, ‘Lord, this is what you allowed me to do today,’ and go to sleep at night,” says Petermann.

The fourth of nine children, Petermann grew up in Appleton, Wis. He shared a special relationship with his dad, the principal at St. Paul, Appleton, though times weren’t always smooth. “A rough year in his and my life was the year I was in eighth grade,” says Petermann. “My mom always said she could tell when one of us was in his class.” Now Petermann looks back and appreciates that discipline.

A 1986 graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Petermann served three years at Dr. Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn., before taking a call to start a mission in Rochester, Minn. There he met his wife, Jane, a member at another WELS church in Rochester. “She helped me make telephone calls to the area, purportedly under the guise that she was serving her Lord,” jokes Petermann.

The Petermanns moved to New Hampshire in 1996 to serve St. Paul Lutheran Church. The closest WELS church is an hour and a half away. “You learn to do a lot of driving,” says Petermann. “We think nothing of hopping in a car and driving three hours to a study club meeting, meeting for four hours, and then driving back.”

His traveling increased when he began visiting congregations throughout the North Atlantic District after being elected district president in 2004. “I didn’t fly in an airplane until I was in the seminary. I thought, ‘This will be a once-in-a-lifetime thing,’ ” he says. “Now I pretty much walk into airports like they’re my second home.”

Petermann’s favorite part of being a pastor is “teaching adult information classes and being able to lead people . . . to a better understanding of not only their salvation but all the teachings of God’s Word.” His biggest challenge: balancing family life with the ministry. “My kids and my wife do feel the times that I’m gone from home,” he says.

Despite all the busyness, he describes himself as content: “I’m thankful that [the Lord] has allowed me to be where I am.”