Pastor Truog graduated
from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis in 1983 with a Master’s of Divinity
and a Sacred Theology Masters. He served at Hope Lutheran in Aurora,
Illinois from 1983-1987. His next church was Cross Lutheran in
Yorkville, Illinois where he served from 1987-2011. In 2011 he accepted
the Call to Christ Our Savior Lutheran in Loudon, Tennessee.
“My greatest joy in ministry is seeing the “light bulb” go on for
someone when the Holy Spirit enables them to grasp the free gift of
God’s grace for salvation. At Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church we have
an opportunity to nurture and share this gift of God with people from
all over the country who have chosen to retire in East Tennessee as well
as with those who have had the privilege of living here all their
lives. We are a congregation that stands squarely on the Bible as the
very Word of God. We are known for our friendliness and our desire to
serve our community. We welcome you to get to know us and to discover a place to worship, a place to learn, and a place to serve with your Christian brothers and sisters at Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church.”
Pastor's Message
Cracked Pots
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our
hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of
Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6
The passage above from 2 Corinthians was part of my installation service on April 17,
2011. If you read the rest of 2 Corinthians chapter four, you will find some thoughts that
have me excited about the future here at Christ our Savior. It starts by reminding us that we
are cracked pots: “fragile clay jars” containing a great treasure. “This makes it clear that our
great power is from God, not from ourselves.” (vs. 7) I am confident that great things are
going to happen here – not because you have great power, but because God has great power
which He has poured into our lives through his Spirit at work in Word and Sacrament.
Paul goes on to describe some of the troubles he is facing, including “constant danger of
death” (vs. 11), which could easily crush a fragile clay jar, “but we continue to preach be-
cause we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I
spoke.” We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. (vs. 13-14) Most of us are more troubled by the “busyness” of life than the type of persecutions Paul encountered, but we, too, are under constant danger of death. None of us knows when our moment of death may come.
We could be a typical aging mainline Christian congregation. We could focus on making
ourselves comfortable in our golden years. We could function as part of what has been
described as the “check out generation,” which has given up on accomplishing anything new
or worthwhile. But, instead, we have chosen to “Reach and Equip Families for Christ in
East Tennessee...and Beyond!” Why? Because God has filled our lives with His great power
and His amazing love, and because we know it is to our benefit that God's grace reaches
more and more people and God receives more and more glory.
God has shown us the “big picture” that includes our life with Him in eternity. “That is
why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory
that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see
now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will
soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (vs. 16-18)
As a fellow cracked pot, I look forward to your using God's power to find ways for more
and more people to be reached by God's grace to his glory.
Pastor Brian