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Pastor serving two area churches

Rev. John Taggatz felt a call to ministry at a young age.

“I remember always having a thirst for studying God’s word,” he said. “When I was in Confirmation instruction, the pastor suggested that I think about it.”

Taggatz grew up in the Twin Cities metro area and attended Our Savior Lutheran School and then Mayer Lutheran High School.

During high school, he participated in band, cross country and track. He also became an Eagle Scout.

Through the continual encouragement of his family and friends, Taggatz pursued ministry.

After high school, he attended Concordia University in St. Paul and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in theology.

From there, he went to Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. He graduated in 2007.

Now, the 34 year old, his wife Roxanne and their sons, 6-year-old Edward and 4-year-old Martin, are living in West Bloomfield.

Taggatz is the new pastor of both Calvary Lutheran Church, in Waupaca, and Christ Lutheran Church and School, in West Bloomfield.

They are living in the parsonage in West Bloomfield.

He began serving the two churches on Sept. 14, after receiving the call on Aug. 13.

The two churches began working together around last June.

“I very much enjoy pastoral ministry, offering spiritual care to the young and old alike and giving people the comfort of God’s word that points them to Christ and Him being crucified for their sins.

Taggatz’s schedule includes teaching catechism class to the grade school students at Christ Lutheran on Monday and Wednesday.

On Wednesday evening, he teaches Confirmation instruction to the public school students of Christ Lutheran and Calvary Lutheran.

Thursday and Friday, Taggatz may be found at Calvary Lutheran Church.

On week day afternoons, he visits the sick, homebound and those who are in nursing homes.

Saturday is his day off.

On Sunday, he leads and conducts the 8:30 a.m. service at Calvary Lutheran and the 10:30 a.m. service at Christ Lutheran.

Prior to moving to the area, Taggatz did his year of internship at Faith Lutheran Church in Bay City, Michigan.

Every seminarian does an internship. It is called a Vicarage.

On July 8, 2007, Taggatz was installed as a pastor at St. John Lutheran Church in Baldwin, Illinois.

During his years of service there, Taggatz served as pastoral adviser to Christ Our Savior Lutheran High School in Evansville, Illinois; vice chairman of the high school’s Board of Governance; and a secretary on the Campus Ministry Mentor Committee of Southwestern Illinois College of Belleville.

After he graduated from seminary, Taggatz was involved in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod church body’s Post Seminary Applied Learning and Support Program.

In the fall of 2013, he completed the Doxology program, a program which helps trains pastors be better equipped in providing spiritual care.

Taggatz also served as Pastor of the Week at Camp Wartburg in Waterloo, Illinois.

His wife has 10 years of teaching experience as a Lutheran school teacher in the LCMS. The couple’s sons are attending Christ Lutheran School.

Taggatz enjoys listening to podcasts and said “Issues, etc.” is one of his favorite ones.

“I’m happy to be in this area. I look forward to the many challenges ahead of me and the opportunities to serve the greater community of Waupaca and West Bloomfield,” he said.

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