Vicar Joel Timmons - Intern for Central and United Lutheran Churches

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Vicar Joel was raised in the metro-area of Portland, Oregon. From his early years, he's been an avid Duck fan, attending games with family at Autzen Stadium and even the Rose Bowl twice. Joel also grew up wrestling - from the age of five and all the way through college. And it was wrestling that led him to the Lutheran faith. He attended Grand View University, a small Lutheran school, in Des Moines, Iowa, on a wrestling scholarship. It was there where he encountered the Lutheran theology of grace - the message of God's unconditional love expressed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ - and it changed his life forever. It was at Grand View that Joel heard the call to ministry.

 

Joel attended Austin Seminary while serving as a youth minister at Shepard of the Hills Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. He served there for seven years before moving to Eugene for his internship. Joel met his wife, Megan, in seminary and they were married at Neskowin Beach three days before his internship began. Since back in Oregon, Joel still loves attending Duck games with family, skiing on both snow and water, and running through the hills and mountains of the Pacific Northwest.