The congregations of St. Martin in Littlefield and St. Paul in Levelland have been served by Pr. Amanda Ullrich for the last six years. She is now preparing to go on leave from call as she and her husband, Pr. Jeremy Ullrich, are expecting their third child. So I took advantage of the weekend in Lubbock to visit and preach at both congregations on Sunday.

The congregation at St. Martin is quite small – mostly made up of two extended families. They warmly welcomed me for this first visit. Their council president is taking on the bulk of the worship leadership at this time, with occasional visits from retired pastor, Mike Holmes, to provide communion for them.

The congregation of St. Paul is a bit larger and will now be served by newly ordained pastor, Eric Saed. They have a gorgeous church building with lovely fellowship space at the back of the sanctuary. They also have a true heart for service as they have taken on a growing challenge of serving an annual barbecue with proceeds going to local hunger ministries. Even without the ability to have the barbecue this fall, they still pulled together to donate thousands of dollars to those ministries. Good people!