Dear Members of St. Paul Lutheran Church,

 My name is Jonathan Burkee. I am a second year seminarian. I moved to St. Louis last year at the end of July, beginning of August. I quickly discovered that it was the worst time of year to move to St. Louis. Thankfully, I had some friends from undergraduate who lived within a couple of hours of St. Louis, who came to help my wife and me move in to our apartment. My wife and I were married July 16, 2005, so right before we moved down to Seminary. She knew in advance that I would be going here, so it was not too big of a surprise. Although, this is the first time she had moved in 16 years (or so).
 
Contrary to Karla’s lack of moving experience, I moved six times while growing up. My dad is a Lutheran principal. The last place I moved with him, before moving to Seminary, was Cincinnati, OH. Although I live in St. Louis, I still hold my membership at Grace Ev. Lutheran Church. Speaking of my family, I have four    sisters: Sarah, Chrissy, Rosie, and Abby (in order of age) and one brother: Jason. I am the second oldest, Sarah is oldest at 25 — she currently is serving in Iraq, please pray for her. My other three sisters still live with my parents, Chrissy has attended a couple semesters of college, but has not found her niche yet. Rosie graduated high school last year, but was still under 18, so she has not pursued much of anything since high school, yet. Abby is 15 and a junior in high school. Jason just returned home from Iraq. He is stationed in Germany, we are very thankful he is safe. My dad and mom have been married for 25 years. My dad started out as a Lutheran schoolteacher, but since New Jersey has been a principal (about 15 years). My mom has had several jobs, ranging from a UPS box sorter to a Walmart product demo person. My wife Karla lived in Canton, MI until we got married and she currently works for a child development center near the Seminary — she loves it. Karla has only one older brother (Derek Klemm) and he is a fourth year seminarian here in St. Louis.
 
Well that is a little about my family, if you would like to know more, let me know. Now, I will tell you a little about me. As I mentioned, growing up, I moved six times. I went to high school in Michigan (Lutheran High School Westland) and went to college at Concordia    University in Wisconsin. I graduated in 2005 with a    Bachelor of Arts degree. I double majored in Pastoral Ministry and Theological Languages. I met Karla in high school, through a friend in her youth group, who went to school with me. We chose not to get married until after we both got our degrees from college, but knew we would be married before we graduated high school. As far as things I like to do, there is a wide variance. I like to play sports, anything that gets the heart pumping, most of the time for me it involves weight lifting. I took third in the Seminary intramural competition (lifting a total of 870 lbs. between three lifts). However, I am really a nerd at heart. I love to learn about technology, everyday I read a website (www.slashdot.org) that tells me any new  happenings. I also enjoy theology, which I assumed you might have guessed by now since I am enrolled at Seminary. My favorite type of theology is Systematic  Theology. Systematic theology can best be compared to the grammar rules of the English language, except for  theology. It gives us all the rules for properly  understanding theology, although, the more I learn the less 1 feel I know. There is a professor here at Seminary that says it best, it is all about Jesus. As long as I remember that, I can keep learning and still be awed by God.
 
Hopefully, by now you haven’t stopped reading or fellen asleep, because there is still more. When I was in high school, I had things all planned out. I would graduate, go on to Lawrence Tech (in Michigan), get  married, get a job making $80,000 a year in the field of computer engineering and science and retire at fifty. This was honestly, what I had in mind; however, God had other things in mind for my life. I remember one morning sitting in the cafeteria before school, my senior year, considering life (very philosophical, just kidding). I thought, is this what I really want to do, is this what God wants me to do. The night before I had a discussion with my dad and he asked me, “Can you roll over and wake up every morning happy doing this (referring to helping him with the computer)?” Now although this was not exactly what I was wanting to do, 1 understood the gist of his point and I realized my answer was no. I realized that God was calling me to serve Him, as unworthy as I was/am.
 
I had several people tell me through the years [would make a great pastor, but I did not want to hear it. I was worried about how I would one day support my family. I was worried about how I could deserve to be a pastor, I was worried about church politics, and I was not putting my faith in God. I made the realization that morning that I was not putting my faith in God. I was too     worried about myself and not about what He wanted. I gave in that morning to what God wanted. I have looked back a couple of times and thought what life would be like, but this is right, this is where God is leading mc. So, to answer the question, why do I want to be a pastor? One, 1 believe God is choosing me. Two, there is a need for people to hear the message of salvation. Three, I love God with all my heart, and I want to serve Him to the best of my abilities. Four, I love people and 1 don’t want them to die, not knowing that God has chosen them as His own.

I hope this letter tells you a little about me, if you would like to know more please let me know. I will try to respond as quickly as I can. Thank you for supporting Karla and me. Thank you for supporting the Seminary.

God’s Richest Blessings,

Jonathan R. Burkee
P.S. If you would like to email me, my email address is burkeej@csl.edu.

to Friends

updated Marcht 2007