Sunday November 8, 2009 Pastor Joel Fritsche was installed as Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Staunton. 19 area Pastors attended the installation. Pastor Fritsche will become the leader of the 1000 member congregation here in Staunton.

In the photo above is Pastor Fritsche, his wife Clarion, his two sons Slav and Sergei.

The Reverend Joel Fritsche
Pastor Joel Fritsche was born in Houston, Texas on September 15, 1974, the youngest of four children. He was blessed to attend Lutheran schools from elementary school through high school in Houston. In 1996 Pastor Fritsche graduated from Concordia College (now University) in Seward, Nebraska with a Bachelor of Arts in music. From there he attended Concordia Seminary - St. Louis, graduating in 2000 with a Master of Divinity on July 2, 2000. Pastor Fritsche served his vicarage at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Torrington, Wyoming (1998-99). He has served as Associate Pastor at Our Savior Lutheran in Cheyenne, Wyoming (2000-02), Assistant Pastor at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas (2002-05) and Admissions Counselor at Concordia Seminary - St. Louis (2005-09).

On December 27, 2003 Pastor was united in holy marriage to Clarion Ave-Lallemant. Clarion graduated from Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin (2000) and has served as a Lutheran elementary school teacher. In August 2008, Pastor and Clarion were blessed to adopt two handsome young boys (natural siblings) from Russia: Slav (born September 14, 2003) and Sergei (born August 9, 2005). Pastor and Clarion hope that the Lord will give them opportunity to increase their family once again through adoption in the near future.

Pastor Fritsche enjoys spending time with his family, cooking, tinkering with computers, shooting guns and reading Hebrew (as well as other strange ancient languages).