Connie Eichinger was content at her church in Piedmont, South Dakota, but was curious about how God might use her gifts. She went to her pastor at the time, Rev. Howie Baird, and said she was interested in doing more, maybe even this thing called Lay Servant Ministry.

Rev. Connie Eichinger

Pastor Howie’s response was something like, “Well, it’s about time!” and he helped her register for a Conference class on Certified Lay Ministry, the first of many she would eventually take in her ministry journey. The instructor was Rev. Scott McKirdy, and they spent two days learning about Connie’s calling, and how that might bear fruit.

Connie was afraid that she was too old to begin a calling to ministry, to which Pastor Howie said, “Uh, and Moses?”

After her initial introduction, Connie began a path of discernment leading to becoming a licensed local pastor. Her assigned mentor just happened to be Scott McKirdy, and he helped Connie to examine her gifts and her potential. At first, she wasn’t sure about taking on an assignment at a local church. Connie shared, “I said no the first time, and as it turned out, now I’m doing just what I’d said no to, and loving it.”

Now appointed as a licensed local pastor, Connie is living into a ministry she couldn’t imagine, but which has deepened her life, her marriage, and her faith. She can’t believe she ever said no to an appointment and is joyfully serving the congregations at Faith UMC and Marcus (Presbyterian) from her hometown of Sturgis, South Dakota.

The Faith UMC in Faith, South Dakota.

Pastor Connie said, “I’m always amazed at the places I found myself that God has put me. The things that have happened to me and my husband in the past ten years have been truly amazing.”

The Dakotas Conference of the UMC is committed to equipping and empowering laypersons who have responded to the call of God to serve in mission and ministry. The United Methodist Church has established three categories for laypersons in lay servant ministries to discover, develop, and deploy principled Christian leaders for the mission of making disciples for the transformation of the world:

• Certified Lay Servant
• Certified Lay Speaker
• Certified Lay Minister

Being called to ministry is a serious endeavor. It takes a disciple to make a disciple. Thus we must do all we can to prepare ourselves and others to serve. We invite you to explore Lay Servant Ministries  opportunities! View a video. Download an information sheet. 

Next Steps: If you feel a call to ministry, your first step is to register for the discernment retreat, Jan. 8th and Feb. 5, 2022. This introductory course is being led by Pastors Connie Eichinger and Scott McKirdy, and will be held in-person and Zoom. 

Register here to learn what God has in store for you.