The Lord be with you
On October 24, a pastor of our district went to be with the Lord. Our district sends out notification to pastors when one of us dies. The notification concerning Pastor C.B. was, in my opinion, quite inspiring. Therefore, I am sharing it with you.
The Rev. C.B.
1927-2018
The Rev. C.B, 91, … was Called to Glory on Wednesday, October 24, 2018. He was the husband of R.B, with whom he shared 66 years of marriage.
C.B. was born in … 1927. During World War II, he served his country in the military, being assigned to the 77th Infantry Division, and then the 11th Airborne Division. Upon leaving the military, C.B. attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, where he graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology. From 1951 until 1956, he served as a missionary and headmaster, first in British North Borneo, then in the Tanganyika Territory of British East Africa.
In 1960, C.B, graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, Illinois, was ordained on July 3, 1960, and was installed at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Rushmore, Minnesota. In 1962, he returned to the mission field, heading to Papua-New Guinea where he served until 1971 when he received a call from Immanuel Lutheran Church in Preston, Maryland. In 1978, C.B. accepted a call to Lutheran Church of Our Savior, Waynesville (Clyde), North Carolina, where he served until his retirement in 1992.
No matter where he was called to serve, C.B. remained an active missionary for Christ. C.B. was elected as a Circuit Visitor for the Southeastern District in both Circuit 1 during his time at Immanuel and in (then) Circuit 17 when he was Pastor at Our Savior. He volunteered as a Chaplain in the North Carolina Wing of the Civil Air Patrol during the 1990’s, served as a hospital chaplain in the Waynesville area, and spent several summers teaching in China.
In 1997, at the Convention of the Southeastern District, LCMS, Clarence was a recipient the Servant of Christ Award. Clarence wrote in his response to receiving the award, “So how am I to be honored for being a poor reflection of that perfect obedience of Christ, or for my trying to share the Love of God and His forgiveness and Life with others when it has actually been my privileged duty? The honor and glory for all of that must go to God. Therefore, to accept a recognition such as this can, I think, only be done as a giving of thanks and praise to the Eternal God who has reached out to dust and ashes and has breathed life into us and redeemed us, and has come to each one of us with such incredible Love that we are called to be His forgiven sons and Servants of Christ.”
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