By: Sheila Crowley
Murray County News Staffwriter
After a 28 years as a nurse (43 years in all) at Avera in Marshall, Ethanie Schmidt felt a calling and need to move in a different direction. She had served in a number of different roles in the Methodist Church over the past 20 years. Ethanie has served as a local lay person at the United Methodist Church in Tracy for a number of year. In addition she has served as the lay delegate at the annual conference and had the opportunity to see the workings of the Methodist Church.
Last June, while attending a prayer venture at the Landscape Arboretum, Ethanie felt a calling to serve in a higher position. She had been discerning the idea of pursuing the role as pastor. “I just felt in that moment,” explained Ethanie, “God was telling me to go for it.”
Later that month Ethanie spoke with the district manager and explained her desire to pursue the role as a pastor. Knowing this was her calling, last fall when the pulpit at the Slayton and Lake Wilson Methodist became vacant, the district manager reached out to Ethanie to have her do pulpit supply. She was happy to fill the role and in fact, had even been praying for these two churches since she had heard about the situation at the conference last summer.
