Rev. Timothy Schleusener
Reverend Schleusener (pronounced SHLOYZ-ner) was born in 1986 as the third of what would eventually be six children, all of whom were born and raised in Michigan. Through no merit of his own, he was raised LCMS. By God’s grace, he’s grateful for this upbringing. From an early age he loved the solidity of God’s word and being able to confidently trust it. As he grew older, he made the shocking discovery that this confidence and love weren’t universal to everyone, even if they were Christian. Eventually, he realized that his love for God’s word was a product of his Lutheran upbringing, which made him deeply grateful for how his parents taught him to love and trust God’s word.
He also recognizes that this love and trust was part of how God was preparing him to be a pastor long before the idea ever occurred to him—and it took a long time for the idea to occur to him. Growing up, his time was largely taken up by school and sports, both of which he did well in. His undergraduate studies were in chemical engineering, and he eventually graduated summa cum laude from Wayne State University. He had decided several years prior to graduation to get into the world of teaching, with the intent of teaching math and chemistry in high school.
In the end, life circumstances intervened, and he decided to take some time away from academia and do work that used his brain differently. This led to work as a turret press operator at a door frame manufacturing company, and eventually to a promotion into their engineering department. After several years at that company, he took a job working as a project manager for a company that supplied finishing equipment to manufacturers who painted their end products.
Shortly before taking the project management job, Reverend Schleusener had become convinced that God wanted him to become a pastor someday. As he likes to put it, “I was minding my own business, and then God told me to go mind something else.” After jumping through various practical hoops, he entered the Fort Wayne seminary in June of 2021. He started his seminary career with Summer Greek, attempting to learn a year’s worth of Greek in only 10 weeks. His attempt was successful enough for the seminary let him continue on to the rest of the program, and he graduated in May of 2025.
In his free time, Reverend Schleusener enjoys reading, martial arts, and card tricks. He is grateful to be given the opportunity to love and serve the people in his parish, particularly by way of Word and Sacrament ministry.
