Trinity Lutheran Church in Stonewall will host a 50th anniversary and retirement celebration for their pastor, the Rev. Percy Smerek, on Aug. 15.

Smerek and his wife, Ada, are moving to Medina to be closer to family. They do not wish to retire from the church; however, they are ready to be around family.

Smerek said he believes Trinity is being left in good shape and will have no trouble finding another pastor.

The Smereks moved to Stonewall in 2006. Smerek was an interim pastor for several months before being hired. Ada Smerek was still active in a church in Bandera as one of the choir persons, so Smerek and their son would come to Trinity ever Sunday.

“One Sunday, my wife was able to come with our son and I to Trinity, and we were in the Sunday school room and I told her to go up to the choir and see if they could use another soprano. So, she went upstairs and at some point she had asked to play the piano and they said ‘Oh, you play the piano?’ I think 10 minutes later I had the job,” said Smerek. “I don’t want to say that I didn’t earn it myself, but I will not say that she didn’t help.”

Smerek has developed different services and entertainment into Trinity Lutheran Church, including a puppet ministry and nursing home visits, which are currently on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Before COVID-19, we were doing seven nursing homes a month with at least a half hour singing, plus communion. And we did that every month. And right now we’re back at Knopp Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center and Knopp Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. We have not gone back to Heritage Place yet,” Smerek said. “We really met some good people and had great relations. I took one of our puppets, Willie from Luckenbach, to Knopps and they just loved him. He’s also one of the many puppets I have on Sundays for the children.”

Start of Career

Smerek said ministry wasn’t his first choice for a career. He was a math science major at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, but soon switched to seminary all because of a Sunday school class he taught at a local church.

“I taught Sunday school and somewhere in the second year, it hit me that the most important thing I did — I was dating girls, I was in athletics, I was doing well in school — was that Sunday school class,” he said. “One Sunday, as I was dozing through the service, and suddenly it hit me. What am I doing for God? And that’s when I decided I think it’s time to consider a life of service to learn. So, I ended up signing up for seminary.”

Smerek went to seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, where his father was living at the time. That is also how he met his wife, who had been taking the same seminary class. The Smereks have been married for 52 years and have four grown children. They lived in multiple states before moving to Texas.

Church Life

Smerek said he has enjoyed his time as a pastor. No matter how difficult the challenges Smerek has to face, he has come out of it with a happy ending.

“One story was when we went to Janesville, Wisconsin. It turned out after the second year there, I no longer got a salary. The submission support money died. However, since we had a big house, as there wasn’t a parsonage, we had a place where my wife could teach music. And she had the largest numbers that she’d ever had in her life or ever would have again in real life,” Smerek said.

“We became foster parents there as well, for adults first. And we had one woman who had a tiny baby and (we) ended up adopting that baby. So, we gained a child there. We started a homeless shelter for women and kids, as well. Then we also worked with interracial reconciliation, which is something I never would have done otherwise, but that was something that opened up in that town for me to be a part of and was significant. So, I didn’t get paid but the Lord was working.”

With 50 years of ministry and having lived in many different communities, Smerek has experienced both growth and change of the people in many churches, including Trinity Lutheran.

“In Janesville, we really ran very loose services. And we had two blind men that came to church all the time. And one of them brought what wasn’t exactly a trumpet, but looked like one, there’s no name for it and he would play. We’d start the song, and he just started playing by ear to an accompaniment that was appropriate. It was such talent. I loved it. That was one thing that we did that showed there was kind of a looseness,” Smerek said.

“So, one thing I’m working on here at Trinity, and we did it really well when we had COVID, during the 8:30 a.m. service, for half an hour, we used contemporary Christian music with outdoor guitars and drums. And this church uses organ and piano and we can get away with an acoustic guitar once in a while. But we haven’t really moved to that other stuff in the worship here. But the people show that there’s life, and the people here have been alive in many ways.”

Within the Ministry

Throughout the years, Smerek has been a part of many different ministries that include Lutherans and other denominations.

He has also been a part of Walk to Emmaus, Teens Encounter Christ, Via De Cristo (Way of Christ), and Kairos prison ministry. To Smerek, those ministries are an opportunity to build fellowship and change lives.

“In these ministries, you work with the idea that there is in one case you’re building fellowship and in another you’re giving opportunity for life change,” said Smerek. “And those are important, because most people don’t recognize the need for life change until they hit a crisis. I could never figure out why wait until a crisis for a life change, but I was glad to help those in a crisis find a way out of the crisis through Christ.”

Spreading the Word

When the Smereks first came to Texas, they started a Bible study in Medina. The participants encouraged Smerek to write a small, personal Bible study for them and since then, he has written one every week with more and more people added to the list.

“During COVID, I’ve been doing one a day, six times a week since March of last year. So now, I’m going to have almost a year and a quarters’ worth of those. And it turns out to be something that works.”

Small Bible studies aren’t the only things Smerek has written. With the help of his wife, Smerek wrote a collection of music called Jesus Festival, which is centered on the book of Mark. They will be performing the songs of the first Jesus Festival for the people at the district gathering this year.

“…most people don’t recognize the need for life change until they hit a crisis. I could never figure out why wait until a crisis for a life change, but I was glad to help those in a crisis find a way out of the crisis through Christ.”

— Percy Smerek