Welcome Pastor Jan Dittmar
CPC welcomed Pastor Jan Dittmar as interim Pastor on November 7, 2011.
Jan was born in El Paso and is a 4th generation Texan. Her father was in the military and as a result she went to three different high schools. She graduated from New Mexico State where she married her husband, Michael, who is a Chemical Engineer, now retired. They lived and worked and raised a family in Longview, Texas. Her seminary work was completed at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Jan enjoys walking, yoga, cooking and reading.
Jan and Mike have two children. Both children graduated from Trinity University. Eric, now 34 then went on to MIT for his MBA. He lives in California and worked for Apple, and now works for start up company, Lytro, that is introducing new photographic technology. Daughter Christen, is in her last year of Dental School in San Antonio and is expecting the first grandchild, a girl, in February 2012.
When called to the ministry, Jan moved to Austin and Mike stayed in Longview. She took one cat and he kept the other and they visited on week-ends. (The cats are 18 and 19 years old.) She says that it was harder than she thought it would be. The commuting was hard, and the course work was daunting. “ At the beginning, I was overwhelmed by how much I didn’t know, even in familiar areas like worship. I took a lot of theology at first and little by little I added to my foundation. When I was comfortable there, I dove into the practical applications classes—worship, mission, stewardship, counseling, and such. I learned things that apply to everyday church. For example, in mission class, we talked about the history of Christians going to other cultures and adapting the Christian worship to that culture. In some ways, we face a new culture here among our people in mainstream America, and we can consider America a mission field.”
When asked how she was called into ministry, Jan responded, “I began volunteering at church, and became increasingly more involved. I then worked part-time for my church. Between that experience and volunteering with youth, mainly as a small group leader with Synod Youth Workshop, I was gradually called into ministry. I can’t imagine anything more fulfilling today.”
A big CPC welcome to Jan and Mike!