A giant leap for a man of the cloth
The Rev. John Fischer, 63, is stepping into retirement after 36 years as a pastor, though he retains some duties.
By GAIL HOLLENBECK
Published June 25, 2005
INVERNESS - John Fischer was ordained as a Lutheran pastor the same day Neil Armstrong made the first human footprints on the moon: July 20, 1969.
"It was really kind of cool," the 63-year-old pastor said recently. "We came home from church and part of the excitement was watching the televised news of the moon landing. It was a really big day historically for the country and a really big day for me."
Last month Fischer officially ended his parish ministry. Of the 36 years he served as pastor, 22 of them were as the shepherd of First Lutheran Church. He said he will continue some ministerial duties in retirement.
"At this point, I'm still what is called a circuit counselor, meaning there are 10 Missouri Synod Lutheran congregations in this area with which I have a pastoral relationship. When particular issues come up in their churches, I'm still the go-to person. So I will still be doing that for another couple of years even with First Lutheran of Inverness."
Fischer spent time visiting shut-ins as a pastor. He plans to continue those visits, along with his wife, Judy, who retired last year as the youth services librarian for Lakes Region Library.
"I won't do sacramental visits unless I'm asked by my congregation to do it, just the drop-in friendly kind of things," Fischer said.
Making friends with members of his congregation over the years has been one of the benefits of ministry.
"I think here in Inverness one of the biggest blessings is to have learned over the past 20 some years from my congregation how to grow and mature gracefully," Fischer said. "They've taught me. I see these people who are very proactive in taking care of themselves and keeping good attitudes and how their faith grows and matures. I can think of people with macular degeneration or cancer, whatever it may be. The setbacks are there, but they're still okay. They've taught me things about being patient and making the most of each day as it comes along, getting up and out and about and mental health and all of that. I've had a lot of really good role models."
Fischer was the grandson of two Lutheran ministers, one on each side of his family. But that wasn't his reason for following the call.
"What led me to the ministry was that I flunked chemistry in high school and had to take it over," he laughed. "I was doing poorly in physics, so I began to realize that being an engineer or something like that wasn't going to work. I came to realize in my senior year that I was interested in theology, so that led me in that direction."
After graduating from high school in Sacramento, Calif., Fischer attended a college in Oakland.
"Judy and I met as freshman in a little church college. I was headed to go into the pastoral ministry and Judy to become a Lutheran schoolteacher. We started going together while we were there and got married in 1965, so June 19 was our 40th anniversary."
The couple's first call was to a parish in Albany, Texas. While there, their first two children were born.
"It was a nice congregation," Fischer said. "It was oil and cattle country. My Grandpa Fischer was the pastor of a very large Lutheran congregation in Texas for over 40 years, but that was way before my time and I never met him. There is that ancestral connection with Texas."
The Fischers stayed there until 1973 and then accepted a call to a church in Columbus, Miss. After four years there, the pastor applied for a commission in the Navy.
"While that was happening, I was contacted by the Lutheran Council USA, and they offered me a position in Guam, so we took that. Just before Christmas 1976 our three kids and we moved there, and we stayed there for 6 years."
There was a term limit on that position, so Fischer needed another parish. He received a call from the president of the congregation at First Lutheran Church of Inverness.
"I'd never seen the place or met anybody and never heard of it, but we decided we wanted to be in the Florida area because my wife's parents had recently retired and moved to Bradenton, so we were happy with anything within a half a day's or a day's drive of where they lived. And that's how we got here."
Throughout his years of ministry, Fischer had ample opportunities to exercise a gift of compassion.
"I think I've been able to empathize and provide a compassionate presence to people in their needs, and there have been many needs here as there would be anywhere," Fischer said. "When I got on Guam, I became a chaplain in the Naval Reserve. I did 20 years and went to Desert Shield/Desert Storm with the Marine Corps at Camp Lejeune. Although I didn't go overseas, I had very many interesting experiences as a Naval Reserve chaplain with the Navy and the Marine Corps. I can think of so many times when you just step into situations and they turn out to be extremely critical. Just to have somebody there who cares for people who are going through stress, dealing with potential suicides and suicide attempts, as an example. Ministry at the Navy hospitals, being there when people have gone through terrible accidents and amputations and wounds, whatever it may be."
Fischer talked about how to help a person in need.
"You apply compassion by being a good listener and giving good feedback," he said. "I can recall visiting here with people in Inverness dying of AIDs and things like that. It's really kind of gut-wrenching at times. All the pastors around here know that."
Ministering to those who are hurting can be difficult.
"We share scriptures and pray," Fischer said. "It's tough to figure when to do it - for me it is, anyway. I never go in and just read to people. You sit there, and there's what they call a ministry of presence where it's not what you say but the fact that you're just there says everything. You have to ask God, "Let me be an instrument of your Spirit and your will' at that moment to know when to speak and when to shut up. Sometimes they don't want you to talk. I don't take offense at that. It means that being there was probably more important than what was being said."
Now that he is retired, Fischer has had time to reflect on his ministry and recall special moments.
"When Desert Storm was just heating up and we were all at the Navy Marine Corps Reserve Center in Orlando getting our stuff together and this Marine Corps private grabs me and says, "Chaplain can I speak with you?' He says, "I'm Jewish. If I'm over there and I'm wounded, will there be anybody there for me?' I said, "Sure.' He said, "If you were there, would you have a prayer with me even though I'm Jewish?' I said, "Well I certainly would.' Those kinds of moments just stick with me."