Senior Pastor in Waiting Candidate Page
Calvary is pleased to announce that Stefan Nitzschke has been called as our Senior Pastor in Waiting with an affirmative vote of 99.7%! Stefan will take his place on the staff on July 1, 2026 and will serve alongside Pastor Eric until March 2027. At that time he will assume the role of Senior Pastor. If you missed Stefan’s Sunday evening Q&A, you can listen to the recording here.
Get to Know Stefan & Alexandra
A Message from Our Pastor
God’s Process at Work
God’s Unfolding Plan
Faith Journey & Background
I grew up in an amazing Christian home where we attended church regularly and my parents brought my siblings and I up in the Word. By the testimony of my parents, they’re unsure of when exactly I was saved, but they remember me displaying fruit of the Spirit from a very young age. My mom recalls occasions when I’d share the gospel with kids on the playground in early elementary school!
Unfortunately, my story is not one of unbroken faithfulness to Christ. In college, I drifted away from my walk with Jesus “for all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life…” (1 John 2:16). In that season, any observer would have categorized me as a seed among thorns (Mark 4:7).
My oldest brother (Christian – his name and his identity!) saw me floundering in my sin and invited me to come with him to a conference in Omaha, NE. At that conference, God gripped my heart through the preaching of His Word and I surrendered myself to His will. I shared this change with one of the speakers at the conference and asked what I should do in response. He said, “read your Bible and start serving in a local church.” While that wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, it was (by God’s grace) what I sought out to do.
I fell in love with Jesus, His Word, and His people over the course of the next few months. I couldn’t get enough of all of it! The local church I started attending allowed me to serve on their worship team and lead a Bible study through their college group – specifically to fellow fraternity guys. I started going out on my own to the bar strip during the evenings to tell people about Jesus. Different “playground;” same Savior!
It was around this time I began to perceive a call to ministry. The thought of being able to do all of this full-time was irresistible! A conversation with one of my pastors confirmed this calling, so I began looking for seminaries to receive formal training. Truncating this part of my story: I got connected with Faith Bible Seminary, went through their seminary internship program, and was hired by the affiliated church upon graduation.
In summary, my story is one of a broken sinner (1 Timothy 1:15), met by a wonderful Savior (Luke 7:36-50), being continually changed by the power of His Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). To God be the glory!
Pastoral Ministry Philosophy
Regarding philosophy of ministry, one passage in Scripture haunts me above the rest.
Some of the best “philosophy of ministry” material is found in Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. This epistle contains high-soaring truths about our identity in Christ, vivid depictions of the church as a structure and a body, practical steps towards Christians living, and equipping for spiritual warfare. With all that was going on in Ephesus, any outsider would have concluded that this was the church to emulate!
But another letter was written to Ephesus – this one, by Jesus:
I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. (Revelation 2:2-3)
So far, so good! Yet Jesus continues…
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. (Revelation 2:4)
This is the text that haunts me. Why is this passage so jarring? I can be doing all the right “stuff” for Jesus, yet forget Jesus in the process! Philosophy of ministry for any church must begin with this love, and fight to abide in this love (John 15).
Within this love, God’s Word provides a lot of freedom on how individual gatherings of His Bride can function. Many of the granular decisions are determined by the context of a localized body. Broadly-speaking, Ephesians 2 provides an outline for the church’s function. Believers are “members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets [i.e., God’s Word is our authoritative foundation], Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone [i.e., each “member” is called to “key” themselves off of Jesus], in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord [i.e., in unity, our telos is to glorify God]. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19b-22).
But Ephesians gets even more specific when outlining a philosophy of ministry to the church:
“And [Jesus] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:11-13).
It’s the privilege of each member to carry out the work of the ministry and the responsibility of shepherds/teachers to equip them well. Together, it’s our joy to mature in Jesus and serve as an evangelistic light to a watching world!
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Preaching Sample – Video Excerpt
Other Messages – Audio Recordings
Employment Summary
Education
Bachelors of Science
Management Information Systems
Iowa State University (2011)
Masters of Divinity
Pastoral Intern
Faith Bible Seminary (2016)
Certified Biblical Counselor
Emphasis: Marriage and Family Counseling
ACBC (2016)
PhD | Candidate
Christian Preaching, Biblical Counseling
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Candidating Weekend Schedule of Events
Saturday, March 28
Church Leaders breakfast from 9:30am – 10:30am with Staff, Deacons, ABF teachers, Life Group Leaders, etc
Sunday, March 29
AM – Combined ABF assembly in the Calvary Center for interview with Stefan and Alexandra
AM – Combined Morning Worship Gathering in the Main Auditorium with Stefan preaching
PM – Q&A with Stefan in the Calvary Center (SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS HERE)
PM – Congregational Vote on the motion to bring Stefan Nitzschke on as Senior Pastor in Waiting with a transition to Senior Pastor within the coming year