Pastor Ed Grant
Pastor Ed and Sue celebrated their thirty-sixth wedding anniversary and his thirtieth year of ordination shortly after arriving at Calvary in August, 2009.
Upon entering the ministry in 1979 he was called to serve Redeemer Lutheran Church in Newton, New Jersey, as mission developer and youth worker. Six months later the demands of the fledgling congregation required the family of three to relocate twelve miles south to Blairstown, New Jersey, to work full-time in the mission that eventually became Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. He served the congregation eleven years, during which the couple was blessed with three additional children.
From the suburbs of New Jersey the Grant family was called to serve Resurrection Lutheran Church, located in Queens, New York City, where they lived for three years. Once again pastor Ed felt the call to work in the mission field and accepted the call to serve Family of Faith, a mission congregation located in Middletown, New York. He served there for sixteen years, meeting first in a movie theater, then a barn before finally constructing their own house of prayer. During this time Pastor Ed and Sue were richly blessed and hoped to eventually retire from Family of Faith, living near three of their four children and their ever expanding number of grandchildren.
God had other ideas. Through a series of circumstances Pastor Ed began to ask God if He might be calling him to serve another congregation. In late February he felt the first heart tugs to serve Calvary. These tugs became a clear sense of calling after an interview in March, 2009. While Sue and Pastor Ed were attending a continuing education conference in San Antonio in April, God spoke very clearly to pastor Ed, saying, “I have called you to be a bridge builder.” On May 31st, the people and leaders of Calvary also sensed the Holy Spirit’s leading to extend a call to Pastor Ed to serve the congregation. Pastor Ed and Sue purchased a home and moved to the Charleston area at the end of July, 2009.
