Pastor
The Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie was ordained and installed at Grace Lutheran Church on July 25, A+D 2010. He and his wife, Anne, enjoy raising their family of six children in the Lord, music, reading, and the fine culture of Chicagoland.
Pastor was born in Wabash on December 18, 1977. He spent most of his younger life in the Lafayette, Indiana. He attended St. James Lutheran Church and was a student of their Lutheran school from kindergarten through eighth grade. Pastor graduated cum laude from Concordia University Chicago in 2000 with a major in Media Communications and a minor in Music.
It was at River Forest that he met his bride, Anne, and was married on June 27th, 1998 at St. James Lutheran Church, Chicago (Lincoln Park). They were blessed with their first son, Ethan on November 26th, 2000. Elizabeth (Elsie) was born May 25, 2002, Gabriel on May 18, 2004, Luke on February 10, 2006, Naomi on May 3, 2008, and most recently Leah Christine on April 19, 2010.
Previous to entering the seminary, Christopher worked for five years as a sales consultant for Audio Consultants, designing hi-fidelity stereos, home theaters, and whole-house entertainment systems. Most recently he and his family lived in Lockport, Illinois where they attended St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. While a member, he served as an elder and chair of the technology committee. He was encouraged by his pastor, his family, and his church to pursue the office of the Holy Ministry. In May of 2005, Christopher entered the Masters of Divinity program at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Aside from the seminary curriculum, he worked for the audiovisual and information technology departments. In 2007, he and his family moved to Saginaw, Michigan to serve as vicar for Immanuel Lutheran Church. In 2008 they returned to Fort Wayne and in May of 2009, Christopher graduated from CTS with the M. Div. degree. In the Fall of 2009, he completed the academic portion of a Masters of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.) degree. He anticipates completing the thesis portion of the degree while serving Grace Lutheran Church, Dyer, Indiana.
Pastor has many hobbies including listening to music, cooking, baking, grilling, electronics, photography, computing, studying theology, and Christian apologetics. He regularly blogs on Outer Rim Territories and Facebook. Anne enjoys serving as the mother of six children. She also schools their children at home, pursues sewing and crafts, reads fiction, manufactures cloth diapers for friends and family, and provides birth labor support as a doula. The children enjoy school, piano, reading for leisure, crafting, household chores, playing outside, and drawing/coloring.
