Since 1915, Emanuel Lutheran Church has been sharing the Good News of a loving God who created, saved, and makes us holy. We built our current campus on Modoc Road in 1969.
We are a member congregation of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, a world-wide association of Lutheran congregations, schools, and social service organizations committed to preaching and living the good news of Jesus Christ in myriad ways. Our members come from all walks of life and backgrounds, united by faith in being made right with God through the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
We believe that worship is not something that we do for God, but rather, it is a time when God ministers to us and we respond to His goodness. The central highlights of our worship service are Word and sacrament. Word is the Word of God in Holy Scripture. A sacrament is an physical sign of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness. We celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion on the first and third Sundays of each month. Each worship service begins with a time of confession, and then the declaration that we have been forgiven! We worship in the grace of God, fed by God’s Word and sacraments, and sent back into our neighborhoods and homes and workplaces to be witnesses to the love God has given us and offers to everyone around us.
Our worship blends traditional liturgical elements with hymns and contemporary music. In any given service you may find yourself singing along to a traditional Gospel song, a 500-year old hymn, or a song written in the last few years. In everything we do we seek to glorify God, not ourselves.
Our Mission:
Emanuel Lutheran congregation, building on a foundation of Fellowship, worship, prayer, and God’s Word & sacraments, seeks to fulfill the Great commission and the Great Commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Pastor:
Rev. Dr. Paul G. Wenz
Ministry ExperiencePastor Paul has served at four LCMS churches since 1995 and has taught as an adjunct professor since 2000 in Theology and Philosophy in both classroom and online formats. He has served as an adjunct at Concordia University Irvine (CUI) in Old and New Testament Theology since 2002. About Pastor PaulPastor Paul received his B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from California Lutheran University (CLU) in 1989. He spent the summer of 1987 on an archaeological dig in Israel through U.C. Berkeley, and traveled throughout Greece afterwards. In 1988 he went on a study tour of Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador to learn about the struggles of Christians in these poor countries. In 1989, he attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, and spent a semester in South Korea, studying at Luther Theological Seminary near Seoul. He graduated from Concordia Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree in 1993 and began studying for a Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.) degree, with his Thesis: Isaiah’s Oracle Against Philistia: An Exegetical and Historical Study of Isaiah 14:28-32 He was ordained in 1995 and served as the Assistant Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Yankton, South Dakota. In 2001 he accepted a call as an associate pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Orange, CA, as a Minister of Discipleship and Christian Care. He taught as an adjunct professor of Philosophy at Mount Marty College in Yankton, SD (2000-2001), and in the Theology department at Concordia University Irvine from 2002 to the present. Pastor Paul received his Doctor of Ministry degree through Gateway Seminary in Ontario, CA, in Dec. 2020 with his dissertation on “Peer-based Evangelism among Gen. Z.” He served as pastor of Faith Lutheran church in Riverside, CA, from 2007-2022. In May of 2022 he accepted the call as Pastor of Emanuel Lutheran in Santa Barbara, CA, where he lives with his wife Kedma. Together they have led tours of Israel, Jordan and of Germany for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. Pastor and Kedma are the proud parents of 5 children. |
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Degrees Earned
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