Meeting a Personal Hero: Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller

Editor Publius April 18, 2021 no Comments

The Background

Last Sunday, I had the chance to meet a personal hero of mine—Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller. Before we begin, I wanted to provide some context to my account.

Last weekend, I attended the Spring Convention for the Texas Federation of College Republicans in Round Rock, Texas. Pretty soon, I’ll make a post about my experience at that convention. Nevertheless, this post will focus on the day after that conference.

As an attendee of the Texas College Republicans Spring convention, I spent last Saturday night at a hotel in Round Rock, Texas. Consequently, I decided to attend a nearby Church on the following Sunday morning. The Church that I attended was St. Paul Lutheran (LCMS) in neighboring Austin, TX.

Sure, I had to drive about twenty miles from my hotel to get to St. Paul Lutheran Church, but I had two good reasons to do so. First off, I had never been in Austin, Texas before. I have been in Texas three years for college, but I never got around to visit Austin—it’s about a three hour drive (without traffic) from my college (TCU). Secondly, I wanted to meet a personal hero of mine: Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller. He is the pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Austin. Since I was in the general vicinity for the weekend, I finally had a good excuse to go visit his congregation.

As a devout Lutheran, I have followed the work of Pastor Wolfmueller since I was in high school. He has produced copious amounts of media—such as books, podcasts, and YouTube videos— to help teach Lutheran theology, the Holy Scriptures, and Church History to lay Christians.

Personally, Pastor Wolfmueller is one of the main reasons that I am still a Lutheran to this day. His ruminations on the Scriptures and Lutheran Theology has strengthened my faith throughout my high school and college years—a time when many young Christians fall away from the one true faith. The best way to describe Pastor Wolfmueller’s work is that he reminds the reader/listener just how wonderful it is to be a Lutheran/Christian. Through all the struggles we may have in this world, we Christians know that we been redeemed, forgiven, and saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.

I firmly believe that God has used Pastor Wolfmueller to bring many people—including myself—to Christ in an increasingly secular culture. Overall, Pastor Wolfmueller keeps reminding me about the joy and forgiveness that I have in Christ my Savior. I am so thankful for all that he has done for me and for the Christian Church.

Will all that being said, I’d like to give my personal account of last Sunday morning.

A Wonderful Sunday Morning

I woke up early on Sunday morning in order to make the 8am Service at St. Paul Lutheran Church Austin, Texas. My original plan was to attend the 8am Church Service and the 9:30am Bible Study before I drove straight back Fort Worth, Texas (i.e. the location of my college TCU). As you will later see, my plans changed for the better.

When I arrived at St. Paul Lutheran, I was in utter awe at the beauty of this Church. Ornate stained glass windows dotted the Sanctuary as I walked past the large pipe organ over to a pew toward the front of the building. What also caught my eye were the kneelers connected to all pews in the Church. That’s a sign that you’re in a old-school, liturgical Lutheran church.

As I sat down in a pew, I saw Pastor Wolfmueller walk to the front of the Sanctuary. To my surprise, Pastor Wolfmueller also came up and greeted me before the service began. I quickly introduced myself and told him that I was a big fan. After this brief exchange, the Liturgy began with an Easter hymn.

The Church Service at St. Paul Lutheran was truly a beautiful experience. Whether it was singing traditional hymns to the resounding pipe organ or chanting the psalms, the congregation at St. Paul showed a deep reverence for God and an immense respect for the historic liturgy.

Pastor Wolfmueller’s sermon that Sunday morning focused on a famous Scripture passage: Jesus’ appearance to the disciples and later Thomas in the Upper Room (John 20:19-29). He taught me so much about the text that I never really caught before. Most Christians only learn about how Thomas doubted the resurrection and how Jesus later appeared to him. But if you truly reflect on this passage, there is so much to dwell on in these eleven verses. The institution of the office of the keys (i.e. forgiving sins) (v. 23), Jesus’s giving of the Holy Spirit to the disciples (v.22), and Thomas’s confession of Jesus as “My Lord and my God” (v. 28) are just some of the

After the service ended, I chatted with one of the Church elders at St. Paul before going to the Church’s 9:30am Bible Study. The topic of that morning’s Bible Study was the Liturgy (i.e. the Church Service). As the leader of the Bible Study, Pastor Wolfmueller discussed the history and meaning behind the different parts of the Lutheran liturgy. I learned more about the Liturgy in one hour than I probably have in all of my life. Good stuff overall.

Anyways, I was planning on driving back to Fort Worth after I thanked Pastor Wolfmueller for the Bible Study. To my surprise, Pastor Wolfmueller invited me to his Church’s outdoor potluck after the 11am service. After briefly hesitating to his offer, I of course thanked him for the invitation and decided to stay for lunch. With about an hour to kill before the lunch, I helped set-up the Church luncheon with several other people. It was truly a beautiful day to have an outdoor lunch, and I enjoyed getting to meet some of the members of St. Paul Lutheran

During lunch, I hung out and talked with a few high school guys from St. Paul. Even though I was about seven years older than these high schoolers, I was thoroughly impressed with their maturity and knowledge at such a young age. I had an absolute blast hanging out with my fellow Lutherans, learning more about the Austin area, and eating some delicious grilled meats. I have to admit that Lutheran do a dang good job when it comes to preaching the Gospel and cooking for Church events. That’s a solid combo in my mind.

Because I am a dork, I asked Pastor Wolfmueller to take a picture with me before I left. Fortunately, he obliged; and I then drove back home to Fort Worth.

What a great day, indeed.

Closing Thoughts

Spending Sunday morning and afternoon at St. Paul Lutheran in Austin was one of the best experiences of my life. I am so thankful that God granted me the opportunity to meet Pastor Wolfmueller and to have fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

To close this post, I wanted to include some information about some of Pastor Wolfmueller’s work for anyone interested.

Currently, Pastor Wolfmueller has writtten three books:

1. Has American Christianity Failed?

2. A Martyr’s Faith in a Faithless World

3. And Take They Our Life (you can download this book for free on Pastor Wolfmueller’s website)

Besides writing books, Pastor Wolfmueller has a YouTube Channel, a radio show called Table Talk Radio, and is a frequent guest on the Lutheran radio program Issues Etc. I included the links to these various media channels:

Pastor Wolfmueller’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPCSuCbAv-7iZ-IIKD2Gqeg

Table Talk Radio: https://www.tabletalkradio.org/