OUR PASTORS
 

 

Grace Lutheran Church

6601 North 9th Avenue

Pensacola, FL  32504

(850) 476-5667

 
Stephen S. Linck was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 12, 1953. He is the son of A. Stephen & and Beatrice Linck. He has two sisters, Susan and twin, Michelle. Steve grew up in the Chicago suburb of Claredon Hills, Illinois, and upon graduation from Hillsdale High School, enlisted in the United States Navy at age 17. He served as a Hospital Corpsman at the Naval Hospital in Orlando Florida, and with Fleet Marine Force in North Carolina.

While on active duty Steve met and married Mary Lou Ivo on August 18, 1974. Upon completion of active duty in the Navy, Steve and Mary Lou returned to Florida, where he earned an A.A. Degree from Seminole Community College in 1977, and then a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida, Orlando, in 1979. For the next six years, Steve worked in retail marketing, primarily as a computer center manager for Tandy-Radio Shack.
In August of 1984, Mary Lou and Steve set off from Ovieda, Florida, with two children and one on the way, so Steve could enter Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. While at Seminary, Steve served as student chaplain in Clinical Pastoral Education at St. Luke's Lutheran Hospital in Ft. Wayne. He served his vicarage year at Trinity Lutheran, Reese, Michigan and also served as chaplain at Lutheran Hospital in Saginaw, Michigan.

Steve and Mary Lou returned to Ft. Wayne in November of 1988, to complete his classes at the Seminary. He completed his requirements for the Master of Divinity Degree on May 19, 1989, and accepted the Call to serve Trinity Lutheran, Riesel, Texas.

While at Trinity in Riesel, Pastor Linck served for a number of years as a Nursing Home Chaplain with Central Texas Senior Ministries. Believing in community volunteering, he has served as a volunteer fireman, Cub Scout

Master, and President of Heart of Texas Foster and Adoptive Family Association. The Riesel Community credits him beginning a Senior Center and Meals on Wheels Program, as well as opening the only day care and preschool in the rural area served by Trinity.

He also served at St. Paul Lutheran, Groves, Texas, in the Port Authur area, from March 1996 to January 2003. While at St. Paul he served as Circuit LWML Counselor, Circuit Youth Counselor, and the Circuit Mission Board - Vietnamese Ministries. His social involvement in Groves includes Committee Chairman of B.S.A. Troop 75, President of PNG - Little Dribblers Basketball, as well as an active participant on other community and school boards.

Steve and Mary Lou have been blessed with six children Nicholas, Timothy, Elizabeth, Robert (deceased), Benjamin and Marissa.