Rehoboth’s Lutheran church names Paul Schmidt pastor

The Rev. Paul Schmidt has taken over as pastor at Lutheran Church of Our Savior, although he would scoff at the formality of being called “The Rev.”

The soon-to-be 57-year-old pastor prefers to be just Paul or Pastor Paul, a title more suited to his easygoing and friendly personality.

Schmidt took over as senior pastor at Lutheran Church of Our Savior, located behind Big Fish Grill on Bay Vista Road, earlier this month after a 20-year career in Annapolis and Baltimore. He says it was a bit out of the blue when he got the offer to take over as senior pastor, but the 400-member congregation has made the transition easy.

“The people here are wonderful. Very welcoming and so kind. That part has been very easy,” Schmidt said.

“It’s very relaxed,” he said of the Cape Region. “It’s a very different community from Annapolis and Baltimore. I love that too, but I’m enjoying this. There, you have the government and the Naval Academy but here, it doesn’t seem to be as much of a rush. I’m really enjoying that. It’s very reflective in the congregation itself.”

Schmidt grew up in Illinois and said ministry was a family business.

“My father was a pastor, as was his father before him, so it was the air that I breathed growing up,” he said.

Schmidt said he would like to continue and enhance church outreach to seniors and young people and to further church work in the community. The congregation is very active, he said.

A history buff, Schmidt said he enjoys American history from Colonial America to the Civil War and World War II. He said he was looking forward to exploring some of the history of Delaware now that he was here.

“I’m always interested, anything from a historic house to a battlefield. I’m really loving getting to know this area. There’s a lot of history here that I was somewhat aware of but now it’s kind of fun to explore,” Schmidt said.