Rev. Brian Scoles stands with his family at Redeemer Lutheran Church during his formal installation as the new pastor, Sunday, Jan 12. Scoles has served as a Lutheran pastor for over 18 years and will hold his first service on Sunday, Jan. 19. In photo: L to R: Jenny Scoles, Pastor Brian Scoles, Alaina Scoles, Paul Scoles and Kaitlin Scoles.

NEW ULM – Redeemer Lutheran Church is starting the new year with a new pastor, the Rev. Brian Scoles.

Scoles and his wife Alaine moved to New Ulm on Jan. 4. He was formally installed as Redeemer Lutheran during a special service last Sunday. Scoles will deliver his first sermon during the church’s next service on Sunday.

Scoles is a native of Mapleton, Iowa, a community three hours south of New Ulm. He has a sister, Peggy and an identical twin brother named Brad.

After graduating from high school, Scoles enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, serving four years from 1982 to 1986 as a Law Enforcement Specialist. He worked as a Military Police at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma and overseas at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Greenham Common and RAF Welford in England.

After leaving the service, Scoles attended college at Wayne State College (WSC) in Nebraska, earning a bachelor’s degree in secondary education. Scoles said he originally planned to become a high school social studies teacher, but his time at WSC inspired him to return to the church.

Scoles said he grew up in the Lutheran church, but admitted his faith was not a top priority until later in life. Scoles said during his four year with the Air Force, he never attended church, but once he got to WSC something clicked.

“I got involved with the college’s Lutheran Youth Group,” Scoles said. “I really like church volunteer work at college.”

Scoles began taking part in Bible classes and even teaching Sunday School. It was through his volunteer work with WSC’s Lutheran Student Fellowship that he met his wife Alaine. The two would marry and have two children, Jenny and Paul.

After college, Scoles served as a social worker helping disabled adults for a few years, but decided he wanted to pursue a career in the church. The Scoles family moved to St. Paul and he enrolled in the Director of Christian Outreach program at Concordia College. From 1996 to 2004, Scoles served as the minister of discipleship and outreach for Bethel Lutheran Church in St. Paul.

In 2004, the Scoles family relocated to St. Louis for Scoles to enroll in Concordia Seminary. He received a master’s degree and was later installed as the pastor of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in St. Paul for over 18 years. He left in December to become Redeemer Lutheran’s latest pastor.

Scoles received the initial request to becomes Redeemer Lutheran’s pastor in October. He said before that day, he had never been to New Ulm though he knew of the town. Many times in his life he has come close to New Ulm, but never visited.

Scoles said he and Alaine spent the first night of his honeymoon in Mankato. This quirk brought to mind one of Pastor Scoles’ favorite proverbs: “God writes straight with crooked lines.”

Scoles is excited to becomes Redeemer Lutheran’s new pastor. Scoles said he and his wife had considered relocating to a smaller community for a few years ago, but the time had not been right. The call from Redeemers Lutheran came at the right moment.

Scoles said that even though most of his time as a pastor has been in a big city, he originally comes from Mapleton, Iowa which is even smaller than New Ulm.

In the two weeks since Scoles arrived in New Ulm, he has been working to explore his new community. Hiking is one of Scoles’ hobbies and so far he has seen Hermann the German and the Glockenspiel. He looking forward to seeing more of the town as the weather warms.

Scoles is also impressed with the people he has met in New Ulm. He said the day he and his wife moved to town went smoothly thanks to church volunteers helping with the move.

“The people here are so gracious and so humble to welcome me with such support,” he said.

Scoles is currently working to put the finishing touches on his first sermon this Sunday. The title of the sermon is “Mary’s Final Words,” and is on the subject of Mary’s last recorded words in the Bible, during the wedding feast in Cana.

Following the service, Scoles will hold his first Bible class, which will be an opportunity to further introduce himself to the congregation.