Bilitz retires after 21 years

After 21 years of service in the Waseca County area, Pastor Keith Bilitz of St. John and Trinity Ev. Lutheran churches has retired, with his last service having taken place Sunday, May 22.

While “some pastors go longer,” Bilitz said, he chose to retire at 65 due to the stress of the Covid-19 pandemic, along with serving two vacancies over the past two and a half years.

Additionally, Bilitz reports that his hearing has started “going bad.”

As a result of Bilitz’s retirement, St. John and Trinity Ev. Lutheran congregations are now in the process of calling a new pastor.

Bilitz began his ministry upon his 1983 graduation from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin, which is affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). He says that, while some would describe the WELS as a “conservative church body,” its doctrine is focused on being “faithful to God’s word.”

Meeting people from all walks of life, Bible studies, vacation Bible school, and spreading the gospel message were just a few of the pastoral activities that Bilitz enjoyed the most. 

In particular, he says he found joy in the assurance his members felt when contemplating death and knowing that they were going to heaven.

“You can’t beat a job like that because you want people to go to heaven and you can tell them about Jesus,” said Bilitz, who remembers encountering a myriad of societal and technological changes over the course of his 40 years in the ministry. Despite those changes, Bilitz emphasized the unchanging nature of his ministry’s message.

Bilitz ’s work experience received a facelift over the years, courtesy of a variety of technological changes. One example is that the mimeograph that once printed bulletins was replaced with a photocopier. He went from reading his sermon notes off paper to using an electronic tablet, and he had even begun recording his church services and posting them online. 

“Technology is fun; I like technology,” he observed.

In his travels, Bilitz’s vehicle of choice is a red motorcycle, which was quite an attention grabber in the parking lot of Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church in Smiths Mill.

“I don’t know many WELS pastors that zip around on a motorcycle,” he said.

According to Bilitz, the WELS is facing 140 church vacancies, with only about 25 seminary graduates ready to enter the ministry.

Bilitz said this low proportion of new pastors to congregations in need “doesn’t quite fill all the pulpits.”

While retirement will mark the end of Bilitz’s ministry, he says he has “a list of stuff  to do that’s a mile long.” He plans to remain at his residence in Eagle Lake with his wife and spend time with family members who also live in the area.

For his final service, Pastor Bilitz incorporated a few special plans, ranging from personally significant musical selections performed by the church choir to picking his personal favorite hymns to be sung during the service. 

“They don’t really fit the Sunday, but that’s okay,” said Bilitz.

Pastor Bilitz leaves the ministry with decades of experiences, declaring he has “seen everything under the sun.”

“It’s been fun and I call it a privilege to be able to serve God’s people,” he observed.