Local Pastor's Journey to Revitalize Aging Church Began With Tears

Pastor John Bush was sitting in traffic waiting for a light to change when he felt a calling to serve God.

"It just hit me that throughout all of my evilness God loved me to die for me, and all I could do was cry," Bush, 63, said. "I mean, literally, my entire being was in tears."

Shortly after, Bush left behind a lucrative career in marketing and advertising, which allowed him to enjoy the finer things in life, including a house on a lake, complete with all the toys.

"God changed my life dramatically," Bush said. "I thought that money was the only way to keep score ... On an arrogant scale of 1 to 10 I was probably a 12 or 13."

"God changed my life dramatically."

In 1995, Bush entered the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO. He was 46 years old. Soon he and his wife, Laurel, packed up and moved to Brownstown to begin life as an ordained minister at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Trenton, where he has remained ever since.

Bush's journey has led him to begin revitalizing St. Paul. The church was built in 1948 and Bush said it needed to be rejuvenated in an effort to cater to a younger congregation.

In July, Bush began .

"I have been incredibly blessed in ministry," Bush said. "I have found, in all of this, that it's very easy for everybody's focus to wander, and when we're focused on God, it doesn't mean that bad things don't happen, but you know that God is with you."