By FRED KRONER
There are reasons, Seth Schutte has learned, why things do happen and why they should happen.
Sometimes these events are obvious and take place quickly. Other times, they are more veiled and take longer to materialize.
Schutte is a Mahomet-Seymour High School graduate, Class of 2002.
For most of his teen-aged years, his mindset was not much different from many of his peers.
“I had delusions of grandeur,” Schutte said, “making a lot of money and driving a fancy car.”
His career path – also like that of many others in his generation – took a number of twists and turns.
He went to Parkland College for a year, then tried his hand at a variety of ventures.
“I owned my own remodeling company for a short period of time,” Schutte said. “I got into being an assistant chef (at Lincolnshire Fields Country Club) and I got into martial arts as an assistant instructor (at the former Newberry Academy).”
As he sought a more permanent direction for his life, Schutte would eventually reflect on a church camp he attended in Lewistown the summer after his seventh-grade year.
“I was 13,” he said. “That’s when I got the call to ministry.”
Schutte had a church upbringing in the Mahomet United Methodist Church, but his attendance and participation was more sporadic than regular.
“I’d show up here and there for a youth group or a youth trip,” Schutte recalled, “but I was not a faithful church-goer.”
When he received the call – in his first year as a teen-ager – to be an obedient server, Schutte was not willing to embrace it.
“I kept it to myself and didn’t say much about it,” he recalled. “It was not something I was entertaining.
“It was exciting, but at the same time, kind of disappointing. I thought I knew what I wanted, and that was not it.”
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Though Schutte was originally reluctant, he didn’t dismiss the idea of a career in ministry.
He continued to participate in the annual church camp at Lewistown and in 2005 – now in his 20s and just three years removed from high school – Schutte again felt the pull to a church-oriented career.
“I was at a meeting where they were putting things together for the next year and, as I was leaving, I felt God saying, ‘You need to stop and remember,’” Schutte said.
“I got the overwhelming feeling that ministry is what I need to do.”
As Schutte made the 2-hour trip home from Lewistown, he recognized he was not traveling alone.
“I spent time with God and realized what I was supposed to do,” he said. “The next day, I tried to find a (church-related) job.”
He could feel a weight being lifted from his shoulders.
“I thought I knew better (in 1997) and didn’t heed the call,” Schutte said. “I fought God the entire time.
“But the visions and thoughts I had were not realistic. It was a dream.”
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It took some time for family and friends to understand that Schutte was on a path he intended to follow.
“At first,” he said, “they thought it was a phase – ‘he’s trying something new’ – but they soon realized it was my path in life.”
Jobs weren’t readily available, however.
“I had no formal training in Christian ministry,” Schutte said, “and wouldn’t for another five years when I would go to Lincoln Christian University.”
In December, 2013, Schutte earned his bachelor’s degree in Christian ministry.
For income, he worked at Champaign Surplus and volunteered at his childhood church, Mahomet United Methodist.
Once he got established, other opportunities opened up.
Schutte’s first job as a part-time youth pastor came to fruition in 2008 with the Tuscola United Methodist Church.
Less than a month after graduating from Lincoln Christian, Schutte found himself with his first full-time youth ministry position.
He got his start in Augusta, Kan., in January, 2013.
After returning to Central Illinois, Schutte served at Quest United Methodist Church, in Urbana, and for a three-church charge in Vermilion County, Oakwood United Methodist Church, Hebron United Methodist Church and Fithian United Methodist Church as a full-time youth pastor.
He was then transferred to the Clinton United Methodist Church in a similar position.
“In United Methodist churches, youth ministry is a jumping off point for pastors,” Schutte said. “You don’t need to be ordained, and it’s a good way to get your feet wet.
In 2017, Schutte started the process to become ordained. He is currently a student at the Asbury Theological Seminary, in Wilmore, Ky.
Many of his courses are taught online, but he is required to make periodic trips to the campus. He expects to complete his studies in 2021.
Since July, 2018, Schutte has been the full-time pastor at the Fisher United Methodist Church.
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And so, as Schutte learned years ago, there are reasons why things happen.
For example, he didn’t just show up at church one day and decide to remove his shoes and preach barefoot.
There are reasons, of course, and some of them are based on scripture.
“When Moses came to the Burning Bush, God told him, ‘take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground,’” Schutte related. “When Joshua was at the Tent of Meeting, it was the same. God told him, ‘take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’
“When I preach, I am standing on holy ground. I take off my sandals.”
Literally.
“I wear sandals year-round, even when it snows,” Schutte added.
There are, in fact, other reasons for preaching barefoot, ones that help illustrate how the church of today has changed from when the grandparents of many current preachers regularly sat in the congregation.
It is also why when Schutte dresses for church, he doesn’t wear a suit under his alb, but instead is adorned in khakis and a polo shirt.
“It definitely brings on an air of being comfortable,” he said. “It lightens the mood in the room, and allows people to be themselves.
“It doesn’t bring stuffiness.”
When he enters a new church for the first time, he addresses the issue up front.
“The first thing I do,” he said, “is explain why I am preaching barefoot.
“Some will understand and some won’t. Most people are surprised when I take off my sandals, but most people have accepted it. The first time I did it, I got one heck of a reaction.”
In addition to serving as a local pastor, for the past two years Schutte has also been a chaplain in the United States military, serving as a lieutenant with the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps.
“When I preach in the military uniform, I don’t take off the dress blues (or the shoes),” Schutte said.
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Schutte doesn’t regret any of the decisions he made along his journey. Even though the early ones didn’t lead to a permanent profession, the benefits were immeasurable.
“Everything I’ve done in the past prepared me and gave me a greater sense of appreciation of all the things God has put in my life,” Schutte said.
“When I’ve gone on mission trips, my experience in remodeling helped in repairing homes and rebuilding,” he said. “Because I have those skills, I was able to get other projects going.
“Having been a chef and being able to cook for people, you can feed them spiritually as well as physically, and that’s a good thing.”
When Schutte took over as pastor at Fisher United Methodist Church – which has around 55 parishioners – he felt he was prepared for the role.
“There were points in youth ministry where I had the opportunity to preach sermons and do the pastor job,” he said. “I do feel like I was ready, but as the years progress, I continue to grow and that won’t stop.”
Schutte speculates that most of his childhood chums wouldn’t have listed “pastor” as the profession he would be in less than two decades after graduating from high school.
“The No. 1 response I get is, ‘Really? I would have never thought of that,’” Schutte said. “Back in high school, I was not that outwardly religious.
“I kept my faith to myself and didn’t talk about it.”
The public speaking aspect was never a struggle for Schutte.
“I don’t get nervous all that often, no matter who is in the congregation,” he said. “It’s pretty easy for me to get up there and share the word of God.”
What Schutte is doing is a passion. He doesn’t view it as a job.
“I’ve learned that when you love what you do, you never work a day in your life,” he said. “You get a lot more out than you put in, but the more you put in, the more you get out.”
As for the future, Schutte knows only that change is inevitable. The Methodist church relocates pastors every several years. Five years at one location is about the average. He’s OK with that.
“I like new adventures and meeting new people,” Schutte said. “Moving around is not a problem for me. As a United Methodist pastor, we take on an itinerant ministry.”
When a reassignment comes, he expects to continue serving churches within the Great Rivers Conference, which is roughly south of Interstate 80 in Illinois.
He is most thankful with the approach taken by his parents during his adolescence. Church was not force-fed.
“My parents were the type who allowed us to experience things on our own time,” Schutte said. “We never felt we ‘had’ to go (to church) or were pressured.
“They’d say, ‘We’d love you to go, but we’re giving you that option.’ That made going to church a lot easier.”
Schutte and his wife (the former Colleen Ozier, also an M-S graduate) will get a chance to follow that philosophy in the years ahead. They have two sons, a 3-year-old and a new addition 12 weeks ago.
His own background with church also helped establish lifetime values and views.
“When parents allow kids to experience faith in their own time and their own way, you no longer have the glass box of faith,” Schutte said, “because when you get to high school or college, it will shatter and you won’t be able to put it back together like it was.”
