The university recently announced the appointment of the Rev. Andrew Tucker as the new university pastor; he will begin in his new position starting Nov. 27.
Tucker is a native Ohioan from Orville and has been working in university ministry for 11 years. For the past three years, Tucker has served as mission redevelopment pastor at Christ Lutheran Church in Radford, Virginia, and worked with campus ministry at Radford University and Virginia Tech.
Tucker said he was introduced to the idea of becoming a pastor by an older woman in his congregation when was seven or eight years old.
“She said to me, ‘you’re going to be a pastor one day!’” Tucker said. “I looked at her, and I was like ‘I think you’re crazy!’ Obviously, [she] was right.”
After that, while in middle school, Tucker sat in on a class at our own Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and it “scared the crap” out of him. For a while, he said, he rejected the idea of becoming a pastor due to that experience.
During the summer between high school and college, Tucker toured with a music ministry group. He said he loved the ministry part of the gig as well as being a full-time musician, but he became really sick due to low blood pressure and low blood sugar. The tour lifestyle wasn’t helping his medical issues, so he had to give it up.
“[Being sick] gave me a lot of time to reflect on what I missed most,” Tucker said. “Do I miss the music most, or do I miss the ministry opportunities most?”
Tucker said he realized the ministry part of the group was his calling, and he knew at the start of his freshman year of college that becoming a pastor was what he wanted to do. He focused in on university work while in college because “that was such a formative time for [him],” and he wanted to become a resource for other students like him.
Although Tucker has worked in a typical congregation setting, he’s always been drawn to universities and prefers working in an academic environment.
“I think working at the intersection of the church and the academy is the most exciting and possibly impactful place to do good ministry,” Tucker said.
Tucker says it’s hard for him to know exactly which changes he will bring as the university pastor, but he would love to bring aspects of his past experiences with him to his new position.
One of those is fostering an ability for communication, understanding and community between all types of spirituality, from Lutherans to Atheists.
“The goal isn’t to get people to show up,” Tucker said. “The goal is actually to help people discover the importance of spirituality in their own lives.”
He also hopes to bring an excitement about campus ministry to Capital’s spiritual community, as well as “a sense of religion and spirituality that is people positive and body positive.”
Capital has long prided itself in being an inclusive environment for all types of people, including different religions. Tucker says he hopes to continue doing that by creating relationships with other religious leaders in the area and knowing his limits as a religious leader.
“We don’t appreciate other people by assuming that we’re all the same,” Tucker said. “We actually appreciate other people by noticing what makes them particular, what makes them unique … To be the best kind of pastor for a diverse community, I need to be pretty honest about who I am.”
Capital posted the position of university pastor at a very delicate time in Tucker’s life, as his sister was recently diagnosed with cancer. He and his wife decided that if the right calling came up, it would be good for them to move back to Ohio to be with their family.
After a phone interview, Tucker visited Capital and met with students and faculty to get a feel for the campus, and he says he “felt really good about the space.” A few weeks later, he got a call back with the offer for the position.
On top of having experience with university ministry, Tucker has experience with the merge between a seminary and university. He says he hopes to bring that experience to Capital and help create a smooth transition for both university and seminary students during the resurgence.
Outside of being a pastor, Tucker loves the outdoors, swimming and golfing. He says he’s excited to be coming to central Ohio to watch Buckeye and Crusader football and being closer to his family. He and his wife have two dogs and are looking at buying a home in the area. Although his wife is not a pastor, she has been very involved in his past campus ministries and hopes to continue that here at Capital.
Tucker says although he’ll miss his current congregation, he’s very excited to begin his position as university pastor.
“I hope everyone understands that I’m here to serve them; that includes faculty and all the staff and all the students, regardless of their religious tradition,” Tucker said. “I hope that they will view my office and the Center for Religious Life … as a place for conversation and interaction between people of faith and people of all different kinds of faith.”
