Pastor's Page

Hi, I’m Pastor Tony. It is my great privilege to serve as pastor here at Hope Lutheran Church, Sioux Center, IA. I began my ministry at Hope in the summer of 2007. Boy was that a busy summer for my wife Angie and I. I received my first call to serve Hope in May, later that month I graduated from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and in early June Angie gave birth to our first child, Steve. When Steve was only three weeks old we packed up our apartment in Chicago and moved to North West Iowa. I was ordained on July 8th and began my ministry at Hope on July 15th! What a crazy, but blessed few months those were.

I grew up on a farm just outside the small town of Forrest, IL. My faith was nurtured by loving parents and a church family that was faithful to the promises they made at my baptism. …faithfully bring them to the services of God’s house, teach them the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments…place in their hands the Holy Scriptures…At the age of 17 on a ski lift in Colorado I received a call to ministry…I began following that call and over time there grew in me a passion to preach the good news and care for God’s people.

Here are some of the core beliefs that guide my preaching and ministry: God is love. Not the warm and fuzzy kind of love that we see in romantic comedies, but Agape love…the kind of love that loves no matter what. The kind of love that knows no conditions or boundaries, the kind of love that loves even in spite of our sin. The kind of love that wouldn’t allow God to keep a safe distance from God’s created ones, the kind of love that compelled God to take on flesh and become one of us in Christ. Because of this love and surprising grace, God does not desert us, but claims us as his own children in baptism. I believe that this love is a gift that God gives freely and I believe that this love has the power to transform human hearts and lives.

When I’m not being a pastor I like to go to movies with my wife, ride my motorcycle, read, travel with my family, and play any sport that involves a ball of some kind.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Hope.

Cell: 773-484-3838
Email: pr.tonymetz AT gmail.com

Pastor's Thoughts and Sermons

Check out the Ask Pastor blog. "Ask Pastor" is sort of like "Dear Abby" only not as widely syndicated and with a "churchy" bent. Here you'll find answers to questions relating to theology, church, and scripture.

Sermon: August 3rd, 2008