October 24, 1979
Rev. David E. Klepper, Jr.
Rev. Klepper, at Trinity Lutheran,
trained in interpersonal relations
Rev. David E. Klepper,
Jr., pastor of Trinity
Lutheran Church in Mount
Joy, was born and raised in
Hanover, Pa., which, says
Rev. Klepper, was then ‘“‘a
small town very much like
Mount Joy, with people
knowing you and you
knowing them.”’
He was an active Boy
Scout at St. Matthew's
Lutheran Church in Hano-
ver. The scoutmaster was an
unusually good one. He was
also a good churchman.
Rev. Klepper says, ‘‘Many
Scouts got an appreciation
for the church and Christi-
anity through his leader-
ship.”’
Rev. Klepper as a scout
won the ‘‘Pro Deo et Patria”’
(“For God and country’’)
award. In working for that
award he became involved
in the church. He became an
Eagle Scout. Because of the
work he had done as a scout
in the church, he began to
consider the ministry as a
career. ‘‘It was a growing
thing, not sudden,’”’ says
Rev. Klepper of his decision
to become a minister.
“Three or four of us Scouts
became interested in the
ministry.”’
In high school he was
interested in sports and
music. He played a French
horn in the high school
band. It was at Hanover
High School that Rev.
Klepper met his future wife,
Barbara Shilling, who had
Just moved to Hanover in
her senior year. °
Young David Klepper
went to Gettysburg College,
Barabra Shilling to Susque-
hanna University. After
college they were married.
After college Rev. Klep-
per attended Gettysburg
Seminary. Between his
second and third year at the
seminary he studied clinical
pastoral education at St.
Elizabeth's Hospital in
Washington, D.C. Rev.
Klepper says his year at St.
Elizabeth’s had ‘‘a profound
effect’”” on him. ‘The
training in counselling I got
there and my whole
experience at St. Elizabeth’s
got me in touch with
inter-personal relations.
You can get too much
academic experience. Clini-
cal training got me more in
touch with humanity.”
While Rev. Klepper was
working at St. Elizbeth’s,
his wife Barbara was
working as a social
case-worker in York.
During his senior year at
the seminary the Kleppers’
daughter Susan was born.
After seminary Rev.
Klepper was pastor for four
and half years for two
churches in southern York
County, St. Joseph’s and St.
Luke's churches in the
Chanceford Parish. While
there, the Kleppers’ child-
ren, Julia, David, and
Kathryn, were born.
While at Chanceford Rev.
Klepper also continued his
education in the area of
personal growth and group
processes. He devoted two
solid weeks to experiential
learning.
The second church served
by Rev. Klepper was at
Turbotville, near Milton,
Pa. He was there for three
years.
Then came a position as
assistant to the President of
the Central Pennsylvania
Synod. In this position
which he held for six years
he was on call to local
parishes to program conflict
management, pastoring to
pastors and their families,
providing resources for
pastors, and assisting con-
gregations to find pastors.
While working in this
diversified position, Rev.
Klepper lived in Hummels-
town.
When Pastor Koder, who
had been at Trinity Lutheran
in Mount Joy for 38 years,
resigned, Rev. Klepper
assisted the congregation in
finding a new pastor. The
Mount Joy congregation
looked over a large number
of candidates to be their new
pastor, but none was quite
satisfactory. Finally, a
member of the church told
Rev. Klepper they would
like someone like himself,
At first Rev. Klepper was
not interested in coming to
Mount Joy. He liked the
varied work of his current
position; the president of
the Synod did not want him
to go. But he had been at his
current position for six
years, and the Mount Joy
pastorate began to appeal to
him as a challenge. It was
especially challenging to
follow Pastor Koder’s long
and successful pastorate.
Pastor Koder now attends
Trinity since Rev. Koder
became pastor.
The challenge which Rev.
Klepper sees is for ‘‘the
Christian community to
fulfill its servanthood, not
just to its own members, but
to reach out to the
community and the world in
the name of Christ. «The
church has to be a servant,
as the Lord was, when he
took up the towel and wiped
the disciples feet.
“That is tough. There is
an actual tendency to hold
onto what is ours and
protect it, rather than see it
as a gift to be used to meet
the needs of the community
and the world.
‘““For example, one way
this church is growing in its
outreach is the way the
facilities of the church have
been made available to:
groups like the girl scouts
and senior citizens.
‘Another way I see this
congregation reaching out is
by sewing bed pads and
layettes and by sponsoring
refugees. There are chal-
lenges that exist for the
entire Christian community,
services to be provided, as
well as financial giving to
local and world-wide mis-
sions.
“It seems to me the
church is being most true to
the nature of the Lord when
it is giving itself.
‘It is important to spend
yourself for others.”
Rev. Klepper gives of
himself generously, not just
in the Trinity parish but in
numerous denominational
and personal growth activi-
ties. Among these activities
are the Board of the Tressler
Lutheran Service Associctes
(the social service agency of
the Synod), the Board of
parish Development, and a
variety of committees. He is
a member of the board and
a‘‘trainer’’ for the Mid-At-
lantic Association for Train-
ing and Consulting, a
non-profit organization for
training in leadership and
interpersonal skills.
This fall he started an
intensive Bible study group
at Trinity, called Word and
Witness. It is a one and a
half year program with 54
intensive sessions, which
has the double function of
“better understanding of
the word of God,” and
developing ‘‘more skill in
witnessing our faith.”” One
skill that is developed is
‘““listening.”” Another is
“better understanding of
what you feel and mean,
more awareness of how God
operates in our lives.”
Rev. Klepper is deeply
interested in people devel-
oping their interpersonal
skills so that they can be
more effective witnesses in
their personal evangelism.
““The church is the people’s,
not the pastor’s,”’ he says.
“Ownership and ministry is
shared by all the people.
Outreach is by all the
people.
“The broad involvement
of all the people of the
church is the goal of my
ministry.’
SUSQUEHANNA TIMES—Page 7
The Celtic cross that will be put in the Donegal
Presbyterian Church this coming Sunday.
Mother church sends
cross to church here
A Celtic cross, carved
from timbers used in the
construction of the mother
church in County Donegal,
Ireland, 305 years ago, will
be dedicated at Donegal
Presbyterian Church at the
9:00am worship service
Sunday, Oct. 28.
The wood used in the
cross is bog oak, from floor
joists of the Presbyterian
Church at Rathneeny, near
Donegal Town. Bog oak is
ancient wood found preserv-
ed in the peat bogs of
Ireland, and thus is much
older than the famous
Witness Tree at the local
church, estimated to be 350
to 400 years old.
The cross was carved by a
member of the church in
Ireland, whose 300th anni-
versary services in 1974
were attended by a party
from the church near Mount
Joy. The carving was com-
missioned by Ruth Gantos
as a memorial to her hus-
band, George A. Gantos,
who served as a trustee of
Donegal Church for six
years.
The cross will be dis-
played in the narthex of the
church, immediately above
the original oak communion
table and beneath the
portrait of the Rev. Colin
McFarquhar, pastor at the
time of the Witness Tree
incident in 1777.
The Rev. Dr. Victor Baer,
pastor, will preside at the
dedication service. The
making of the cross was
arranged by the Rev.
Charles Marshall, pastor of
the churches at Rathneeny,
Donegal and Ballyshannon,
Ireland.
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