Pastor to celebrate 25 years with church
The Rev. Bernard W. Carl, pastor of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Uniontown, will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his ordination on June 12. The congregation will observe the anniversary with a dinner on Sunday, June 9. Rev. Carl was ordained on June 12, 1977 at Thiel College in Greenville, Pa.
He is the son of Bernard C. Carl of Wintersville, Ohio, and the late Margaret S. Carl. He grew up in Wheeling, W.Va., and graduated from Triadelphia High School and West Liberty State College in West Liberty, W.Va. He completed his theological studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg from which he graduated with a master of divinity degree in 1977.
During his seminary training, he served from 1975-76 as intern pastor of the Beaver Creek-Keedysville Lutheran Parish. The two churches he served in this parish were St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, Beaver Creek, Maryland, and St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Keedysville, Maryland.
Following ordination, he served the Aurora-Red House Lutheran Parish as pastor from 1977 to 1982. The parish consisted of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Aurora, W.Va., and St. John’s Lutheran Church, Red House, Maryland.
From 1982 to 1987, he was pastor of the L-A-W Lutheran Parish, which was comprised of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Leetsdale, Pa., Zion’s First Lutheran Church, Ambridge, Pa., and St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, Wallrose, Pa.
He then served as pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Pleasant Hills, Pa., from 1987 to 1993.
Rev. Carl has been pastor of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Uniontown since 1993. During his time as pastor, St. Peter’s moved from its previous location on Connellsville Street to its newly constructed building on Walnut Hill Road, and became a member of the southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Throughout his ministry, Rev. Carl has also been involve din the church on a synodical level. From 1982 to 1986, Rev. Carl served as a member of the executive board of the former Western Pennsylvania – West Virginia Synod of the former Lutheran Church in America. He also served for six years as its chair of the Stewardship Committee, and was one of its delegates to the 1982 national assembly that formed the current national organization, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Rev. Carl has also been active in the community since moving to Uniontown. He served on the Pastoral Care Committee at the Uniontown Hospital. He is serving his second term as president of the board of the American Red Cross. He is a past president of the Uniontown Clergy Association. He is a member of the Uniontown Rotary Club, and previously directed its blood-testing program. He has recently been appointed to the Fayette County Board of Public Assistance.
Rev. Carl is marred to Barbara Balling Carl, who is an attorney with Coldren Adams in Uniontown. They have one son, Bill, who resides in Lincoln, Nebraska.