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Rev. Paul Carlson poses for a photo outside St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Provo on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. SPENSER HEAPS, Daily Herald

Spenser Heaps, Daily Herald

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Rev. Paul Carlson poses for a photo outside St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Provo on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. SPENSER HEAPS, Daily Herald

Spenser Heaps, Daily Herald

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Rev. Paul Carlson poses for a photo outside St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Provo on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. SPENSER HEAPS, Daily Herald

Spenser Heaps, Daily Herald

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Pastor Paul Carlson has been a heavy collision technician, ranch hand and served for nearly six years of active duty in the United States Air Force. He calls himself a second career pastor, and he’s been preaching since 2001.

Pastor Carlson is the first full-time pastor St. Mark’s Lutheran Church of Provo has had in five years. Beginning just prior to Christmas, he began preaching a Sunday sermon at 9 a.m. and then Bible study, after which he drives 125 miles to his second church, Good Shepherd Lutheran in Richfield. They are also happy to have a full-time pastor; it’s been many more than five years for the Richfield church. After his 3 p.m. service, Pastor Carlson heads a Bible study and stays overnight in Richfield and is in the office for Monday. He then drives home to Payson for the rest of the week.

Whew! “It’s going to be a very interesting call,” said the 63-year-old pastor. “Living and growing up in Wyoming and Montana I’ve driven long distances most of my life.” His last call was in northern Wisconsin and his dual parishes were only nine miles apart.

It was hard to say good bye to his Wisconsin parishes as he’d served 10 years with them. The first eight months in the Midwest were quite the training ground for him.

“I did 16 funerals and only knew one person,” he said. “You get to know a lot of families that way. After 10 years, they are no longer strangers and friends. They are family.”

Pastor Carlson loves the beautiful state of Utah and said, “You can’t look anywhere without seeing beauty. And it has relatively mild weather compared to Wisconsin.”

But the beginning of his ministry in Utah has been a bit rough. “I had quintuple bypass surgery in February,” he said. “I wasn’t able to work for 90 days. I’m getting better — I went back to work in May.”

The philosophy of the Lutheran Church depends on who you are dealing with, according to Pastor Carlson. The Lutheran Church is divided up into different synods. St. Mark’s and Good Shepherd are of the Missouri Synod or the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. LCMS does not ordain women, but allows women to serve as officers in the church. The church believes it is the true body and blood of Christ at Communion. The church takes the Holy Scriptures as literal.

“We are very conservative — conservative in doctrine and theology,” added Pastor Carlson. “We are guided solely by God’s word through the scriptures. We reject what liberals say is OK. We believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God.”

He continued, “We base our scriptures off of the Hebrew and Greek version back in the Second Century. We’ve looked at all the original writings of the past 2,000 years — to see which things are real and which are not.”

Pastor Carlson knows the Koine Greek language. “I had two years of instruction in the Greek language,” he said. “As an older student, the language was the hardest to adjust to along with everything else you are doing.”

But he has found that being older as a second career pastor he has an edge over the first career pastors who have not had many life experiences. “I have worked with many cultures and people from Anchorage, Alaska, to Texas and many states in between, dealing with people in the good times and the bad times,” he pointed out. “It’s very life enriching. The congregations have some of the greatest teachers. … They teach a pastor how to be a pastor.”

What is the biggest issue facing a pastor today?

“Society no longer is guided by the church,” Pastor Carlson said. “The church is guided by society. So many things are being legalized that go against God’s word. The church has suffered the loss of people because of society’s control. We follow what God put down in his word.”

Pastor Carlson serves 45 active members in his St. Mark’s parish and 25 active at Good Shepherd. “We’re very small — in Utah County we are the only Lutheran Church among half a million people,” he noted. “We kind of play the odd man out. But to God everyone is equal.”

Who: Pastor Paul Carlson

What: St. Mark’s Lutheran Church

When: 9 a.m. service; 10 a.m. Bible study, Sundays

Where: 464 W. 3700 North, Provo

Info: (801) 225-5777, stmarksprovo.com.

Pastor Carlson also serves at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1270 W. 1700 South, Richfield. (435) 896-8050.