Pastor Paul Lidtke Pastor Paul Lidtke was born and raised on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan in the town of Manistee, MI. After receiving his elementary and middle school education in his hometown, Pastor Lidtke attended Michigan Lutheran Seminary (MLS), a prep school of the WELS in Saginaw, MI. He graduated from there in 1982.
The next four years of his life were spent in Watertown, WI, where he continued to prepare for the public ministry at Northwestern College. Following his graduation in 1986, he entered Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, WI.
The third year of his seminary education was spent in Barre, VT, as a vicar (pastor’s assistant) at Christ the Redeemer Lutheran Church. Vicar Lidtke enjoyed the varied experiences he had at the growing mission church in New England.
In the fall of 1989 he returned to seminary life in Mequon and completed his studies in May of the next year. It was then that he was assigned as a tutor (teacher/dorm supervisor) at his alma mater, MLS. During his year on the MLS faculty Tutor Lidtke taught the New Testament Scriptures and church history to the junior class.
Desiring a place in the parish ministry, Paul was re-assigned in the spring of 1991 as pastor at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Freeport, IL. He spent seven years at the church. His greatest blessings in Freeport were meeting and marrying his wife, Stacey, and being blessed by God with a son, Bryan.
From June 1998 through July 2004, Pastor Lidtke served Lord and Savior Lutheran Church in Waunakee, WI. During this time, the Lidtke family welcomed daughter Kate and enjoyed life near Wisconsin’s capital city. The call to serve Bethlehem congregation came in the summer of 2004.
For the past twenty years, Pastor Lidtke and his family have called Oshkosh their home. In his free time, Pastor enjoys serving as Public Address announcer for the Wisconsin Herd (NBA G-League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks), the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders of the Northwoods League, as well as St. Mary's Springs Academy and Appleton West High School.
Stacey is the lead infant room teacher at a WELS childcare center in nearby Winneconne. Bryan graduated with his Master's degree from Lakeland University, and is in his fourth season as the Director of Game Production and Partnership Activation for the Wisconsin Herd. (Yes, Bryan is now his father's boss!) Kate graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh in May 2023 and was married that August to her husband, Ben. They now live in Menasha with their daughter, Eden.
You may reach Pastor Lidtke at his office: (920) 235-5390; or his cell phone: (920) 410-5779. You may also e-mail him at: pastorlidtke@gmail.com.