My name is Michael Rivard and I have been blessed to be selected as your new pastoral intern at Calvary starting this August. I am currently finishing my third year of seminary education at Luther Seminary in St. Paul as a distance learner. My wife, Trish, and I live in Springtown and have been in the DFW area since 2013 when the Navy moved us here. I served in the Navy for almost 30 years as a Hospital Corpsman and retired as a Chief Petty Officer in May, 2017.

Trish and I have 4 adult children, Chris, Andrea, David and Zac. They are 36, 34, 33 and 32, respectively. She brought the oldest and youngest and I brought the two in the middle into our family. Our daughter is married to her husband, who is also named Michael, and they have our first and probably only grandson, Ethan. He is 2.5 years old. To Ethan, I am Poppa and Trish is Nonna.

My life of service began in the church when I was 8 years old and became an acolyte in the Roman Catholic church that my family attended. When I was 15, I started playing the guitar and leading music in the church and have continued in music ministry. Though I enjoyed the community and foundation of the Roman Catholic faith, I disagreed with the idea of a closed table.

I eventually left the Catholic church and became an Episcopalian in 2012. Trish and I had been worshiping in a very unique church in Virginia Beach that was both Roman Catholic and Episcopalian. There were 2 priests who co-presided each service. This was my first experience with “All are Welcome” and meaning it. It was amazing to see no one turned away from the table. It was the Episcopal priest at that church who convinced me to convert since it would allow me to continue to worship in a community with my wife where she was also welcomed.

We joined a small Episcopal church in River Oaks when we first moved to Fort Worth in 2013. In 2019 that church was closed as the building was lost in a legal battle with the Anglican diocese in North Texas, and my wife and I joined Faith Lutheran Church, officially joining the ELCA as Lutherans. My church leadership, as a council member, then president, started in Virgina Beach and continued through the Episcopal church and at Faith Lutheran. I just completed my term as council president at Faith in February.

I find many things interesting and will talk about anything, but enjoy photography and music. I have been a marathon runner and have completed four 26.2 mile races. Though I am not in that kind of shape right now, I need to get back to running up to 10k distances - anyone interested in being my running partner?

Though my relationship with our Lord is strong and I am going where God leads me, I still have much to learn about what it is like to be in a pastoral role. I have experience in leadership, and caring about people is natural for me. Hopefully, the rest of what it means to be a pastor will be what I have an opportunity to learn with Calvary.

At 56, I am not done learning. I am sure I will make some mistakes along the way. What I ask for is the grace and understanding I will need to be able to learn from those mistakes. I am excited to start the next phase of my journey with you. I hear you are an amazing, loving, giving and faithful worshipping community. I have met and know a few of you from interactions at the NT-NL Synod assembly. To those I have not yet met, I look forward to meeting and getting to know you throughout the next year.

Thank you for allowing me to be your next intern.

Your humble servant and brother in Christ,

Michael Rivard, Seminarian