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allsaintsjonesboro News

Deus Vult! – The Installation of Fr. Dan Suelzle

On Sunday evening, August 3, 2025, the people of All Saints Parish in Jonesboro gave thanks to God for the installation of The Rev. Fr. Daniel Paul Suelzle. The rite of installation, led by Fr. Joshua Willadsen (Auxiliary Bishop / Vice-President of the LCMS Mid-South District), was joyfully conducted within a service of choral Evening Prayer.

We were blessed to welcome guests from our sister congregations, including First Lutheran Church in Blytheville, Zion Lutheran Church in Waldenburg, and the pastors of Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Searcy and of Hope / Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Churches in Batesville / Horseshoe Bend. With the saints gathered and the Word richly proclaimed, it was a joyful evening of worship, fellowship, and mission-minded encouragement.

During the service, Fr. Leigeber preached a sermon that captured the heart of the Church Militant’s calling in northeast Arkansas:

“The devil and his minions are on their heels and we’re going to keep pushing forward… The Church Militant in northeast Arkansas is armed and ready and continues to fight, praise God!

“Christ, our Lord and King, has already won the war and defeated sin, death, and the power of the devil with His own blood and with the weapons of his cross and empty tomb. This is why we preach Christ crucified, as Saint Paul entreats us. It is the power of God. It is through the preaching of the Crucified One and through the delivery of His grace in the holy sacraments that the hordes of hell continue to be sent reeling.

…Christ Jesus, working through His Church—and particularly through his called and ordained servants—got to you when you were still behind enemy lines. And through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism and the preaching of the Gospel, He exorcised you, cast the devil out, delivered you from the bonds of hell…

So, Father Suelzle, you have been called to faithfully preach and teach and administer the sacraments in this parish… fighting to protect the saved and fighting to set free the souls of the lost and enslaved.”

Fr. Suelzle’s installation marks an important new chapter not only for All Saints Lutheran Church, but for the broader All Saints Cathedral Parish—a regional collaboration among All Saints Jonesboro, Zion Waldenburg, and First Blytheville. Together, we continue to build up the Church in northeast Arkansas through Word and Sacrament, traditional and Christ-centered education at All Saints Classical Lutheran School, and soon, God-willing, the launch of All Saints Music Conservatory.

As we continue the good fight of faith, we give thanks to God for calling Fr. Suelzle to serve the saints in our northeast Arkansas communities. We look forward to the faithful shepherding, teaching, and leadership Fr. Suelzle will bring to our parish family. We also give thanks for his wife Mary and their children—Norah, Ephraim, Miriam, and Adelaide—and we pray they quickly and easily find joy, peace, and fellowship among us.

“Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” (Luke 12:43)

Soli Deo Gloria.

allsaintsjonesboro Sermons

Free to Live in Peace

In Sunday’s homily, Fr. Jerome Leckband reminded us that the Ten Commandments were not given to enslave us, but to guide those already set free. Just as God rescued Israel from Egypt before giving them the law, so He sets us free from sin through Holy Baptism before calling us to live holy lives. The commandments describe the life of the redeemed—they don’t earn us righteousness, but show how the righteous, made so by faith in Christ, are to live.

Jesus challenges the shallow righteousness of the Pharisees, showing that sin begins not just in outward actions, but deep in the heart. Anger, left unchecked, leads to bitterness, pride, and even hatred. Rather than justify our anger, we are called to examine it, confess it, and seek reconciliation. Jesus says that if we approach the altar but harbor resentment against a brother, we must first seek peace before offering our gift.

God has made peace with us in Christ, forgiving our sins and reconciling us to Himself. As free people, we now live out that peace by confessing our own wrongs, forgiving those who wrong us, and treating our anger not as a right but as a sin to be laid before God. Love for God and love for neighbor are indivisible. In Christ, we are freed not to hate, but to live in peace with one another. “When God gives this peace to us, He also fills us with his Spirit so that we may learn to love as we have been loved.” Listen to the entire homily here.

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Let down the nets for a catch!

On this Fifth Sunday after Trinity, our Gospel lesson from Luke 5:1-11 points us to the reality of Christ within the boat of the Church and His command to His disciples (which includes all Christians) to let down the nets for a catch by striving to catch men with the Gospel. In our baptisms we enter this holy ark of the Christian Church; through God’s constant provision of Word and Sacrament, we are kept safe with Him as our Captain and sent forth to share Christ and to invite people into the boat with us. Like Peter, we may have “toiled all night” in sharing the Gospel, only to feel empty-handed. Yet at Jesus’ word we cast the nets again—trusting that He, not we, fills them. This miraculous catch points us to our duty within our various vocations: every baptized Christian is called to “fish for men.” Evangelism isn’t firstly the job of a committee or the pastor—it’s our daily calling in our homes, workplaces, and friendships. We speak of Christ not because we have the power to persuade, but because Jesus works through the words and witness of His people. Just as others once brought us into this ark of salvation, so now we are sent to rescue others from the flood of sin and death. Fed and strengthened by Christ within the Divine Service, may we joyfully and faithfully let down the nets again and again.