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• Accident victims both loved skydiving

• Youthful Father Brandon Ware takes major role at St. Anne's Catholic Church

• Feedback sought on master plan to improve services for Galt youths

• Volunteers needed for Lodi Lake, Mokelumne cleanup Saturday

• Regional Roundup

February 9th, 2010

• Middle College High School rated one of the best — and a bargain, to boot

• Lodi decathlon boasts top team in county

• Man who sparked counterfeit case pleads guilty

• Local businessman will visit Haiti to look for family

• Man who claimed to be Yosemite Sam pleads guilty to meth charge

• David Harmer seeks Republican congressional nod

• Lack of evidence in case against suspect in 'drug deal' stabbing

• Regional Roundup

February 8th, 2010

• Public Meetings

• Locals pick best, most memorable Super Bowl commercials

• Regional Roundup

February 6th, 2010

• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch

• Meet Larry, Curly and Moe

• Baboon business

• Regional Roundup

• Several Lodi venues let you watch the Super Bowl in style

• Lodi Library celebrates 100 years of serving the community

• Culinary craft

February 5th, 2010

• Kids, teachers help Haiti by collecting pennies for Learning Link

• Lodi, Galt students reach out to help Haiti earthquake survivors

• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam

• Hours of sweat and work go into putting on crab feeds

• Things looking up for state's real estate

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Stray bullet strikes Lodi home; police suspect gang activity may be factor

February 4th, 2010

• Managers at Geweke Toyota answer questions about recall

• Lodi City Council votes to replace play structure at Century Park

• Lodi extends ban on pot shops for another year

• Mokelumne River triathlon set for June

• Family, friends to run half-marathon in memory of Galt family

February 3rd, 2010

• Correction

• Delta College trustees again collide over stipend committee

• Bad bugs, weeds are hot topics at Grape Day

• Lodi-area senators Dave Cox, Lois Wolk admit to gifts; Tom Berryhill case pending

• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts

• Galt City Council avoids budget cuts — for now

• New Lodi Memorial Hospital emergency room opens to the public without a hitch

• Regional Roundup

February 2nd, 2010

• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future

• Correction

• Former Lodian Erica Davis is first paraplegic woman to summit Kilimanjaro

• Regional Roundup

• No snow leopards, otters for Micke Grove

• McNerney leads in campaign cash

• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen

• Big rig plows 7 cars

• Jumpers across California

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (75)
• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
• President Obama's first year (45)
• Many reject the politics of 'no' (45)
• Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (44)
• Writer comments on Neely column (42)
• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (41)
• Time to shed the convenient sham of 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy (34)
• We need to conduct respectful conversations (30)
• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam (25)

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Peter Woodward ordained as Lutheran minister

Peter Woodward, who has served at St. Peter Lutheran Church and School since 1997, was ordained as a minister on June 14. With his ordination, Woodward became assistant pastor under John Kah.

Woodward, 56, grew up in the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge, Colo. He served in Lutheran congregations teaching and directing Christian education in Wichita, Kan., and Lakewood, Colo., before moving to Lodi.

He was St. Peter's principal for six years, beginning in 1997, before moving into the church's discipleship office.

After four years studying theology, he was ordained into the pastoral ministry of the Lutheran Church~Missouri Synod.

The Missouri Synod, which embraces a more conservative theology, is not affiliated with the larger Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

St. Peter, located on Oxford Way at Lower Sacramento Road, has a congregation of 800. The school, on the same grounds, serves children in preschool through eighth grade.

Woodward and his wife, Cindy, have two children, Jonathan and Anne.

Woodward responded to an e-mailed questionnaire from News-Sentinel Religion Editor Ross Farrow.

Q: What is one of your strongest childhood memories?

A: My dad and I were fishing on some beaver ponds way back in the wilderness (in Colorado), and a bear crept up behind us rather quietly and sat down to watch. Neither of us looked over our shoulders to see "who" was there, and all the while we were thinking it was Mom, who had come to get us back to camp.

We were quietly telling "her" how great the fishing was. Were we ever surprised when we looked to see what was really sitting there!

Q: What is one of your most prized possessions?

A: Funny you should ask this. In our staff devotions this week, we read Jesus' assertion in Luke 12 about a person's life not consisting in the abundance of his possessions. I realized that the same claim could be made about favorite or prized possessions.

There is only one possession that would qualify as most prized for any Christian, and that possession would be faith. I prize my faith in Jesus Christ over everything else that this world has to offer. My faith gives me the ability to trust all my temporal and spiritual needs to God.

Later in the same chapter of Luke, Jesus urges His disciples to not worry about what they will eat, or about their body, or what they will wear. "Life," He says, "is more than food and the body and clothes." His point is that our heavenly Father knows all our needs. Then Jesus directs His followers to seek God's kingdom first, and then all the things, the needs of this earthly life, will be given to us as well. The passage really helps to put possessions into perspective.

Q: What are your future goals? Do you want to become a senior pastor someday?

A: St. Peter is developing some new directions in ministry under the leadership of our senior pastor, the Rev. John Kah. I am learning a lot about these new approaches to ministry and outreach, but I would welcome the opportunity to extend this learning into other congregations someday.

Q: Since your first name happens to be the same as the church, has anyone ever called you St. Peter?

A: Yeah, I get that a lot. I always say, "No relation." On a deeper level, though, I remind myself that all of God's people are saints — that is, people set apart by God to be renewed, and for the particular purpose of showing God's love to the world.

Q: What is one of the most difficult decisions you have had to make?

A: About four years ago, just before I discovered that there was a seminary program I could participate in and still remain a resident of Lodi, I had wrestled with pulling up stakes and moving to St. Louis, where our church body has one of its seminaries.

I was back and forth over leaving because of the call to become ordained on the one hand, and my call to the ministry needs here at St. Peter on the other.

Q: When have you questioned your faith?

A: I think everyone questions their faith, maybe frequently. It's that sense of "Are you really there, God? Is believing in You really worth it?"

I can recall those thoughts especially during high school, when my education was pressing issues of origins and creation, of ethics and morals. But I think that kind of questioning is more about a person's realization that s/he will never have all the answers to life's doggy questions. That's just the time that faith is so very valuable.

It is precisely at the time of the unknown future, of indecision, of bad things happening in our lives, of the realization of our own mistakes and hurting others, that faith becomes the one thing we can hold onto.

The best part about faith is that it is a gift that comes from God in the first place, so that even when doubts occur, you still have that knowledge that God is the one person that you can rely upon. You didn't just make up the idea of faith, or of God all on your own. He planted the gift of faith, and He sustains it.

Q: For what do you most often ask for forgiveness?

A: Let's just start with the 10 Commandments. I fail at them all, miserably, regularly. For example, I've murdered with my words. I've lusted with my heart, which means I've already committed the sin. At the base of these "omissions" and "commissions" is my pride that rears its head at God and says, "I don't need you. I don't have to follow you. I can handle life on my own." Then I realize that nothing could be further from the truth.

So I seek God's forgiveness and His wisdom and power for every moment of my life. Seeking and receiving His forgiveness restores my relationship with Him, a relationship that is necessary for me to humbly realize my need, and experience His wisdom and power.

Q: If you weren't a pastor, what do you think you would be doing?

A: I would still be carrying on in educational ministries of our church. There is such a rich harvest awaiting those who serve families and children. Our future, and more specifically, the future of the church, resides in these young people.

Q: What is your proudest achievement?

A: I have been blessed in two different Lutheran schools with high-caliber teachers and the support staff necessary to revitalize the curriculum and attain national and regional accreditation for those schools — one in Colorado, and of course, St. Peter here in Lodi.

Q: What is your favorite scripture passage, and why?

A: My life verse is from Philippians 3:10-11: "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like him in His death, and so somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."

This passage captures for me the source of power for a life of faith and service, namely Christ, and it challenges me to keep on continuing in that faith, in spite of my weaknesses, my sin and failures, and my doubts. This verse reminds me of God's call to faithfulness even when it means suffering or humility, and it promises resurrection power.

Q: Do you have any other hobbies, sports or other diversions?

A: I like to golf or go fishing and hiking in the mountains, and when I have the time and space, to build tables or other furniture out of wood.

Q: Aside from the Bible and other religious materials, what are your favorite books?

A: I don't get a lot of time for recreational reading, but when I do, I enjoy the writing of C. S. Lewis — "The Chronicles of Narnia" and his Space Trilogy, for example.

Just recently, I discovered a writer by the name of Don Miller. His book "Blue Like Jazz" takes the reader through a memoir-like account of a person who believes in God and yet is attractively human and honest about everyday life — sometimes painfully so.

Q: What is your favorite TV show and movie?

A: I get riveted to the science documentaries on television, especially the recent ones on the Earth and the universe. To me, they chronicle the majesty and mystery of God's creation. I am just so impressed with the photographers who capture animals on film living out their lives by instincts in beautiful places that I would never otherwise see.

Movies? I love all the Pixar productions — "Ratatouille," for example — and anything made via claymation.

Q: Which celebrity would you most like to meet? Why?

A: You have stumped me here. Celebrities are usually actors or people who are famous just for being famous. Way too much attention gets showered on these folks and they start believing the accolades — usually to their ruin.

Rather, the celebrities I would like to meet are the people who quietly go about their life, serving others in ways that most people would never see. They feed the hungry or visit lonely people. They minister healing to hurting people even though they might have just as great a pain inside themselves. They step outside of their comfort zone or financial zone to bless others. I think they will be the celebrities of heaven.

Q: If you were on a desert island, what three CDs would you take along and why?

A: J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, because Bach has such mastery amidst the whole Soli Deo Gloria thing going on; "Firm Foundation," which is a praise and worship CD produced by Hosannah Music back in the mid '90s because it plays like a whole worship service — with praise and confession and inspiration and sending — all in one; the Dave Brubeck Quartet album "Time Out" because it is just so much fun to listen to.