Pastoral Publishing Since 1849

For six generations there has been an unbroken line of Cloeter pastors in the United States.  Ernst Ottmar Cloeter was the first in 1849.  Then Ottmar, Richard, Ottmar, and Paul.  Thankfully, my name is not Ottmar.  I'm Jeff, the latest in the line, a pastor since 2005.   

I come from a line of men conscripted to be guardians and agents of the gospel in three different centuries.  Each man has done this in his time – through a civil war, two world wars, a great depression, and 9/11.  

​The importance of this heritage is not so much  who has done it, but that it’s being done in each generation.  In the end, ours is a lineage of inconsequential names, but a message of greatest consequence.  So I am a pastor in the 21st century.  And I keep on publishing, as my fathers have before.
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Me and my father, Paul.  The 5th and 6th generation Cloeter pastors.  At times I have been shy about my heritage, but never about who my father is.  "What made you become a pastor?"  My reply has always been, "I looked at what my dad did and I said, 'I want to do that.'"

Dr. Andy Bartelt of Concordia Seminary, shares insight on "the generations" and my family on this post.  

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