Crystal Lake's Bethany Lutheran Church saying farewell to longtime pastor

After more than 10 years of service to the Crystal Lake community and the congregation at Bethany Lutheran Church, Pastor Paul Cannon will be moving to Minnesota where he will serve as senior pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in North Branch.

Pastor Paul was called to Bethany in August of 2012 after receiving his Masters of Divinity from Luther Seminary with an emphasis on youth and family ministry. He is passionate about working with youth through confirmation, middle school and high school youth groups, mission trips and more. Additionally, he has shared responsibilities for preaching, weddings, baptisms, funerals and other pastoral care duties of Bethany.

Pastor Paul was baptized as a baby at Bethany Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake, along with his twin brother and two sisters, before they moved away at a young age.

After moving to Ohio and then Utah, he ended up going to college/seminary in Minnesota. After seminary, he opened himself up to wherever God wanted to take him. As it turned out, the Holy Spirit took him back to Bethany Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake.

Pastor Paul has been married to his wife, Kirstin, since 2010. They have three kids - Isaac, Elin, and Anders. In his free time, Pastor Paul loves cheering for the Bengals, playing fantasy baseball, running, reading science fiction and fantasy books, and watching reruns of some of his favorite shows: "Parks and Rec," "30 Rock," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," and "Scrubs" (among others).

After faithfully serving for over 10 years at Bethany, Pastor Paul has answered Go's call to serve at Trinity Lutheran Church as senior pastor. You could call it his second homecoming as he will be close to family and return to an area where he went to college and seminary.

His last day preaching at Bethany will be Sunday, June 4. He and his family will relocate to Minnesota this summer.