Biographies
Pastor Eugene ("Gene") W. Baade has been serving Bethlehem
for over fourteen years.
He was ordained into the ministry of The Lutheran Church -
Missouri
Synod in 1971 and previously served parishes in Northern Wisconsin & Portland, Oregon.
Pastor Baade holds the Bachelor of Science degree from
Oklahoma State
University, the Bachelor of Divinity
and Master of Divinity degrees from Concordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, Illinois, and
the Master of Arts degree from Valparaiso
University, Valparaiso, Indiana.
Before entering the seminary he taught
U. S.
History at John
Marshall
High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Pastor Baade has been married 40 years to Joyce (nee Mueller)
and they have two children.
Pastor Baade’s vocational understanding of the Holy
Ministry is motivated by and filtered through the wonderful grace of
God. The fact that we are all sinners loved deeply by our heavenly
Father and redeemed by the blood of Christ allows us to genuinely
confess our sins knowing that they are completely washed away by
Jesus, who died on the cross for all of us.
This, and the gift of everlasting life through
Christ’s resurrection on Easter, leads us to encourage the
challenging practice of unconditional love toward others.
With God’s Grace in mind, religious legalism, judgmental
attitudes, and hypocrisy have no legitimate place in the church.
In their place, we seek to foster the gifts of the Holy
Spirit: “love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22).
Pastor Baade greatly respects and enjoys the historic
calling of the pastoral ministry in his preaching, pastoral care,
and teaching. His desire
is that Bethlehem
congregation will welcome with warmth and sincerity all who pass
through its doors, and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be
preached and practiced in our congregation with the goal of
introducing Christ as a redemptive presence in the lives of all.
Pastor’s personal interests revolve around fine music
and books, hiking, landscape photography, and the beauty of all of
God's creation from sea to shining sea.
It
all began in 1982 at Sacred Heart Church Tribeshill,
New York where at age 14, Hing became an
organist!
This is his 25th year as an organist and
church musician. His
leadership in music & choral conducting has spanned a number of
church music ministries, community chorus’ & civic groups in New
York, the Midwest, Texas, and his home state here in Washington.
In addition to his church music ministry Hing’s major
music accomplishments include performing Miss Behavin’
alongside Tony Award-winner Nell Carter at the 20th
Anniversary celebration of the Turtle Creek Chorale in Dallas,
Texas. His
international debut was in 2002 at the renowned Opera House in
Sydney, Australia as part of the 600-voice International Cultural
Arts Festival Choir, followed by a 2003 debut at Carnegie Hall in
New York as part of the Dallas based 225-voice men’s chorus, the
Turtle Creek Chorale.
Hing has recorded nine choral CD’s and his theatre credits include
Oliver Twist, Music Man, Sound of Music, Showboat, and Harvey.
He performs each year for numerous audiences’ and volunteers
more than 500 hours annually to service projects and benefit
performances. Hing is the
former Artistic Director of Seattle Lesbian & Gay Chorus and member
of the Seattle Men’s Chorus.
Currently Hing is Artistic Director of Choral Sounds Northwest,
Burien Washington and member of
the
American Chorale Directors Association, American Guild of Organists
and Association of Lutheran Church Musicians.
