Drehmel is a native of Wausau, WI, and received his degree at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, MN, after which he served as the youth pastor at a congregation in Rockford, IL before accepting the call to Becker earlier this year.

 

He and his wife Amy have four children that will be attending Becker schools this fall.  He said their experience in moving to Becker has been very positive, with their four kids having already made many friends in their new neighborhood.  He said they had both been impressed with the “home town feel” that Becker provides.

 

“It feels like I have already lived here for 10 years,” he said of his experience in getting to know his new town, citing the friendliness of the people he has met.  He also noted the fine quality of the Pebble Creek Golf Course, which he has enjoyed playing since he arrived.

 

Drehmel said the mission trip to Logan, W. VA. Was an “eye-opening” experience for many of the young people who came from Becker.  Deep in the coal-mining country, the young people they met there were quite different than the kids they grew up with and go to school with, with a very different culture that may have seemed a bit “rough around the edges” to some of the kids, who may have been a bit intimidated at that first encounter, Drehmel said.

 

The mining towns there are not going through a time of great prosperity, he said, and some of the kids at the camp told of not always having enough to eat each day, and going without on some day’s altogether.

 

By the end of the one-week program, however, Drehmel said he could “see how God is working in their lives” in the way they had bonded with their new friends, to the point where they did not want to leave when the trip was over, and the local kids did not want them to go, either.  

 

In addition to forming some solid bonds with their peers, the Becker kids also visited an elementary school on their trip, helping with a reading program and other classroom work, and spent time at a home for the elderly, listening to stories from the residents about the boom times in the coal mining industry in years past.  They also met a woman who has had more than 10 hymns that she wrote published and in circulation today, and had a chance to sing some Gospel songs with the older folks on their visit.

 

“How can we bring this experience back?” was a frequently asked question on the mission trip, Drehmel said.  He said he was impressed with the confidence and poise the students showed in meeting people from a very different culture, and he challenged them to take the skills they learned into their lives back home, reaching out to help just one person who might be having trouble at home or school.

 

Drehmel has a host of future activities planned, including a “Back to School Bash” at the church on Wed., Aug. 27 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. where Middle School and High School students are invited to come and have some fun at the church.  He also hopes to continue the “Fifth Quarter” nights at the church after Becker Bulldog home games, providing a fun and safe place for students to after the football game is over.

 

Other plans include movie nights, some potential “coffee house” gatherings and other group activities as well as the regular Wednesday night group meetings at the church.

 

Overall, he says that his goal is to foster places for fun and fellowship with the young people he has met, and many he has yet to meet from other area communities.  “You may ‘talk smack’ to the opposing team and fans when the game is on,” he said, “but, afterwards, you are all brothers and sisters in Christ.”  That is the environment he is working to build as he gets to know his congregation and his new community.