Gearing up with a wetsuit and surfboard, Victor Hembree often drives to a nearby beach to plunge into the bone-chilling Pacific Ocean. If you had asked him a few years ago how he prefers to spend his spare time, riding out a few waves would not have been the anticipated answer. Victor, FLBC class of 2023 and graduate of the first class of Thorpe Leadership Scholars, resides in Camarillo, CA.
Victor works as youth leader at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and is currently attending Moorpark Community College for a degree in Psychology. He hopes to finish his degree at Biola University.
Grateful for all the opportunities the Lord has given him, Victor has loved using his training from Bible College in the roles he fulfills today: “Obviously I don’t know everything, and there’s places that I think, ‘I don’t understand this yet,’ but for the most part I understand what a passage is saying [in the Bible].” He uses the education and skills he gained from FLBC to minister to young souls who are wrestling through questions such as “Who am I?”, “Who am I in this world?”, “What is this faith that I have?”, and “Who is this Jesus guy?”. “I don’t think any of that would be near as easy as it is without the Bible College,” said Victor. From leading youth groups to studying at local college, Victor uses and expands on many of the lessons he gained during his time at FLBC.
While FLBC was on Victor’s radar early on, Camarillo, CA was not. He had never felt Godleading him to the west coast during his upbringing in Ohio. It was not until joining summer teams during his time at Bible College that it was made clear where God was calling him. While teaching VBS at Helmar Lutheran Church in Illinois, Victor met Pastor Chad Friestad, the pastor of Good Shepherd. During that interaction, Chad mentioned the possibility of an internship leading youth at Good Shepherd after graduation.
After months of meetings, prayer, and discernment, the offer was extended—which Victor accepted. “If I had not done summer teams,” Victor said, “I wouldn’t know Pastor Chad; I wouldn’t be in the place that I am today.” Victor commented on God’s obvious providence and faithfulness through this time, “I didn’t know how it was going to work, but God had been so faithful to provide all of these opportunities.”
Victor is not the only one who has been recruited from the Bible College to go out to Good Shepherd. A few other FLBC graduates, such as current seminarians Alex Monseth and Sam Jagt, have interned in California. “It’s funny,” said Victor, “in California they hear that I’m from Good Shepherd, and then they say, ‘Oh, you’re from Minnesota too’, because it’s become a pipeline where people can say ‘yes, I’d like to go for an internship in California.’ It’s a powerful connection point with the school for them to say, ‘This is a place where you can get grounded in God’s Word and then we can launch you into different ministries.”
FLBC prepares students for more than just ministry positions. A Bible education equipes students for the ministry of our daily lives. Without the community of other believers, our walks with God can feel isolated from our secular jobs. Grateful for the community he experienced at FLBC and the network of AFLC churches, Victor commented, “I think what this does speak to is just the connection of the congregations and the Bible College.”
Victor asks for prayers that the students at Good Shepherd would continue to pursue Jesus and live their lives for Him.
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