William J. Schaefer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 25, 1955, the son of Reverend James P. and Ruth (Eggert) Schaefer; the third of six children.  He was made a child of God through holy baptism on May 15, 1955 at Ato

nement Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, where his father (James) and his grandfather (William, Sr). were pastors.  He attended the parish school and was confirmed in the Christian faith on May 25, 1969 at which time he began participating in the sacrament of holy communion.

Pastor Schaefer attended Wisconsin Lutheran High School ’73 (Milwaukee, WI); Northwestern College ’77 (Watertown, WI); and graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (Mequon, WI) in 1981.

He was assigned to Shepherd of the Verde Valley Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Sedona, Arizona where he was ordained and installed on July 19, 1981.  While serving the greater Verde Valley, Schaefer led the congregation in starting a mission, Peace Lutheran Church, in the neighboring community of Cottonwood. During the years in Arizona he also served as District Reporter for The Northwestern Lutheran (today known as Forward in Christ) and served as the chairman of the greater Phoenix Gospel Outreach ’84.

On May 19, 1985 Schaefer was installed as the sixth resident pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota.  His ministry there was blessed with the purchase of a teacherage and land for the site of a future school building, refurbishing of the 19 rank Moeller organ, and a handicapped accessibility project that added an elevator and parking lot to the physical plant.

In October 2005, he took up his new calling as Gift Planning Counselor at St. Croix Lutheran High School of West St. Paul, Minnesota. His service to St. Croix began as a pastor of an association congregation, member of the Board of Regents (Secretary 1996-99; Chairman 1999-2002); co-chairman of the Ministry in Motion campaign which upgraded the athletic facilities at the school; and chairman of the Chapel Planning Committee (2002-2005).

Other areas of service include the Christian Worship Hymnal Introduction Project, Chairman of the St. Croix Conference Mass Media Committee, member of the  Christian Worship: Occasional Services committee; Circuit Pastor (St. Croix Conference Western Circuit). For thirteen years, he also served as the Secretary of the Metro Lutheran newspaper Board of Directors (an independent Lutheran newspaper in the Twin Cities).

Pastor Bill arrived at St. Marcus in August 2011 to serve in the new position of Executive Pastor. He supervises all ministries at St. Marcus Lutheran Church, carries out the strategic plans of the congregation’s Board of Directors, and shepherds the congregation with Pastor Kelly.

On June 17, 1978 Bill married Judith Ann Manske of Muskego, Wisconsin , a 1976 graduate of what was the Milwaukee County General Hospital School of Nursing.  There are three children and six grandchildren: Jonathan (wife Carrie; children Miriam and James) who serves at Siloah Lutheran in Milwaukee; Rev.  Benjamin (wife Anna; children Ruth and Dorothea)who serves at First German Lutheran in Manitowoc, WI; William (wife Laura; children Ella and Seth) who is a senior engineer with GE HealthCare in Milwaukee.