On June 24, 2012 Pastor Bob Kurtz will stand in the pulpit at St. John’s Evangelical Protestant Church, as its pastor, for the last time.

“It’s time to step down,” he said recently. “I always want to do what is best for the church, so after I prayed and the decision was made, I wasn’t sad, I knew that it was the right thing to do,” said Pastor Bob, as he is affectionately known around town.

His familiar face has been a common sight on the streets of Cullman for 20 years. He and his wife, Pat, came here in 1993, from their former church in Nashville.

He was an active sportscaster in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis and Atlanta.

He served churches as a licensed minister in his last two years of college and during four years of seminary and grad school at Drake University. When he and his wife, Pat, learned that they would be coming to Cullman, their initial fear was that they would be bored. “We had forgotten that in a small community you are a part of everything,” he said.

Back then St. John’s was averaging just a handful of people in the 8 o’clock service on Sunday mornings, and about 120 in the 10:30 service.   

“You can tell the growth in a church by the number of people in the congregation and by the size of the budget,” he explained. “In 1993 the budget was $108,000. By 2010, our budget was $1.4 million.”

He and others worked hard to grow the church. He is reminded of the two mottos by which he has governed the church, “There are no secrets” in this church, and, “Don’t touch the money.”

“I believe that ministers should minister and let the people in the church who are responsible for the financial affairs of the church do their job,” he said candidly. “I never touch the money, don’t count it, can’t write a check and don’t want to.”

“I’ve always felt that a minister should be a spiritual leader and not a manager,” he said.

It gives him a measure of quiet satisfaction that there has never been a major controversy at St. John’s while under his watch.

Pastor Bob came to the ministry from a career as a broadcast journalist. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Yankton College in South Dakota, a Bachelor of Divinity from Drake Divinity School with a Master of Divinity from the Drake University School of Journalism, and a doctoral studies degree in radio/TV/film from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

He was nominated for an Emmy in 1968 for hosting Chicago’s “Wonderful World” and won ACE Award’s for Sportscaster of the Year in both 1982-83.

His was the very first voice of CNN in June of 1980. “Welcome to Sports Sunday” he said in his best broadcaster’s voice.

He left behind a 20-year radio/TV broadcasting career to follow the full-time call to the ministry. His father had also been a minister, so he knew what the ministerial life was like.

In addition to being an award winning radio/TV personality, and pastoring one of the most successful churches in the Southeast, he also holds five World Records for golfing marathons.

He even played an entire marathon in Scotland in zero-degree weather, while tough Scotsmen watched from the warmth of the clubhouse. With icy winds whipping across the greens, he became a ledged in the birthplace of the game.

Of course, the focus of his life has not been golf, that’s just a sideline for Kurtz. His life has centered in and around the church, and the St. John’s family.

He has been there for the births, graduations, marriages and deaths of that family, holding the hands of those grieving, kissing scores of newborn babies, visiting hospital bedsides and giving heartfelt hugs to the people who needed them most.

He was at the helm last year when disaster struck Cullman on April 27, guiding and helping his staff (which he can’t say enough good things about) to organize donations and help to feed the thousands of people who were tornado victims, volunteers, community leaders and citizens who were devastated by the destruction all around them.

 “We had just finished our new building; we came in two months ahead of schedule and $400,000 under budget. About three months later the tornado came through and devastated buildings all around us, but except for minor damage — we were spared,” he said humbly.

Another thing that stands out most in his mind about his years at St. John’s is the Christmas pageant called “Gloria.”

He points to the wall of pictures called “Portraits In White” taken over the years when the church produced a musical filled with spiritual meaning and significance. “We even had an angel fly in over the balcony one year,” he recalled. “It was an amazing production, and our staff did an incredible job of pulling it together.”

Kurtz wrote the play, and St. John’s Minister of Music, at the time, Jim Walker, directed the Christmas musical.

“Writing and producing ‘Gloria’ was the most inspirational event I’ve ever been a part of,” he said. “It was a moving celebration of the Christian faith.”

He later told the production staff, “This has to be of God, because we are just not this good,” he recalled with a grin. “It was a blessing to all of us.”

It was also a blessing to Kurtz to see the growth at St. John’s over the years. “One of the most real moments of rich growth in the life of the church in the past 20 years was when Wade Warren, who is a big Andy Griffith fan, suggested we start having Mayberry night on Wednesdays,” he recalled.

The class watched selected 30 minute shows, then studied the way the story applied to their own Christian values.

“We owe a lot to Andy, Barney and Aunt Bea,” he laughed. “That changed this church from being an ‘old’ church to being an old church with a new life.”

Meals are another big part of the St. John’s tradition. “We have a wonderful kitchen staff,” he said. “The Tuesday morning Men’s Bible Study starts about 5:30 a.m. with the men cooking sausage, gravy, eggs and biscuits,” he smiled.

St. John’s is also noted for other food fests throughout the years, including one night each year during Cullman’s Oktoberfest.

Kurtz also had a hand in Oktoberfest. When he came here it was a dying entity, but with the leadership of Jim Swafford, Elaine Fuller and himself, it was incorporated as a non-profit and it started to grow. “I saw Captain Decatur at one of their festivals and I thought ‘That’s what we need! We need Col. Cullman!’ So we found Larry Rowlette, who became a wonderful Col. Cullman and the rest is history.”

His staff has made his job much easier in all respects. “For the past 14 years, I have seen Pastor Bob almost on a daily basis,” says Karen Hassell. “I will definitely miss seeing him and having him around the church office. He will definitely be a hard person to replace and I wish him the best of luck in his future.”

“One of Pastor Bob’s greatest gifts to St. John’s has been a welcoming spirit that has reminded us the invitation of Christ is to the ‘least of these’ and to the ‘sick’ who are in need of healing. All those who encounter Christ are in a different place on life’s journey, but the message is that all who are weary can come to Christ whatever their life circumstances,” says John Richter, who will take over as interim pastor until someone permanent is found.

“Pastor Bob's presence has been a blessing to St. John’s and to Cullman. Though he will no longer be serving as senior pastor, we look forward to his continued involvement here and in the community,” said Richter.

He views this not as retiring, but as stepping down so that another can take over his duties, and hopes that after a brief respite, he will be welcomed back as part of the congregation, where he will serve as a layman in some capacity.

“I feel as if they love us and I know we’ve done our best here,” he said. “We took a struggling and divided church and were used by God to bring healing. We will be nostalgic for many things, but we are not leaving, just starting another phase of our lives. We have a small cottage in Guntersville, where we will begin the next chapter.”

Now, at the end of his tenure here, the Iron Man with a Heart of Gold, as he has been described, will use the text from II Timothy 4:7.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will award to me on that day —and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”