A lifelong pursuit; Westboro Lutheran church installs pastor.

Byline: Kevin Keenan

WESTBORO - As the daughter of a Lutheran preacher, the Rev. Kathryn Baines knew she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps, though there was a problem - women weren't being ordained at the time. That didn't deter Rev. Baines, who yesterday was installed as pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church West Main Street. Pastor Baines succeeds Rev. Kenneth Bean, who retired from the church in 2005 after 35 years of service to the Good Shepherd community.

"God called me here. The bishop saw my paperwork and felt I was a good match for Good Shepherd, so they called me," Rev. Baines said.

Rev. Baines was most recently senior pastor at St. James Lutheran Church in Concord, N.C., where she served for about five years. Before her duties in North Carolina, she was assistant to the bishop in the Florida-Bahamas Synod, in Gainesville, Fla., near the massive campus of the University of Florida.

Growing-up in Ohio, she was the "preacher's daughter." Her father is a retired Lutheran reverend.

"I grew up at church, and even though they were not ordaining women at the time, I felt very early in life a call from God to the ministry. But when I graduated from high school in 1970, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to ordain women, so I went to college knowing that it was a possibility," Rev. Baines said. "At Christmastime during my freshman year of college, I told my parents that's what I was going to do."

She was the first woman ordained as a Lutheran minister in Florida, at University Lutheran Church, but since then, many women have been ordained into the Lutheran ministry, and the practice has become so common, Rev. Baines said she no longer keeps track.

"Nobody quite knew what to expect. University Lutheran Church was brave to issue a call to me, but now, there are a good many Lutheran women who are ordained," Rev. Baines said.

After Rev. Bean retired in 2005, Good Shepherd formed a committee to find a new pastor. Lutheran pastors are not assigned; they are chosen through a search process involving the regional synods, which are similar to dioceses, and by the individual church communities.

After nearly two years of searching, they found each other, said Cindy Brissman, a church member and congregation president. Good Shepherd's members have a strong commitment to community service, and the church is filled with young families and children Ms. Brissman said.

Rev. Baines' husband, Barry, is semi-retired, and the couple has two grown children.

"We have a lot of families, we're a growing, young community, and family is very important. Pastor Baines just really seemed to fit the picture of that. We found that she really cares about those things and the ministry of the church. She knows the big picture."

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: The Rev. Kathryn Baines tries to quiet the congregation's applause yesterday during her installation as pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Westboro.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff/STEVE LANAVA