School is out for the summer for most students, but a year of learning is just beginning for Laura Applegate, Lord of Life’s new Intern Pastor. A long-distance student at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, she continues her path to a Master of Divinity degree as she joins the church staff this June. Starting this summer, the LOL community will be Laura’s new classmates.
Laura is an online seminary student, spending the last two years logging on for learning from her home in Northern Kentucky where she lives with her spouse David and their two children, Alex (10) and Katie (8). She is looking forward to being in-person with the people of Lord of Life and will commute to West Chester for the internship.
While the Ohio River separates her home and work, this won’t be a problem for Laura. Described by her family and friends as authentic, inquisitive, and loyal, she has also been called a “bridge builder,” due to her natural instincts to find ways to connect people.
“The underlying theme for what I like to do the best is helping and caring for people,” Laura says. “I used to work at Fidelity [financial services corporation], but even there I was in the department that was customer focused and all about helping people.”
When Laura does get a moment to relax, her favorite way to spend downtime is surrounded by her extensive support system of family and friends. Her parents divorced and remarried while she was very young, so she has been blessed with a blended family, including four parents and six siblings.
“I love spending time with my family and friends. My family is a ‘yours, mine and ours’ kind of family,” Laura explains. “I have four amazing parents. I'm so grateful for them and they are all near me in Northern Kentucky.”
For fun, Laura enjoys movies, cheering on her favorite sports teams, and reading. “We love to go to the movies. David and I actually met at a movie theater,” she shares. “I am also a Cincinnati sports fan—I love the Bengals. I love the Reds. I’ve been to a couple FC Cincinnati and Cyclones games. And the Florence Y’all baseball games are really fun,” she says.
Get your oven fired up to welcome Laura. She delights in comfort foods and has a sweet tooth, especially for pecan or peanut butter pie, Reeses and lattes. “I like sweets of all kinds, except lemon,” she says.
More than anything, Laura is sweet on getting to know the Lord of Life family. “I love people,” she says. “I love connecting with people and building relationships. It brings me so much joy to connect with another Christian and be able to grow our faith and learn together.”
Meet Laura at her first official worship as Intern Pastor on June 18. The Lord of Life community has great plans to live, share, and celebrate the love of Jesus as we embark on this year of building bridges together.
Laura Applegate was interviewed by Tera Michelson for this blog post.