Larry & Gail Cantu: Accepting the Call

It was a gift to sit down with former Pastor Larry Cantu and his wife, Gail, at their retirement community earlier this fall. Each of whom shared wonders, challenges, and personal anecdotes of their impactful time with Holy Trinity.

They began attending Holy Trinity when Pastor was called to lead the congregation in 1981. He had been at his previous church for 14 years and had 7 Pastoral calls while he was there. Despite declining 6 calls, this was the one that he began to make sense of.

“Several of my classmates were on the call list,” he explained. “There were also a couple of friends who were at Holy Trinity who encouraged me to look at it a little more differently and thoroughly.” In the end, choosing to accept the call came down to a feeling that he had.

When he first came to Holy Trinity, he got a kick out of introducing himself as the “Man from Mars” - Mars, Pennsylvania that is, the location of his former church Grace Lutheran. Gail laughed along at this memory.

At that time, they had a daughter who had just graduated from high school and another daughter who was in 5th grade. Both of their children began attending youth gatherings and became involved in the Bell Choir, especially Beth who took a strong interest in the musical group.

Pastor Cantu welcomed many interns as a mentor to rising Pastors and taught Crossways classes too many times to count. “I became very involved in Crossways which is a study of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,” explained Pastor Cantu. I taught at least 8 classes during the time that I was there, perhaps more. I just stopped counting after a while. That was very important to me.”

Pastor also humbly explained his and Gail’s involvement in the church choir which sang songs in not just English but German and other similar languages. “Gail was our pianist and we’re very thankful for that. She was very good at working with them - and me.”

Music was always an integral part of the services and events at Holy Trinity which Gail warmly recounts. “My daughter and I always remember that on Easter morning the organist played the most beautiful music. Everyone would come and sing, making it the most glorious morning.”

The holidays were a special time at Holy Trinity. Gail explained that on Christmas day, they invited people to come and have a meal who otherwise didn’t have any place to go. Less than a mile up the hill was a parsonage where they held a buffet dinner in the dining room. Visitors could go out onto the screened-in porch that looked over the woods or sit at tables in the woods themselves. “

That was always very special and we enjoyed that a lot,” says Gail. When asked about the biggest challenge he faced leading the Holy Trinity congregation, Pastor Cantu points to differences among the members. “At one time, there were many very liberal Lutherans in the congregation who were becoming a more dominant force in the congregation.

When I took the call, I felt that it was my job to keep the conservatives from killing the liberals and keep the liberals from killing the conservatives.”

Certainly, there were no serious threats amongst the members but anyone who has led a group of people knows that unity takes work. Another member says that Larry was really good at keeping the harmony between the two groups and deserves credit for the work that he did.

Indeed, Pastor Cantu put his heart and soul into leading Holy Trinity, while Gail walked firmly by his side. The Holy Trinity community is blessed to have had Pastor Cantu accept his 7th and final call.