Pastors of the Black Ministry Unit
Reverend Samuel Cosby
The Reverend Samuel Cosby is a native of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. He received his Associate of Arts Degree from Alabama Lutheran Junior College Selma, AL; Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, Concordia Teachers College, Seward, NE; and Master of Divinity, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO. He was ordained on 28 November, 1971.
Rev. Cosby served Saint John's Lutheran Church, East St. Louis, IL, for three years on an extended vicarage while attending seminary. Later he served as pastor of Redemption Lutheran Church, Panama City, FL and The Lutheran Church of Christ The King in Chicago, IL.
He entered Extended Active Duty in May 1976, at Travis AFB, CA and retired from the military with a total of 24 years and 14 days of combined reserve and active duty service, providing ministry to the men and women of the Armed Forces. In addition to California, he served in Alaska, Kansas, Spain, Illinois, New Mexico, Guam, and Texas. He held many positions, from Unit Chaplain, all the way through Deputy Wing Chaplain of the largest training wing in the Air Force.
Rev. Cosby is married to the former Lydell Purnell of Wilcox County, Alabama. They have four sons, Malcolm, Marcell, Marcus, and Michael. Mrs. Cosby is a graduate of Alabama Lutheran Junior College (now Concordia College, Selma), and Concordia College Seward, Nebraska.
Reverend Willie C. Lucas
The Reverend Willie C. Lucas was ordained in November 1979, at St. John the Evangelist Lutheran Church, in Brooklyn, where he served until 1987. In 1984, while serving at St. John's, he joined the Naval Reserve, serving his country for five years. While still in the Reserves, he also pastored at Chatham Fields Lutheran Church, until 1990. He also taught there.
In March of 1990, Rev. Lucas began what would be a ten-year calling to Unity Lutheran Church, in East St. Louis, IL. While there, he also served as a supervisor for Concordia Seminary fieldworker students, helping to shape the Church through it's workers.
While serving at Unity, Rev. Lucas also served as an on-call Chaplain for St. Mary's Hospital in East St. Louis, and also served as a broadcaster for Unity's Religious Radio Broadcast, and founded Unity's "How to..." After School Program.
In 2000, Rev. Lucas came to Texas, and served as Pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church. He also served as the Principal of their dayschool.