The Rev. Randy Moser and his family moved from Waterloo to Manson in June and Moser said he’s enjoying their new home.

“I love the small town Iowa,” he said. ”Small town Iowa is where I feel led to be. Manson just fits perfectly.”

Moser currently lives with his wife, Rita, who is a paraeducator in Manson, their son, and two grandchildren.

Before graduating seminary at the University of Dubuque, Moser was a dairy farmer for many years.

“My first 50 years I spent as a dairy farmer,” he said. “So now I’m a shepherd of a different flock.”

Moser said he had gotten to a point where the farm either needed a significant amount of money or he needed to move on.

He said, “I had this kind of nagging feeling in the back of my mind that God had other things in store for me. In 2010 I walked away from the farm and began the ministry.”

Stepping away from the farm life was not easy, but Moser said eventually he had to make a choice.

He said, “It took several years to finally make the decision. It was always kind of there in the back of my mind that God was calling me, but it took a while for me to respond.”

Moser began preaching in 2011 and has since served many churches.

He said, “The fall after I began seminary, I started serving a church in Strawberry Point, then I served five years in Winfield and Mount Union, serving two churches, then I moved up to Waterloo where I served three years.”

Moser said he didn’t grow up in a family that was heavily involved in their church, but when he met his wife in 1985, she encouraged him to become more active in her Methodist Church.

“Finally for the first time I was really involved in the church,” he said. “I can see God in the midst of it just urging me on. It was a good experience to become more involved with the church.”

Moser said serving a congregation during a pandemic can be a big challenge.

“That was a big learning curve when we started doing virtual services,” he said.”But we got there and it made a difference where people couldn’t be together but we were at least able to get the message out.”

Despite not being physically together, Moser said he feels the congregation stayed united.

“We weren’t in church but we were still the church,” he said.

Moser said he is excited to see what this new journey holds for him and his family. He said, “I just look forward to being a part of what God is up to here in Manson. I feel really blessed to be part of the congregation here. I just hope that we can do great things for the Lord.”