PARKVILLE, MD—Oak Crest retirement community announced the hiring of Pastor Don Beutel as its new Pastoral Associate for its Protestant Faith Community.

Previously, Pastor Beutel served as the Pastor at St. Michael Lutheran Church in Perry Hall from 1982-2001 and Visiting Pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church on Harford Road from 2001-2007.

At Oak Crest, Pastor Beutel will serve as Co-Pastor with Pastor Elmer Klein in presiding over Protestant worship services at the community’s Chapel and provide visitation and counseling support to residents and family members.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Capital University in Ohio and his Master’s in Divinity from Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary (now Trinity Lutheran Seminary) in Ohio in 1970.  He performed post-graduate work at Princeton University and St. Mary’s College in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Pastor Beutel serves on the Board of Directors for the Baltimore Cancer Support Group and Chaplain of the Maryland Law Enforcement Officers, Inc.  His ministry work has led him around the world, including a mission behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany in 1988.

A resident of Perry Hall, he has two daughters and six grandsons.