Pastor Nicholas Brie was ordained as a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1986. He was a ‘second career’ student in ministry, having been in another occupation previous to studying for the ministry.

He began his call at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Taneytown, Maryland in May of 2002. He came to Trinity from having served a Lutheran congregation in Baltimore as an Interim Pastor.

Prior to his serving in Intentional Interim Ministry he was part of an Ecumenical Team Ministry in Leisure World, in Silver Spring, Maryland. Three pastors, a Baptist, a United Methodist and he, a Lutheran, served an active congregation of about 700 people, a mixture of over 30 denominations.

He came to Maryland from Wyoming where he was a Chaplain at two state facilities for the elderly: one an assisted living facility, the other, about 60 miles away, a nursing home. He traveled between the two serving as Chaplain, offering pastoral ministry and care, as well as offering various programs. He treasured his time living in Wyoming, living in an area called The Big Horn Basin, which was between the Big Horn Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. He was not far from Cody, Wyoming, the eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Pastor Brie took the call to Chaplaincy after having served a congregation in rural Nebraska, ministering in a farming and ranching community.

He was born in New England, but after serving in US Army Intelligence he moved to New York City and worked for Pan American Airlines as a VIP representative.
He attended college in Waterloo, Canada; Staten Island, New York (where he received his BA); attended seminary in Berkeley, California and Chicago, Illinois where he received his Master of Divinity in 1986.

Pastor Brie has led an interesting life that prepared him for many aspects of ministry. He worked as a short-order cook, waiter and Maitre d’, executive secretary, high school teacher, had his own lawn care business, owned and ran a book store, and was a single foster parent.

He hitch-hiked back and forth across the United States 12 times between 1962 and 1972 in the heat of summer and in the deep-freeze of winter. He has written a column for local newspapers, written poetry, short-stories, children’s books and plays. For some he has won awards and scholarships and grants, but, in his words, “I’ve never published anything on a national level.”

He has given many talks to a variety of civic, religious and charitable groups on spirituality, humor, and matters of humor and aging.