This family that prays together did more than just stay together; they went to seminary together.

At one time, the Rev. Alden Towberman, his wife, Sandy, and their daughter Tiffany were pursuing formal religious studies simultaneously, albeit at different schools and different course levels.

Alden was installed Sunday as the new senior pastor at St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Butler.

"It was really a mountaintop. The presence of God was really known," Alden said Monday of the ceremony and festivities that followed.

"That's a good sign, a sign a pastor looks for. It's not simply a rite or a ritual but God has something to do with this ministry. That was a great joy to me."

Still glowing from the celebration, Alden also talked about another source of joy for him — his wife and daughter, an only child, who are ordained ministers, too.

In 2000, Alden was working on his doctoral degree, his wife was just starting seminary courses, and their daughter was finishing them.

Without planning, father and daughter have arrived at similar sermon topics.

"Some Sundays we'll be preaching the same sermon," he said. Yet the parishes are different so the words don't come out exactly the same.

"We don't usually compare notes beforehand, but sometimes after the fact we'll be talking and say, 'Hey I said the same thing,'" his daughter said.

Tiffany said that from a young age she wanted to minister to people in some way.

"In elementary school, I wanted to be a special-education teacher. I thought I could serve that way," she said, "but I was always going along with my dad on visits and accompanying my mom to calling hours at the hospital and funerals."

Those experiences changed her mind.

"It's an opportunity to meet a need people have that nobody else can — not a doctor or anyone. You get to share their greatest joys and their greatest sorrows."

Tiffany graduated from Southern Lutheran Theological Seminary and works as associate pastor at Community Lutheran Church in Sterling, Va. Currently, she is on maternity leave with her first child, Nolan, with her husband Jim Gander.

"He's Catholic, which makes for interesting discussions," she said.

Sandy, is still moving from their home in Ohio, where her husband served at three parishes since 1970.

Although closer, the new grandparents won't get to visit with their only daughter and grandchild very often.

"We work on weekends and holidays," Tiffany said. "And we have office hours during the week. We'll see them a couple times a year probably."

"That's one of the sacrifices pastors make," Sandy said.

Tiffany's been at Sterling Community Lutheran for eight years, six as an ordained minister and before that for an internship. She said she doesn't aspire to be a senior pastor.

"Too many pastors work their way up like it's a corporate ladder. You're not able to serve as much if you just view it as a steppingstone," she said. "My goal is to be a good associate pastor, to have a strong team.

"I enjoy the scope of it — baptisms, youth ministry, everything. I serve on the bishop's synod council, too."

The newest member of the family to be ordained is Sandy. The University of Richmond graduate recently received a master of divinity degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. She is still waiting for her calling.

"My training is more in multicultural, street ministry," Sandy said. "I also specialize in biblical gardening. It gives me an opportunity to speak to people who might be unchurched."

Sandy also has done radio programs that were picked up in Australia. She said music is a very important part of her ministry.

She knew for a long time she was called, but she started studies part-time.

"I had graduated from college (University of Richmond) in 1969, so I had not been in school for a long time," she said.

She decided to take the toughest course first. "I said, 'OK God, if I can pass Greek, that was the sign that I would do it."

She graduated from Trinity in 2005. She plans to consult with the bishop once the move is complete.

Alden has been in Butler for nearly three months, with his wife commuting from Zanesville.

Even with all his degrees and years of service, that time was used for the congregation "to look him over," he said.

"And I had to look them over to see if we would be a good fit."

Alden is a native of Arlington, Va. He graduated from the University of Richmond and the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg and received a doctor of ministry degree from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.

In football frenzied Western Pennsylvania, he has an additional qualification. For a year, he was chaplain of the Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

He looks forward to serving at St. Mark's, where several hundred members attend weekly services.

"There's never been a better time to be the church," Alden said, "because people are hungry for hope, grace, peace. The church has to be bold enough to speak it."

And if anyone speaks the name of "Pastor Towberman" at the occasional family gathering, three heads might turn.