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SOUTH JORDAN - Once upon a time, he was discussing erosion of solid rocket booster joints, analyzing particle sizes of soot and measuring variable effects on O-ring seals to the nearest 10,000th of an inch.

Now he's more concerned with erosion of faith, finding people without a church and inspiring them with God's word to whatever degree he can.

The Rev. Scott Stein, the 52-year-old pastor of South Jordan's Christ the King Lutheran Church, left a 21-year career in engineering - which included service on the task force that recommended postponing the launch of 1986's ill-fated Space Shuttle Challenger - to serve something higher in a different realm.

"It took years for me to be convinced that God wanted me to be a pastor," he says of the call. "It wasn't what I expected."

But in 1999, with the blessings of his wife, MarJean, and their son who was in high school at the time, the family left Utah and the engineering world behind. His two daughters from a previous marriage were off at college when the rest of the family headed off to Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in South Carolina.

Stein had grown up going to Lutheran churches in Illinois, even attending a Lutheran grade school, but pursuing faith on a vocational basis had never crossed his mind. And it certainly wasn't where his mind was when he was studying structural applications, metal hardware and design engineering.

After graduating with degrees from Purdue University, he launched a career in Utah with Thiokol Corp., now known as ATK.

MarJean, whom he met through her mother, a co-worker, was a member of the LDS Church. So together they examined their beliefs, did a lot of Bible reading, and in the end found their place as a couple in the Lutheran tradition.

When he wasn't being a rocket scientist, Stein was serving in other ways - volunteering with, for example, Habitat for Humanity and in soup kitchens. The idea of stepping up to a lifetime ministry hit him and Marjean as early as 1990, but the pair waited until the timing was right.

That he would quit a high-paying job to enroll in a seminary program shocked some of his colleagues, but to Stein it was a long time coming. He relished the opportunity to focus his energies on his beliefs, his studies and his pastoral training. And in 2003, he was ordained as a pastor at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he remained pastor until last August.

Stein always wanted to return to Utah, and with some pastoral experience behind him, he decided to come home as a "mission developer" for the Rocky Mountain Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Currently, there are 12 ELCA congregations in Utah, Stein says. In his role, he's working to create a congregation in the South Jordan area.

"I always say to be a mission developer you have to be crazy enough to do it," he says with a laugh.

The South Jordan church, which began meeting at the beginning of April and convenes in the Multiplex 20 theaters, is a work in progress. Stein spent months and continues knocking on doors, looking for those who have no church - he emphasizes he has no desire to pull people out of a church they're already in - and is slowly building a community. On Easter Sunday, some 65 people turned out for services, which included three baptisms.

Nothing makes Stein happier than the opportunity to give people a spiritual place to call home.

Sometimes, of course, he has pangs for his previous life: "When there's a shuttle flight coming up, I get really excited, and I miss it a little bit."

But that passes, as quickly as a rocket soars, and soon the former engineer is grounded again, doing exactly what he feels was intended.

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* JESSICA RAVITZcan be reached at jravitz@sltrib.com or 801-257-8776. Send comments to the religion editor at religioneditor@sltrib.com.

* To learn more about Christ the King Lutheran Church, visit www.christtheking

utah.com, or call Pastor Scott at 801-253-6487. Or, feel free to stop by weekly services, which are on Sundays at 10 a.m. in theater 14 at South Jordan's Megaplex 20, 11400 S. Bangerter Highway.