Born and raised in Bay City, Michigan, Pastor Samuel Hacker grew up attending St. Bartholomew Lutheran Church and attended the church's grade school through 8th grade.  Pastor Hacker attended high school at Michigan Lutheran Seminary (one of our WELS Preparatory Schools).  After graduating from MLS, he attended Northwestern College in Watertown, Wisconsin and graduated from there in 1995.
Pastor Hacker completed his formal education at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin.  While there, his studies focused on the four main areas of theology - Biblical theology (an in-depth study of Scripture in it's original languages), practical theology (counseling, sermon writing), systematic theology (dogmatics), and historical theology (church history).
Pastor Hacker was installed at Bethany in June of 1999.