ONESQUETHAW — The Reverend Joseph A. Loux Jr. serves the Lord best himself by serving those who serve others, and those who serve time.
Onesquethaw Reformed Church installed Loux last weekend. Loux, pronounced in the French as "Lou," is Onesquethaw’s part-time minister and teacher.
"‘A pastor is a feeder,’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep,’" Loux said. "This involves walking with the flock. Teaching involves opening the Word, and applying it in a relevant way, to where people are, addressing their problems, their concerns, and their needs."

Loux, who has served as a minister over the years throughout the Capital Region, retired several years ago. He was soon asked to serve as the Protestant chaplain at the state prison in Washington County. Prison church services are on Saturday, he said.

On Sundays, Loux served as pulpit supply to fill in for absent ministers at other churches. He filled in, off and on, at Onesquethaw for two years. The congregation, itself, and its missions drew him back often.
"It is a very socially-minded congregation. They have mission projects around the world," Loux said. The church supports, with another church, a mission family in Tanzania.

The Onesquethaw congregation also supports Samaritan’s Purse projects, and churches who help Hurricane Katrina victims, he said. Members in Onesquethaw are going to Kentucky to finish a Christian camp for people with physical challenges or disabilities, he said.
"They truly celebrate their faith," Loux said about Onesquethaw. "They’re saying, ‘You can do this. You can do that with God’s power.’ It’s an atmosphere of forgiveness and empowerment. These people are interested in encouraging people to develop to their fullest potential in a Godly way."
Loux said that his work at the state prison complements his ministry in Onsequethaw. He referred to the saying, "The only difference between an inmate and one who is on the outside is that one never got caught."

Loux said that counseling and nurturing those at the prison and working at Onesquethaw allow him to find lay people to work in prisons as Christian volunteers.
"A significant portion of the New Testament was written from jail," Loux said.

He said that the Onsequethaw church nurtures within a loving environment.
"They have that spiritual gift," he said. Loux said that, often, scandal is hushed up.
At Onesquethaw, troubles are not hidden away, he said. "Where there is scandal, that is where ministry needs to be. That impresses me. I don’t find that in many churches."

Onesquethaw hired Loux as a part-time minister; he works mostly on Sundays and Mondays.
"They are a very benevolent congregation. They are a great supporter of Camp Fowler," he said. Loux said that if Onesquethaw were to hire a full-time minister, the congregation would need to divert funds that it uses for benevolent giving to pay for a larger salary. "I think they’re correct," Loux said.
"Onesquethaw Church stays in contact with its various missions," he said. Before each service begins, announcements are made, and letters and updates on missions are read then. "That sets the stage for a global context for worship, recognizing that we’re not just one church in the middle of nowhere, but that we’re part of the holy Catholic Church," said Loux.

Worldwide faith

Loux’s own studies and work have been catholic, or worldwide, as he studied first at New Brunswick Seminary and then in Holland, where he received his doctorate in 1985. He studied and preached there for two years. He and his wife, Marjorie, occasionally go back.
"I’m still a licensed preacher in the Netherlands," Loux said. "My wife and I plan to go back, again. I will do some preaching in Dutch." While in the Netherlands, Loux maintained his busy schedule, preaching in Dordrecht on Sunday morning, then driving more than three hours to Terneuzen for an evening service.
"My ministry has always involved traveling," he said. "That’s my prayer time as well, so it’s not wasted time."
Driving in the United States today causes some of his prayer time to "revert to prayer for safety and for self," Loux said, but he notices his fellow drivers. Some are happy, some distraught, and he prays for them, too.

Loux is an intelligent man who keeps many fires burning. He directs and performs with the Adirondack Baroque Consort, a not-for-profit educational organization founded in Glens Falls in 1962, he said. The consort is the oldest early-music performing group in the United States, he said, and it was the first performing group at the fledgling WMHT public television station in Schenectady.
"We do concerts about three times a year," Loux said. Last weekend, the consort performed at Earl Chapel at Oakwood Cemetery in Troy at a Renaissance fair.
"That’s an excellent venue for music. The interior is all marble. The sound comes alive in there. Our mission statement is to make early music come alive," he said.

The Adirondack Baroque Consort does historical performances that are researched and performed, sometimes in costume, Loux said.

Loux is also an editor for Dove House Editions in Ottawa, Canada.
"I am a musicologist and a linguist. I edit the baroque chamber music series, the Italian Renaissance consort series, and the viola de gamba series," he said.

He and Marjorie also publish music under the name Loux Music Company, which provides sheet music for early instruments like recorders, violas de gamba, crumhorns, and early percussion and string instruments.
"It’s a very specialized market," he said. "That’s my down-time therapy, you see."

Marjorie is busy, herself. She is the clerk for the town of New Baltimore planning board and zoning board of appeals, and she is deputy town clerk. Their son, Joseph Loux, III, lives and works in France full-time.

New programs

Loux hopes to begin new programs with his Onesquethaw congregation while continuing the current missions. He hopes to get a website set up for the church.
"You find that church shoppers are now looking online," Loux said.

The church is working with others in the Hilltowns to reach out to youth and seniors. For the youth, the churches want to bring in Christian music groups and find other ways to engage them and meet their needs, he said. For the seniors, Loux said, midday programs centered around lunch and some form of entertainment are being discussed.
"I find this is something that we, as a church, need to discern and prayerfully chart our course," he said. "There are a lot of lonely people, a lot of lonely seniors."

The Onesquethaw Reformed Church is the parent of the Clarksville Community Church, Loux said. The Onesquethaw building, itself, inspires Loux.
"It’s a stone church," he said. The church was constructed from stones that were mined for the Erie Canal locks, but that were too small or were otherwise unacceptable to be used.
"The building is a metaphor for what God does with people who are broken and unacceptable because of sin," he said. "[God] shapes them and builds them into a spiritual structure through Jesus Christ."
Onsequethaw offers nursery care during the 9:30 Sunday service to give parents "some time and some peace," Loux said. Sunday School is after service, and it follows the public school calendar, resuming this fall. This Sunday, the senior high youth group will meet to make final arrangements for a mission trip in the South, he said.

Loux was embarrassed to be interviewed.
"It’s not about me. It’s about the Lord," he said. Asked what he would tell the community, Loux said, "They’re invited to come share our acceptance, our joy, and love."