Nathan Strong (March 18, 1953-January 6, 2024) had chosen the hymns for the church service he was to lead on Sunday, January 7. He had prepared the church bulletin, selected scripture readings and started to write his sermon, which he titled "Dodging Bullets." The service at Albany United Methodist Church was held that Sunday morning, but the pastor who had served the congregation for 31 years wasn't there: Strong died of a heart attack at his home on Saturday evening, January 6. He was 70. The congregants who gathered in Nathan's absence sang the hymns he had picked and read the psalms he'd chosen. Some parishioners stood and talked, recalling a pastor who was always there for them. A few older church members said they were upset Nathan wouldn't be there to preside at their funerals. "Nate grew up in Craftsbury, so he was just a good ol' country boy," said Amanda Harper, 52, a lifelong congregant of the Northeast Kingdom church. "Us good ol' country Albany people could relate to him well." Nathan was the second of five children born to Horace and Ruth Strong. The family lived on Craftsbury Common, near the Stronghold dairy farm run by Nathan's grandparents, called Stronghold. The Strongs kept a small herd of Guernseys that Nathan and his two brothers fed and milked every morning before school. "Chores!" Horace would call out at 5 a.m., rousing his sons. Matt Strong, Nathan's brother, could expect a corresponding nudge from the bottom bunk of his bunk bed. It was Nathan, kicking his mattress and pushing his youngest sibling to the ceiling. "Nate was kind of like a rock to me," said Matt, 66, a carpenter and wood-carver who lives in Stowe. "The one thing that made him a great pastor was the same thing that made him a great brother: You could talk to him about anything, and he would just listen." On Sundays, the seven Strongs would dress for church and walk from their house to the Craftsbury Common Congregational Church (now called the United Church of Craftsbury). The white clapboard church stands across the common from Craftsbury Academy, which Nathan attended from kindergarten through 12th grade. Horace taught industrial arts at the school his kids attended and was a canoe maker. In high school, Nathan played three sports for the Craftsbury Academy Barons (now Chargers), including goalkeeper for the soccer…