I am a real minister. I am a third generation minister — my grandfather and father were too.

I earned a Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL in 1990. I was the pastor of several churches for a number of years. Then, I was in business. Now, I am a full-time wedding minister. Click to learn about my “religion” — and why that is in quotes.

At the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, I was a political science major. It was there that I met Jesus, the woman who would become my wife, and first had the desire to be a pastor.

On June 23, 1984, I married the love of my life and my best friend (which is still true) — Pamela. We got married on a hot day in an un-airconditioned church in Antioch. The reception was at her parents’ huge back yard.

I enjoy reading two newspapers a day (the New York Times and Chicago Tribune), love movies (with my goal each year to see all 5 nominees in the top 6 categories of the Oscars — so all five best picture nominees, all five best support actor nominees, etc.), satellite radio, watching the Bears and delight in chocolate.

Pamela and I enjoy good food, good wine (Jesus’ first miracle was to turn water into wine — at a wedding :>), good conversation (with family, friends or just the two of us), our outdoor fireplace during the spring/summer/fall seasons, jazz, TiVo, driving top-down in her Miata and, most of all, Jesus.

I have been told a number of times that I have a voice for radio. I think I have the face for it, too

What were my parents thinking? If you combine my names, “Phil” and “Landers” you get “philander” which Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “to be sexually unfaithful to one's wife” — an adulterer. I have been faithful to my wife all these years. But it is an ironic name for a wedding minister, isn’t it? (I was named after my two grandfathers — one was Philip and the other was John.) My grandfather, the first-generation minister, was also named Phil Landers.

I take the things of God seriously but not myself. If you ever get too full of yourself, talk to your spouse. As Garrison Keillor put it, “We marry our best friend — and best critic.”