Pastor Zachary Sturm was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas in 2002 with a degree in Liberal Arts and entered seminary in 2002 at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC). In 2004 he moved to Jackson, Michigan for his seminary internship.

After the internship he returned to Chicago to graduate from LSTC and then served as a parish pastor in Sullivan, Missouri until his arrival at Trinity in September  2009.