This is the third place in which I have had the privilege of being called “Pastor” since I began this work over twenty years ago. I stood on the banks of the Minnesota River in the town of LeSueur for almost eight years with those good folks. Then we moved to the flatlands of central Illinois to the town of Streator and shared in the life and work of God’s faithful there for thirteen years. We moved here about two weeks ago, standing now in wonder at the Prairie vistas that surround us and the lives of the good folks that come here to worship, grow and reach together.

My family and I enjoy anything that involves a paddle, backpack, ski or running shoe. We run, camp, swim, paddle, portage and enjoy travel. It’s an addiction that has included east and west coast runs, Nova Scotia, Europe, Lake Superior, and New Zealand. Daughter Ingrid, our oldest, is a senior at the University of Illinois and has recently come back from a semester “down under” in Christ Church, NZ. Julia is a sophomore at Northwestern University in Evanston where she spins and grows. Our son, Erik, is a sophomore at Milton High School studying and doing cross-country, swim and track. My wife, Sharon, is a Dietician/Diabetes Educator who I working with a Bariatric Surgery Center out of Harvard, Illinois and enjoys nothing more than taking it all from ‘dirt to plate’. I call myself a pastor by vocation and a motorhead by frustration, doing my best to keep my fleet of oil burning “classics” on the road.

Other than the same tools that the church has used for generations, scripture and Spirit, I walk in here with no master plan or billion dollar answer. I am a pastor; I lead worship, share in the mission, education and outreach of the church. Most of all I get up every day to see that red sky in the east and say thanks for another opportunity to suck in good air and serve a great God through all that we can do and be together.