My calling into ministry came when I was in my early thirties, married with two young boys at home. I was working for a power utility at the time, having been employed there for nearly fifteen years. One day, I had an unexpected, strong sense that I was meant to become a pastor. This was not something I had ever envisioned as my life’s work, and I had no idea what a pastor did beyond what I saw on Sunday mornings. I have never lost that deep impression that I am doing what God had always intended for me to do.

As my education and training had been in the specialized work of steam plant operation and electrical maintenance, I entered the ministry as a student local pastor, needing to complete a traditional college education while serving a two-point charge. My undergraduate education was primarily completed at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. I then attended Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, where I continued as a student local pastor serving a two-point charge.

During this time, my wife's mother developed cancer and her father early onset dementia. The distance from home became hard for my wife, and when her father required assisted living, we both felt we needed to be close to them, so we returned to Wisconsin, but out of the appointment season.

This created issues with a DCOM back in northwest Wisconsin, which is also a long story. For a time, I was without an appointment, so I took on a couple of short-term jobs. Then, I was approached about becoming the Area Director for the American Heart Association, covering nineteen counties in northwestern Wisconsin. I accepted, and we moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, for nearly six years.

Over the years I was in ministry, we had added three more boys to our family, making us a family of seven. After six years at the AHA, our oldest son was in college, and the second oldest had just graduated from highschool and was entering college that fall. Our second oldest, now a pastor himself, was ten years older than his next brother. The three younger brothers were eight years old or younger.

Having never lost the sense of my being called to be a pastor, I worked with the District Superintendent in the area at the time. The conference developed a charge by adding a church to a two-point charge, making it three, so I could earn enough money to reenter ministry and complete a Master of Divinity degree, which I did at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.

After graduation, I was appointed to a full-time two-point charge near Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where I completed the ordination process and served for seven years. I was then asked to d serve at Sturgeon Bay UMC, which included a small church in Jacksonport that is open during the tourist season, where I have now been for eleven years. In recent years, I have completed a Doctor of Ministry program at the University of DubuqueTheological Seminary, where I currently serve on the Board of Advisors for the seminary.

My ministry has always been about relationships, particularly our relationship with the Word of God, both that which is written and, in particular, the embodiment of the Word in the Lord Jesus. Additionally, the relationships we have with one another as the people of God, as we seek to grow in our discipleship of Jesus in all stages of life. My gifts, such as they are, have been affirmed in the churches I have served through myteaching, preaching, and administration.

My wife Jackie and I have now been married for forty-five years. Our children are all established in their own lives. We felt it was time for retirement, she from a working life, and I from the need to be Itinerant, as is required of an ordained Elder. We own a home we both love in Sturgeon Bay and want to have more flexibility in our lives so we can travel and spend time with our two grandchildren. In retirement, I plan to continue serving as a pastor while also working on projects related to my doctoral studies.