SPARK MINISTRIESSPARK ChurchesSPARK www.sparkchurches.org SPARK PastorsOn July 16, 2007 Pastors Tom Mundahl and Kevin Bergeson began their Pastoral Calls to SPARK. Their duties will include working with current pastors at SPARK member congregations (Westwood, Reformation, First and Ascension) to meet the pastoral needs of all four congregations, providing pastoral oversight to Reformation and First, and working with all of us to develop and implement community wide ministry strategies focusing on Young Adults and Older Adults. At this time, Pastor Mundahl will office at Reformation and Pastor Bergeson will be at First.Pastor Kevin Bergeson is a May 2007 graduate of Luther Seminary where he received the Hanson Prize in homiletics. Baptized in an elementary school cafeteria, he grew up in Mendota Heights, Minnesota where he was class president at Henry Sibley High School and made noise with an electric guitar in the basement of his family’s home. During his four years at Gustavus Adolphus College, he team-led Proclaim, the largest existing campus ministry. While in seminary he also served as a Youth Director for three years. As an intern Pastor at a 3200 member congregation in Las Vegas, Nevada he was an architect for Saint Vegas, a new young adult ministry. Pastor Bergeson likes red licorice, mint chocolate anything and riding pontoons. He downhill skis, kayaks, continues to play guitar in a band, and has run three marathons. He comes to SPARK seeking to listen, learn and cultivate together a new imagination of what being Church can look like. He is grateful for the opportunity to serve with us in the new ministry of SPARK.On Sunday, July 15, Kevin Bergeson was ordained as an ELCA pastor at Westwood in a grand celebration with Bishop Craig Johnson. Everyone from the SPARK churches and the community joined in the celebration. There was a mass choir of SPARK church singers directed by Zeb Highben. A reception followed the service. Pastor Tom Mundahl
has recently moved to St. Paul from Willmar, Minnesota where he served as Senior Pastor at Bethel Lutheran Church since 2001. During his time in Willmar, he served for three years as Chair of the Willmar Design Center which facilitated downtown redevelopment in an increasingly culturally diverse community. Prior to Willmar, he served congregations in Dubuque, Iowa, St. Charles, Minnesota and Owatonna, Minnesota. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College (Russian and Political Science), University of Iowa (MA Political Science) and Luther Seminary. He has authored several adult educational materials and co-authored with Omar Otterness The Handbook for Ministry with Older Adults. Pastor Mundahl and his wife Mary have two children and one grandson. He enjoys outdoors activities, gardening, music (guitar and vocal), breadmaking, storytelling and travel. Pastor Mundahl shares the following as he begins his ministry with us: "During 28 years of parish ministry, I have learned that God’s gifts are dispersed not only among those within the community we call the church, but throughout the world. For this reason it is very important to work to break down the boundaries that have divided us—denominations, ethnic backgrounds, economic and cultural status, orientations, ages, and anything else that might form a wall. It is clear that whenever we draw a line between those who are ‘in’ and those ‘outside,’ Jesus Christ is standing on the other side. We learn this best as we live out our baptism through the very best of worship, the most challenging and freeing of learning opportunities, and many kinds of service. The simple words that describe this are discipleship and mission. These are the gifts and the task of all of God’s people that will be explored through the energy of congregations and people participating in SPARK." Click to download: |