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We are called. Auggie pastors.

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By Wendi Wheeler ’06

Last year, Bob Bagley ’58 submitted an idea for a story about his teacher, mentor, and friend, Mario Colacci.

His submission sparked an idea. We decided to interview different generations of Augsburg pastors who have served in a variety of settings. We wanted to know who inspired them. We wanted to share their experiences and highlight the similarities and differences in their ministries. We wanted to know what they want our readers to know about their lives as servants.

Read about Auggie pastors Bob Bagley ’58, David Lillejord ’86, Jeni Falkman Grangaard ’02, Peter Morlock ’90, and Stephanie Quick-Espinoza ’01.

Submissions from our readers

We invited our readers to choose their favorite question from those we asked our Auggie pastors and to submit their answer to us or to post it on their personal blog, on Facebook, or to tweet it. Here’s what we received:

Submitted by Donna Anderson Hoekstra ’68

Photo of Hal and Donna HoekstraMy husband, Rev. Dr. Harold J. Hoekstra ’66, is retired from 40 years of ELCA ministry. Not only is he a Dutch Lutheran of which there are very few (Dutch Reformed and Missouri Synod background before becoming ALC), he has faithfully served in uniquely different congregational sights in North Dakota, Washington (Seattle), Minnesota (Minneapolis), Michigan (Detroit), Arizona (Tucson), and Illinois (Chicagoland). Given his unique formation and these parish experiences, he has much to say about diversity, church leadership, and educating new pastors (interns served with him) for ministry in a global world.  Augsburg initiated him in this journey.

Submitted by Pastor Donohue Sarff ’56

“Is there a particular passage of scripture that frames your call to ministry?”

In the eleventh chapter of Zechariah, the Lord describes the unfaithful spiritual leader. I have made a personal mission statement by changing the negative into the positive.

Zechariah 11:15-16 reads: “Then the Lord said to me; Take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd. For I am now raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering, or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.”

My personal mission statement is as follows: “Through the grace and power of the Great Shepherd, it is my mission to be an under-shepherd who, cares for the perishing, seeks the wandering, heals the maimed, nourishes the healthy, and helps equip the church to do the same.”

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