LETTER OF INTRODUCTION: FROM PASTOR DEAN

Dear Members of Redeemer Lutheran Church,

      It was with joy that I accept the task of concluding the interim at Redeemer Lutheran.   I also rejoice at the positives of Redeemer and look forward to future plans and possibilities that God has in store for the future.   One of my favorite Scripture passages has become, “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”  Jeremiah 29:11. 

      As I look forward to getting to know you better I share a bit about my self.   I am a native of Storden, MN, where I graduated from high school in 1969.  I grew up on a farm and I am of  Norwegian descent.  100%.  Yet the only Norwegian words I was taught were, “Ya” and “Ufta”.   Intermixed within my college years was my service as an U.S.A.F. Aeromedic during the Vietnam Era, Grand Forks, ND.   Upon returning to college I graduated from South Dakota State College, Brookings, SD with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, May, l976.  Before leaving SDSU for seminary, I decided to earn my Master’s of Education, in Guidance and Counseling.  After completing this in 1977, I then moved on to Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN, where I received my Master’s of Divinity, June, 1981.

      Congregations served during my twenty eight years of ordained ministry have been located in or around the municipalities of: Viroqua, Franklin, Brookfield, North Cape, and Mukwonago, WI.   Other training and work experience includes: Chaplain Resident at Connecticut Valley Psychiatric Hospital, Middletown, CT; graduate of the Marriage and Family Training Institute, Milwaukee, WI;  Pastoral Counselor and Family Life Educator for Lutheran Social Services;  Greater Milwaukee Synod’s only ordained minister to be certified in Youth and Family Ministry.   Ministry excitement is engendered whenever I observe how God uses nuclear and extended families to accomplish the work of the Kingdom.  

       My family members include: wife Karen, who is co-pastor at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Oconomowoc, WI.   Karen has more hobbies than I, but both of us enjoy hiking, biking and a little golf.   I also like to “motor-scoot”.    Son Micah works for SEEK , Manitowoc, where he manages one of the “temp agency” offices.   Daughter Erika is a registered nurse working at St. Luke’s Hospital, Milwaukee, on one of the neurological floors.   Erika, her husband Jim, along with all our extended family recently celebrated the birth of their first child, Ivy Sue.  A gift so amazing!

       I thank God for the blessings of God’s grace and purposes, and for the blessings of family and purposeful ministry.   I look forward to our mutual ministry – based on God's hope, love, and purposes - in Christ.     

Pastor Dean M. Natterstad