Pastor Dawn Nelson celebrates 25 years

Times Contributor  

 

What an amazing 25 years it has been for Pastor Dawn Nelson from Lord of All Lutheran Church in Strathmore.

Nelson graduated from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon in 1989 with her Master of Divinity. After struggling with her calling (originally as an RN at the Foothills hospital in Calgary) she came to sense that there was something more that she was called to do. Nelson came to Strathmore’s Lord of All Lutheran Church, February 1, 1994 after serving her first parish in Wadena/Margo at St. Peter’s, for five years.

Nelson has seen many changes and went through the challenges and excitement of a building program with Lord of All. Church services were held in a trailer when she came and now there is a beautiful building that serves many purposes in the community, including holding AlAnon meetings, youth events, seniors groups, and a variety of other churches and services from the community utilizing the centralized building in the heart of downtown Strathmore.

September of 2012 saw Lord of All make a move by leaving the (ELCIC) Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada to the NALC (The North American Lutheran Church) in keeping with Nelson’s vocational calling, and also that of the members of the church, to stay with traditional biblical teaching and preaching of God’s word in the church and community.

Marg Boesenkool, a longstanding member at Lord of All, says, “We had a long phase of interim ministers come and go for a number of months and it was a delight when Pastor Dawn accepted the call to be our permanent full time Pastor. She fit right in with all of us and has been a delight and a wonderful support to me and my family over the years. Pastor Dawn is family.”

Town Councillor Pat Fule says of Nelson, “Pastor Dawn is a caring and empathetic person who strives hard to bring healing and comfort to those who need it. She has always held an important role with Victim Services and in emergency situations. She knows the needs of the youth in our community and brings her compassion to the Youth Club Board. I absolutely love being on the board with her. Congratulations on 25 years in ministry.”

Pastor Garnet Leach was Pastor Dawn’s pastor at Hope Lutheran in Calgary and is pleased to have helped her discover her calling and delighted in her faithful service over the years, both at Lord of All and in the community and larger Church. Leach was able to preach at the service this past Sunday and led Pastor Dawn in renewing her ordination vows during the morning worship.

Pastor Dawn celebrated with over 120 family and friends later that afternoon at a BBQ picnic and roast at Vickie and Doug Thurn’s farm north of Nightingale.