Home
Son Follows in Father's Pastoral Footsteps
By Craig Pinley
KEYSTONE, CO (June 27, 2002) - Pastor Kendall Dahlstrom of the Evangelical
Covenant Church of South Bend, Indiana, thought that his son might
become a
Covenant pastor.
Peter Dahlstrom thought it might happen too - he started seriously
considering the idea in college. Now, it's official. Peter is an
ordained
Covenant minister. He was blessed by Covenant leaders during a special
prayer time in Thursday's ordination and commissioning service. Peter, a
pastor in Marquette, Kansas, was one of 16 Covenanters
approved for ordination by delegates at this year's Annual Meeting. Six
staff ministers were approved for commissioning at Wednesday's business
meetings in Keystone.
Kendall Dahlstrom recalled that he and wife, Nancy, thought ministry
could
be in Peter's future early in life. He told a story about how his
four-year-old son quoted scripture to a boy who was threatening him with
a
baseball bat. Peter said that he told the boy to be kind to one another
and
his son listened. "He threw the bat down and replied, 'Aw, cut that
stuff
out, or something like that,' " Peter said. "I gave my testimony
recently
(at the Midwest Conference annual meeting) and said that incident was my
first sermon . . . and then I took 25 years off."
Peter Dahlstrom became interested in drama as a youngster and was a
regular
in plays while a student at North Park University (then College).
Kendall
believes that Peter's ability to be on stage has aided him in ministry,
along with a knack for resourcefulness that has allowed him to meet the
challenges that have come his way.
After a time, however, Peter began thinking that ministry, not drama,
would
be a calling. He said some people at North Park encouraged him to think
about ministry and while he told them he wasn't interested he admitted,
"I
was lying to them."
After college, Peter worked for a year at Covenant Harbor Bible Camp in
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, "At Covenant Harbor, I got a chance to ask what
the
Lord had intended for me in the future," he said. After Covenant Harbor,
he
decided to head back to Chicago to North Park Theological Seminary. He
earned a Master of Divinity degree from North Park and now serves in
ministry in Kansas with wife, Juliana, a registered nurse who
works at a local nursing home.
Kendall recently wrote a church newsletter article, recalling the three
years his son spent in the ordination process, which includes writing
papers on theology and ministry philosophy and a host of interviews that
can leave even the most confident person feeling pretty inadequate.
"At times, a person can feel pretty lonely in the process," Kendall
wrote.
"You wonder if you have ever done anything right in your whole life . .
.
this is where the hard questions are asked. Occasionally one interviewer
will grill the candidate exceptionally hard on one issue, usually an
issue
that the other interviewers do not see as being quite as important..."
Later in his newsletter article, Kendall Dahlstrom recalled hearing the
news that Peter had passed his ordination interview.
"I remember to this day how wonderfully affirming my interview was with
the
Covenant Board of Ministry (in 1972). They knew the struggles. They knew
the facing of one's own demons that had gone on. And they affirmed the
wonder-working power of the grace of God. That's how it was when I heard
from those who had interviewed Pete. The words of affirmation were good
to
hear . . . I, for one, will be a proud father who welcomes his son into
the
ordained ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church . . . "
The ordination of his son isn't the only event that pleases Kendall
Dahlstrom. His daughter, Kirsten, the CHIC2K3 coordinator for the
denomination's Department of Christian Formation, recently became
engaged
and will be married in the coming months.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
