Pastor Dave Gunderson Reflects Upon His Ministry vBy Randy Tramp Gunderson retired on July 31, 2017, after serving for 27 years at St. John’s. His length of ministry at St. John’s was the longest time a pastor has served at the church in its 140 plus years of ministry in the Yankton community. Pastor Dave Gunderson’s ministry began in 1981 at Grace Lutheran in Deadwood. “In the nine years I served there my wife Connie, and I were blessed with two wonderful children, Kristen and Jonathan,” Gunderson says. During his time there, he received ten different calls or opportunities to go to other churches, but in all of those situations, he always felt the Lord wanted him to stay in Deadwood. In 1989, he became a chaplain in the South Dakota National Guard and settled into the idea of spending the rest of his ministry at Deadwood. “But, then the call to be the pastor at St. John’s Lutheran in Yankton came. After much prayer, I accepted the call and began my ministry on May 1, 1990,” Gunderson says. “During those many years of ministry at St. John’s, our congregation was blessed in countless ways.” St. John’s preschool was formed in 1992 and continues today. Every week they had chapel time for the children. Pastor Dave used puppets to tell the message. “I’ve been doing puppet ministry for forty years, and the secret to puppets is to make the audience think they are alive and working on their own,” Gunderson says. Pastor Dave was hidden from the three and four year old students and didn’t know the puppeteer. “However, one little boy was absolutely sure he knew it was me, so our church secretary, Paulette and I were a bit devious. I used a microphone and spoke, but Paulette moved the puppets from behind the stage. When the show was over, I appeared in the hallway at the same time the puppets were still on stage. That little fellow couldn’t figure out who was doing the puppets. He looked at me, then the puppets, then back to me and finally went back to class puzzled how those puppets could do what they did.” One of Pastor Dave’s highlights of his ministry was working in a team ministry. In addition to the preschool and office staff, we had vicars (student pastors) who came for one year of training. “Teaching them was a great joy, but the size of St. John’s parish required two full-time pastors. Through my ministry, I worked with three pastors in team ministry. Later, we added Directors of Christian Education (DCE) who specialized in the education and youth “We’ve Got You Covered” IF YOU HAD HAIL IN YOUR AREA IN THE LAST YEAR OR TWO, OR YOUR ROOF IS WEATHERED YOU NEED TO HAVE IT INSPECTED. 16vHISVOICEvNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 1600 Whiting Dr., Yankton, SD (605)857-1472 • Insurance Preferred Contractor • Family Owned – Locally Operated • Licensed / Bonded / Insured