Photo courtesy of Mount Olivet Pastor John Hogenson has answered the call to be senior pastor at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church.
Mount Olivet Lutheran Church has voted to extend Pastor John D. Hogenson a call to be senior pastor. Hogenson has accepted the call and will begin his formal responsibilities as senior pastor for one of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s (ELCA) largest congregations effective Aug. 1, 2014.
Hogenson was former senior pastor at a two-point parish (Bethlehem and Trinity Lutheran Church in Grand Marais and Hovland) from 1994-2000. He and his wife, Ruth, own a home in Grand Marais.
Hogenson was unanimously recommended by Mount Olivet’s Call Committee following a national search. In a message at a special congregational meeting on June 1, Hogenson said, “I don’t believe any one person is good enough, but with the Holy Spirit’s gift of love and gifted leaders, God’s will be done.”
“I have always found Pastor Hogenson to be an engaging, very relational and powerful pastor,” said Pastor Craig E. Johnson, interim senior pastor and former bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod. “I believe in my heart that God is placing Mount Olivet in good, strong, and caring hands so our future is bright and full of hope.”
Since beginning his ordained ministry 25 years ago, Hogenson has served as a pastoral leader for five congregations, including two of the 10 largest congregations in the ELCA. He has served in a variety of leadership roles including the board of directors for Lutheran Social Services, the board of trustees for Gustavus Adolphus College, and the Inter-Faith Outreach Community Partners Board.
“Pastor John Hogenson is a caring and competent leader in our community who loves his church and who has led his church to love the neighbor in very effective ways that have real impact,” said Jodi Harpstead, CEO of Lutheran Social Services (LSS).
Hogenson will be the eighth senior pastor of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church. His tenure begins following a three-year interim period, under the leadership of Pastor Johnson, after the death of Pastor Paul M. Youngdahl. Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, known for its servant and relational ministry, has more than 13,000 baptized members. Cathedral of the Pines camp in Lutsen is an affiliated ministry of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church.
Leave a Reply