{"id":115,"date":"2012-04-01T15:41:25","date_gmt":"2012-04-01T15:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=115"},"modified":"2017-05-24T14:48:19","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T14:48:19","slug":"bob-bagley-58","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2012\/04\/01\/bob-bagley-58\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Bagley \u201958"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BOBAs a pastor, what did you learn that you didn\u2019t expect to learn?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the biggie: Bishop Rogness\u2019 dad, Alvin Rogness\u2026when I came to a rural parish after being in New Guinea, he said, \u201cBob, you use this small parish to better yourself for future ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s what I did. I made advanced standing in clinical pastoral education. I was endorsed for specialized ministry, which most pastors don\u2019t make, specializing in chaplaincy work in hospitals. After my fourth parish, I went to Hazelden and did a four-year chaplaincy program. Then I was endorsed for veterans\u2019 hospital ministry. I was a chaplain for a year at the big VA Hospital in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

What is an issue that you never imagined yourself dealing with as a pastor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first parish after Papua New Guinea was easy because it was a bunch of loving, Norwegian farmers. It was a good place to get re-acclimated to the American way of doing things after five years overseas.<\/p>\n

What are some of the most interesting or prominent changes you\u2019ve seen in the church in your career or since you went to seminary?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot more support in empowering the pastors to do what they\u2019re most gifted to do. You can\u2019t do everything; you can\u2019t be good at everything. I think a middle-sized parish should have a changeover of pastors every six years because in six years you\u2019ve kind of done everything and it\u2019s time to move on.<\/p>\n

The concept of the old Lutheran Free Church and many of the old ELC churches was that they were tired of the pastor doing everything and deciding everything, and they hardly needed a church council. The reaction to that was \u201cWe\u2019re going to tell the pastor what to do.\u201d Now it\u2019s changed so that the pastors are empowered to do whatever they\u2019re most gifted in.<\/p>\n

What are your own spiritual practices? Where\/to whom do you turn for guidance and encouragement?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I work with 60 global students at Luther Seminary who come from all over the world. I also did ministry with people with alcohol and drug issues. At Gethsemane Lutheran in Maplewood and where I am now, I established Stephen ministry, an outreach. I do more training to help others minister to people in great need.<\/p>\n

Is there a particular passage of scripture that frames your call to ministry?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It would be where Jesus said to the whole church, \u201cI send you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The motto that I follow is: Go out and share the love of Jesus, and only if necessary, say something. Naomi (my wife) says too often I end up telling people I\u2019m a pastor. She says, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to say anything. Just be you.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is one thing you wish non-clergy knew about your life\/identity\/call as a pastor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never been satisfied to stop growing in pastoral care and I\u2019m available when people want to talk. The gift I learned from a Catholic priest in my chaplaincy training is this: He asked me what I consider to be my primary gift. I said, \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d He said, \u201cWhen you\u2019re talking with someone, there\u2019s just an automatic pipeline between your eyes and their eyes, and that removes all reluctance to talk.\u201d I can get people to share stuff with me that normally would take four or five visits, but they know I care about them by just looking them in the eye.<\/p>\n

What is one of your most memorable services?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the VA Hospital, I touched the lives of people there who, if I hadn\u2019t had special training, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to help. One guy owned a million-dollar auto dealership, and he wouldn\u2019t sign his will and he was dying. It was on a Saturday that I wasn\u2019t even supposed to work. The people were waiting for me at the door saying I needed to come up and talk to their dad. I sat down with him and his son and had Holy Communion as a Lutheran priest (he was Catholic). When we were done, I said, \u201cYour family is so upset. It\u2019s unbearable for them that the doctor says you\u2019re dying, and you haven\u2019t signed your will.\u201d He kept saying, \u201cNope. I got a few loose ends to tie up at the dealership.\u201d In the end, I got him to sign his will by promising I would help him tie up the loose ends. A cheer went forth to the Lord above. The next day he was playing cards with his friends in the hospital, and three days later he died.<\/p>\n

What do you think you would be if you were not a pastor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I probably would have followed in my older brother Emil\u2019s footsteps and have done some aspect of social work.<\/p>\n

When you meet God, what do you hope God says to you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I would be meeting Jesus, not God, and he would say, \u201cWell, welcome thou good and faithful servant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Online exclusive: Bob Bagley writes about Mario Colacci<\/h3>\n

My Mentor, Professor, and Friend<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Pastor Robert Bagley ’58<\/p>\n

I know some insights into Dr. Colacci\u2019s earliest life at Augsburg because he told me his story as I drove him for many Sunday afternoons my freshman year. He did not like to drive on country highways to speak at Lutheran parishes in many towns west of Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

He told the story about his early life as a young professor. This is what was most fascinating to hundreds of people who heard his story. He was personally given the task by the Pope in Roome to gleen [sic] what he discovered about Martin Luther. He soon wanted to secretly leave Rome on an American cargo ship with Minneapolis as his destination. Before traveling he also arranged for an attractive nun to come on the next ship.<!–more–><\/p>\n

Professor Colacci had a brilliant mind. As a young boy his father knew that and paid him spending money for every page of Classical Latin that he memorized.<\/p>\n

He told his stories to both the church members and to me as we traveled on the highway. I deeply admired him for always sharing positive things about his Catholic faith. He never said negative things about the Roman Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

In his first years near Augsburg he learned English as he stocked shelves at the huge Sears store on Lake Street. He did this for four months and then was able to start teaching Biblical Latin and Greek to Augsburg students. I was grateful to learning Latin my freshman year. This gave me good foundation in English grammar so that I would use this correctly in my future sermons. My four children did not like it whenever I corrected their bad grammar!<\/p>\n

I also learned to read Biblical Greek during my final three years at Augsburg. My huge Greek dictionary was often used in my earliest years of preaching. For example I learned that the Greek word for \u201cborn again\u201d could also be translated \u201cborn from above\u201d (from God the Father)!<\/p>\n

If you have questions about my memory 57 years ago please feel free to call me. Also check out of the library Dr. Colacci\u2019s book about Mixed Marriages. The preface may have information about his teaching years. Some of you may know his son, David, who is an actor in Hollywood movies.<\/p>\n

I will always be grateful for my four years at Augsburg due to my Biblical Studies major and three minors in English, Philosophy, and History. Also in knowing icons such as President B. M. Christensen, Dr. Carl Chrislock, Congressman Martin Sabo, and basketball athlete \u2013 Lute Olson. I went to a small high school in N.W. Minnesota and majored in hunting and sports. I was gifted by my dad, Reverend Emil Gullickson Bagley, who was fluent in Norwegian and German. I learned Norwegian at Waldorf College at age of 45 while a pastor in a town nearby. My wife, Ruth Naomi, became fluent in Norwegian and we have been guests with relatives in Norway on three trips. We are both proud to be 100 percent Norwegian.<\/p>\n

P.S. I have never visited Dr. Colacci\u2019s grave since I was out of the area when he died. I\u2019ll try to find out from one of the oldest professors where it is located.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: At my insistence, Pastor Bob found and visited Colacci\u2019s grave at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis. Naomi took his picture there.<\/p>\n

P.S. #2 \u2013 I also learned three native languages during 1962-67 years as a missionary in Papua New Guinea!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a pastor, what did you learn that you didn\u2019t expect to learn? Here\u2019s the biggie: Bishop Rogness\u2019 dad, Alvin Rogness\u2026when I came to a rural parish after being in New Guinea, he said, \u201cBob, you use this small parish to better yourself for future ministry.\u201d So here\u2019s what I did. I made advanced standing <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[52,74],"class_list":["post-115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-spring-2012","tag-veterans"],"wps_subtitle":"Retired. First call in Papau New Guinea; served most recently part-time at Christ Lutheran in Lake Elmo, Minn.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7869,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions\/7869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}