{"id":118,"date":"2012-04-01T15:43:33","date_gmt":"2012-04-01T15:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=118"},"modified":"2017-05-24T16:12:14","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T16:12:14","slug":"david-lillejord-86","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2012\/04\/01\/david-lillejord-86\/","title":{"rendered":"David Lillejord \u201986"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

I mostly learn about myself\u2014what I do well, what I can improve upon. As a little kid who grew up in a parsonage, I knew people inside and out and was able to see in them the really good and the really bad or indifferent. I knew the goodness and the wonderful nature of the church and the underbelly, so what I\u2019ve learned in 20 years is mostly about myself.<\/p>\n

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

I think the issue is the number of people who simply are not attending church, even people that years ago would have naturally been inclined to find a new home, start a family, baptize their kids, go to Sunday school, and become involved in the life of the church. There\u2019s a whole subset of people who simply have not engaged for myriad reasons.<\/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

I think an awful lot of changes have happened in seminary training. When I attended 20 years ago, it was simply, \u201cWe need to teach you how to teach people the historical context and facts about the Bible.\u201d I think now it is so much more, \u201cWhat does this mean for our life?\u201d I do think the younger people who do go to church want a direct connection between what scripture says and how it will connect with their lives. That means we have to make our message contemporary and even futuristic.<\/p>\n

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

I\u2019m part of a team ministry, and I\u2019m able to hear really good sermons delivered by my colleague. It\u2019s hard to listen when you\u2019re talking, so I\u2019m fed in and through my colleague who preaches the gospel well. For guidance and encouragement, I\u2019m so inspired by the members of the congregation. I\u2019m always greatly fortified by the faith that parishioners have. I go in as a kind of spiritual lifeguard, and they end up humbling me. They encourage me because they live out their faith. It\u2019s like a good teacher who is fed by the students. My biggest supporters are my wife and children. They are my lifeline\u2014other than Jesus, of course.<\/p>\n

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

I would say more of a theme or concept, one I learned from one of my many mentors. It is that God is in relationship with you through Jesus. It\u2019s a declaration; it\u2019s not a theory or something that needs to be validated. It\u2019s just \u201cGod is,\u201d and you explore how that\u2019s true. You notice it, you name it, and you claim it.<\/p>\n

Who at Augsburg inspired or guided you, and how?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The religion professors at Augsburg were helpful to my life of faith because they were \u201cgood\u201d and solid Lutherans. I have heard stories of Lutheran colleges that tell students: \u201cWhat you were taught in Sunday school and Confirmation was wrong.\u201d Thankfully, the professors at Augsburg helped us look deeper into scripture through a Lutheran lens.<\/p>\n

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

The importance of balancing all those three and the holistic nature of that continuum. Being a pastor today is different, thankfully, than when my dad was younger, which was you basically served the church, often at the expense of spending time with family. I have a wife (Joy) and three children: two in hockey and one in soccer who also rides horses.<\/p>\n

Also it\u2019s important for members to know that the vast majority of pastors are trying as hard as they can. It\u2019s just a very difficult and challenging job.<\/p>\n

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

We had a healing service a number of years ago for a woman who was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. We had never been asked to have a healing service before. So we constructed a service with the laying on of hands. Not that long after the healing service she went to the doctor and they did tests, and the cancer was gone. When we heard about the lack of cancer, even we were amazed.<\/p>\n

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

After this long I can\u2019t imagine what it would be; however, psychology also makes me tick.<\/p>\n

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

It would probably be, \u201cYour mom\u2019s over here.\u201d She died much too young, and I would love to see her again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a pastor, what did you learn that you didn\u2019t expect to learn? I mostly learn about myself\u2014what I do well, what I can improve upon. As a little kid who grew up in a parsonage, I knew people inside and out and was able to see in them the really good and the really <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[52],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-spring-2012"],"wps_subtitle":"Senior Pastor, Mount Calvary Lutheran in Eagan, Minn., until March 2012; now Senior Pastor, St. Andrew in Eden Prairie, Minn.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","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=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7916,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/7916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}