A Calling for Community
by Rose M. Fife, Music Director/Communications
Just over a year ago, Family of God Lutheran Church and Kenwood Lutheran Church, both in Duluth, MN, voted to become a two-point parish, with Pastor Jeff Holter presiding over both. We’ve heard the stories about how he grew up in Brazil and his past congregations, but I wanted to know more.
Lives Forever Changed
When Pastor Jeff was 8 years old, his family moved to Brazil to support his parents’ desire to become missionary pastors. There they spent the next decade, with the exception of one year's furlough.
“My father came to his [pastoral] call from the death of my sister.” Hit by a car at the age of five, the death of their third daughter forever changed the family’s trajectory. After processing the loss for a time, his parents held a family meeting, asking their four children how they would feel about moving to Brazil to become missionaries. “I think we would have stayed if we hadn’t said OK, but we all agreed.”
Life in Brazil was understandably very different from their surroundings in South Dakota, but Pastor loved it. “The sense of community is deep in Brazil.” The first year the family studied at a language school to learn Portuguese and then he and his younger sister were sent to a two-room boarding school for children of missionaries while his two older sisters were sent to another school several hours away. “We all went home for Christmas and summer break, but it was a two and a half day journey to collect us, so we couldn’t do it a lot.” Eventually the family voted to stay together so his older sisters devoted themselves to his and his younger sister’s education for a year.
After ten years in Brazil, Pastor and his family came back to the U.S. where he finished high school and enrolled in college at Concordia Moorhead to study sociology and psychology. “I wanted to know what God has been preparing for me all this time.” His years of playing soccer in Brazil had strengthened his athletic abilities and he earned a spot on the college football team as a kicker. Eventually he was invited to try out for the Minnesota Vikings. “I was not in perfect shape after three months of summer classes, so it didn’t go well.” He did not make the team, but was invited to try out next summer. It was then that he knew his path was elsewhere.
“I told them, ‘I want to thank you for the opportunity, but I know what I’m supposed to be doing. I know God is calling me into ministry.’ So, no, I didn’t go back and try out. I wanted to continue on this path, knowing that if God wanted something else for me, He would close that door.”
The Call to Ministry
But doors just kept opening. “My call didn’t come traditionally. I had always worked alongside my dad. I led Bible studies and went on retreats from a young age.” His first call was Maple Lake Lutheran Parish in Crookston, MN, a three-point parish, working with three very different congregations. He stayed there for two and a half years before moving to Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Proctor, MN where he stayed for 25 years. His third call was from Kenwood Lutheran Church, where he has been since 2012.
Growing up in Brazil taught him the importance of community. “What I do and the way I do it is the way God called me to do it. I enjoy people. I enjoy being in relationship with people. I invest heavily in those things and the people. This has been my calling since the very beginning: to share the good news that God loves you.”
A Two-Point Pastor
How does Pastor Jeff feel about working with two churches in a post-COVID era? “Serving both congregations is an honor. We may see ourselves in survival mode, but I accompanied my father to home churches, those gathered in a barn or in a living room on a rural farm. I remember singing without an accompanist and competing with the pigs and chickens. What matters is sharing the gospel of grace and the relationships of care and love that that message brings.”
He is also concerned about how busy the world encourages us to be. “I see us struggling with the multitude of activities and things that are clamoring for our attention, time, and sense of self. The move to deepen our relationships with the church is a difficult one. The church is not perfect and struggles to be authentic and a safe place for everyone. Being authentic requires us to confess often, to seek forgiveness and to ask that God would guide us through the Holy Spirit. That is my hope, that is my prayer.
Family
A family man at his core, Pastor met his wonderful wife, Joan during his freshman year of college. They married in the summer between their junior and senior years and went on to have four boys who themselves had children.
“Can I say one more thing?” he asks me, a look of contented Joy on his face. “I love being a Grandpa.” Grandfather to six teenagers ranging in age from 16 to 13, Jeff and Joan’s home is the center. “We all live within 5 mi of each other. My home is the hub. And I love it.”