\u201cWhen I was little, people would ask me \u2018Are you going to be a pastor like your daddy?\u2019\u201d recalls John Nelson. His answer? \u201cNo!\u201d But one year after graduating from Luther Seminary, Nelson serves at Transfiguration Lutheran in Bloomington, Minn.\u201cFollowing college I had two choices, go to seminary or move to Vail, Colo., and be a ski bum\u2014I went to Vail.\u201d But God\u2019s call followed him there. \u201cThe Lutheran church in Vail asked me to run the mountain top worship services each Sunday,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cGod was saying, \u2018Fine, Jonah, you can run, but I\u2019ll just put you to work here!\u2019\u201d He soon became rostered as an associate in ministry and within three years Nelson was \u201cdoing everything except presiding over communion. I felt called to serve the congregation more completely.\u201d That year, Nelson became one of Luther\u2019s first Internet-based students, finishing his entire first year online.\u201cAt seminary I developed a passion for evangelism. I focused on outreach and adult education in order to empower people to live a life of discipleship and mission. This past year, I found a church interested in those same goals.\u201dStill, \u201cthe challenge of leading a congregation in mission is much harder than I anticipated,\u201d Nelson says. \u201cRemember, there\u2019s a cost to discipleship.\u201d Nelson likens the challenge to scaling the mountains of Colorado. \u201cI\u2019ve discovered the climb is much longer than I thought, and I am now much more patient and poised for perseverance than I was last July.\u201dThat perseverance sometimes has looked rather unconventional. Three weddings he\u2019s done have involved Rottweilers, horses, and even cattle walking through the receiving line. \u201cFaith is 24\/7, not just a Sunday thing,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes you need to swallow your theological pride and do a wedding in a field with cows.\u201d For Nelson, the question has become, \u201cAre you willing to stand in a place you wouldn\u2019t expect so you can proclaim Christ, and lift up how God is working in a couple\u2019s life?\u201d For that, he\u2019s earned the reputation among the other pastors at his church as \u201cthe animal wedding guy.\u201d But, as he says, \u201cIf stables and livestock were good enough for Jesus, then as his disciple, they\u2019re good enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John D. F. Nelson, Master of Divinity, 2002<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"issue-fourth-quarter-2003","8":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n