Hello! I'm pleased to meet you. If you want a look at this congregation through my eyes and a look at me through those same green pupils, read on.

But enough of average talk. The exciting edge for me is that we are a people who reach out in welcome. We come from all ethnic backgrounds typical for Iowa and have familiarity in our recent past with African and Mexican members. Anyone can feel welcome here. And while we may have tested average before building, our new sanctuary, which was dedicated in January of 1998, is anything but average! It was built around an aesthetic idea, and that in itself is a bit off the beaten track! Our goal was timeless beauty in worship space, so we ended up with enormous, vivid stained glass windows and traditional gothic arches in the roof. The whole place fills with a purple light which you could say makes us a little cathedral on the prairie.

I was once told by a group of bishops that I was not typical for my denomination, because I came from the big city and went to the prairies instead of the other way around. I was born in Los Angeles and graduated from high school in the suburbs of Minneapolis, then from college at Columbia in New York City. Following that, I went into a life in ministry in small towns and cities in the West and Midwest, most of the time on the tributaries of the Missouri River.

So I go to the city for vacation, instead of back to "the farm" like many of my colleagues. I am 50 years old, so I see myself as exactly halfway through a century and also halfway between a big city person and a rural person. My time earning an M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in New York certainly marked me politically, but I have done alright relating the Gospel to political life in the small town setting anyway, thanks to mentors like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther. One of the best compliments I ever received on my preaching was from a member here who told me he had never heard a pastor who could touch on controversial topics with such ease and in such a helpful way. As a Union graduate, I also got "ecumenicalized" which has more or less stayed with me.

My latest projects have been historical, writing first person narratives of historical figures. I suppose if I were to get a doctorate, it would be in the historical area. Knowing your background is the same thing as being alive, and I'm afraid the reverse is true, too.