Pastor Dan Larsen leaving Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Dan Larsen will preach his last sermon at Zion Lutheran Church in Springfield on Sunday, October 17.  He has served the congregation as part of a three-point parish since the summer of 2019.  He has accepted a call to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Henning, Minnesota.

“I first came to Zion in the summer of 2019 on a ‘trial’ basis.  Pastor David Fretham, Zion’s previous pastor, had retired and asked me to take on Zion as a third point in my two-point parish,” Larsen commented.  He had been serving a two-point parish at Bethany Lutheran in Wabasso and Trinity Lutheran, rural Sanborn, since 2012.  “I wasn’t sure I could handle the workload, so I agreed to pastor Zion only for one year (technically as a vacancy pastor), but to make a decision after only six months as to whether I would remain here for the long term,” he added.

As it turned out, pastoring the people of Zion was more of a pleasure than a burden and he quickly lost any doubt and took the call to be their pastor.  He was installed in the summer of 2020.

There is really no glaring reason why he is leaving the three-point parish.  “I feel like my time at this call, which I have served for nine years, is naturally drawing to a close.  While Zion is a fresh and new and exciting experience for me and I will miss them very much, I definitely feel that the Lord has led me and my family to move on to this new call in Henning.  I feel equally confident that He will find a shepherd to lead His people at Zion in His time.  Zion Lutheran is filled with wonderful people and I believe they have many years of Kingdom work left,” he concluded.

Zion Lutheran will have a farewell service at 10:00 a.m. followed by a potluck dinner for Pastor Larsen and his family this Sunday, October 10.  Pastor Dennis Brecht, a retired vacancy/interim pastor, will serve the congregation until a new pastor is found for the tri-parish.