Dean Johnson grateful for all he has been given at Calvary Lutheran Church of Willmar, Minnesota

Dec. 8—WILLMAR

— Fifty years and nine months after he first interviewed for a pastoral position at

Calvary Lutheran Church in Willmar

, the Rev. Dean Johnson is preparing to say goodbye. And he is doing so from the exact same office where he interviewed on March 17, 1973.

"It came down to this room," Johnson said, adding there was just something about Calvary and the community that drew him to accept a job as a youth and education pastor. "I could feel it."

Johnson will preach his last sermon from the Calvary Lutheran Church pulpit at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 10. Calvary is also hosting an open house celebrating Johnson from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9 at the church, with a short program at 2:30 p.m.

"I always considered this place my home," Johnson said.

While Johnson believes he was called to parish ministry, it wasn't a vocation he initially thought he'd be interested in. He got his first college degree in business administration, and even had a job offer after graduation. It was a friend who said Johnson should apply to attend Luther Seminary, which is now the largest

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America seminary in the country.

Johnson said he had been intrigued by several of his pastors growing up at First Lutheran Church in rural Lanesboro, and his mother was a quietly devout woman who had a major impact. But he had pushed back before when people said he should join the ministry. Eventually, Johnson thinks his own way of seeing the world finally drove him to answer the call.

"Maybe it was my DNA, a moral compass, that people want to do right things," Johnson said. "It was irrespective of race, creed, color. You're a human being; you deserve to be treated as such."

Johnson did decide to go to seminary. His mother was overjoyed; Johnson at first thought he had made a mistake.

"I went to seminary for one year and I hated it," Johnson said, who describes himself as an average student and one who doesn't necessarily like writing papers.

He decided to stick it out though. He took a yearlong internship at Burlington Lutheran Church in Seattle during his sophomore year of seminary and then returned to the classroom to finish up.

At this point, Johnson's passion for ministry was set on a possible collision course with his drive to serve as a chaplain in the United States military.

Johnson had enlisted in 1970 and had given thought to becoming active duty. Instead, he ended up serving 38 years as a U.S. National Guard chaplain, rising to the rank of brigadier general and retiring as the Special Assistant to the Chief of Chaplains.

"I had a sense of this country and wanting to serve," Johnson said of his decision to enlist. "The benefits we have in this country didn't just happen; people paid a heavy price."

When the ELCA bishops tried to assign Johnson to the Canadian synod after graduation, he thought he would have to leave parish ministry. Instead, the bishops offered Johnson five options for churches in the United States, including three in Minnesota. Four of those churches extended a call or job offer to Johnson. He chose Willmar.

"It was suppose to be a two-year stint, according to the bishop," Johnson said.

Those two years turned into half a century. Johnson found himself building a life not only at Calvary Lutheran, but as a community member of Willmar and the state as a whole.

Throughout the next 50 years, Johnson would serve two years on the Willmar City Council; five years as a Willmar firefighter; four years as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives; 24 years in the State Senate, which included time as the minority and majority leader; and 12 years as a member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents.

He also served on several community boards in Willmar, all while serving in the National Guard and working at Calvary.

"All of the side things I did, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat," Johnson said. "You only have so many days, months and years to live. Why not experience as much as you can?"

Calvary had been very supportive and accommodating toward Johnson and everything in which he was involved. For most of his time at the church, Johnson served in a part-time capacity, taking over any duties he could. Johnson estimates he taught 1,000 students in his confirmation classes, presided over 500 baptisms, served at 500 memorial services and married 400 couples. For the last two-a-half years, he has been the full-time administrative pastor.

"The parish ministry is about living with and alongside the people you serve in some of the most intimate times of their lives," Johnson said. "It is about being supportive of them, hopefully bringing them hope both for this life and the next."

During his time at Calvary, Johnson has seen how the relationship with churches and Christianity has started to shift, especially among the younger generations.

"They're not particularly dominated by doctrine or tradition," Johnson said. "They are dominated by relationships and making a difference."

Due to this shift, Johnson feels churches need to be better at meeting those challenges and perhaps be a bit more open to change. Churches need to get out into the community and not just be around on Sundays and religious holidays. Isolationism and Christianity don't mix in Johnson's estimation.

"There are still the basics of Christianity and you need to use that," Johnson said.

Johnson is optimistic about Calvary's future. Community involvement is already a priority of the church, and the first 10% of the church's weekly offerings to the general fund are given to charity, called First Fruits Benevolence Giving. In 2021, that totaled $68,096.

The church, which

celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2022,

has a strong path forward.

"This congregation is a strong congregation and has huge opportunities for growth and service," Johnson said.

For Johnson, he has a few ideas on what to do in retirement, but nothing concrete. There may be a book, perhaps traveling with his wife, Debbie. He may help other churches on a part-time basis or even get back into a tractor, something he hasn't done since leaving the family farm.

"The DNA of the Johnson family is we don't retire," Johnson said.

As he wraps up his time at Calvary, Johnson has been contemplating both the good and bad. He has been thinking about all the people he may have touched and influenced in a good way, as well as those he may have offended. He remembers the hundreds of people who attended the funeral of his first wife, Avonelle, in 2005, and those who attended the ceremony when he was made a one-star general in the National Guard.

Calvary Lutheran has stood by him through it all.

"It keeps coming back to me, how thankful and grateful I am for them calling me, tolerating me, encouraging me, praying for me," Johnson said.

And what is also clear is that Johnson made the right decision all those years ago after he met with the church leadership in an office at Calvary Lutheran.

"I just know this was home," Johnson said. "This is the place I was supposed to be."