Pastor David L. Hansen

Earlier this week, I sent a letter to the members of St. John Lutheran Church, announcing my new call as the Pastor of Spirit of Joy! Luther...

I encountered the Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber when I started blogging at "Postings from Prairie Hill" about 6 years ago and she was wr...

I am an ordained pastor, serving a rural congregation. I lead worship and preach most Sundays. I sit at hospital beds. I conduct weddings an...

There is one fact of ministry that cannot be emphasized enough. We talk about the long hours pastors work, and the tendency for burnout. W...

For some reason, people often come to me when they have problems with their technology (I can't imagine why, can you?). They will run ...

Every Sunday, I stand in front of my congregation and preach the Gospel. I have overcome any fear of speaking in public that I may have on...

What do you say to someone who is thinking about seminary? How can you encourage someone who might be called to ordained ministry?  Ve...

Commuting to and from work is so rough. I'm figuring out the video social network, Vine. Are you on Vine? How are you using it? Co...

For the last year, I have served as Dean of my local conference. For those not in the ELCA, a conference is a small geographically defined d...

On Ash Wednesday, we go to church and are marked with ashes with the cross of Christ, and reminded to "Remember you are dust, and to du...

My friend and colleague, Clint Schnekloth , recently challenged his Lutheran pastor friends to share a summary of our experiences during the...

The dog collar. The flea collar. Clerical collar. Roman collar. Tab Collar. Whatever you call it, the stiff white collar worn by many cl...

In a group of Lutheran clergy, the topic of "What does the pastor do?" recently came up. We all agreed that there are many thing...

Dear Denominational / Institutional Leader: I get it. Really I do. Your schedule is demanding and extremely full. Lots of meetings, travel...

Pulled from my archives from four years ago. Just last week, I was making the 45 minute drive from Prairie Hill to the hospital in Bryan, ...

Given all the new people reading this little blog of mine, I feel like I should say something witty and clever. Now that you're here, I ...

(This post has attracted a lot of attention since first published. Thank you. Please check out my follow up post as well.) I simply canno...

In certain circles I am known as a bit of a social media enthusiast. I think is is an important way for churches, clergy, and others to comm...

There is an epidemic among church leaders! As social media (facebook, twitter, google+, linkedin, etc) has grown in use, an ever increasing ...

Over the last few months, I have been a part of numerous discussions about how the church generally and clergy specifically use social media...