Vinje’s Council is excited to share that Reverend Andres Albertsen will be our part-time interim pastor. He started on August 15th, and he will be with us under this contract until May 31st. During this time, Pastor Andres will work 20 hours per week at Vinje and focus his ministry on visitation, outreach, and adult education. We are excited to have him as part of our pastoral team as he brings unique gifts and experience to Vinje.
Pastor Andres is an immigrant from Argentina and is fluent in English, Spanish, an Danish. He comes to us with 20 years of pastoral experience, most of which as the pastor of the Danish Lutheran Church in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has lived in the US since 2011 and is finishing his PhD in Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul with a dissertation on political love in which he dialogs with the philosophers and religious thinkers Hegel and Kierkegaard from the 19th century as well as with contemporary political thinkers. This fall, he is teaching a Religion class at St. Olaf College in Northfield and Spanish for Ministry at Luther Seminary. He recently married Colton Baker and has two stepdaughters, Kyra, 6 and Tiegan, 2.
Andres is convinced that God’s love is our only source of worth as human beings, and that we do not need any credentials nor special qualifications in order to have a relationship with God and be part of God’s people and church.
A NEW FORM OF VISITATION
You don’t need to be in a time of crisis in order to set up a conversation with a pastor. Maybe you have questions about God or the Bible or the Christian faith that you have not dared to ask before. Maybe you want to tell me your story. Maybe you are curious about my story. Maybe you have ideas for Vinje and its outreach. Maybe you just want to talk. Maybe you have a problem that keeps you awake at night. Any reason is a good reason to contact me and set up a conversation! I will listen, ask questions, give advice if it is fitting, and pray with you if you’d like.
I’m looking forward to having conversations with any of you who might be interested. We can schedule a meeting at church, at your home, at a coffee shop in town, etc. But I will also offer you another option! I have a long commute each day to and from Willmar (normally in early mornings and late afternoons), and therefore we could also schedule a conversation to take place over the phone during this time. I promise, of course to use hands-free calling and to be an attentive driver as we talk!
Please call me or text me at 651.216.5147 to set up a conversation either face to face or over the phone during my commuting time. I look forward to hearing from you!