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One year ago this month,  Rev. Eric Nelson joined Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lindstrom as its senior pastor. For Pastor Nelson and the congregation, it has been a year both of looking back and forging ahead. 

When Rev. Nelson arrived at Trinity, he found a church rich in history preparing to celebrate its 125th anniversary as the first English-speaking Lutheran congregation in a predominantly Swedish community. He was pleased to find what he describes as an “active ministry in a rural setting, a healthy youth program and an active outreach program.”

He hadn’t been looking for a change as an assistant pastor at St. Philip’s Lutheran Church in Fridley, but, as with other significant decisions in his life, he says, “God has really nudged me, and the Holy Spirit moves and speaks.” 

So on March 17, 2025, he answered the call and became Trinity’s senior pastor. It wasn’t the first time God’s call had changed his life. 

“Growing up, I was sure one thing I would never be was a pastor,” he contends. 

His older brother Dan, who is senior pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie, had been called much earlier, studying religion in college at Fargo-Moorhead, before attending Concordia and Luther Seminary.     “We were very much raised in a faithful environment with daily family devotions,” Pastor Nelson says, “and both my brother and I worked at Bible Camp together in the summer.” The decision to enter the ministry was not totally surprising.

But, Eric confesses that as a teen he was more interested in forming a band than pursuing a career in the clergy. The band rehearsed in the living room and cellar of his family home in Hendricks, Minn. Eric played the drums. By the time he was a senior in high school, he had reset his sights on elementary education. He enrolled at Concordia determined to become a teacher. But the seed of becoming a pastor was planted when a professor remarked, “When you apply to become a pastor, let me know, and I’ll write a letter of recommendation.” Nelson went on to teach first grade for three years.     

He experienced God’s called to become a pastor on Good Friday, 2016. It came at a most inopportune moment. Eric and his wife Kaitlynn, a nurse, had just learned their second child was on the way.  

“I rehearsed how I would tell Kaitlynn,” he says, “and how I would respond when she said, ‘It’s not a good time,’ and I would be ready to delay the decision.” But when he told her, Kaitlynn surprised him and said, “If God’s calling, you’ve got to do it.”

So, he asked his former professor for her promised letter of recommendation and enrolled in Luther Seminary. It wasn’t easy. He attended  school full time while also working full time as youth director at Long Lake Lutheran Church in Isanti. He interned at Augustana Lutheran in West St. Paul, completing his studies online in 2020 during the Covid epidemic. 

Fortunately, Nelson and his family attended St. Phillips Lutheran Church where he was offered a position as half-time pastor on graduation. He was ordained there in January 2021, with people in the sanctuary sitting several feet apart.

“I didn’t want to leave St. Phillips,” says Nelson, “but I was encouraged by other pastors to at least take the interview (at Trinity) and once again felt the call to make a change.”

“Change is the constant”

At Trinity he has found people dedicated not only to honoring the past but to moving forward. 

“Many different people and groups make the ministry possible,” says Pastor Eric. 'It’s nice having people as part of the conversation. They look to the pastor for direction forward, but the pastor is not the church. The people are the church, and they help make any meaningful change.    

“Of the things we experience in life, change is the one constant,” he says. “We’re going to hold onto traditions, the core of faith, but see where God is calling us.” 

Nelson, his wife, and children Owen, in middle school, Declan, third grade, and Finn, kindergarten, reside in Hugo—halfway between her job at Regions Hospital and his in Lindstrom.           

In becoming acquainted with the Chisago Lakes community, Pastor Nelson says he is impressed by the way the clergy and the churches here work together. “There’s great collegiality,” he says.

 “The church is not just for those who are members of the church,” says Pastor Nelson, citing the way area churches partner to serve the weekly community meal at Zion Lutheran in Chisago City, and collaborate on “Path to Home,” a program where local churches offer meals and housing for homeless families on a rotating basis.  He also likes the way area churches are plugged in to the needs of the surrounding community, opening their doors to host social events, support groups, a medical equipment loan program and resource for baby clothes and supplies. A Boy Scout Troop has met at Trinity for the past 82 years. A winter clothing drive and distribution is held there every fall.

Trinity championed change from the start

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church was incorporated on July 11, 1901, as part of the English Synod of the Northwest. It became the area’s first English-speaking Lutheran congregation comprised of “15  grown persons and 11 families.” One year later, on Aug. 10, 1902, Trinity’s cornerstone was laid with the entire community attending. It has survived world wars, a devastating fire, and epidemics. But what lies ahead?

As Trinity prepares to celebrate its 125th anniversary, Pastor Nelson says, “Trinity has a bold history of faith to learn and borrow from. What does that look like in a new age?  “Like our ancestors we must be courageous and creative to move the church forward together. How do we use our time and talents? The church is one body with many members. Many folks are involved in Trinity’s ministry with worship at the core,” says Pastor Eric. “Each person is able to contribute based on their individual gifts. Some are more gifted in outreach, others in music, leading Bible studies, managing the finances, or teaching and working with young people.     

“The church’s future challenge is to grow young families invested and involved in faith formation,” he says. “It is a changing and growing ministry and a wonderful opportunity.” 

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