"'Meet Your Minister' -- First in a Series by Mr. Jordan" from the August 2, 1956 Door County Advocate
'Meet Your Minister' -- First in a Series by Mr. Jordan
This is the first in a series of stories on Door county ministers written by the Rev. I. Dean Jordan of the Sturgeon Bay First Methodist church.
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As you step into the Behrend's living room the first thing you notice is the big picture window facing the bay. High enough on the hillside to view the quiet strength of the jutting cliff of Peninsula Park, yet close enough to note the calm beauty of the village and the pleasant waves breaking on the shore, the scene is worthy many minutes of contemplation. Toys in the hall, and children's voices from a distant room let you know that there is plenty of family activity. As we waited for Mrs. Behrend to finish a back-porch conversation with a neighbor Rev. Behrend explained that the half-log coffee-table was a wedding gift. It is a typically Norwegian style of furniture.
"Door county is liable to disown me," said Rev. Behrend. "In the seven years I have been here I've never played a game of golf, and I've never gone fishing! I think if I did, I would enjoy it, but I've just never got around to it. I spend most of my leisure time in the yard. It needs a lot more attention than I give it, but at least I can see some progress since we've been here. We have a vegetable garden up on the hill a little way. I like the gardening even better than the yard work.
Just "Daddy to Them
"I've done a little carpentry, too, and I enjoy that. I helped build a barn and some smaller buildings while I was at home on the farm. I haven't done too much here, except when we were building our new unit on the church I helped some on that. I worked at least one day a week. Usually it was on my day off. I enjoyed it that much."
Mrs. Behrend had just come in and sat down when she heard Jeannie, who is 18 months old, cry. Rev. Behrend went upstairs to get her. Three and a half year old Jimmie came into the room tugging an old unrolled window shade on which he had been drawing with crayons.
"The children are too young to be much affected by being preacher's children." Mrs. Behrend commented. "I think that becomes more noticeable to them when they get older—say in high school. They just think of their Daddy as Daddy."
"Charlene, she is six years old, would like me to be a farmer," added the pastor who had returned with young Jeannie. "When I tell her that if I were a farmer I couldn't be a preacher, she says, "Well; couldn't you be both?" The thing she is interested in really, of course, are the horses."
"Just why did you become a preacher?" I asked.
Idea Grew in Him
"I hadn't thought much about it until the summer I graduated from high school," he replied. "I was thinking more of becoming an accountant or a C.P.A. That summer I attended one of our church camps. I remember I was particularly inspired by the 6th chapter of Isaiah. In communion with God that night I promised to try to serve him better. I didn't then have the idea of being a minister. I was active in church work, taught in Sunday School, and that sort of thing, and I was thinking of God showing me how to do that work more effectively.
"That was in June. Then about three weeks later I was riding out to our farm with a friend—a church friend who was a couple years older than I—and he asked me, "Have you ever thought of being a minister?" Well, I never had. But his question started me thinking, and after considerable thought and prayer I quit my job the end of August, and entered a Moravian college.
THE REV. WILBUR BEHREND of Ephraim Moravian church, at work in his study. The Rev. Mr. Behrend has a full slate all year 'round but summer adds a big load even to that. The church has many summer members.
Can't Be Impatient
"I wouldn't want to do anything else. There is nothing about the ministry I dislike. I find it difficult at times to have the patience it requires. It takes patience to get organizations functioning like I think it should, or patience to accept the slowness with which individuals develop, but then I realize that I'm just as human. I develop slowly, too. So don't expect to be any different from me.
"You run into some amusing incidents," Rev. Behrend continued. "I remember one occasion when the Bishop was visiting my churches. In the second church I had just started the service when a young couple with a baby entered. Suddenly, I remembered that we had planned a baptism for that morning! I had forgotten the baptismal bowl, I had no water, and there wasn't even a pump on the property! Well, I stopped the service, and asked one of the members to get some water. While he ran over to a nearby farm for the water we continued the service. And when the proper time came we had the baptism—bishop and all!"
Family Devotions
Thinking of children again I asked the Behrends what devotions they had with their family.
Rev. Behrend answered, "We have our family devotions at breakfast. We have more time then. We use a Moravian devotional book as a guide. I have to change some words and phrases for the children, but we follow it rather closely. Then, we'll read a scripture. Usually it is a parable.
When the children get one they like we repeat it again and again," added Mrs. Behrend. "Right now we're repeating mostly the Prodigal Son and the Lost Coin."
"The children take turns choosing the song we sing, and the person who is to pray," Rev. Behrend continued, "Charlene will often ask one of us to pray, or perhaps she will have each one of us say a prayer. Jimmy usually elects himself for the prayer and he has us sing the same hymn over and over again. He had us singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" from Christmas way up into June!"
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[Obituary for Mrs. Behrend, who died in 2018: https://www.claussenfuneralhome.com/obituary/4587941?fh_id=12809
Obituary for the Rev. I. Dean Jordan, who died in 2010: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69543853/ira-dean-jordan]
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