Greetings! I am so excited to finally be a part of the St. Luke family. I want to thank all of you for the warm reception my family received this past Sunday and I look forward to getting to know you all better in the weeks and months to come. In the meantime, I thought it would be helpful to share a little about our family to help you get to know us better.
My wife Gwen and I have been married 10 years. We met in drama class at the end of high school and attended Concordia University Chicago together. I completed my DCE internship at Mt. Olive in Rockford, IL where I also accepted my first call. I served in Rockford for four years. Shortly before accepting a call to St. Paul in Westlake, OH, we welcomed our first daughter, Penny.
In 2012 we packed up and moved to Westlake, OH (Cleveland area) with a four month old and our Black Lab, Dagny. I served six years in Westlake and our second daughter, Everly, was born there.
Gwen is an elementary school teacher who has a passion for working with underserved children who find themselves living in poverty. Penny is currently a first grader and Everly is in preschool.
I am a fan of all sports and enjoy watching the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago White Sox (don’t worry, my wife and daughters are Tigers fans), Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Western Michigan University Broncos.
As a family, we love to travel, especially to Disney World…we are Disney fanatics! We also love spending time outside and enjoying time in the summers on Lake Michigan in South Haven.
I am looking forward to serving the youth and families of St. Luke and hope to bring a family focus to the youth ministry program. I am passionate about empowering parents to be the primary faith leaders in their homes and finding ways for the church to partner with families on their own faith journeys.
God’s Blessings to you all!
David Nelson
Director of Youth & Family Discipleship, DCE
