The Rev'd Dr. David C. Nelson

The Reverend Dr. David C. Nelson was born in Chicago and grew up in the same house he still lives in near Portage Park.  The house originally belonged to his maternal grandparents and was built around 1908 before Irving Park Road was paved any further west than Cicero Avenue.  The house has its charms but there is a certain Green Acres quality to it as well.

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Pastor Nelson attended O. A. Thorp grammar school where he was such a class clown that in sixth grade his mother earned a star for attendance.  He went on to Luther High School North where he played clarinet (poorly) in the band and wrote a column for the school newspaper. 

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In 1976 he graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle with a B.A. in Communications and attended Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary where he earned a Master of Divinity degree in 1981 and a Master of Theological Studies degree in 1983.  In 1992 Dave was in the first graduating class of the Doctor of Ministry program in preaching at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.

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Pastor Nelson has served three parishes since his 1983 ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:  Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church in Racine, Wisconsin (www.spaceshipchurch.org) from 1982-1986 where he began as the vicar, became the assistant and then served as the interim. He was the assistant pastor at Edgebrook Lutheran Church in Chicago from 1986-1992. In 1993, Dr.  Nelson became the pastor of Saint John's in Lincolnwood.  Upon retirement his over twenty years of service there gives him the second longest tenure of all of the pastors in the church's over sixty-year history.  For twenty wonderful months he served as the interim pastor at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Aurora. www.oursavioraurora.org

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He is the author of numerous sermons, a book called Sermons for All Seasons, and a few scholarly articles.

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Dave's first job was working for Behnke-McKenna Funeral Home which later became part of Gibbons Funeral Homes. (www.gffh.com) doing wake duty, washing cars, chasing down death certificates and, for some of you, your dads, or uncles, driving a hearse, limousine, or flower car.

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As retirement approached, he bought a classic hearse, a flower car, then another hearse, and then another believing that what he lacked in volume he would make up for in vehicles. His desire was to offer first class carriage services to his friends in the business who were looking for "Classy Cars for Classic Funerals" at reasonable prices.

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Dave is an avid baseball and hockey fan but has also been known to attend the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.      He is partnered to Dr. Lowell Wester and Maya is their fur-suited friend.

 

He is currently the Interim Pastor at The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Luke. (stlukechicago.org)

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