New interim Pastor Ken Bowman serving Bethel and Faith Lutheran

“I felt God was calling me,” he said when asked why he chose to enter the field of ministry. “I would have never thought about doing this when I was a young child.”

Meet Pastor Ken Bowman, who at the present time is serving as an interim pastor at Bethel Lutheran Church, Greenbush and Faith Lutheran Church, rural Badger.

Born in the Commonwealth of Virginia, he attended Roanoke College (a Lutheran school) at Salem, Va., where he earned a Bachelors degree in Philosophy and Religion. He then attended the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, an ELCA seminary, and received a Master of Divinity degree. During his seminary training Pastor Ken spent two years at the seminary, followed by a one-year internship at Harvey, N.D., and returned to the seminary for his final year. He mentioned that the church he did his student work at, while at the seminary, was three blocks from Wrigley Field, home for the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

“And yes, I am a Cubs fan! I enjoy watching baseball and basketball. I am also a Twin’s fan. An ideal World Series for me would be the Cubs and the Twins playing each other, but it would be difficult to know which team to root for,” he laughed.

Pastor Ken first served a two-church parish in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Va., for nine years. For the next five years, he pastored a church at Rothsay, Minn., followed by ten years at Parkers Prairie, Minn.

“I have been pretty much doing interim ministry for the past ten years,” he stated. “Four years ago I served for three months, July, August, and September, at Karlstad, Minn. From there, I went to Blackduck and to Kelliher, Minn. Then I went to Wheaton, Minn. I have done interims in the Eastern North Dakota Synod, and the Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast, and Northwest Synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, in Minnesota.”