Weekly Updates

Pastor - Rev. Dennis Ellisen

A native New Yorker, Pastor Ellisen received his college degree at Upsala College in New Jersey. Prior to receiving his Master of Divinity degree at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, he was a social worker in New York City. He served congregations in Rochester, and Albany, N. Y. before accepting a call to Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1976. During his tenure, Our Saviour’s grew in membership to 2600 members. Pastor Ellisen has served on the executive board of the Large Church Conference of the ELCA. Since retirement in 2008, he has served as an Interim Pastor for the East Central Synod in various congregations. He has recently retired.

Pastor Ellisen and his wife Cathy have 4 children and 8 grandchildren. They enjoy traveling, golfing, and following their grandchildren at various college campuses and schools. They also enjoy quiet sunsets at their cottage on the bay outside of Dycksville.

Pastor - Rev. Janel Kuester

Pastor Janel has been serving in a small town-rural congregation on the Minnesota prairie – Christ Lutheran Church in Cottonwood – for seven years. She served three other congregations in the Saint Paul Area Synod as an ordained Pastor and one as a lay leader, prior to moving back closer to home. She is a second career pastor with an elementary teaching degree where she taught for several years before moving to adult learners for eight years when she worked at a corporate company offering computer and soft skill training courses. During seminary, she worked at the State of Minnesota Board of Barbers and Cosmetologist Examiner’s office as a Database Project Manager and built her own small HR and Bookkeeping business. Almost every evening, you will find her out taking Prairie Sunset photos and in the summer digging in her perennial and vegetable garden.

Pastor - Gisele Berninghaus

Pastor Gisele Berninghaus served Faith Lutheran in Marshfield, WI until her retirement in 2021. She worked for 13 years with Hands of Christ Deaf Ministry, an ecumenical ministry supported by ELCA, Episcopal, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ and Methodist churches. Her daughter, Anastasia, was born in Kankakee, IL where Gisele served American Lutheran Church and her son Nathaniel was born while she served congregations in Caribou and Stockholm, Maine. Gisele graduated from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD and Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, PA. She interned in Baltimore MD, and was a teacher with the Deaf in DesMoines, IA.

Tim Van Eyck met Gisele on a confusing mission trip to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina and they have happily been sharing life’s challenges and blessings ever since. Retirement includes learning building skills while volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, learning about horses while helping kids with special needs at an Equine Therapy Center and the joys of new relationships working with refugee resettlement.

Pastor - Rev. Robert Rosenberg

Pastor Rosenberg was born in Shawano, Wisconsin, moved to Appleton where he graduated from Appleton West High School in 1957. He went to Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, graduating in 1961. He met his wife, Toby, at Wartburg and they were married in August, 1961. They have three children, Chris, Eric, and Beth, two dogs, Lady and Tramp, and a cat, Ellie. Pastor Rosenberg graduated from Wartburg Seminary in 1965. His first parish was in Waubun, Minnesota, and then Caroline, Wisconsin. In 1973 the Rosenbergs moved to Calvary Lutheran Church in Oshkosh from which he retired in 2005. Pastor Rosenberg preached at Bethany twice while at Calvary, the first time on Memorial Day weekend in 1979. He says,”It’s good to be back.”

Pastor - Rev. Clare Cheney Sedlacek

Pastor Clare Cheney Sedlacek is the pastor at Dr. Martin Luther Church in Oconomowoc. She is a graduate of Oconomowoc High School and the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. Pastor Clare has previously been a high school teacher and coach and also worked in the television industry.

She received a Master of Arts degree in Children, Youth, and Family Ministry from Luther Seminary in 2010, and served as the Children’s Ministry Director at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin for eleven years.

Pastor Clare graduated from Luther Seminary in May of 2020 with a Master of Divinity. Prior to being ordained, she served as Bridge Pastor for Living Hope Lutheran and Christ the King Lutheran in Ozaukee County. She was ordained and installed at Dr. Martin Luther Church in Oconomowoc on May 22, 2021.

Pastor Clare and her husband Jim, an elementary physical education teacher, reside in Oconomowoc. Their daughter, Anne, graduated from Luther College in 2023, is a graduate student at Georgia State University seeking a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance.

Pastor - Rev. Clare Cheney Sedlacek

Pastor Clare Cheney Sedlacek is the pastor at Dr. Martin Luther Church in Oconomowoc. She is a graduate of Oconomowoc High School and the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. Pastor Clare has previously been a high school teacher and coach and also worked in the television industry.

She received a Master of Arts degree in Children, Youth, and Family Ministry from Luther Seminary in 2010, and served as the Children’s Ministry Director at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin for eleven years.

Pastor Clare graduated from Luther Seminary in May of 2020 with a Master of Divinity. Prior to being ordained, she served as Bridge Pastor for Living Hope Lutheran and Christ the King Lutheran in Ozaukee County. She was ordained and installed at Dr. Martin Luther Church in Oconomowoc on May 22, 2021.

Pastor Clare and her husband Jim, an elementary physical education teacher, reside in Oconomowoc. Their daughter, Anne, graduated from Luther College in 2023, is a graduate student at Georgia State University seeking a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance.

Pastor - Rev. Gerald Mansholt

Pastor Jerry Mansholt is currently serving as Interim Senior Pastor at First United Lutheran Church, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the city known affectionately as the Malibu of the Midwest. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Wartburg Seminary and on the Board of the We Raise Foundation. Formerly known as Wheat Ridge, We Raise partners with Christian ministries to free people from poverty, violence and inequality. Jerry served as parish pastor in Oklahoma, St. Louis, and Wichita, Kansas. Later he served as bishop, both in the ELCA Central States Synod (Missouri/Kansas) and the ELCA East Central Synod of Wisconsin. Since leaving the office of bishop Jerry has served as interim pastor in Mandeville, Louisiana and Green Bay. Pastor Jerry and Anita live in Appleton, Wisconsin and are members of First English Lutheran Church.

Pastor - Rev. Gerald Mansholt

Pastor Jerry Mansholt is currently serving as Interim Senior Pastor at First United Lutheran Church, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the city known affectionately as the Malibu of the Midwest. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Wartburg Seminary and on the Board of the We Raise Foundation. Formerly known as Wheat Ridge, We Raise partners with Christian ministries to free people from poverty, violence and inequality. Jerry served as parish pastor in Oklahoma, St. Louis, and Wichita, Kansas. Later he served as bishop, both in the ELCA Central States Synod (Missouri/Kansas) and the ELCA East Central Synod of Wisconsin. Since leaving the office of bishop Jerry has served as interim pastor in Mandeville, Louisiana and Green Bay. Pastor Jerry and Anita live in Appleton, Wisconsin and are members of First English Lutheran Church.

Pastor - Rev. John Rollefson

John Rollefson, a native of Oconomowoc is a farm boy brought up in a little Norwegian congregation that was founded in 1844. He is a graduate of Luther College and Yale Divinity School and has served urban and campus congregations in San Francisco, Milwaukee, Ann Arbor and Los Angeles with interims in Solvang and London. He is married to Ruth Gordon, a retired public school vocal music teacher and church musician, with whom he recently celebrated his 50th anniversary of marriage. They live in retirement in San Luis Obispo, CA where they enjoy tennis, golf, hiking, travel, wine tasting and concert–going. They are the parents of two sons: Griff, a professor of musicology who with his wife Mary and two children, Augie and Zadie, live in Cork, Ireland where he and Mary teach at University College, Cork; and Jake, a sales executive with Pandora/Sirius, who with his wife Julianne and two children George and Andrew, live in Shorewood, WI. Julianne has now graduated from her program in counseling at UW-Milwaukee and has opened a grief counseling practice.

Pastor - Rev. John Rollefson

John Rollefson, a native of Oconomowoc is a farm boy brought up in a little Norwegian congregation that was founded in 1844. He is a graduate of Luther College and Yale Divinity School and has served urban and campus congregations in San Francisco, Milwaukee, Ann Arbor and Los Angeles with interims in Solvang and London. He is married to Ruth Gordon, a retired public school vocal music teacher and church musician, with whom he recently celebrated his 50th anniversary of marriage. They live in retirement in San Luis Obispo, CA where they enjoy tennis, golf, hiking, travel, wine tasting and concert–going. They are the parents of two sons: Griff, a professor of musicology who with his wife Mary and two children, Augie and Zadie, live in Cork, Ireland where he and Mary teach at University College, Cork; and Jake, a sales executive with Pandora/Sirius, who with his wife Julianne and two children George and Andrew, live in Shorewood, WI. Julianne has now graduated from her program in counseling at UW-Milwaukee and has opened a grief counseling practice.